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Thunderbird Club

#266,521
Chucky Stiletti said:
excellent!, sounds like a productive meeting…does he measure inductance and/or capacitance as well? If we can do this then we would have a reliable, repeatable metric from which to pick our favorite responses leading us to our ideal pickup choice…..this trek has been going on for awhile…..
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I think he could measure anything I ask (that's nondestructive) but I didn't know to ask about inductance/capacitance - I'll be speaking to him soon as he's making a pair of pups like the "new" NR set (on my IG NR) in black epoxy molds for my '13 NR (it's originally all black hardware with black pups). For all I know that may be something he could extrapolate or he may need to have the things in front of him. I'll find out.
 
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#266,522
upload_2023-11-3_15-6-25.png
 
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#266,526
Nocturnal said:
I forgot to let you know I was able to listen to it all the way thru, but wasn't in a position to listen in the song order you recommended. I did enjoy it and will definitely be listening to it again. Just dealing with a lot of family stuff right now (mother-in-law with dementia & Alzheimer's was just diagnosed with a large, aggressive cancerous mass on her kidney). So things are a bit dark for that kind of music. But I have recommended it to a couple of friends.
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Sorry to hear that, Andy. Praying for y'all.
 
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#266,533
The EDP said:
So, interesting visit with Armstrong Pickups today. Pics to follow, much learned:
Looks like some Greco pups do indeed have ceramic magnets (as was suggested in that Tokai forum thread) as the pair in my IV are -
Neck - 9.89KΩ
Bridge - 9.85KΩ
So not different units, just two of the same but he was taking Gauss readings as well, in order to get more insight into which type of magnet and wire were most likely used:
Neck - 54.7
Bridge - 54.6
Apparently that means that the magnets are most likely ceramic with 42AWG wire. But this is not 100% certain just most likely - only way to tell beyond doubt would be to dissemble the pups.
Also, I asked him to check out the chrome-covered pups on my '22 NR, and they are different units at neck and bridge, so the one on sale on the Gibson site is solely the bridge unit:
Neck - 7.34KΩ
Bridge - 8.37KΩ
Gauss:
Neck - 28
Bridge - 31.2
His thoughts were alnico with 42AWG, I showed him the spec on the site and he was happy to see it listed alnico 5.
The EB pups were:
Neck - 9.98KΩ
Bridge - 15.12KΩ
Both very close to the published data.
Got a little work to do with Tone pros locking bridge/tailpiece studs on my Greco, and some jiggery-pokery with my RexBird and it's newly potted pups - in gold covers . . . ;)
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This is such a great club!

I’m perfectly fine with the new reissue being the bridge pickup from the new NR’s. That’s what I put in my Bach ii and what I would have done anyway.
 
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#266,534
TBird1958 said:
I love this picture (Thank you, Dave!) and that we all could be together for a little while and just relax and enjoy the moment. It's a very fond memory.

lsOCRbd.jpg
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Yes! And in fact I really enjoyed the whole weekend. The Thunderbirds (figured I should make it clear which birds), the other gear, the food, but above all just being with y'all. I've met a lot of groovy (as well as less than groovy) musicians over the years but I can truthfully say I haven't met any more so than my TB TB brethren and sistren.
 
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#266,537
Ringhammer said:
So, I’m actually really surprised at the difference these made:

View attachment 5239290

I’ve been playing this amp with the same cabinet, same two basses, in the same room with the same people, doing the same songs, and new, for the last few months. I purchased the GE 6550’s and swapped them with the “PM” Chinese tubes that were in it. The PM’s did test good and strong, and I was getting 170w clean watts. I just wanted good USA tubes in it, and a set of matched pairs of GE’s came up, so I bought them. My tech swapped them out, and had to “bring up the bias” (I think is what he said) quite a bit to get the GE’s to put out, ultimately, 169 clean watts. I honestly didn’t expect to hear a big difference, but given the above parameters/situation with all the same conditions, it turned out to be a good chance to A/B something like this. When I powered it up and plugged in I immediately noticed it sounded way better (and it was already good), but I kinda kept my thoughts to myself. Then I made the sarcastic joke that my vintage tubes seem to make my amp sound $450 dollars better. Each of the guys seriously said they noticed that it sounded really good and “tighter”, which was a good description of what I heard. I had been sorta struggling with boomy-ness in our rehearsal space and with the 1x15 before.

Feels good that the expense of these tubes made such a truly noticeable difference.
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I haven't been keeping up with tubes since I switched from amp work to writing but as of a decade ago, there were some old tubes that nothing new could touch. There were others that had some competition, but dang if the golden age of USA and UK tubes doesn't deserve its reputation and price premium. If you ever get a chance to put your hands on some Mallard or RCA black plates preamp tubes, you really need to try them.
 
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#266,540
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