I haven't, no. I got the AO soon after it came out, which was well before they introduced the Omicron. The AO replaced my B3K, which I had for many years.
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
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- club thunderbird
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
This finally showed up
Been wanting to try one for a long time...diving in now. If I like it, it’ll be a miracle. Never got on with dirt boxes so well
Been wanting to try one for a long time...diving in now. If I like it, it’ll be a miracle. Never got on with dirt boxes so well
I knew I'd see a T-40 come up on somebody's listI had a Peavey T-40 that weighed around 8,000 lbs. ok, it weighed 14 lbs, but after an hour of playing, what’s the difference?
Seems we need to have FX Fridays as well (or Saturdays for me).
I have a TCE Vortex flanger I mess around with occasionally. There may be better flangers but the price ($USD45) made it painless.
As is generally well known around these parts, I like 'organic' amp overdrive and have a valve head to get there. Having said that, I'm not impressed with the single 12AX7 12V stompbox pedals which claim to give 'valve tone' ... more like angry bees in a bag of sherbet. They will never get anywhere near the tone of pushed 6550s/KT88s/EL34s/6L6s.Therefore if you are trying to get there in a pedal, I would always recommend a good solid state emulator. For silent practice/backup I have a DG Vintage Ultra, which has a really good EQ section and switches controlling the amount of low and high end saturation. This feature alone is worth the price of admission and for me it is the best, most 'organic' sounding emulation out there.
One of these days they will live together on a PT Nano, but meanwhile I never pass up an opportunity to fire up Larry's OCD.
FUN FACT: all devices are Danish or Finnish.
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Dang... I forgot exactly how much the A-O costs. It was more than I remember. Did you hear me scream??? Well, it wasn't really a scream... more like a shocked painful cry of despair. But, that's okay. I have a bass in the shop waiting for a part on backorder and then I'm selling it later this month. That would fund this. Ya know, because GAS can be painful too!
They come up in the classifieds or you can try Reverb as well. My DG VU was from the classifieds here.
The Darkglass group here is very friendly and some of them try everything out, so I'm sure they'd be happy to answer any questions you have.
Oddly enough, I just reviewed most of the few I used (after creating all but one) here on the site.
in => tuner => MXR bass compressor[1] => Boss GEB-7 EQ => EHX bass Big Muff Pi => EHX Memory Man => out
I want to add a volume pedal, and possibly swap the Muff for an overdrive. I also want to get my Ross flanger fixed and add it. The compressor and EQ are pretty much always on. I could live without the last two, but really love the first three.
[1] Listed as "Dunlop MXR"...
I just spewed worms all over the place!
In fact Doug Castro from DG hangs out over there, so it's not just people making it up as they go along...
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I have a '15 Gibson. You can also get the same pickups in a Gibson EB, either the original version made in 2013 and 2014, or the newer once that are in production now. EBs are more 7enderish in their construction, although they are thoroughly Gibson in that they have set necks. The pickups and wiring are essentially identical to a '15 Thunderbird, so any differences come from the wood and body shape. Those pickups work best for me in the '15 'Bird set with the neck pickup in 'bucker mode, with the bridge pickup tapped and rolled way off. I don't remember what strings I have on that bass right now. DR rounds of some kind. Probably HiBeams, but there's a possibility they are SunBeams. What I can also tell you is that if you don't like one sound, you can find about a zillion more in it with the pickups, coil taps, and your technique. They are not any more expensive than any other Gibson Thunderbird, as far as I can tell. They may or may not have some kind of collector value someday, because they were only made that way one year. Mine is getting played a lot. Somebody's future collection can wait. In the mean time, you can get the same pickups in an EB, and those go for about half or less than a Gibson Thunderbird.
I'll vouch for DG as well, love my B7Ku.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
The humble beginnings of my new board
I tend to agree, the best bass distortion I’ve ever heard comes from a tube amp. Sadly, in my yba 200 in its current state, there’s no ‘off’ switch for the distortion. The Reiner Gasoline OD is the most transparent OD I’ve heard to date. It’s a great ‘always on’ box when using a class d or SS amp. Preserves the original bass tone incredibly well. I tend to keep settings pretty conservative on that one, but it sounds pretty in a very subtle way. You can push it pretty hard too, but I usually don’t. The Dunwich Volt Thrower is in the Rat vein, but with 3 band eq. Only messed with it for a few minutes, but it’s really cool so far. Brings out the ‘bark’ in the mids I really like and works well with both of my ‘Birds.
*EDIT- these two pedals stack really well together
I tend to agree, the best bass distortion I’ve ever heard comes from a tube amp. Sadly, in my yba 200 in its current state, there’s no ‘off’ switch for the distortion. The Reiner Gasoline OD is the most transparent OD I’ve heard to date. It’s a great ‘always on’ box when using a class d or SS amp. Preserves the original bass tone incredibly well. I tend to keep settings pretty conservative on that one, but it sounds pretty in a very subtle way. You can push it pretty hard too, but I usually don’t. The Dunwich Volt Thrower is in the Rat vein, but with 3 band eq. Only messed with it for a few minutes, but it’s really cool so far. Brings out the ‘bark’ in the mids I really like and works well with both of my ‘Birds.
*EDIT- these two pedals stack really well together
Attachments
DG AΩ in classifieds for $275, which seems to be the going rate. No affiliation.
For Sale - Darkglass Alpha Omega
For Sale - Darkglass Alpha Omega
The pedals are starting to multiply.
Good point. Doug's a hell of a nice guy, too. I met him a while back at a Darkglass event in NY at some sort of Gibson showroom. Billy Gould was there.
Speaking of OCD, the arrow on the Gasoline label is making me go crazy.... why didn't the have it pointing the other way, to go with the signal flow?!
- Mar 13, 2008
- 18,897
- 142,230
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist Mike Lull T Bass pickups, The Bass Shop, Seattle WA.
Who's D tuner? I think that would a great addition!
I have no experience with any of those, but I'll say they look damn fun! My AO is pretty transparent, too. Just adds some nice old school organic dirt on top of the already great Thunderbird sound.
- Mar 8, 2011
- 12,232
- 51,187
- Disclosures
- Authorized greenboy designs builder/Owner of BNA Audio
They always do
Speaking of OCD, the arrow on the Gasoline label is making me go crazy.... why didn't the have it pointing the other way, to go with the signal flow?!
You really need to see a specialist about that
I did, multiple specialists, but after the first appointment, each specialist needed to see a specialist...
