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Thunderbird Club

#325,682
Gaolee said:
She grew up in Whitechapel, just south of Hackney. I don't recall ever having a problem when visiting there. They seemed to think I was some kind of amusing oddity. London is a snarled up mess when you try to figure out how to get anywhere, but for some reason, I don't get lost easily there. That irritates her a lot.

Cockles and winkles weren't bad, but avoid jellied eels. Jellied eels are just as bad as they sound. My in-laws thought they were food. They were wrong. That was as close to having a problem there as it ever got. It's been about 25 years since we managed to get to London. I'm sure it has changed a lot over that time.
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Huh. I find London pretty easy with a good transit map/now app and transit card. Haven’t been since ‘19. Need to fix that.
 
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#325,683
I’m intrigued. Sushibox gets a lot of love on TB. And Watt is one of my favorites.
Elmstreet

Thread 'Announcement from Sushibox - The Watt'

I saw an announcement from Sushibox on Instagram and I thought I would share. It looks like they're going to be putting a pedal made for Mike Watt into production.

"I've had a handful of messages already asking about this, so I guess I can come right out and talk about it.

Mike Watt has been using a couple of my pedals for a while now, and earlier this year he asked if it would be possible to smash everything together into one box for a convenient all-in-one box for gigging and touring. After considerable back-and -forth and several prototypes, The Watt was born.

The Watt essentially...
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Really don’t need it, but it might be fun to run through the Subway channel’s loop on the TT for something a little different.
 
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#325,690
Miles_ONeal said:
Excellent coverage! The Epi 64 — the latest incarnation of the VP — is hard to find steals on but does have more low end than the VP/60s. I don’t know if the pickups changed but their position changed - closer to the neck. The neck angle also changed but the main impact there is that aftermarket bridges may not go high enough.
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Could you say more about the neck angle change? I've heard the some people prefer the angle on the Vintage Pro, but it's hard to find much discussion. Does it make a big difference for sound/playability?
 
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#325,691
berlihe said:
Could you say more about the neck angle change? I've heard the some people prefer the angle on the Vintage Pro, but it's hard to find much discussion. Does it make a big difference for sound/playability?
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A Vintage Pro and the '60s Thunderbird are the early versions, they don't have a noticeable neck pitch, the Vintage Pro has large Wilkinson tuners, the '60s are slightly smaller. The neck is nice, in Jazz bass territory, as players they're pretty good. I felt that the pickups were a little underwhelming in certain frequencies, lows, and low mids so I have a set of Gibson Re issues in that bass. I also have two of the newer Epi '64 that have more pitch to the neck. I have no idea why this was changed but Epi did shift production from Indonesia to China so this is likely a result of that. In terms of playability I personally don't feel and difference between the two, the necks are very similar with the China built being slightly slimmer to me. The pickups in the China built are different from the original Epiphone 760s, they are not branded as such and definitely have better frequency response overall. While the differences are there I can say that while playing them I don't notice much different in the three I have, they're all good, sturdy basses.

8WsIuoR.jpg


ATFNKsD.jpg
 
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#325,692
MCF said:
Huh. I find London pretty easy with a good transit map/now app and transit card. Haven’t been since ‘19. Need to fix that.
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The first time I went over to visit her family was in 1983 or so. We would go into central London and wander around all day. No map. Just go whatever direction looked most interesting. It was an absolute blast. When it was time to head back, I could find a tube station in the rabbit warren that is London streets. She would get really irritated that I knew where it was, more or less. She may as well have been on the moon. I'm not sure how I navigate, because I do get lost sometimes. Usually, though, I have a very good idea where I am even without a map.
 
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#325,693
Gaolee said:
The first time I went over to visit her family was in 1983 or so. We would go into central London and wander around all day. No map. Just go whatever direction looked most interesting. It was an absolute blast. When it was time to head back, I could find a tube station in the rabbit warren that is London streets. She would get really irritated that I knew where it was, more or less. She may as well have been on the moon. I'm not sure how I navigate, because I do get lost sometimes. Usually, though, I have a very good idea where I am even without a map.
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Well, you were a NY cabbie once. Must be something innate.
 
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#325,694
MCF said:
Well, you were a NY cabbie once. Must be something innate.
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was there last 5 years ago and I'm sure GPS changed things but back in 89 when living there cabbies (and most Londoners) called this "The Knowledge" and apparently it took cab drivers years (5 or so) to learn and they would not be considered "appointed" (they could still drive but not command the full rate) until they passed a pretty stringent test....
1756259027904.png
 
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#325,696
TBird1958 said:
A Vintage Pro and the '60s Thunderbird are the early versions, they don't have a noticeable neck pitch, the Vintage Pro has large Wilkinson tuners, the '60s are slightly smaller. The neck is nice, in Jazz bass territory, as players they're pretty good. I felt that the pickups were a little underwhelming in certain frequencies, lows, and low mids so I have a set of Gibson Re issues in that bass. I also have two of the newer Epi '64 that have more pitch to the neck. I have no idea why this was changed but Epi did shift production from Indonesia to China so this is likely a result of that. In terms of playability I personally don't feel and difference between the two, the necks are very similar with the China built being slightly slimmer to me. The pickups in the China built are different from the original Epiphone 760s, they are not branded as such and definitely have better frequency response overall. While the differences are there I can say that while playing them I don't notice much different in the three I have, they're all good, sturdy basses.

8WsIuoR.jpg


ATFNKsD.jpg
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Agreed. The neck pitch on the 64 doesn’t hurt playability, but it means the strings need to be higher as you get closer to the bridge. That means you have to crank the bridge up, and the pickups as well. If you rest a picking hand finger on the bass body, you will likely notice the height. The 64 pickups indeed bring a little lower heft I missed on the VP.
 
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#325,698
Gaolee said:
The first time I went over to visit her family was in 1983 or so. We would go into central London and wander around all day. No map. Just go whatever direction looked most interesting. It was an absolute blast. When it was time to head back, I could find a tube station in the rabbit warren that is London streets. She would get really irritated that I knew where it was, more or less. She may as well have been on the moon. I'm not sure how I navigate, because I do get lost sometimes. Usually, though, I have a very good idea where I am even without a map.
Click to expand...
I was only in London briefly last Sept, but in my few days I had no or little problem in getting around. The tube was great and between it and maps on the phone I got around easily. It helped that I stayed near an interchange station (Kings Cross / St Pancras) and that Sydney seems to have copied the train / metro maps design and payment system from London - very similar and a comfortable experience.
 
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#325,700
RedVee said:
I was only in London briefly last Sept, but in my few days I had no or little problem in getting around. The tube was great and between it and maps on the phone I got around easily. It helped that I stayed near an interchange station (Kings Cross / St Pancras) and that Sydney seems to have copied the train / metro maps design and payment system from London - very similar and a comfortable experience.
Click to expand...
If you made it to Earls Court, is it still full of Aussies?..,
 
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