lol...seen black face twins going for under a grand these days...that ought to tell you something..
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
I did have some fun
. This was the second time I have come across a guitarist that tunes his acoustic down to Eb, and the puts a capo on the first fret
. Took me a minute to figure it out!
That was going to be my recommendation.
I would suggest putting extra ball ends on the strings, but there is no slack at the machine heads!
I did have some fun
Slightly shorter scale...
Yes, the first version had an "auto-bias" feature to automatically accommodate different power tube types.
It did not work! Version two corrected that silliness with an adjustable bias.
As far as the amp goes, it's a unique animal that may not suit everyone. The EQ is passive and takes some getting use to. The amp is overtly bright to my ears, which lead me to purchase a Broughton HPF/LPF to tame it. And yes, it is known for overdriving, even with the preamp level fully counter clockwise, you still get some grit. I haven't tried the preamp tube swap, so I can't comment on that.
Or a guitar that can't take full tension.
I think a lot of people get caught up in FOMO. A lot of tonal differences can almost be matched with different strings or EQ.I'm going to try to get them in place this week, but I think that I'll be tinkering with pickup height for awhile as well. It took a few tries with the my VP when I put the Gibson pickups in it.
Originally Mike's pickups were made by TV Jones exclusively, (this was after he'd approached Jason Lollar, who declined as at that point he didn't think there would be a market for them!) as time went on demand increased and production lagged, at one point Mike 5-6 T4s in the shop just waiting for pickups. It was decided to have Seymour Duncan take on some of the production to alleviate delivery delays, at this point the pickups were actually offered on Mike's website as an upgrade for your Gibson Bird. I have TV Jones made pickups in my T4 II and my '89 Gibson, I have one at Lull's to pick up later this week as well, it's for my BaCH Non Reverse.
I don't have any basses with Lollars in them to make a comparison but I have to imagine that they would sound quite similar as he's known to make a good pickup and there are a couple guys here that use them and swear by them. Ultimately, if they're known as a good manufacturer I'd say any good repro is likely worth it, be that Lull, Thunderbucker, Seymour Duncan, Lollar etc. I like Gibson's new pickup being used in the current Non Reverse and love the pickup in my Greco II as well, they're slightly different from the others but still so close that we're basically splitting hairs here. The pickups that don't work quite as well for me are the Epi 760's and the EY Guitars, through my rig ( I don't use any pedals etc.) there seems to be something missing, they're not as "full" or "filled out" sounding, with some fundamental and lo - mids not being present. This is just my experience, not a criticism as most folks here have a pretty high opinion of both of these pickups.
TL;DR
Play what you, love what you play!
I
Brother Ken always speaks the truth. The praise is well deserved.
The handles on my head and cab weigh more than that.This is 200W(140W through internal speaker) and weighs 34.5 pounds.
And this is 100W and weighs 22#.
And for what I do, they're more than enuff. IF I need more they can be daisy chained for 240W.
Exactly. I’m a bit flummoxed as to why someone would do that to an expensive set of strings. If I end up deciding that is a good sound to have in the arsenal, I can get a new set and one of those extender bar thingies or extra ball ends as you suggest.
Like I said, must have been a guitar player. Wait until I post pics of the pickup height. I’ve never seen so much space between the pickups and strings.
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Great history.I'm going to try to get them in place this week, but I think that I'll be tinkering with pickup height for awhile as well. It took a few tries with the my VP when I put the Gibson pickups in it.
Originally Mike's pickups were made by TV Jones exclusively, (this was after he'd approached Jason Lollar, who declined as at that point he didn't think there would be a market for them!) as time went on demand increased and production lagged, at one point Mike 5-6 T4s in the shop just waiting for pickups. It was decided to have Seymour Duncan take on some of the production to alleviate delivery delays, at this point the pickups were actually offered on Mike's website as an upgrade for your Gibson Bird. I have TV Jones made pickups in my T4 II and my '89 Gibson, I have one at Lull's to pick up later this week as well, it's for my BaCH Non Reverse.
I don't have any basses with Lollars in them to make a comparison but I have to imagine that they would sound quite similar as he's known to make a good pickup and there are a couple guys here that use them and swear by them. Ultimately, if they're known as a good manufacturer I'd say any good repro is likely worth it, be that Lull, Thunderbucker, Seymour Duncan, Lollar etc. I like Gibson's new pickup being used in the current Non Reverse and love the pickup in my Greco II as well, they're slightly different from the others but still so close that we're basically splitting hairs here. The pickups that don't work quite as well for me are the Epi 760's and the EY Guitars, through my rig ( I don't use any pedals etc.) there seems to be something missing, they're not as "full" or "filled out" sounding, with some fundamental and lo - mids not being present. This is just my experience, not a criticism as most folks here have a pretty high opinion of both of these pickups.
TL;DR
Play what you, love what you play!
Very accurate description on the 760s. They just aren't big sounding. They could likely go the modern Gibson pickup positions and that might add some heft. I don't change my head when I use either one, but I do think my BBE Sonic (Maximizer) Stomp helps those and everything sound bigger and better without losing punch.
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I did have some fun
As goofy picky as I am, I have personally never noticed silks on the saddles sounding any different. I'm sure there has to be one, but I'doubt it's noticeable. When it happens I stopped cutting the silk off for that reason.
I’ve never noticed an obvious difference either. I could speculate that the soft silks could possibly deaden the attack or sustain a very tiny bit. But I can’t recall ever playing a bass and actually hearing a difference in a mix. Is it ideal, no, does it matter, probably not.
I don’t really know at this point. I need to have some time to dial in the intonation. After first installing the strings correctly.
I use a 100w head with fair regularity, but a Hiwatt DR-103 is a pretty "loud" amp for 100w. Not as loud as the 120w Sunn, but with efficient cabs I've never had issues with keeping up or burying other people with it.
Using a V4 at a festival was one of the few times I've wanted to kick an amp over and off the stage while playing it. It was a honky, blown out mess. Even with an 8x10, by the time it was loud enough to be heard just as a monitor on stage it was way too far into distortion for me, any of my amps would eat its lunch. I haven't used enough to say they're all like this, maybe it had some sort of issue, but I truly hated using it. It was a 70s version, early one before the distortion circuit, but for the life of me I couldn't dial it to sound like anything other than a strangled goose or a subby fart in a cavern. Dialing in enough treble for what I normally played made it harsh and throaty (not in a good way), and trying to dial that out all I could get was definition-less woof and blooming subs. Granted, I know the circuit is a bit different than your standard passive tone stack and I may not be used to it, but my Acoustics with active tone stacks never sound like that. I'd be willing to give one a go again, but I'm skeptical I'd like it any more, even if it didn't distort so early.
Mod Bar on eBay works great but same issue.
Oh yeah, I had one of those years ago, early 70's model with the metal knobs. Good amps, course I've never met an Ampeg that I haven't liked.
