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Thunderbird Club

#51,942
kat888 said:
@ProgressiveDoom ... you know this 'danger close' thing with pickups? It might not apply to the Sidewinder, which is already overwound(?) or at least hot as f00k. Maybe you were clipping the amp in an unmusical manner?
Click to expand...
Also possible it's an output stage component. In an old ss head, def a possibility. It can be intermittent, eventually gonzo.
 
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#51,943
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#51,945
JJR58 said:
Awesome news Kat!
Click to expand...

On a darker sounding bass, turning the drive all the way up gets quite mushy, but drive at halfway with blend just over half is really very organic sounding. The EQ is set more or less like the Traynor = a little boost @ 100Hz and 250Hz, with the saturation switches set flat at the high end and rolled off in the bass. Don't lean on it so hard and it cleans up nicely.
 
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#51,948
GBassNorth said:
Besides a blown speaker (which you've ruled out) there's a few other things you could check...
Pup height as has been mentioned (but I assume they were the same height at the gig and practice)
Active bass battery, but I assume yours is passive
Bad instrument cable or instrument cable too near power cables
Excessively long instrument cable
Low battery in a pedal (even if it's powered with a wall wart some pedals still require a decent battery charge)
Stage coupling with the cabinet can sound boomy or farty sometimes
Power supply at the venue may have some issues causing your amp to distort
Instrument cable accidentally used in place of speaker cable
Band mates yankin your chain by adjusting knobs when you're not looking (hey, it happens)

That's all I can think of. Good luck sorting it out.
Click to expand...
I recently cranked the pickup height because I read somewhere in here that Birds dig that action. I dropped them back down and will giver another shot and hope that was all. Thanks for your input Dude.:thumbsup:
 
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#51,951
PillO said:
Dreadlocks, that hat he often wears, always seems to be in need of a shave...
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This guy looks pretty 'ghetto' to me, especially with that vicious pit bull next to him....good thing he's not wearing a hat.
9LgI5wo.jpg
 
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#51,952
kat888 said:
My two pickups were out of phase and Eric said they had never had this problem reported in the many thousands they had shipped to Gibson/Epiphone. It was suggested that maybe he was exaggerating a wee bit ... then again, maybe EY's factory is supplying Epiphone.
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They're in the same city as Epiphone China. It is possible they're using a different supplier for Indonesia depending onn costs. It used to be impossible to import materials (glass and metal, frinstance) for products into Indonesia but I haven't worked there since 2001.
 
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#51,953
kat888 said:
On a darker sounding bass, turning the drive all the way up gets quite mushy, but drive at halfway with blend just over half is really very organic sounding. The EQ is set more or less like the Traynor = a little boost @ 100Hz and 250Hz, with the saturation switches set flat at the high end and rolled off in the bass. Don't lean on it so hard and it cleans up nicely.
Click to expand...
Congratulations on the new toy. I find the same with my AO, in that just a little boost adds a wonderful organic growl.
 
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#51,954
ProgressiveDoom said:
Hey Bird family I got a strange one. At practice tonight I was running my Traynor solid state head through my newer model Peavey Headliner cab and for most of the jam my cab sounded farty as hell, I thought I cracked the speaker and after jam I brought everything home for further inspection. At home I set everything up again and I couldnt get it to sound ugly at all, it worked as it should. Could it be the head?. If the speaker was cracked than it would always sound bad right?. Can a solid state amp get intermittent?.
Click to expand...
Forgive me if this has already been addressed once or twice. I'm doing a stream of consciousness trip through the thread, which will make my reply style go all Fixer on you. You could probably say it's going all Gaolee on you, too, since I don't use the multi-quote more than once a year.

