Thunderbird Club

[WillyW]

I have the CP, and didn’t intend to get any other reverse birds, but Epiphone has been making some phenomenal instruments and I could pass these colors up.

AND I do like the looks of the tuna-matic bridges

and there isn’t a NR on the radar at the moment.

I have all the Rick&barkers I want and could maybe use one of them gold 2013 EB’s until a reasonably priced Gene Simmons EB shows up…

Now there’s a trooper! Taking two for the team!
Seriously, I’d love to hear some preliminary reviews about these (even though they may be honeymoon phase). I’m always hesitant to purchase a bird that pretty much is identical to one I already have, and I do have the original run Eppi VP. But that purple is just breathtaking and I don’t have that color in anything Tbird or non Tbird that I currently own.

 

[TBird1958]

I was told I sounded like Irv

Irv at my house, playing my Les Paul. First thing out of my mouth - "You sound great playing that, better than me".

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I've played on and off with my current band for 25 years, played over 30 basses. I've asked about basses I've bought, the answer always is you always sound like you.

Tone is for us (bass players). Everyone else cares about the groove, the pocket, the feel, the line/notes for key parts of key songs, etc. The tone has to be pretty bad to get comments (except possibly from other bass players). In most cases. YMMV. No warranty implied or expressed.

 

[GBassNorth]

That ping NR needs to visit Seattle this summer.

That Pink NR is a dream to play. Between the Payson Flats, the fanned frets, the Nordy sidewinders and the John East preamp it darn near plays itself.

I most likely will not be able to hit the GTG this year, so low likely hood it’ll be there. If Marshall hosts next year I’ll bring it then. Otherwise, stay tuned to a move I might be making later this year - looking for homes in the Tyler Texas area (not sure how far that is from you) also looking in the Phoenix area probably not to far from Andy, and haven’t ruled out Colorado where Bent77 resides. Seems no matter how far you go from here you’re always near a fellow club member, and that’s a good thing.

 

[Gaolee]

You think that's sacreligious??? I've got an offer I'm considering on my Lull.

 

[WillyW]

 

[Miles_ONeal]

That Pink NR is a dream to play. Between the Payson Flats, the fanned frets, the Nordy sidewinders and the John East preamp it darn near plays itself.

I most likely will not be able to hit the GTG this year, so low likely hood it’ll be there. If Marshall hosts next year I’ll bring it then. Otherwise, stay tuned to a move I might be making later this year - looking for homes in the Tyler Texas area (not sure how far that is from you) also looking in the Phoenix area probably not to far from Andy, and haven’t ruled out Colorado where Bent77 resides. Seems no matter how far you go from here you’re always near a fellow club member, and that’s a good thing.

About 5 hours. Not terrible by Texas standards. Too far to drive by most UK standards.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

View attachment 5447005

I hope Bugs isn't delivering those birds!

 

[WillyW]

I hope Bugs isn't delivering those birds!

Would be an improvement over the usual assclowns

 

[Gaolee]

Respectfully, I hope I look that good when I'm 72!

Let alone 92.

 

[_Tay_]

That Pink NR is a dream to play. Between the Payson Flats, the fanned frets, the Nordy sidewinders and the John East preamp it darn near plays itself.

I most likely will not be able to hit the GTG this year, so low likely hood it’ll be there. If Marshall hosts next year I’ll bring it then. Otherwise, stay tuned to a move I might be making later this year - looking for homes in the Tyler Texas area (not sure how far that is from you) also looking in the Phoenix area probably not to far from Andy, and haven’t ruled out Colorado where Bent77 resides. Seems no matter how far you go from here you’re always near a fellow club member, and that’s a good thing.

That pink NR is probably one of the best basses I've ever seen. I know it will sound amazing too with what it has on its build!

 

[TBird1958]

V - I’m finding it increasingly difficult to fight the urge to buy one of these ZSounds custom jobs. What’s your first impression of the new Eppi offering? Is it pretty much identical in sound, and feel to the original VP? Weight? Quality of finish? Is it a limited run of a few hundred or are they making thousands of them?

