Thunderbird Club

[MCF]

Has anyone heard from @Klondike ? He hasn't been on TB for almost a year.

Nope. He, Willy and PillO, just to name a few, have been missed lately.

 

[Nocturnal]

Has anyone heard from @Klondike ? He hasn't been on TB for almost a year.

I see posts from him on Facebook, but mostly on his personal page with occasional posts in the Tbird group. Seems to be doing well.

 

[JJR58]

This man right here.
Was not goodbye. But see ya next time.
Thank you Ken.

 

[BklynKen]

Plus it is compatible with the color scheme of your board. Shallow is a calling.

Indeed.

 

[JIO]

It can. I do have a Zoom multi effects pedal I got some years back but don’t mess with it except for the drum beat feature on occasion. Learning what my different basses can do through the amps I have has been my medium term goal. If I had the ability and patience to learn more of Squire’s lines, I would be more apt to chase his tone with phasers and the like. But not for now.

I have a ZOOM multi-effect unit also... in a box - haven't used it for years, but it is fun.

Not mine... and mostly the same - I'll have to dig mine out.

 

[Engle]

This is supposed to be like the originals. Scott Dasson's bro-in-law worked at MXR back then prior to S. Duncan (knows what they did back then), and is now one of the main players at Whirlwind. Maybe the Big Cheese, I don't recall exactly. I have tried a few phasers, and none click for me like my old 90. If it were to die and it was not fixable, I would buy one of these. I have found nothing that sounds as rich as the old 90. But there are many I have not tired. Like the ungodly expensive ones!

The "Orange Box" Phaser

I’ve got a really nice

Have you made them for the modern T-bird pickups? I believe they are the exact size.
Or if anybody has found the "blueprints" (for a lack of a better term, I mean the info one'd need for 3-D printing) online let me know.

As far as I know all the plastic covers are one size and the chrome covers are another smaller size. I’ve made trim spacers for chrome covers.
It’s just a matter of getting the correct radius for the inside and outside corners and drawing them in CAD software, then saving as an STL file.
I use free online software called Tinkercad.
Are you thinking of getting them printed in plastic?

 

[Gaolee]

The fretless 'bird has a little raggedness around the pickup routes. I plan to put the Alumatones back in and will probably see if I can find black plastic rings. They will need a bit of shaping, but that is OK since plastic yields to a file just fine. But that is later. I have to reassemble it first. That process has started. The wiring had a switch but will be wired like a stack knob J or maybe a Les Paul with the switch removed. I think there are parts lying around to do that. I am not sure about a cap, though.

 

[BklynKen]

Pickup rings?

 

[dagrev]

What do you like the phase 90 for? I’ve seen a few bass players that had this as their only pedal. What’s the magic?

Like I'm going to spill that secret all over the interwebs! I use it mostly for slower songs where notes tend to linger more and can be uninteresting just hanging out there. Seems to add some noticeable texture, for lack of a better term. I've tried chorus' and flangers, but the Phase 90, in particular, just sounds right to me. It adds something without going all outer space sounding. I never could tell a chorus was doing anything in a live mix. Great for a solo or being at home and likely recording, but they just disappeared live. Flangers just sounded to "flangerie." For me, a good phaser (and they are not created equal) is that Goldie Locks zone.

 

[dagrev]

Yah, chorus and tremolo & Uni Vibe make things fun also. For my live rig I use every pedal ver a set, even if briefly for punctuation. With our quartet's I fill in some rhythm/second guitar voids using select effects.

I tried a delay a few times, but I never got it to work for me. They sound great--maybe a must have--if I played guitar.

 

[Engle]

I always thought DeCola pickups were a different size from the usual Thunderbird pickups. As I recall, they dropped right in for somebody. I suspect that any pickup ring that fits a Thunderbird pickup will work.

Decolas come in the larger plastic covers, but they fit in the chrome covers.

