Thunderbird Club

[godofthunder59]

There's another great underrated and forgotten band from the late 70's...

One of my favourites is their cover of The Stooges "Search & Destroy":





Bonus points goes to Mark "The Animal" Mendoza for slaying a POS Gibson bass...

Love the Dictators!

 

[bylar13]

No Bird content but my brother-on-law's band opened for these guys (The Messthetics ex-Fugazi Rhythm section) last night:



Clip is not from the show but it was a really cool all instrumental set.

 

[theFixer]

View attachment 2875392 View attachment 2875394 Ok guys I'll play vintage Sunday! I have a pretty complete early years collection, it documents my path to Thunderbirds, '72-'76.
When I first told my parents I wanted to play bass they rented me a pos Kingston Jazz bass wanna be. Horrible bit of work but after 3-4 months of sticking with it I was rewarded with a Klira Violin bass and Ampeg ReverbRocket II amp for my birthday day. It would be years before I knew how good the Klira was and how lucky I didn't end up with a Japanese Hofner knock off. Even as a kid I knew that the Klira was a very nice bit of work. So here they are, my first two basses in a very long journey . The Kingston I bought of ebay about 8 years ago to round out my early years collection, every bit as bad as I remembered. The Klira is my first real bass, unfortunately as a teen I "improved it with Gibson SB pickups " . I will keep posting over the coming weeks my path to Thunderbirds. View attachment 2875392 View attachment 2875392 View attachment 2875394

OOOooo... a continuing saga! I'll have popcorn ready for next week's installment! Thanks for sharing Scott! This is COOL!!!

 

[godofthunder59]

I suspected that the neck pickup is farther back on the Vintage Pro than on the Classic Pro. I just measured and confirmed it. The Vintage Pro is 60's spec. 3 1/4" from the base of the fingerboard to the front of the pickup. The Classic Pro is 2 1/2". This pickup location is crucial and a integral part of 60's Thunderbird tone! Epiphone got this bass right on so many levels.

 

[theFixer]

@dukeorock Read the description on this one

For Sale - Traynor YBA300

 

[godofthunder59]

That's the NECK pup, Scott, but I understand. That dimension is crucial!

I always measure from a fret, usually the 12th, instead of the keyboard end, which can vary bass to bass. For building purposes anyway.

Opps I meant neck pickup! !!!! I'm home sick on the couch. A little spacey today. You know me and bridge pickups, wots that fer?

 

[JJR58]

Here's my Vintage Sunday pic.......
At this point I had not yet made any "Big Hair" wigs so the Tank Driver hat was part of the on stage ensemble, the '77 had been recently re finned, but the crap #@% Allparts bridge was giving me fits by causing string breakage at a phenomenal rate. The original PG hadn't been replaced yet either, though that came soon after. The street sign is legit, Thunderbird Dr is very near my home

View attachment 2875337

Love this pic of you, such a cool look.

 

[hillerup]

That street sign would be in my bass room.

And in mine too!

 

[GBassNorth]

My T-Bird VP's twin brother!! Can't believe how nice this bass is!! So happy that I bought one.

Looks like we've got triplets! Lovin my Ebony VP as well.

 

[GBassNorth]

DAYUM!!! You come outa the corner swinging for a knockout!

I kinda have zero tolerance for any majority opinion down talking/discounting/shaming/bullying minority opinions. Maybe the world would be a better place if jerks just kept their mouths shut instead of defecating from it. Having opinions is fine, forcing them on others isn't. He could have just as easily said, "I've looked at a few TBirds but haven't really found one I like, but yours sounds pretty cool". And the world would have been a better place. Just MHO, yours can differ, that's ok.

 

[theFixer]

I kinda have zero tolerance for any majority opinion down talking/discounting/shaming/bullying minority opinions. Maybe the world would be a better place if jerks just kept their mouths shut instead of defecating from it. Having opinions is fine, forcing them on others isn't. He could have just as easily said, "I've looked at a few TBirds but haven't really found one I like, but yours sounds pretty cool". And the world would have been a better place. Just MHO, yours can differ, that's ok.

No Sir... I'm havin' a hard time disagreeing with that. I can try, if you want me to... but I'm not sure how good I'll be at it

 

[kat888]

@dukeorock Read the description on this one

For Sale - Traynor YBA300

The YBA300 is a different amp ... and I'm convinced there's something physically wrong with @dukeorock's YBA200.

 

[theFixer]

The YBA300 is a different amp ... and I'm convinced there's something physically wrong with @dukeorock's YBA200.

I'm sure you're right. The posting for this YBA 300 specifically boasts about "clean headroom", which was something we were wondering about in earlier conversations. This also happens to be the best price I can recall seeing on a 300

 

[dukeorock]

1972, i was 14, my mom took me to this.

Whoa, that’s a cool mom, right there!

What a dork...!

He was a super nice fella, but typical of how many nerdy bass players miss the point of what’s so beautiful about bass, IMO. Before the show he was explaining his onboard pre and its importance to his sound, his external pre that was so critical to his sound, etc. Thing is, he had no ‘sound’to speak of. It was generic and soulless, just like his playing. Dude tried so hard to play impressive licks, but had no pocket. I don’t care what lick you play...if you can’t play it with great time and feel, you lose. I dunno, I just check out with musicians who try to hard to show me something, when all I really want is for them to make me FEEL something.

No Bird content but my brother-on-law's band opened for these guys (The Messthetics ex-Fugazi Rhythm section) last night:



Clip is not from the show but it was a really cool all instrumental set.

That was terrific!

@dukeorock Read the description on this one

For Sale - Traynor YBA300

Looks pretty cool!

 

[dukeorock]

The YBA300 is a different amp ... and I'm convinced there's something physically wrong with @dukeorock's YBA200.

I really hope there is something physically wrong with it, to be honest. Though at bedroom volume, it sounds pretty nice as song as I add an eq to warm up the lows a bit. I’d love to hear a yba 300 at some point too. Of course there’s a chance that the Traynor thing just ain’t totally for me, but I’m not there yet

 

[kat888]

Of course there’s a chance that the Traynor thing just ain’t totally for me

 

[Dadagoboi]

@dukeorock Get one of these to test!

Reiner Amplification (from FB) "...Chassis is 12” wide, 8” deep. Should be around 25# finished with head shell, and good for 90ish clean, full bandwidth watts. Massive, high torque KT88 power section. Preamp is based on the VHF700 but with a 6SL7 front end. Going with a gain, no master (like a vintage SVT), active bass/mid/treble EQ. I’ll add a Jensen DI to the front if it turns out OK."

Just get rid of that Toroidal, ain't worth the weight savings IMO!

 

[dukeorock]

I said “there’s a chance!” Not certain yet

 

[dukeorock]

@dukeorock Get one of these to test!

Reiner Amplification (from FB) "...Chassis is 12” wide, 8” deep. Should be around 25# finished with head shell, and good for 90ish clean, full bandwidth watts. Massive, high torque KT88 power section. Preamp is based on the VHF700 but with a 6SL7 front end. Going with a gain, no master (like a vintage SVT), active bass/mid/treble EQ. I’ll add a Jensen DI to the front if it turns out OK."

View attachment 2875614

Just get rid of that Toroidal, ain't worth the weight savings IMO!

Ha! Jonathan Reiner is a dear friend. He was sending me progress pics of that very amp as we were driving home from Lexington last night. He’s an incredible designer and is always looking for new ways to do things. I’m not savvy enough to rule toroidal transformers in or out. I have my suspicions, but that’s all they are

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

@dukeorock
Do I need to say it?
I think you need an SVT.




Or a Mesa Strategy