Thunderbird Club

[DJ Bebop]

Bass of the Week: Island Instruments Thunderstang

 

[MCF]

View attachment 5245257

Bass of the Week: Island Instruments Thunderstang

That looks pretty cool. I’d prefer the P pickups in black black though. I bet it has some balls with that Lollar at the neck.

 

[kyral210]

Was originally gonna go with Dominators, But for my part the Gibson RIs have been so priased by lots in the Kingdom here, & its tone with the A5 magnet seemed more in line with what i wanted for my own bird. Glad the devastators are working in your favour! Was curious about them, but figured they'd be too hot (& at 13K they do soung pretty hot, but glad they're not muddy). My Deep sixx pickups by epiphone i've a feeling were a mismatched set because my neck pickup was about 13k, & the bridge was 17k! Way too dark for my preference. So new RI gibbys soon!

Wow! That’s a lot of power in your pickup! I genuinely believe Gibson put junk pickups in Epiphone and Fender put junk pickups in Squire just to make their name branded stuff sound better by comparison. Go to a store, play both, and hear where your money’s going. Of course, £200 will fix that alone.

 

[Gaolee]

Roger that. I’m usually the last to know.
“There’s a cop after us.”
“Huh? Why?”
“Maybe because we’re going 50 in a school zone?”
(Looks around) “A school of fish, maybe.”
“That would explain why the cops are in a sub.”

I was looking at schools of fish up close today. It sure was fun. It will happen again tomorrow and, weather permitting, Saturday.

 

[GonePlaid]

The neck is well worn in and plays very comfortably, likely my favorite of all my Birds it just feels perfect. Sound wise I like it a lot but while it's old Nickel Rounds sound great at home, in the live sense they are a bit lacking in definition and I am going to replace them with some SIT Nickel Rounds this weekend.

 

[Nocturnal]

Nice. I fitted some Alnico 8 Thunderbird Humbuckers that kick out around 13k. Pretty hot, but more articulate and less muddy than the Gibson originals.

I have been so tempted by these but just haven't followed thru with a purchase. Sounds like you give them a positive recommendation.

 

[Stealth57]

WBW

 

[ThaCoast]

Wow! That’s a lot of power in your pickup! I genuinely believe Gibson put junk pickups in Epiphone and Fender put junk pickups in Squire just to make their name branded stuff sound better by comparison. Go to a store, play both, and hear where your money’s going. Of course, £200 will fix that alone.

Squier in recent years has been much better than Fenders in my opinion. Though i have picked up an older Squier affinity pbass from the early 2000's (my first bass was of the same series & same year). Epiphone however, i feel its mainly their Thunderbird that gets the very dark pickup treatment (minus the 60's VP). The classic pro has the modern Gibson ceramic pickups which are good, the active Pros have decent pickups that i enjoyed overall from when i've played them in stores. & between both of their lower priced models (least in Canada), Squier still has a lower $$ instruments than Epiphone (cheapest new epiphone is their EB-0 at 430$, while Squier has the sonic series Pbass at 250$-300$). So put a 100$ in a pickup (even though i find nothing wrong with its stock pickup), the Squier is better value for money on the low spectrum to get a good giging/recording bass for beginners. It's a great mod platform.

It was a lot of power, but way too dark as a result. So those are in a box, waiting for either a project build, or just to be sold off. TBD.

 

[ThaCoast]

I have been so tempted by these but just haven't followed thru with a purchase. Sounds like you give them a positive recommendation.

What Bird would you put the Devastators in if you got em?

 

[Nocturnal]

What Bird would you put the Devastators in if you got em?

I would test it in a few. The Cataldo since its a single pickup model. But I could try it in my refinished Goth, or even the Vintage Pro. Plenty of Birds to test it in.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Always a trip - no substances required

There are rumors that my brain produces controlled substances.

 

[Blazer]

Here's former Focus guitarist and bona fide prog legend Jan Akkerman in the eighties playing a Roland Guitar synthesizer. His bass player at the time is playing this really nice Fernandes Copy of an Alembic bass, you can tell it's not a real one by its cream pickups and the lacking of the brass logo on the headstock.

Here's a fun challenge: name all the songs which are quoted in this clip.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Nice. I fitted some Alnico 8 Thunderbird Humbuckers that kick out around 13k. Pretty hot, but more articulate and less muddy than the Gibson originals.

Those sound pretty sweet!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Was originally gonna go with Dominators, But for my part the Gibson RIs have been so priased by lots in the Kingdom here, & its tone with the A5 magnet seemed more in line with what i wanted for my own bird. Glad the devastators are working in your favour! Was curious about them, but figured they'd be too hot (& at 13K they do soung pretty hot, but glad they're not muddy). My Deep sixx pickups by epiphone i've a feeling were a mismatched set because my neck pickup was about 13k, & the bridge was 17k! Way too dark for my preference. So new RI gibbys soon!

Sounds like they were swapped.

 

[ThaCoast]

Sounds like they were swapped.

Those Deep Sixx's i had bought off ebay some years back when in the first years i had disasembled/refined my Goth bird. Since the original goth pickups one of the leads from a pickup were completely removed (& being its epoxied in the casing, i wasn't about to start breaking into it), so those got chucked in the trash, & i had found the Deep Sixx's soon after (for relatively cheap). This was my earlier years of getting into building my own instruments from ground up, & so i modded some of my existing ones. The bird getting the most mods out of all (least in terms of looks, & just making it look "cleaner"). But yeah, i suspect a mismatched set to begin with, in any case if i use them again, they'll be on a build that will be sold off for sure.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Was originally gonna go with Dominators, But for my part the Gibson RIs have been so priased by lots in the Kingdom here, & its tone with the A5 magnet seemed more in line with what i wanted for my own bird. Glad the devastators are working in your favour! Was curious about them, but figured they'd be too hot (& at 13K they do soung pretty hot, but glad they're not muddy). My Deep sixx pickups by epiphone i've a feeling were a mismatched set because my neck pickup was about 13k, & the bridge was 17k! Way too dark for my preference. So new RI gibbys soon!

So other than being really hot, how did the Sixx pickups sound. You probably answered, but if so I missed it or forgot, in which case my apologies.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I was looking at schools of fish up close today. It sure was fun. It will happen again tomorrow and, weather permitting, Saturday.

Are you auditing the class?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I thought I asked but can’t find it. Where are y’all who use them ordering Digiflex cables from?

 

[TBird1958]

A little demo of the Bugera 1960, match made in heaven for me paired with a Thunderbird.

You awful man, I done went and bought one.........It'll be here next week.

 

[Thumper]

I'll be gol-durned, the was a white Thunderbird II on the Country Music Awards tonight. You mean to tell me a Thunderbird can do country? Seriously?