 

[dagrev]

No, we're going to heist you to the West Coast and goad you into trying them, you know, peer pressure.
They just slide right down

You couldn't get me to drink that much! Even that "they just slide right down" made me gag. Yuck!

 

[dagrev]

The Phase 95 has old and new style 45 and 90 sounds. It's a cool, versatile pedal, but I could never get the depth out of it that one hears in "Stranglehold". I eventually realized I was trying to replace my dead Ross flanger, and no phaser was going to do that so I went with the Walrus Audio Polychrome flanger. It had great reviews; I trust Walrus; I played it at GC and bought it on the spot. I almost kept the 95 because you can do cool stuff with a flanger and phaser together, but I didn't really need it.
Side benefit: The Polychrome is a gorgeous, trippy-looking pedal!

View attachment 7091636

Yes--Stranglehold and David Gilmore are the first examples the come to mind for the old 90.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

The fretless 'bird has a little raggedness around the pickup routes. I plan to put the Alumatones back in and will probably see if I can find black plastic rings. They will need a bit of shaping, but that is OK since plastic yields to a file just fine. But that is later. I have to reassemble it first. That process has started. The wiring had a switch but will be wired like a stack knob J or maybe a Les Paul with the switch removed. I think there are parts lying around to do that. I am not sure about a cap, though.

I probably have the cap value you need.

 

[JIO]

I tried a delay a few times, but I never got it to work for me. They sound great--maybe a must have--if I played guitar.

I was in an improv trio in the '90s and both the guitarist and I used various delay and looper pedals - so much fun! I still have all of them but just not for my current bands.

On this one "Sara", I looped an excerpt from a classical operatic piece and Konstantine & I played along with it getting idea's. I came up with a repeat pattern and used a fretless bass to record my part - one take after comparing a few fretless basses I had at the time. Once we determined the length (11:26 - it was over 13mins long) we brought in a tabla player and he added his magic to that length w/no editing - also one take. It's a good piece to put on 'repeat' and mellow out to - very zen.



This one is an example of us both using delay pedals as on-the-fly manipulatable 'loopers' to create the bed of the piece.

 

[Thumper]

Does anyone have a 70s or 80s Greco that also has a 90s Greco and can compare them? Different, the same, (tonewise)?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I see posts from him on Facebook, but mostly on his personal page with occasional posts in the Tbird group. Seems to be doing well.

Who is he on fb?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Does anyone have a 70s or 80s Greco that also has a 90s Greco and can compare them? Different, the same, etc.?

I suspect you meant earlier 80s but discounting wear, my 88 and 90 are identical apart from paint and the bits Willy replaced on the 88 and the Gibson TRC someone put on the 90. The s/n is punched/painted more cleanly on the 88. Sound, looks, feel are basically identical. Sorry there’s not more year spread.

 

[Engle]

Like I'm going to spill that secret all over the interwebs! I use it mostly for slower songs where notes tend to linger more and can be uninteresting just hanging out there. Seems to add some noticeable texture, for lack of a better term. I've tried chorus' and flangers, but the Phase 90, in particular, just sounds right to me. It adds something without going all outer space sounding. I never could tell a chorus was doing anything in a live mix. Great for a solo or being at home and likely recording, but they just disappeared live. Flangers just sounded to "flangerie." For me, a good phaser (and they are not created equal) is that Goldie Locks zone.

I know what you mean with chorus. I have accidentally left my chorus on and not noticed for few songs….
I’ve managed to dial up a really nice phaser on my Source Audio Manta and saved the preset. I’ll have to record it sometime.

 

[Thumper]

⁶

I suspect you meant earlier 80s but discounting wear, my 88 and 90 are identical apart from paint and the bits Willy replaced on the 88 and the Gibson TRC someone put on the 90. The s/n is punched/painted more cleanly on the 88. Sound, looks, feel are basically identical. Sorry there’s not more year spread.

I'm curious to know if there was a change in the pickups between the early and later models.