• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Thunderbird Club

#266,142
My costume came in. Gave up going a a bass player. Never was convincing enough.
1.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, Roger W, TBird1958 and 11 others
#266,150
MCF said:
It’s good, isn’t it. Kat’s band is really coming along.
Click to expand...

Thank you. Bit of a retro-modern sound going on there. Glyn Johns drums with my two ribbons, an RE20 and a Beyer88, with 2 studio ribbons for the room mics. Bass is a Reddi DI, my Orange TB500 DI and the RE20 on my Toob 112. Guitar is a semicircle of Marshall JCM900, Roland JC120, Vox MV50/Rohan's Toob 112 and Orange Crush 120, all with a single SM57 but mainly captured through a ribbon/C414 mid/side stereo pair. Vocals are a Neumann (only condenser we used) plus ribbon set side by side, with a second track using an East German tape recorder mic the engineer has been wanting to use for years.

The engineer says we are the most 'extreme' band he has worked with. When we were recording the guitar for the second half of Icarus 2, he was looking very confused -- 'what is going on here?'

'We're crashing a spaceship into the sun.'

Mixing was done in Logic, with Arturia (Trident A Range channel strip, Space Echo, EMT Plate reverb, + Gates STA and 1176 comps) and Eventide (Harmoniser and Hansa TonStudio reverb) plugins.

If I was mixing someone else I'd be more 'conventional', unless they asked for Goth Bonham drums.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, dagrev, Roger W and 9 others
#266,151
Engle said:
I made a poll, let's see what happens:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/do-you-think-finish-thickness-affects-tone.1627759/
Make sure y'all vote:thumbsup:
Click to expand...

Way to contentious to be a part of in the genpop of tb - my short response offered here is based on resonance. Most dynamic example is carved instruments (cellos, violins, double basses) Thin carved wood that resonates because of the wood choice, skill of the luthier and traditionally secret formula of the varnish resulting in a pleasant, harmonious tone protected from the elements. On the other side of the spectrum is a solid hunk of wood cut out in the shape of a bass or guitar. The wood itself can be more or less resonant depending on the type of wood, it's age, and if it's been dried out naturally or accellerated by kiln drying. (including torrification/roasting) Shape is irrelevant, number of pieces to create the slab is mostly irrelevant. (some debatable conjecture there vs one piece of contiguous grain wood)

So, there's that. Then you have a finish - very unlike the needs for a carved instrument. A guitar/bass finish is mostly for looks. One finish approach or the other depends on what one wants it to look like & feels. The neck is a different story - but a solid body will 'sound' primarily the same regardless of how it's finished. Thick finishes look bad IMO - but other than adding a fraction of weight, much of the debate on it affecting tone is an opinion not based in hard facts. YOMV
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, dagrev, Roger W and 6 others
#266,152
GBassNorth said:
Spot on. The satin black finish on my Eppi Goth varied from approximately 1/16” thick to as much as 1/8” thick in some parts…
View attachment 5236698 It’s almost more of an encapsulation than a paint job.
Click to expand...
This is how thick it is on the TV Silver Epi IV (Geo has finished the repair, no pics yet. Now all I need to do is retrieve it).
IMG_2964.jpeg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, dagrev, Roger W and 5 others
#266,153
fasterpussycat said:
Thank you. Bit of a retro-modern sound going on there. Glyn Johns drums with my two ribbons, an RE20 and a Beyer88, with 2 studio ribbons for the room mics. Bass is a Reddi DI, my Orange TB500 DI and the RE20 on my Toob 112. Guitar is a semicircle of Marshall JCM900, Roland JC120, Vox MV50/Rohan's Toob 112 and Orange Crush 120, all with a single SM57 but mainly captured through a ribbon/C414 mid/side stereo pair. Vocals are a Neumann (only condenser we used) plus ribbon set side by side, with a second track using an East German tape recorder mic the engineer has been wanting to use for years.

The engineer says we are the most 'extreme' band he has worked with. When we were recording the guitar for the second half of Icarus 2, he was looking very confused -- 'what is going on here?'

'We're crashing a spaceship into the sun.'

Mixing was done in Logic, with Arturia (Trident A Range channel strip, Space Echo, EMT Plate reverb, + Gates STA and 1176 comps) and Eventide (Harmoniser and Hansa TonStudio reverb) plugins.

If I was mixing someone else I'd be more 'conventional', unless they asked for Goth Bonham drums.
Click to expand...

Bass was all Thunderbird, tracks 2, 3 and 4 are all Firebird. Track 1 was a Gibson acoustic and an Epi Riviera hollowbody just through the JC120.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, dagrev, Roger W and 4 others
#266,154
_Tay_ said:
Voted. Hats off to anyone who can listen to an isolated bass recording and tell if it's poly/natural or nitro finish used :laugh:
Click to expand...
That would be an invalid test, too many variables.

A proper test would be a standard triangular test with three identical basses except two finished in one type of finish and one finished in a different finish. All three played back to back to a blindfolded listener who must then figure out which one sounds different. If that listener can consistently (in excess of the odds of guessing) spot the different sounding bass then there is a noticeable difference. Any test structured to spot one specific type of finish AND be able to correctly name that finish is basically setting the test up for failure by adding compound variables in the equation. Trust me I used to do this stuff for a living.

Of course that still doesn’t address the real need for a true double blind test where both the player and the listener have no idea which bass is being played. Thus avoiding the potential for the player to play slightly differently on one bass vs another. About the only way to do a true double blind triangular test would be to record a robotic arm plucking a bass held in a jig, assign a reference number to that recording and then repeat with the other two basses. Once done, the recordings would be randomly ordered and played back for a listener who would then need to spot the different sounding bass at better than the average guessing percentage.

It could all be done, but who the heck wants to do it when you know 50% of the people reading the results won’t believe it (stuck on faith based or biased opinions) and the other 50% probably have hearing issues that keep them from ever spotting a difference in the first place.

I say, pick a finish you like and rock the snot out of it, let the audience worry about how you sound in the mix.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, dagrev, Roger W and 8 others
#266,155
fasterpussycat said:
Thank you. Bit of a retro-modern sound going on there. Glyn Johns drums with my two ribbons, an RE20 and a Beyer88, with 2 studio ribbons for the room mics. Bass is a Reddi DI, my Orange TB500 DI and the RE20 on my Toob 112. Guitar is a semicircle of Marshall JCM900, Roland JC120, Vox MV50/Rohan's Toob 112 and Orange Crush 120, all with a single SM57 but mainly captured through a ribbon/C414 mid/side stereo pair. Vocals are a Neumann (only condenser we used) plus ribbon set side by side, with a second track using an East German tape recorder mic the engineer has been wanting to use for years.

The engineer says we are the most 'extreme' band he has worked with. When we were recording the guitar for the second half of Icarus 2, he was looking very confused -- 'what is going on here?'

'We're crashing a spaceship into the sun.'

Mixing was done in Logic, with Arturia (Trident A Range channel strip, Space Echo, EMT Plate reverb, + Gates STA and 1176 comps) and Eventide (Harmoniser and Hansa TonStudio reverb) plugins.

If I was mixing someone else I'd be more 'conventional', unless they asked for Goth Bonham drums.
Click to expand...
Grace Slick on Vox. Lemmy on bass. That’s what first comes to mind.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Miles_ONeal, dagrev, Roger W and 4 others

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back