I’m in love with that purple sparkle beauty but I already have the original run VP in Ebony (that plays fantastic) try and talk me out of another bird purchase.

I like it, yes it's slightly different than the earlier VPs because of the slightly pitched neck, but in term of the action, the Epi '64 can be set up to be just as low as a VP, so I don't care too much about the pitch. The neck on the Epi '64 seems slightly slimmer to me so that's a plus in my book, I like to the pickups in the new one a bit better too, I don't think I'll be changing them on either my Ember Red or the new Sparkle Blue.
The finish and fit seem quite nice on the Ember Red, it came from Sweetwater and they of course give a pretty good once over. The Sparkle Blue came from ZZSounds, it had a little bit of polish resid on it, a quick wipe down took care of that, I also note that the neck pickup tilts slightly to the bridge, so I'll have a closer look at that tonight.

As I said yesterday, the finish really is quite beautiful, but you cannot seen to take a good picture of it, you really have to see it in person.

BTW for all the GTG attendees, I'll now have two Epi Gig Bags to disperse - and some bass shaped wooden Salad tongs

 

[dagrev]

This is definitely a huge part of being a bass player for me. Kind off the hobby aspect and definitely the wallet draining aspect, with all the amps, pickups, to some extent pedals, and definitely basses I have been through I’m still seeking the elusive “perfect” tone, knowing the search is actually never done…

…and mostly, no one else cares….

Perfect tone you say?
Easy. Only two aspects involved.

+

= Perfect tone.

For me anyway.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

View attachment 5447005

au contraire!….fallacy…

 

[Gaolee]

With that Genzler, I believe the HPF/LPF only works with the overdriven signal.

I've been using this:

View attachment 5446535

But now I’m also using this:

View attachment 5446536

The Broughton cuts the lows 12db, the Sine is more severe at 24db, and adds a 3db recovery gain.

I think the 12db of the Broughton was a little soft, but the 24db/octave filter is a hard cut of whatever is on the low side of the dial. I worked directly with Grant at Sine Effect and have one coming with 18db/octave filter, and retaining the 3db recovery gain.

Also, I like the logic of blocking any frequency under like 35hz which is inaudible to us, but with no HPF, the amp might still being trying to amplify it and the energy is being wasted.

My experience with the Broughton is that it’s a noticeable difference, but the Sine makes it obvious and really tightens up the low end on my AD200/OBC115 setup, especially in my rehearsal space where the room is kinda boomy and I’m competing with two guitars and drums, all in lower than E standard tunings.

I have been using a Broughton high and low pass filter for years.

 

[dagrev]

Just wondering what percent of the all alive Thunderbirds are owned by club members. Some of you math-heads get on that please!

 

[dagrev]

prolly the coolest rig of the club….

Has my vote.

 

[Gaolee]

I’m glad I’m not the only one who isn’t a J bass guy.

A Jazz can sound good. I'll happily admit that. I also find that they can be about the worst sounding bass possible at times as well. There are some nasal, whiny, murky light green pond scum sounds that come out of a Jazz that I just can't stand. When a Jazz tries to be midrangy, it fails miserably. A Jazz can be great at barking and being scooped. I think a Thunderbird does both of those better, but that's probably normal around here.

And it's why I don't have a Jazz and never will. That's one (or a dozen) more for other people who can put them to good use.

 

[Gaolee]

Where tf is all the Thunderbird content?

It's all here. We just are as much a bunch of friends as anything at this point. We all play Thunderbirds, so if you have any questions, you will get a whole lot of really good answers, and get them pretty quickly.

 

[Engle]

which one? when it goes to the "tu tu turu tu turu...." part in D?

On the main riff in E. I was having a hard time without playing some ghost notes, but I found this isolated bass track and you can hear he is playing all kinds of ghost notes:
https://www.talkbass.com/threads/hungry-like-the-wolf-tab-needed.676505/#post-23342596
It's definitely a lesson in syncopation!