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Thunderbird Club

#254,781
TBird1958 said:
I always liked Ginger better and as it turns out I'm really not the "Girl next door" type.

Gahhhhh!
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I don’t really know you, but from what I’ve seen here, I think this borders on stating the obvious? ;)
 
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#254,784
Chucky Stiletti said:
still have the 6146 Peg? reliable can be viewed differently, thing is we gig different venues making the environmental variable a major contributor…….add to that different setups, basses, cables etc…..instead of sayin reliable (I always bring an extra amp and bass) I rather think of it as bringing extra stuff jic some of it is not “happy” in its environment…..make sense?….
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Yep, sure does.

The Blueline was purchased by me and it had been converted to 6550’s at some time. I had my tech revert it back to 6146b and it worked as my live head for awhile. My tech showed me the inside of it and it had been all converted to orange drop caps, (the big cap cans were gone) and everything was glued down and it was rather a mess, and missing a shield plate, which could not be put in due to the orange drop caps. Without the shield plate, it created problems when patching channel one and two, which I like to do. Then, the guy I use let me know he wasn’t going to work on SVT’s anymore. He’s now in his 70’s and they are just too dammed heavy for him to work with. Since I also had (still have) a ‘73 SVT in unmolested condition, with all but one of the original (we think) tubes, all Sylvania power tubes that still passed his “cook and burn” test, I decided to off the Blueline while it was still working well. I sort of regret it, I only got like $1100 for it, but I believed/still believe that the market for old heavy amps will eventually dry up, and there will be way more old heavy SVT and other amps than people to buy them, and anyone that still uses them will already have one (or more). Especially locally, and shipping a heavy old SVT is mostly out of the question.
 
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#254,785
dagrev said:
I think it's maybe been touched on before, but how does the 2015 Thunderbird sound different from the EB bass with the same pickups? I know there was some lamenting in some places that the EBs were pretty bright to the point of it not being a good thing for some. I know there is no switches for added flexibility, but seems they should sound pretty similar, but maybe they don't at all.
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I have both. All things being equal, they sound very similar, with a maple and ash EB being brighter than a mahogany Thunderbird. I wouldn't say my EB is too bright, just brighter. Strings have a lot to do with it. Put stainless rounds on both, and the EB will be quite bright. Put dead flats on both of them, and the EB will be plenty dark with the Thunderbird sounding like it swallowed its tongue.

The tapped version of the pickups is a bit thinner sounding, as you would expect. You can get closer to a Fender Jazz sound with the tapped coils, especially if the pickups are in an EB.
 
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#254,791
MCF said:
There was a short period of time around the time I got my ‘15 Thunderbird I recall EBs selling for as low as $699. Probably the warehouse liquidation thing. I should have grabbed one, knowing what I know now. Here’s a nice one on the GC used site. You don’t see them come up very often anymore.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
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Snagging one is worthwhile. I'm really happy to have gotten mine when I did. The guy who was selling it said he had progressed to fivers and didn't play four string basses any more. He was kinda snobbish about it. When I got the bass, there were marks between the frets that said what note the E string was at each fret. The marks were nearly gone, like he had tried to remove them but couldn't completely. I thought it was really funny. The marks are completely gone now, but at the time, they were still there in residue form.
 
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#254,793
Ringhammer said:
Is a class A/B more reliable? Or, to ask differently, are class D amps more likely to fail over time?

I’ve read some posters say they always bring a backup to a gig if using a class D amp. I never thought to question them specifically why. I personally always bring a class D (PF800) as a backup in case the tube amp I choose to bring has a problem. In the past I was using some old Ampeg for live gigs, either a modified V4 or a pretty rough Blueline SVT (6146b). These days I have a newer Orange AD200B Mk3, which has been gone through top to bottom and after a minor fix, I feel is probably very reliable.
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I also bring a class D amp (MB200) as a backup. Sometimes I think I should get another one for when the MB200 is the primary.
For an outdoor gig a few years ago where rain was imminent, I didn't want to bring my D800+, so I did the gig with the MB200 and put my Peavey Centurion in the truck - just in case:D
 
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#254,794
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#254,796
Ringhammer said:
Yep, sure does.

The Blueline was purchased by me and it had been converted to 6550’s at some time. I had my tech revert it back to 6146b and it worked as my live head for awhile. My tech showed me the inside of it and it had been all converted to orange drop caps, (the big cap cans were gone) and everything was glued down and it was rather a mess, and missing a shield plate, which could not be put in due to the orange drop caps. Without the shield plate, it created problems when patching channel one and two, which I like to do. Then, the guy I use let me know he wasn’t going to work on SVT’s anymore. He’s now in his 70’s and they are just too dammed heavy for him to work with. Since I also had (still have) a ‘73 SVT in unmolested condition, with all but one of the original (we think) tubes, all Sylvania power tubes that still passed his “cook and burn” test, I decided to off the Blueline while it was still working well. I sort of regret it, I only got like $1100 for it, but I believed/still believe that the market for old heavy amps will eventually dry up, and there will be way more old heavy SVT and other amps than people to buy them, and anyone that still uses them will already have one (or more). Especially locally, and shipping a heavy old SVT is mostly out of the question.
Click to expand...
My SVT VR (Blueline Reissue) is an ‘08. It’s a great head All original with low hours on it. 10 to 15 year old VRs are showing up used fairly frequently as players continue to move to lighter stuff. Some good deals can be had on them and if your’re willing to put up with an 85 pound lead sled, I highly recommend one for that Classic 70’s Ampeg tone.
 
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