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Thunderbird Club

#263,863
The EDP said:
Oh. @Stealth57 . You could put one of these where that strap button hole is on the upper horn-notice the one on mine(I have the gold). Grover GP620C Strap Button Set - Eagle - Chrome
Click to expand...

Now those are the perfect solution! I'll see if they ship small stuff to the UK![/QUOTE]
They’re cool. Per Mike’s suggestion, I used one in the extra hole left when someone moved the button to the back of the neck on my Epi Silverburst.
 
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#263,864
Miles_ONeal said:
I haven’t played my basic IV in a while (partially disassembled for planned work), but I still play my CP a good bit. From memory for the IV. They both have a good bit of low end. The IV is a bit muddier. The CP is a bit fuller. It has decent upper mids, but you won’t get an angry piano sound out of a CP (or a IV). The CP Is alleged to sound very much like a modern Gibson. The IV is its own thing, not exactly original or modern Gibson.

FWIW, the biggest differences are in the body and neck. The IV has no contoured relief, and after an hour or two would dig into my belly, ribs, whatever, and my right arm. The IV neck is a bit beefier (mine is 7 (?) years older than my CP), too. Not pickup-reltaed, I know…
Click to expand...

Thanks for the review of both! Definitely helps in what i may opt to do. I imagine the angry piano thunderbird is within the 60's spec'd pickups such as Lollars, Novaks, BuckerRanch, Lulls, etc? I'd have to listen to those era birds more, maybe i'd try a set of those pickups (which seems in itself a rabbit hole of preferences xD).

What's your plan with the IV you've got disassembled?
 
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#263,865
GonePlaid said:
Y'all might remember that early this year I bought an Epi Embassy to be able to semi-retire the 67NR. Well, the last coupla gigs I took the 67, which I had restrung with medium tension EBCFs. I'd kinda forgotten what a pleasure the ol' Gibby is to play. So it's back to being the bass of choice-where I have room(lotta our gigs are short on space). Next gig is Friday the 13th at an Elks Club in Ft. Pierce and I'll be using the Embassy. I use the BLEND knob near the detent, slightly toward the neck pup except for on our more rambunctious songs. Then right on the 'click'. All 'bofum':
View attachment 5212168
Oh. @Stealth57 . You could put one of these where that strap button hole is on the upper horn-notice the one on mine(I have the gold). Grover GP620C Strap Button Set - Eagle - Chrome
Click to expand...
0226191257-00.jpg< my usual 'crisp' pic:rolleyes:
 
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#263,869
ThaCoast said:
Thanks for the review of both! Definitely helps in what i may opt to do. I imagine the angry piano thunderbird is within the 60's spec'd pickups such as Lollars, Novaks, BuckerRanch, Lulls, etc? I'd have to listen to those era birds more, maybe i'd try a set of those pickups (which seems in itself a rabbit hole of preferences xD).

What's your plan with the IV you've got disassembled?
Click to expand...
The aftermarket pickup rabbit hole can get pretty deep. There are actually quite a lot of options once you start looking.. Note: we need to get a wiki going re them…

For example, I’ve wondered about these that he’ll do in two hole Gibson mount or three hole Epi mount:
Thunderbass Neck
 
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#263,872
MCF said:
The aftermarket pickup rabbit hole can get pretty deep. There are actually quite a lot of options once you start looking.. Note: we need to get a wiki going re them…

For example, I’ve wondered about these that he’ll do in two hole Gibson mount or three hole Epi mount:
Thunderbass Neck
Click to expand...
Wellll... the site says 2 or 3 hole mount.
 
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#263,873
ThaCoast said:
Thanks for the review of both! Definitely helps in what i may opt to do. I imagine the angry piano thunderbird is within the 60's spec'd pickups such as Lollars, Novaks, BuckerRanch, Lulls, etc? I'd have to listen to those era birds more, maybe i'd try a set of those pickups (which seems in itself a rabbit hole of preferences xD).

What's your plan with the IV you've got disassembled?
Click to expand...

Quoting myself, to go on about pickup sourcing, & what better place to ask the kingdom. I'm currently going back on a bunch of prior threads which talk about each type of thunderbird replacement pickup. & well I'm out of the boat for Thunderbucker Ranch as I've just learned (better late than never) has closed shop a while back. So I'm left with options from the following for that angry piano/vintage TBird sound:

- Mike Lull
- Lollars
- Curtis Novaks
- ChinaBuckers from EYParts

If i'm forgetting any builder, please mention them. This would most likely go into my TreeBird, however i would then paint the covers in black to match the overall look of the bass. I am still considering the Eric Custom Gibson spec'd Modern pickups (in the epiphone casing), mainly because they are inexpensive, & a different set than my Deep Sixx pickups (which i'm unsure how close they are to standard epiphone IV TBplus pickups). I'm aware the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop offers Tbird pickups, but rarely have seen/read anyone talk about them considering the amount of Lulls, Lollars, Novaks, Thunderbucker Ranch devotees. Probably due to relatively the same amount of $$$ spent, why go for Duncan when there are other "small" builders. & being in Canada, the $$ exchange is a bit more than USD, but money isn't an issue if i'm looking for perhaps the pickups that would suit my musical venture best.

I know we're all very different players in terms of our tone/sound, fx if any, pick/fingerstyle. I always play my bird with a pick as i'm dominently a pick user. & fingerstyle doesn't feel great compared to playing my pbasses. I consider my Bird as a heavy rock beast - currently its low end is thunderrous, a little sparkle on top, mids do sit in the lower mid vs upper mids, but i can get a bit of upper mid bump depending on how my amp is set. Usually go from subtle overdriven, to chaotic distorted (fuzz isn't really my thing, as i've not found a fuzz i enjoyed enough to keep as part of my rig).