So, here it goes. Transistors do eventually die. So do caps and resistors. I don't know what the guts of your Traynor are like, but if one part starts to go, it can sound awful. Or the sound can just flat disappear. The only repairs I have ever had made (nope- not an electronics tech here) on the Acoustic 126 I have had since about 1981 are replacement of a gigantic cap that exploded when the amp was practically brand new, and then some transistors when it didn't sound right to me about five years ago. Shortly after the transistors were replaced, a resistor burned up and the amp made no sound at all. Once that was replaced, it's been it's old self, cranking along without any attention from anybody except at the on-off switch and volume knob.

That's a long story to say it could easily be the head. The transistors may be on the way out, which could lower the amount of overhead you have. They get into nasty clipping way sooner than they should. If you were cranking it up to the same volume at home, then I'm probably wrong. It could be a cord or a jack. I have also had a bad cord make things sound really awful and scratchy.
 
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#51,955
RedVee said:
I had a ‘funny’ last week. Playing around and decided to use the SS Eminar head. Had it altogether and was adjusting this and that, you know... just because.
Had the ‘boost’ switch on and flicked the ‘bright’ switch on and got a fair hiss coming out which I’d not experienced previously. So turned the treble dial down and ‘bang’, only a little ‘bang’ noise but still not what I was hoping for. Thought I’d blown it up, or at least the fuse. Turned everything off.
This Saturday took it out in check the fuse and found that I’ll need to open it up to do that. So, I put everything back where it was and thought I’ll just check if it powers up ok. Yep, all good.
Turned off.
Then thought I may as well try it; and everything seems fine, no hiss - though I didn’t turn the treble this time.
Must be the time for it..??
Click to expand...
Dirty power, phasing issues in the power supply from the wall, improper ground, and all that stuff you have no control over can cause hiss sometimes. And cosmic rays. It's gotta be those cosmic rays that burst from outer space and foul things up at random. It's the only logical explanation sometimes.
 
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#51,956
Gaolee said:
Dirty power, phasing issues in the power supply from the wall, improper ground, and all that stuff you have no control over can cause hiss sometimes. And cosmic rays. It's gotta be those cosmic rays that burst from outer space and foul things up at random. It's the only logical explanation sometimes.
Click to expand...

Those cosmic rays will do it every time! Damn cosmic rays.
 
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#51,957
Gaolee said:
Forgive me if this has already been addressed once or twice. I'm doing a stream of consciousness trip through the thread, which will make my reply style go all Fixer on you. You could probably say it's going all Gaolee on you, too, since I don't use the multi-quote more than once a year.

So, here it goes. Transistors do eventually die. So do caps and resistors. I don't know what the guts of your Traynor are like, but if one part starts to go, it can sound awful. Or the sound can just flat disappear. The only repairs I have ever had made (nope- not an electronics tech here) on the Acoustic 126 I have had since about 1981 are replacement of a gigantic cap that exploded when the amp was practically brand new, and then some transistors when it didn't sound right to me about five years ago. Shortly after the transistors were replaced, a resistor burned up and the amp made no sound at all. Once that was replaced, it's been it's old self, cranking along without any attention from anybody except at the on-off switch and volume knob.

That's a long story to say it could easily be the head. The transistors may be on the way out, which could lower the amount of overhead you have. They get into nasty clipping way sooner than they should. If you were cranking it up to the same volume at home, then I'm probably wrong. It could be a cord or a jack. I have also had a bad cord make things sound really awful and scratchy.
Click to expand...
Its a solid state head, not sure how much applies but once I drop my pickup if the issue persists I will take the head in. Thanks for the info, always good to get feedback, no pun intended.
 
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#51,958
ProgressiveDoom said:
Its a solid state head, not sure how much applies but once I drop my pickup if the issue persists I will take the head in. Thanks for the info, always good to get feedback, no pun intended.
Click to expand...
It would all apply, since I don't play through any bass amplifiers with valves. All solid state. It's the one way Kat isn't my long-lost twin. I'll be interested in learning what you find, since we can all learn something new. Or at least confirm or refute what we already thought we knew.
 
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