Thunderbird Club

[Gaolee]

Just finished the song. It went quite well except for a big flub. I recovered quickly, fortunately.

Performing felt really nice.

Nice! If you don't mess up the groove, nobody in the audience will notice a mistake. The band needs to keep track. First to 100 wins!

 

[Gaolee]

Speaking of bass amps.
Here’s my first amp. I still have it.
The Epi amp can be seen just to the far right of the picture.
I was 15 at the time…who remembers black light posters?
Cheers!
View attachment 7447647 View attachment 7447648

Not only do i remember the whole black light thing, I have a UV dive light. It came out to play last night. Algae, seaweed, and all kinds of other little bits light up. Psychedelia at 45 feet.

 

[Stealth57]

Opening act

Update: my mistake, it was a 15 minute sound check. Some FOH issues.

 

[MCF]

Speaking of the 2014s, both satin finish heritage cherry, what would be a good product to spruce up the finishes? AI says Music Nomad Detailer or Taylor Satin Cleaner....

Music Nomad products are good. But I generally use the Gibson polish in the pump bottle. I just assume it’s formulated to work well on nitro finishes.
https://www.sweetwater.com/store/de...RYq72idpB0z-HWGgOj60HsNHj1rXDHqAaAtrREALw_wcB

 

[Stealth57]

Sound check

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I would say that they have a very similar "baked in" sound which is a big plus for me, the Trace just sounds great with a bass plugged in, no pedals needed to get great tone. I found very small adjustment to the EQ panel made a big difference. My only problem with it is that at least three times playing live it has gone intermittent, and then come back, which becomes an issue that needs addressing. Chuck has looked it over and found nothing wrong with it, which great, but now that I have the Ashdown 300 the Trace will be my practice amp paired with an SWR 4x10 in my upstairs guitar room.
The Ashdown is robust and is loud enough with plenty of headroom for show my band will take on, we always run the bass thru the FOH so no need for a real high wattage amp, it sounds good on stage and downstairs in the rehearsal room.
The FOH guy at Aurora Borealis is quite good, the last few times we've played there he's had me sounding pretty clear and articulate, not boomy, the lows are rolled back a bit which really helps the clarity onstage and out front
Here's the EQ presently, I have the "shape" engaged, the input volume is way down as almost every bass I own will peg the input VU much past this, Live, I play hard. Output volume varies.

This from a the most recent show, from the far side of the stage - I'm using my fingers only.


Same night, other side of the stage with a pick, I like the bit of klank!

They both sound great.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Thought I got banned from posting or something...

That can be arranged…

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Yeah. I was at a meeting with a biologist from the Dept. of Fish and Wildlife this morning and came back to nothing. Had me freaking out.

I was playing bass this morning so missed the TB excitement.
Pre-service jam was Katy Perry’s Hot n Cold (slightly modded lyrics). Simple but fun. (One can do a lot with simple patterns.)

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats (EBCF) are very popular in the Tbird club here. IMHO they bring out just the right amount of zing on the top end yet still retain all that great bottom end you expect from a flat. To my ears, they are the most round wound sounding flat I’ve heard, but still have that unmistakable flat wound sound. I have them on a number of my Tbirds. Besides, how can you go wrong with purple silks!

I tried them because of just such descriptions, and fell hard for them.

I think that may be how I first found TalkBass and Thunderbird Club — googling best flats for Thunderbirds.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Tonight(Saturday)was the big band [5 saxes, 4 trombones, 4 trumpets, piano, drums, bass, vocalist] gig. First time reading charts since 12/2024. Couple of clams, partly due to awkward writing; partly due to 'rust'. I doubt if anyone-including the band-noticed besides me. Epi Embassy>Rumble 100. No FOH, as usual. Plenty for the gig. Decent chunk of change in my pocket for the effort. Prolly another 14 months 'til another reading gig.

Yay except for the last bit.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

It 100% walks the walk!

Used it on this recording -

Sounds great. Also, I could listen to Cherie sing most anything.

 

[Stealth57]

I tried them because of just such descriptions, and fell hard for them.

I think that may be how I first found TalkBass and Thunderbird Club — googling best flats for Thunderbirds.

They were on the CP I bought and went, wow, nice! Now on 3 basses.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

My understanding is the stated impedance of any cab is not a fixed number throughout the frequency range.
If the amp tested good with a 4 ohm load, I would guess that 610 cab is presenting less than a 4 ohm load at some frequencies.
And in real world playing the amp doesn't have enough headroom to work with that 4 ohm cab. It might be fine with another one.

Yes. It’s always a nominal impedance.

 

[Stealth57]

Let’s do this*

* stolen from Chucky

 

[JIO]

Let’s do this*

View attachment 7448847
* stolen from Chucky

I was able to dial the house Rumble 500 (Dave clued me on how to set it neutral 10-2-2-10 and for once really liked my tone on stage - I hope it sounded as good in the house. I had the L2K active switch engaged (middle of passive/active/active boost) and both pu's. Fat bass with mid/treble definition. The new G- string was a bit zingy... can I hear an ahem for a zingy G-string?

No, I'm not miming John Travolta! I was trying to get the sound-person's attention to cut the canned music so we could start our set, which started with this spy instrumental -

 

[JIO]

Sounds great. Also, I could listen to Cherie sing most anything.

Thanks - that great Adele song and Sheryl Crow's "Tomorrow Never Dies" are two of our best delivered Bond songs. Cherie does have a great set of pipes...

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I was able to dial the house Rumble 500 (Dave clued me on how to set it neutral 10-2-2-10 and for once really liked my tone on stage - I hope it sounded as good in the house. I had the L2K active switch engaged (middle of passive/active/active boost) and both pu's. Fat bass with mid/treble definition. The new G- string was a bit zingy... can I hear an ahem for a zingy G-string?

No, I'm not miming John Travolta! I was trying to get the sound-person's attention to cut the canned music so we could start our set, which started with this Spy instrumental -

Very cool take. Nailed the 5/4, too.

 

[JIO]

Let’s do this*

View attachment 7448847
* stolen from Chucky

New drummer Scott came dressed in black (basic symphonic musician attire) with a hot-pink bow-tie and vest (and some wild drug-dealer shades!) He had it goin' on.

 

[dagrev]

well this was supposed to be posted earlier today. The outage seemed to have delayed that... hah!


Practice sounded good! Still a lot of zing on these, but I heard more of the bitey growl I was wanting for. Gonna rock these for a few weeks and let them settle in. So far so good!

They are nice strings. Loved them on VPs, but made my fingers hurt.

 

[dagrev]

Thought I got banned from posting or something...

You did. We all pitched in and put up internet bail for you.