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Thunderbird Club

Go for it. The only bass I have that I go out of my way to do nothing irreversible to is my 1976 BC Rich Bodine. 24-30 of them were made that year, and probably only 2-4 of them left-handed. Kind of just out of respect for its rarity. 2013 NR Thunderbird? Yeah, that's pretty much FUBAR in the best sense.
There is nothing special about my Pro IV. It was a factory second. I don't know why, but the factory obliterated the serial and stamped "used" on the headstock. It is now fretless, has Alumitone pickups, and no preamp. Refinishing in a bright color to get rid of the murky dark burst is a logical next step.
 
Sovtek KT88

I wondered what that screw hole was for.
think you gotta do this to that thing….
upload_2023-5-23_18-8-11.jpeg
 
They are long throw cabs but you can hear them onstage. They're really good at outside gigs. I've only used them twice, once inside and once outside and they sounded good up close too both times. I'm curious too I haven't played through one since I was a kid.

Edit, they do not have a lot of top end. :laugh:

Once upon a time, bass meant bass.
 
I have no (very little and it's been a while) experience with the 70s V4s. I'm assuming my reissue is pretty close, but not exact. I know it's voiced differently than my V4-BH. Which was making me believe there was a real difference between the two.

There are early ‘70’s V4/V4B and these have no master volume. Just channels 1 & 2 volume. I think the later “curved line” V4/V4B had some sort of master volume. I think it was labeled “distortion” on the V4?
 
Wikipedia barely scratches. There used to be a separate Epiphone page but that is gone. Greco, Orville, BaCH, Mike Lull and Cataldo all made Thunderbirds at some point. And there are others.

I've done a little editing on the Wikipedia Gibson Thunderbird page. If someone wants to help, I'd be happy to not just expand on that, but start one or more Non-Gibson Thunderbird pages. If nothing else, get me data and good photos, and as I have time, I'll do the wiki part and write/edit as necessary. But we can't just go "Here's a 1972 DOHC turbo Ford NR Thunderbird". Well, we can, but hopefully there'd be at least a little history like "Ford manufactured Thunderbirds from 1969 to November 1973 when sales got high enough Gibson bombed the Ford bass factory. Ford retaliated by sending Special Forces teams in to ravage the Gibson race car track. Things quickly escalated, but in the spring of 1974, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter brokered a peace between the warring companies in which each agreed to stay in their lane." Cites wherever possible would be extremely helpful. Revisionists abound and would take umbrage at unfiltered history such as shown here.

While I had fun with that paragraph, I'm serious about the idea.
 
Thanks. I'll see if I can find any of those comments from any Ampeg gurus, but one was this.

The newer V4B reissues are different. More like the original V4 circuits. The BH models I believe we're closer to an SVT-CL preamp with a 4x 6L6 power amp

I have no (very little and it's been a while) experience with the 70s V4s. I'm assuming my reissue is pretty close, but not exact. I know it's voiced differently than my V4-BH. Which was making me believe there was a real difference between the two.

I've love compare the schematics, but I wouldn't know what I was looking at! I have them for the V4-BH if you have the V4-B to compare. Very little of it do I understand.

My BHs are big and creamy smooth, the V4-B reissue is not as big, but is more aggressive and really loud for 100w.

Thunderbirds sound great through either.

Pre Nylons...
View attachment 5072269



The only difference I can see between them is the V4-BH has a five position mid switch and the new V4-B reissue has a 3 position switch like the old ones and both have gain and master volume controls and none of the 70's heads did. If you really want to know the definitive difference though try @ beans-on-toast, he's in the B-15 thread all the time, he knows the differences if any from the 70's heads and the new ones and probably the two different V4-B reissues, I think they tried to emulate the tone from the old ones the best they could.
I had no problem with the tone of my V4-B just the headroom, it sounded very similar to an SVT, I would imagine the new ones do too, SVT's can sound big and creamy also, mine do if I want them to.
 
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I'm not starving by any means - but I'm one of many artists throwing in down.

View attachment 5072001
In the early 2000’s I very briefly considered building basses for sale and profit but after a few minutes with a calculator realized I’d need to make and sell about 10 basses a week to quit my day job. Needless to say, I kept my day job. No regrets.
 
I've done a little editing on the Wikipedia Gibson Thunderbird page. If someone wants to help, I'd be happy to not just expand on that, but start one or more Non-Gibson Thunderbird pages. If nothing else, get me data and good photos, and as I have time, I'll do the wiki part and write/edit as necessary. But we can't just go "Here's a 1972 DOHC turbo Ford NR Thunderbird". Well, we can, but hopefully there'd be at least a little history like "Ford manufactured Thunderbirds from 1969 to November 1973 when sales got high enough Gibson bombed the Ford bass factory. Ford retaliated by sending Special Forces teams in to ravage the Gibson race car track. Things quickly escalated, but in the spring of 1974, Georgia Governor Jimmy Carter brokered a peace between the warring companies in which each agreed to stay in their lane." Cites wherever possible would be extremely helpful. Revisionists abound and would take umbrage at unfiltered history such as shown here.

While I had fun with that paragraph, I'm serious about the idea.
Very Cool!