Thunderbird Club

[Chucky Stiletti]

Winter's is pretty small. @JIO uses a 115 PF with his 550 Spyder. Plenty loud.

<sigh>......whyI'm asking....

 

[Miles_ONeal]

FYI those won't fit in your VP.

Right. Those are for standard Epi bolt-ons (I think they are called Thunderbird E1 now), which for whatever reason have pickups that are wider and not as tall.

 

[BassBeginer64]

I am staying in the chrome versions

 

[BassBeginer64]

T Bird Bass Pickups – Nine One Six Pickups

www.916pickups.com

Yeah I contacted them also ....... the standard they sell are 9000/10000 but wrote me that they can go 10000/11000 resistance. Or higher if requested

 

[JJR58]

If it’s the 210 that goes with the micro SVT, I believe it’s also a sealed cabinet and it may put me in the same boat. Plus it might be too narrow, so the head would be wider than the cabinet (I hate that).

The new Venture cabs are ported, but the 210 and 212 are 8 ohm.

The Mesa 212 is probably the very best choice but it it super pricey and, I’m actually wanting something that will fit in the trunk of my car, and the Mesa is a little too deep and wide to be able to tuck in my trunk with the rest of the gear I would take to a gig.

I think the GK Neo IV vertical 212 is going to do the trick. It’s an 800 watt cab, so there’s plenty of power handling for the 600w H.O.D. It’s front ported, it’s 43 lbs. which isn’t super lightweight but it is lighter than the combined weight of two Ashdown cabs I’m returning. It’s just a bit wider than the head, so it will look right at home up on top, and by my measurements it should tuck right up in my trunk and leave plenty of room for the head, two thunderbirds, my small pedalboard case, stands, and tiny TC Thrust 500 backup head.

Heard great things about the new Neo IV’s.
Especially the 12’s.
I’ve always been a big fan of 12’s.
This little Eich 112XS is awesome.
It’s always rough finding the right combination of head and cab/s.

I can always add another cab, which is the beauty of going small.

 

[Stealth57]

<sigh>......whyI'm asking....

JMB playing there? That's a bit of a trek for you all.

 

[BassBeginer64]

Like the sound of these, but what string, pots , cap, and amp, I cant trust vids anymore, but I do like the tone on this one.

Devastator Thunderbird bass pickup, 4 or 5 string, alnico 8, modern tone

Devastator Thunderbird bass pickup, 4 or 5 string, alnico 8, modern tone

www.geminipickups.co.uk

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

JMB playing there? That's a bit of a trek for you all.

no JMB is not playing there (no pay) but have been there often and just asking to get a reference....be nice to hear Ringhammer....

 

[Ringhammer]

These are close to the T-Bird 2012, but Gibson sells them at $130 ea

Thunderbird Bass for Original Epiphone,With Gibson Thunderbi

www.eyguitarmusic.com

I was suggesting the Gibson Vintage Re-issue A5 pickups. The chrome ones. The ones you referenced are like the “Modern” re-issue ceramic pickups, black plastic.

Also been looking at Gemini in the UK
Thunderbird Bass Pickups

I have their “Devastator” sets on two of mine and I love them, but they are HOT!!! Good grit and also big lows, I really like mine.

what do you typically use at Winters?...

I have used everything there, even a full SVT/810 once (ridiculous, but it’s all I had at the time).

I have used my Orange AD200 and 1x OBC115 and liked it but had to pull back a lot on the Bass knob to dial out the boom.

Recently, the last half dozen or so times I played there I used my Orange TB500 and 2 x OBC112’s (rear ported). This was a pretty good for the room but, believe it or not, I felt like I pushed it right to the edge to be where I wanted to be, both with Bad Lemon (3 pc) and with Red Sun Ruins (4 pc, lower tunings). This is what stared me down with the plan to slightly upsize my small venue live rig. Those cabinets have already been sold and the head is listed.

After playing the ABM H.O.D. through my ported 212 last night, I know I’m making the right choice with the GK 212 front ported cab. And I removed all doubt I had stirring up about the ABM head, it sounded glorious through that cab. The ABM neos are already on the way back and the GK is on its way, and should be here by Wednesday.

Shout out to Sweetwater, specifically Damien Hyde, for setting me up and giving me a great deal, and, most importantly, dealing with me and my fussiness, or in other words my PITA-ness!

 

[JIO]

Winter's is pretty small. @JIO uses a 115 PF with his 550 Spyder. Plenty loud.

