Thunderbird Club

[Syd Rayne]

As promised, a side by each sound test of my newly finished Bicentennial BaCH NonReverse Tbird IV vs my Gibson 1979 Bicentennial Reverse Tbird. Both on identical settings but the BaCH has TI Power Bass rounds and the Reverse has nickel rounds of some unknown type. Pay no attention to those black screws on the NR, my nickel screws are on back order.


Bicentennial Tbird
View attachment 7394223


Bicentennial BaCH NR IV
View attachment 7394222
PS - ignore those clams on the NR recording, I had the action set super low, will bump it up a tad tomorrow.

To my ears, in monitor-style headphones, the BaCH sounds a bit less muffled. If that's a thing. The Bicentennial is good - but kinda dull in comparison. Almost like there was a thin blanket over the speaker cab. Or as if the tone knob was rolled back 50%. I am assuming the pickups are essentially the same - and only the strings are different? I run 500k pots in my 'Birds just to brighten things up.

 

[Gaolee]

As promised, a side by each sound test of my newly finished Bicentennial BaCH NonReverse Tbird IV vs my Gibson 1979 Bicentennial Reverse Tbird. Both on identical settings but the BaCH has TI Power Bass rounds and the Reverse has nickel rounds of some unknown type. Pay no attention to those black screws on the NR, my nickel screws are on back order.
View attachment 7394217

Bicentennial Tbird
View attachment 7394223


Bicentennial BaCH NR IV
View attachment 7394222
PS - ignore those clams on the NR recording, I had the action set super low, will bump it up a tad tomorrow.
PSS - I need a Bicentennial Tbird logo to complete the picture. Where’s Irv when you need him?

Sounds like the strings on the '79 were getting a little well used, relative. I like 'em both.

 

[dagrev]

 

[Stealth57]

As promised, a side by each sound test of my newly finished Bicentennial BaCH NonReverse Tbird IV vs my Gibson 1979 Bicentennial Reverse Tbird. Both on identical settings but the BaCH has TI Power Bass rounds and the Reverse has nickel rounds of some unknown type. Pay no attention to those black screws on the NR, my nickel screws are on back order.
View attachment 7394217

Bicentennial Tbird
View attachment 7394223


Bicentennial BaCH NR IV
View attachment 7394222
PS - ignore those clams on the NR recording, I had the action set super low, will bump it up a tad tomorrow.
PSS - I need a Bicentennial Tbird logo to complete the picture. Where’s Irv when you need him?

What the kid from Brooklyn said.

 

[GBassNorth]

The BaCH is so much brighter. I think you need to do another demo of them with the same exact strings in the same exact condition!

Both basses were set at max tone, max bridge and the neck pup rolled on just enough to thicken it up.

I was specifically doing octaves to highlight both the top and bottom end differences. To my ears the bottom end on on each bass is very similar, but the BaCH has more top end content. I attribute most of that to the strings and part of it to the pots and possibly the tone cap.

The strings on the BaCH are fresh right out of the box, I have no idea what strings are on the 1979 or how old they are, my guess is broken in but still good nickels. The pots on the BaCH are 500/500/250, no idea what’s on the 1979 but Marshall seems to think 250K on all three which would noticeably darken things up as well. Then there’s the tone cap. The 1979 has a .047uf cap. IIRC I had the variable tone cap on the BaCH set at the same value but there’s an outside chance it might have been set at .022uf during the recording since I was testing different settings.

It would be interesting to back into the tone match from the other end. Instead of setting each bass up with identical volume and tone values, just do whatever it takes to get them to sound the same and then note the setting I end up with on each one. If I get time to do that today I’ll give it a try.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

It's a must have. I even read on TB somewhere that it affects the tone!

Not a priority, but I'm so used to seeing tug bars, when I don't a Thunderbird looks naked.

And that's a problem?

 

[Miles_ONeal]

This is an old pic but don't think it will be helpful.
View attachment 7394035

This is perfect! You can clearly see that both pots are <solder>K ohms and <blob> taper!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

It's a Manhattan.

I'd have bet money it was!

 

[Miles_ONeal]

As promised, a side by each sound test of my newly finished Bicentennial BaCH NonReverse Tbird IV vs my Gibson 1979 Bicentennial Reverse Tbird. Both on identical settings but the BaCH has TI Power Bass rounds and the Reverse has nickel rounds of some unknown type. Pay no attention to those black screws on the NR, my nickel screws are on back order.
View attachment 7394217

Bicentennial Tbird
View attachment 7394223


Bicentennial BaCH NR IV
View attachment 7394222
PS - ignore those clams on the NR recording, I had the action set super low, will bump it up a tad tomorrow.
PSS - I need a Bicentennial Tbird logo to complete the picture. Where’s Irv when you need him?

Are the pickup heights the same relative to the strings?
I had a slight preference for the Gibson. It looks like part of the difference may be due to pickup locations but the bodies and bridges/nuts play into tone as well (to a lesser extent).

 

[Miles_ONeal]

"A Christmas Carol" except I'm visited by three TB Gen Pop bassists who try to convince me a Thunderbird is a headstock-diving, one trick pony that verily sucketh.

 

[GBassNorth]

Ok here’s take two with the Gibson Bicentennial and the BaCH Bicentennial.

Both sound very similar on my amp and in my recording monitors BUT the volume level on the Gibson is noticeably higher than the BaCH so the only difference in the two recordings is that I had to adjust the recording volume of each bass to reach parody (Gibby came down a bit to keep it from clipping and BaCH went up a bit to match Gibby recording volume).