I think i fell for the thunderbird look with Nikki Sixx, even though i feel his best tone (least in studio, live really depends), with his Spector birds (so EMG Reverse P/J pickups, single volume, & way different woods from the Gibson counterpart). The modern Bird tone i enjoyed was Twiggy live with Manson back in the 90's-00's, just heavy, loud, & gritty. Early bird tones was Mott the Hoople/Overend Watts, to me that's a solid vintage bird tone. Enthwistle to me, while i enjoy his bird tones, i've always prefered his early Who days with a Pbass, + he's always had this big gritty tone no matter what bass he played xD

Apologies for the long post, in short - what's everyones personal experience with pickups from Lull, Lollar, Novaks, the Chinabucker, & BuckerRanch (even though they're gone, it'll give me an idea of what amde them special to everyone, & which of the two he offered 63' & 66' came out on top).

Cheers!
 
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#263,874
MCF said:
The aftermarket pickup rabbit hole can get pretty deep. There are actually quite a lot of options once you start looking.. Note: we need to get a wiki going re them…

For example, I’ve wondered about these that he’ll do in two hole Gibson mount or three hole Epi mount:
Thunderbass Neck
Click to expand...

Rio Grande has been around a while.
Great stuff.
But again, what we hear is all subjective. I’ve gone/going the Thunderbucker-Sidewinder route because those pick ups really do it for me. Lucky enough to know about them because people here having them in their basses. And having the chance to listen for myself before taking the plunge.

EDIT: Lulls will always be top of the heap. But they’re unobtainable.
 
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#263,875
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#263,876
MCF said:
That Orange rig sure is sweet. But I see why you’re thinking about the 41 pound 212 Fusion combo.
Click to expand...

And that was with only the 210. If it were a different venue or a bigger show, I would have had the 115 under it. Believe it or not the Orange rig is much more manageable that the modified vintage Ampeg V4 and 4x12 V2 cab I was using live. And the SVT / 810 will likely not be used to play out ever again, but rather live in one of my rehearsal spaces getting regular weekly use.

For now the AD200B and the 210 or 115 or both is going to be my live rig. Given both of my bands are hard and harder rock, it works.

The GK combos at 400w with available extension speaker out and 800w as well as, by the description of the controls/eq, having the ability to dial in a variety of tones, seems like a cool and convenient solution for a time in the future when I’m (hopefully) playing in more mellow cover band or whatever it will be when I’m finally just too damn old to be doing the hard and heavy thing (somehow I can’t quite visualize that, but who knows what the future brings).
 
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#263,877
ThaCoast said:
Quoting myself, to go on about pickup sourcing, & what better place to ask the kingdom. I'm currently going back on a bunch of prior threads which talk about each type of thunderbird replacement pickup. & well I'm out of the boat for Thunderbucker Ranch as I've just learned (better late than never) has closed shop a while back. So I'm left with options from the following for that angry piano/vintage TBird sound:

- Mike Lull
- Lollars
- Curtis Novaks
- ChinaBuckers from EYParts

If i'm forgetting any builder, please mention them. This would most likely go into my TreeBird, however i would then paint the covers in black to match the overall look of the bass. I am still considering the Eric Custom Gibson spec'd Modern pickups (in the epiphone casing), mainly because they are inexpensive, & a different set than my Deep Sixx pickups (which i'm unsure how close they are to standard epiphone IV TBplus pickups). I'm aware the Seymour Duncan Custom Shop offers Tbird pickups, but rarely have seen/read anyone talk about them considering the amount of Lulls, Lollars, Novaks, Thunderbucker Ranch devotees. Probably due to relatively the same amount of $$$ spent, why go for Duncan when there are other "small" builders. & being in Canada, the $$ exchange is a bit more than USD, but money isn't an issue if i'm looking for perhaps the pickups that would suit my musical venture best.

I know we're all very different players in terms of our tone/sound, fx if any, pick/fingerstyle. I always play my bird with a pick as i'm dominently a pick user. & fingerstyle doesn't feel great compared to playing my pbasses. I consider my Bird as a heavy rock beast - currently its low end is thunderrous, a little sparkle on top, mids do sit in the lower mid vs upper mids, but i can get a bit of upper mid bump depending on how my amp is set. Usually go from subtle overdriven, to chaotic distorted (fuzz isn't really my thing, as i've not found a fuzz i enjoyed enough to keep as part of my rig).

I think i fell for the thunderbird look with Nikki Sixx, even though i feel his best tone (least in studio, live really depends), with his Spector birds (so EMG Reverse P/J pickups, single volume, & way different woods from the Gibson counterpart). The modern Bird tone i enjoyed was Twiggy live with Manson back in the 90's-00's, just heavy, loud, & gritty. Early bird tones was Mott the Hoople/Overend Watts, to me that's a solid vintage bird tone. Enthwistle to me, while i enjoy his bird tones, i've always prefered his early Who days with a Pbass, + he's always had this big gritty tone no matter what bass he played xD

Apologies for the long post, in short - what's everyones personal experience with pickups from Lull, Lollar, Novaks, the Chinabucker, & BuckerRanch (even though they're gone, it'll give me an idea of what amde them special to everyone, & which of the two he offered 63' & 66' came out on top).

Cheers!
Click to expand...
I did a “shoot out” with two VPs, one with 760s and one with SDs. Threw in a CP and a 2015. They were mic’ed through an Ampeg B-100r.
 
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