Sufficiently loud, and never turned up past 10-12:00 - if you can't make-out the lyrics, the band is too loud = amateur hour

 

[TBird1958]

After selling my 2012 Gibson Thunderbird, I ended up with sellers remorse.
so I ended up buying a Epiphone ventage thunderbird to try to fill the gap at $450, these are ok bass's, just nothing like a Gibson - go figure - duh pricewise. very different sounding it kept reminding me of a beefy jazz tone, added my TI flats to get some thud, not a fan 760's pickups, just bright, realizing this I get why they used 250k pots and the .047 cap to tone down the brightness, due to this I might go a head and try those EYGUITAR Thunderbird pickups with the low cost to invest in a $450 bass, I have been looking for any You tube vid on these and come up with nothing.

View attachment 7278169

I replaced the 760s with Gibson Re-issues, best move for a reasonable price, they sound great and drop right in. I left the pots and cap stock, very happy with the results.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

7retless 7ri.....

 

[Engle]

View attachment 7278217View attachment 7278218
I’m pretty sure the black PG is a stock PG. less sure of the white one.

With the bird way down in the bout like that, they both look stock for Greco.

 

[GonePlaid]

Only 'Bird Friday (w/ Coffin(TM) Case)

 

[bylar13]

For the Ashdown curious:

Ashdown 550 Spyder Mid 2000’s | Reverb

 

[GBassNorth]

After updating:
both of mine have:
B500k (Linear taper) Vol
A250k (Audio taper) Tone

Capacitor.047 on both now.

That’s pretty much my starting point on all my Tbirds builds. Except I personally prefer audio taper on the volume knob as well as the tone knob.

I did a no-load mod on a 250K pot for my EB project. I'm going to try it on the mudbucker.

Just never been a fan of no loads on bass, yes on guitar. I’m not fond of the bright hump and volume jump you get when you pass 8 or 9 on the volume pot.

I'm not sure about the very early ones with a black pickup, but any of the 60's/early70's EBO and EB3s with the pickup against the fingerboard will produce lots of sub bass. My wife rarely comments on the sound of any other bass, but she'll tell me various parts of the house were rattling - "you were playing the EBO weren't you?"

I might have to get me one of them vintage EBO thangs one of these days.

I've eaten it - tastes a lot like chicken.


But then, I love large Crustaceans.

You’re gonna need a bigger pot!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Is this one of the good Epi Birds? Seems like a good price, but I have to admit that I don't really understand the differences between all the various Epi Birds.

No, that’s not one of the good ones. It’s one of the GREAT ones!
At a pretty good price too.

Hey George. A new treat arrived early this morning. Date covered in sesame and stuffed with tahini.

Looks great! What’s Tahini?

As I hear them, the Chinabuckers have more bass, low mids, 760s have more mid, hi-mid, and highs.

I hear the same thing with the Chinabuckers vs 760’s, but would also add that I hear more bass and low mids plus more overall content and complexity with the Gibson Ri-issues than I do the Chinabuckers.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

For the Ashdown curious:

Ashdown 550 Spyder Mid 2000’s | Reverb

Good price...

 

[GBassNorth]

@Engle
Happy birthday brother! Wishing you many many more!

I was just up in your, Veronica’s and Will’s neck of the woods (kinda - around Sand Point Idaho) for the last week. Beautiful country. Met one of my nephew in laws that came out to visit from Seattle and is looking to get into more bass playing for his worship band. He really loves the look of the NR but has never heard or played a Thunderbird before. He lives in Shoreline Washington if that’s close to any of you Seattle bird brains maybe you could connect with him if he needs more Tbird info.

 

[Stealth57]

Looks great! What’s Tahini?

Sesame paste. You grind sesame with a stone wheel at low temperature so you don’t heat the paste. Think of smooth, creamy peanut butter that tastes like sesame.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

trippy (uncommon in powered mixers) class G amp on this boasting 350W per channel at 4 Ohm (will drive 2Ohm) making it pretty heavy....the problem is with the rail switching logic not turning on the high voltage rail when needed.....quirky design from Canadian manufacturer, Yorkville (no offense intended Irv) making the repair questionable (bench time) from a price perspective when you can pick these up used for under 500 bucks.....another way out is to just use the control surface but the it would have to be stationary (rehearsal spot or studio) since it makes no sense carrying such a heavy item and not exploit its power amp......then again, the owner wants it fixed since it was a present from his late wife to replace a stolen one...... maybe tell his current wife to buy him the replacement to this one?....... muzos can be so
goofy......