Thunderbird Club

[GonePlaid]

Same here but I think mine expires in mid-2027.

Hurry! Don't let it go to waist...er, waste.

 

[TBird1958]

Have you made off with the Rivoli yet?

Noooo.........I'm not there until Sunday!
Got most of my hair shaved off today, have a nice Mohawk now.

 

[GBassNorth]

cool tuning trick replacing the ribbon cables (like on right) with single wires......because the design happens to coincidentally split the PCBs at the tube high impedance points, wiggling them around could definitely be a very cool way to tune these model amps since the wires are insulated and most are decoupled audio paths (lesser shock hazard) Also, since they are solid, they would stay (when done wiggling/coupling more so than stranded.....
View attachment 7513334View attachment 7513335

I’ve heard there’s a real art to wiring an amp and knowing which wires to bundle or twist together and where to route and not route certain wires to obtain the best sound and performance. Dont know if that’s actually true, but it looks like you’re doing something similar with the single wire vs ribbon wire application. Very cool.

How would you compare it to a VP/64 pickup?

Hard to say since the VP is so rarely played.

I have all three (and a number of others) here’s my take on the relative differences…

On a scale of dark to bright - I’d put the Reissue on the darker side and the VP on the brighter side with the 64 in the middle.
So ranked from darkest to brightest I’d list them (along with a few others for reference) as:
Stock Goth - 10
TB+ - 9
Reissue and Greco - 8
64 - 7
VP - 6
ChinaBucker - 5

On a scale of more rich and full vs less rich and full - I’d put the Reissue towards the rich and full end and the VP towards the lesser end with the 64 in the middle.
So ranked from most rich and full to less rich and full I’d list them (along with a few others for reference) as:
Greco - 9
TB+ - 8
Stock Goth - 7
Reissue - 7
64 - 6
VP - 5
Chinabucker - 4

Keep in mind, many of these rankings are splitting hairs and string selections can impact results dramatically.

 

[JIO]

That means it is fine until 3028.

 

[RedVee]

It actually just has pork shoulder and ham. No more hooves and tails. Ah, the good old days!

My Dad used to talk about people that didn’t waste anything of the pigs they slaughtered.

“They ate everything except the oink”

 

[GBassNorth]

@Miles_ONeal
You mentioned adding the wiring schematics I used for the BlingBird to the Wiki page - the same wiring will work with any bass where you want to have dedicated stacked volume/tone controls and specific tone caps for each pickup.

 

[MCF]

The new space shared with Thunder Road is beyond beautiful, Frank Gross did an absolutely amazing job of putting it together - worth a visit!

This is just The Bass Shop's side..

Wow.

 

[GBassNorth]

@Miles_ONeal
Just in case you want it, here’s the wiring diagram for the EB/GB bass I just completed that combines a 1960 EB Mudbucker (with period correct control wiring modded to a stacked knob configuration) with custom capped Goth pickups and stacked pots in a three pickup configuration with a LP pickup selector and latching kill switch…

 

[TBird1958]

@Miles_ONeal
Just in case you want it, here’s the wiring diagram for the EB/GB bass I just completed that combines a 1960 EB Mudbucker (with period correct control wiring modded to a stacked knob configuration) with custom capped Goth pickups and stacked pots in a three pickup configuration with a LP pickup selector and latching kill switch…
View attachment 7513880

Send me the one for a '76, I really need to have a look at both of mine.

 

[GBassNorth]

Send me the one for a '76, I really need to have a look at both of mine.

I’ll sketch up a correct one and post it tomorrow. The correct wiring made a HUGE difference in the sound of Marshall’s bicentennial. I think his was wired per a schematic floating around on the internet that isn’t quite correct. I gotta say, I’m lovin my 1979. It’s every bit as good if not better than my 1967 NR.
That said, my first gen BaCH which I converted to a full on bicentennial with vintage 1976 pickups and period correct wiring sounds nice but not as good as the 1979. Makes me wonder if the pickups were a bit different between 1976 and 1979.

