Thunderbird Club

[Lammchop93]

Vintage Auto Vinyl Straps - Guitar Straps

Just found out about these via the Holeyboard guy. I just bought a strap for my burst Greco or I'd be interested in the Barracuda Gold strap. Except the site doesn't mention length. I have a query in. I have a Dunlop 67" and occasionally I wish it were an inch or two longer. Ahem, etc.

I have a bunch of couch straps. they are great!!

 

[GBassNorth]

Ok you bloody enablers, I can get any one of these bass cabs for about the same price used and about the same condition.

Looking at just these four, which one would you choose if you wanted rich deep lows solid mids and a smooth top end, not looking for super punchy or crisp, just a nice non distorted fart free low end at relatively high in home volumes (much louder than bedroom volumes or typical practice volumes) in a big open room with lots of hard surfaces and a cathedral ceiling. Basses will be mostly Tbirds and mostly humbuckers.

I’d be powering it with a Musicman 150 watt hybrid amp that has a tube power section and SS preamp and can run at either 4 or 8 ohms. No plans at all for an extension cab. It will remain stationary in my living room so weight isn’t really a factor.

choices…
Epifani T-212 (2x12 + tweeter) ported (tweeter can be turned off)
Bergantino Ht322 (1x12 + 2x10 + tweeter) ported (tweeter can be turned off)
MESA Powerhouse (2x12 + tweeter) ported (tweeter defeat?)
GK NEO212-IV (2x12 + tweeter) ported (tweeter can be turned off)

 

[MCF]

Seems to be the way around here.

NGD! I never thought I'd go this route, but it became pretty obvious I'd be waiting indefinitely for another run of lefty basses. Watching the Johnny Marr interview on That Pedal Show inspired me to rethink guitar and relearn it. It's been ages. Gibson originally offered me a guitar, but I wasn't interested at the time. But now I'm excited. They were backordered until the Spring, but yesterday I was looking at something at the Gibson site and went over to this '61 Standard page and saw lefties in stock. I emailed my contact and he confirmed they did do an unexpected run and said I should be receiving this today and sent me a tracking number. I thought he meant the tracking number, but it was out for delivery. What a surprise.

View attachment 5276708

Wow! Congrats Ken! Good choice.

I’ve “sort of” kept up my guitar chops. It makes one a better bassist.

My next guitar will be a Tele. Versatility, awesome looks, and classic tone. But I really need to play more guitar. Sadly, it has been much too long since I spent any real time playing guitar. I played in fits and starts during my bass hiatus from ‘83 to 2010. But I’m a bassist through and through and that takes up all my free time. When I do pick up a guitar, it is like riding a bike. It all comes back. And much easier than bass. Go figure.

 

[Bent77]

No sealed options?


I like the Mesa

 

[MCF]

Still cool to have that piece of history.
Huge Beatles fan here btw.

As another huge Beatle fan (I know all the lyrics to every song; they’re part of my brain) I would kill to have that on the wall in the basement music room at the mountain house.

 

[RedVee]

I wanna go once-to see/ride the streetcars.
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Yeah, I’d like to visit at some stage

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I have a bunch of couch straps. they are great!!

How long are they?

 

[MCF]

Oh, I like the Beatles a lot, but for some reason I never bothered to acquire all their albums. Maybe because they're so ubiquitous.

I’m not sure how old you are Ken. I know you’re younger than me. But for those born in ‘51 to ‘61 or so, they are definitely the biggest influence for most of us. Bite the bullet and get the boxed set of the British releases. You will be amazed. Go ahead and PM me your wife’s Email address. I’ll tell her that would be a great holiday gift for you.

 

[Count Bassie]

What strings do you have on it? Strings may solve the problem.

I've had Rotosound SM66s on it, broke a string, and then put some strings on it which brand I can't recall. Sounds better though!
Maybe I'll do new strings first... Who's got a good bright, crunchy string rec?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

As another huge Beatle fan (I know all the lyrics to every song; they’re part of my brain) I would kill to have that on the wall in the basement music room at the mountain house.

IOW do not meet Marshall anywhere with that poster!

 

[MCF]

Perfectly

View attachment 5276707 View attachment 5276713

I didn’t notice that last weekend. Good excuse to come up again….

 

[Lammchop93]

How long are they?

I have a 2” racer X. It’s 59” at the longest length and 35” at the shortest.

 

[MCF]

funny, my wife has an interest in Geology as well and wants to pursue a degree after retirement…..
incidentally, this joint boasts the best under sea level cheeseburger in CA…..they are probably right…
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Where? I hate searching.

 

[MCF]

Thanks, all. I'm sure my playing won't be pretty, either, but I'm looking forward to it. This is the "Standard '61" model.

Guitar is a lot easier than bass.

 

[JIO]

Cesspool?

you said it, not me...

 

[MCF]

IOW do not meet Marshall anywhere with that poster!

You know me too well Miles. I can’t wait to see everyone again.

 

[GonePlaid]

But they are powered by electric, and if the water.....

TBH, I wasn't planning on going during flooding.

Actually, I'm not planning on going at all. I haven't been north of FL SR50 for ~4 years.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I’m not sure how old you are Ken. I know you’re younger than me. But for those born in ‘51 to ‘61 or so, they are definitely the biggest influence for most of us. Bite the bullet and get the boxed set of the British releases. You will be amazed. Go ahead and PM me your wife’s Email address. I’ll tell her that would be a great holiday gift for you.

In college I was mainly listening to hard rock, metal, acid rock, space rock, etc. But the older Beatles and Johnny Cash got play as well. I still like most of the Beatles' work.

 

[Count Bassie]

This is such a hard question to answer Roger.

I’m smitten with the Gibson vintage wind reissues. They are only available with chrome covers. They don’t sound at all dark to me.

I played Dave’s VP last weekend that he put a set of Seymour Duncans in. I was very impressed with them through his vintage 60’s Music Man amp. They have more balls than the stock VP Probuckers and have plenty of mids and top end.

Ask Jeff about his thoughts on Lollars. I haven’t been able to play them, but expect to be getting a set for one of my Epi’s at some point.

All that said, I like the Tbird+ pickups in the basses I have with them just fine. I don’t find them too dark to my ears except for maybe in my Gibson short scale where the neck pickup is located closer to the fretboard than 34 scale Thunderbirds. But bear in mind I pretty much use bright stainless steel rounds on almost all of my basses and usually eq to boost mids and highs more than probably most others here.

I'm getting through amp settings on the two GKs, finding myself leaning more towards highs lately to get more articulation. Tweaking mids to get punch. I love the lows, butt they don't seem to mean quite as much in the mix. So I'm hearing that...
I just notice the consistent impression I get from these pups, on one level. And yet the bass sounds solid, punchy, and a little 'brown' to me- and that's not because I have that particular ability, but I just think that's how it sounds... It's a good sound and I enjoy it when it's happening. But in the rock band mix it gets a little shadowed over.

Those are the TB+'s correct?

I dunno, If I replaced mine I can't think what I'd replace them with....



I'm always serious...

They are the TB+, yes. And I'm not running to make a move, in fact it may just be that I need another bass.
And that would be awful...

 

[MCF]

It's pretty amusing - and occasionally informative.

So go figure. I occasionally venture out. And @pcake initiated a thread to show #1’s. I posted the ‘15 and got a surprising amount of likes. There are definitely a lot of Thunderbird fans out there.