Both basses have the tone knob full on, the bridge full on and the neck just rolled in for warmth at approximately 2. The caps are all set at .047uf on both basses. I did a repeate of the first test and followed that with a short riff on the high end (high G with melodic fills on the D and A strings).

All observations welcome (just stick to the sound and not my cruddy playing)…

These two recordings are from the same bass at the same settings - Is it Gibby or BaCH?

These two recordings are from the other bass - is it BaCH or Gibby?

 

[JIO]

@JIO I saw where there were serious power issues near you. Mission St substation I think was mentioned. Hope all is well.
Funny thing was in the outage killed a bunch of driver-less cars dead in the streets. Not funny for those inconvenienced, however.

Luckily enough for us, where we live in the Mission SF has been spared. (no power outage, so far) A couple weeks ago there was a short midday outage on our street and when I walked to the front room I saw that the street-lights were out. A driverless car was waiting at the intersection, waiting for a green light which wasn't going to happen. Cars honked and then drove around it. The tech "geniuses" failed to take a power outage into account ~

 

[Stealth57]

Ok here’s take two with the Gibson Bicentennial and the BaCH Bicentennial.

Both sound very similar on my amp and in my recording monitors BUT the volume level on the Gibson is noticeably higher than the BaCH so the only difference in the two recordings is that I had to adjust the recording volume of each bass to reach parody (Gibby came down a bit to keep it from clipping and BaCH went up a bit to match Gibby recording volume).

Both basses have the tone knob full on, the bridge full on and the neck just rolled in for warmth at approximately 2. The caps are all set at .047uf on both basses. I did a repeate of the first test and followed that with a short riff on the high end (high G with melodic fills on the D and A strings).

All observations welcome (just stick to the sound and not my cruddy playing)…

These two recordings are from the same bass at the same settings - Is it Gibby or BaCH?
View attachment 7394372
View attachment 7394373


These two recordings are from the other bass - is it BaCH or Gibby?
View attachment 7394374
View attachment 7394375

First pair Gibby.

 

[GBassNorth]

"A Christmas Carol" except I'm visited by three TB Gen Pop bassists who try to convince me a Thunderbird is a headstock-diving, one trick pony that verily sucketh.

I think I read somewhere on the internet that Jacob, Bob Marley’s brother, used to play bass in his brothers reggae band. His bass of choice was the Thunderbird up until that horrible accident when the headstock flew off and struck some poor little kid in the audience named Tim right across the kneecaps. The kids been a cripple ever since.

 

[Stealth57]

Luckily enough for us, where we live in the Mission SF has been spared. (no power outage, so far) A couple weeks ago there was a short midday outage on our street and when I walked to the front room I saw that the street-lights were out. A driverless car was waiting at the intersection, waiting for a green light which wasn't going to happen. Cars honked and then drove around it. The tech "geniuses" failed to take a power outage into account ~

Somewhere in India or Latvia there are coders trying to tell Waymo that a signal with no lights = a stop sign.

 

[RedVee]

Luckily enough for us, where we live in the Mission SF has been spared. (no power outage, so far) A couple weeks ago there was a short midday outage on our street and when I walked to the front room I saw that the street-lights were out. A driverless car was waiting at the intersection, waiting for a green light which wasn't going to happen. Cars honked and then drove around it. The tech "geniuses" failed to take a power outage into account ~

I guess they never thought “proceed with caution” is a valid option

 

[GonePlaid]

I did manage to "score" a Bag End Q10 X-D, deep version 4x10.
I know. But it's a taller, better design, and sounds absolutely stupid.
Edit: ...and for half what I paid for the Ampeg...

"Happy hernia to you,..."

 

[Engle]

As promised, a side by each sound test of my newly finished Bicentennial BaCH NonReverse Tbird IV vs my Gibson 1979 Bicentennial Reverse Tbird. Both on identical settings but the BaCH has TI Power Bass rounds and the Reverse has nickel rounds of some unknown type. Pay no attention to those black screws on the NR, my nickel screws are on back order.
View attachment 7394217

Bicentennial Tbird
View attachment 7394223


Bicentennial BaCH NR IV
View attachment 7394222
PS - ignore those clams on the NR recording, I had the action set super low, will bump it up a tad tomorrow.
PSS - I need a Bicentennial Tbird logo to complete the picture. Where’s Irv when you need him?

I'll have a look around for the Bicentennial logo - pretty sure I could make a decal like that. I'll PM you.

 

[GonePlaid]

Are the pickup heights the same relative to the strings?
I had a slight preference for the Gibson. It looks like part of the difference may be due to pickup locations but the bodies and bridges/nuts play into tone as well (to a lesser extent).

Need purple silks.

 

[GonePlaid]

Ok here’s take two with the Gibson Bicentennial and the BaCH Bicentennial.

Both sound very similar on my amp and in my recording monitors BUT the volume level on the Gibson is noticeably higher than the BaCH so the only difference in the two recordings is that I had to adjust the recording volume of each bass to reach parody (Gibby came down a bit to keep it from clipping and BaCH went up a bit to match Gibby recording volume).

Both basses have the tone knob full on, the bridge full on and the neck just rolled in for warmth at approximately 2. The caps are all set at .047uf on both basses. I did a repeate of the first test and followed that with a short riff on the high end (high G with melodic fills on the D and A strings).

All observations welcome (just stick to the sound and not my cruddy playing)…

These two recordings are from the same bass at the same settings - Is it Gibby or BaCH?
View attachment 7394372
View attachment 7394373


These two recordings are from the other bass - is it BaCH or Gibby?
View attachment 7394374
View attachment 7394375

Yes.(X2)