 

[JIO]

I’ll sketch up a correct one and post it tomorrow. The correct wiring made a HUGE difference in the sound of Marshall’s bicentennial. I think his was wired per a schematic floating around on the internet that isn’t quite correct. I gotta say, I’m lovin my 1979. It’s every bit as good if not better than my 1967 NR.

It rocks like only a T-bird can

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I’ve heard there’s a real art to wiring an amp and knowing which wires to bundle or twist together and where to route and not route certain wires to obtain the best sound and performance. Dont know if that’s actually true, but it looks like you’re doing something similar with the single wire vs ribbon wire application. Very cool.




I have all three (and a number of others) here’s my take on the relative differences…

On a scale of dark to bright - I’d put the Reissue on the darker side and the VP on the brighter side with the 64 in the middle.
So ranked from darkest to brightest I’d list them (along with a few others for reference) as:
Stock Goth - 10
TB+ - 9
Reissue and Greco - 8
64 - 7
VP - 6
ChinaBucker - 5

On a scale of more rich and full vs less rich and full - I’d put the Reissue towards the rich and full end and the VP towards the lesser end with the 64 in the middle.
So ranked from most rich and full to less rich and full I’d list them (along with a few others for reference) as:
Greco - 9
TB+ - 8
Stock Goth - 7
Reissue - 7
64 - 6
VP - 5
Chinabucker - 4

Keep in mind, many of these rankings are splitting hairs and string selections can impact results dramatically.

Thx George!

 

[TBird1958]

I’ll sketch up a correct one and post it tomorrow. The correct wiring made a HUGE difference in the sound of Marshall’s bicentennial. I think his was wired per a schematic floating around on the internet that isn’t quite correct. I gotta say, I’m lovin my 1979. It’s every bit as good if not better than my 1967 NR.
That said, my first gen BaCH which I converted to a full on bicentennial with vintage 1976 pickups and period correct wiring sounds nice but not as good as the 1979. Makes me wonder if the pickups were a bit different between 1976 and 1979.

As Scott has mentioned, there were vast differences in the quality of the pickups, esp early on. Both of mine are '76s, they are ok, not great, I suspect the wiring and want to go through them both - I'm hoping it's not the pickups.

 

[GBassNorth]

As Scott has mentioned, there were vast differences in the quality of the pickups, esp early on. Both of mine are '76s, they are ok, not great, I suspect the wiring and want to go through them both - I'm hoping it's not the pickups.

IIRC you posted pictures of your control wiring before and it was not quite the norm. So let’s hope it’s just a wiring issue and not a pup issue. In light of my Bi-BaCH conversion I’m not quite sold on the 1976 pups, no idea on the 77 or 78 pups but the 79 is beautiful.

 

[ThaCoast]

Curious to anyone's opinion on the old Epiphone T-Bird Active Pros (with the 2 band EQ, & high mass style bridge). Always thought they were solid instruments, loved the look of the lighter coloured bursts vs the natural or black editions.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

TT....

 

[MCF]

Curious to anyone's opinion on the old Epiphone T-Bird Active Pros (with the 2 band EQ, & high mass style bridge). Always thought they were solid instruments, loved the look of the lighter coloured bursts vs the natural or black editions.

I’ve only played a few. Including one in Dave’s garage when he had one for a bit. It was a nice Thunderbird. Were I to get one, I would probably ditch the on board EQ and install a set of Tbird+ PUPs or something. But that’s just me. YMMV.

 

[Nocturnal]

Curious to anyone's opinion on the old Epiphone T-Bird Active Pros (with the 2 band EQ, & high mass style bridge). Always thought they were solid instruments, loved the look of the lighter coloured bursts vs the natural or black editions.

Many people have complained about the preamp in that model but seemed to like it when they rewired them to passive. I don't own one but have played a couple in stores. They were well made, solid Birds.

 

[GonePlaid]

There's still a little bit of Thursday left, so...

 

[Count Bassie]

Noooo.........I'm not there until Sunday!
Got most of my hair shaved off today, have a nice Mohawk now.

Nice!