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Thunderbird Club

#6,181
marko57 said:
Colour me jealous! I saw UFO in '78 but after Schenker had left and saw Waysted somewhere in the 80's opening for Maiden. 100% agreement on "Love To Love" and Schenker's playing! I like all the Schenker era UFO albums. Schenker is actually doing a club gig here next month, half my band already have tix, I need to get on that too! :) Yes, his (Pete) battle with the bottle is why he's not in UFO at the moment and the photos I've seen of him in recent years he looked pretty ragged but the most recent photo, if it IS a recent photo, he looks a bit healthier so hopefully that is behind him and we'll see new music from him soon.
Click to expand...

Pete is on Facebook and has a new album that should be released very soon. Also has tour a tour planned to support the new music. He looks much better now than he has in recent years.
 
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#6,182
My 60's spec thunderbird is sounds the best it ever has! I set it up with SS Lo-rider strings, great combination.

With my SVT vr into nv610 settings as follows:

Master: 9:30
Treble: 2:00
Mid:9:00 (middle position)
Bass:2:00

It is giving me a huge grindy tone which reminds me a lot of a Justin chancellor style sound but a bit hairer and ballsier. This is with both pickups full on. Just neck pickup gives a bit more thump in the sound but in the band setting with a HSS strat into an ac30 with the most astounding midrange I've ever heard it sounds so huge filling up ALL the space on either sides, especially even sitting bellow the kick drum. My 4003 surprisingly doesn't have as much grind but the two basses compliment eachother very well. I'm keen to take the bird out to the gig scene!
 
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#6,183
Basshappi said:
Yep, Pete Way was a real influence to me as a young bassplayer. I loved that he was always out front, not hiding the darkness by the drummer and I emulated that from the beginning :D. The first band I was in played a lot of UFO tunes and I did see UFO both with Schenker and without.
Click to expand...

Same here, Pete was an early influence as well as Steve Harris in that I didn't want to hide back by the drum riser either, up front interacting with the audience. I've tried to be what I liked to see. :)
 
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#6,184
I've re-strung my tbird for about the 3rd time in the last few months ever searching for the right balance and I think I have found what works for this bird in a set of 45-105 Dunlop Nickel Superbrights. The D'Addario's that were on just didnt seem right, must've got a dud set as the E string went dead really quickly but the dunlops have the lows the growly mids and a sweet high end that just seems to click with this bass, the only downside for me is they are a lower tension than most strings of the same gague so i have to watch when I dig in but so far very impressed
 
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#6,185
Both my birds are strung with Dunlop Heavy Cores, because Threshing Floor does most of our songs in C Standard tuning. I have the Heaviest set on my Goth, which I think are probably a little too heavy for what we do, and Heavier on my '13 Tone Monster IV and my '88 Charvel 4B. on the Heaviest set, the top string is a .120, IIRC, and on the Heavier it's a .115. The .120 is a pretty beefy cable.
 
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#6,186
First strings my bird ever saw after factory were ernie ball hybrids (but the A string snapped as i was stretching and tunning them- since then i don't use ernie ball). Then it was dunlop 45-105. They lasted until january 26th (which is when i played with my band in the video). The morning of we had to bring our ticket sales and such to the organisers & it's a good thing i had bought some d'addario 50-105s cause while me & phil, the guitarist, were practicing a few minutes later my D string snapped. So i went home cause it was pointless to stay the whole day, strung her up back home and then rocked out the show. Since then i've always used d'addario strings (on all my gear even guitars) - inexpensive, reliable, & great tone.
 
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#6,187
mr pablo said:
I've re-strung my tbird for about the 3rd time in the last few months ever searching for the right balance and I think I have found what works for this bird in a set of 45-105 Dunlop Nickel Superbrights. The D'Addario's that were on just didnt seem right, must've got a dud set as the E string went dead really quickly but the dunlops have the lows the growly mids and a sweet high end that just seems to click with this bass, the only downside for me is they are a lower tension than most strings of the same gague so i have to watch when I dig in but so far very impressed
Click to expand...
How's the tension on the Dunlop strings? I'm looking for the right strings as well.
 
#6,189
mr pablo said:
The superlights are low tension strings compared to D'Addarios of the same gauge
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Good deal. I put DR Fat Beams on my Goth and like the tone and tension but not the feel. I have D'Addario's on my Mod, like the feel and tone but I can tell there's more tension. Of course that doesn't matter on a graphite neck. I've read that the stock strings on the Epi Classic Pro are thought to be D'Addario and those also feel tighter compared to the DR's.
 
#6,190
mr pablo said:
I've re-strung my tbird for about the 3rd time in the last few months ever searching for the right balance and I think I have found what works for this bird in a set of 45-105 Dunlop Nickel Superbrights. The D'Addario's that were on just didnt seem right, must've got a dud set as the E string went dead really quickly but the dunlops have the lows the growly mids and a sweet high end that just seems to click with this bass, the only downside for me is they are a lower tension than most strings of the same gague so i have to watch when I dig in but so far very impressed
Click to expand...

That's funny, I just put on some Dunlop Super Bright Nickel on my T-Bird Yesterday too. I gotta say, These are some great bass strings for the price. Great for slap n' Pop on my Fenders. And amazing on my Thunderbird for Rock. They really do feel comfortable to play with. Dunlop really did nail it on making the Super Brights. I can now say I literally wasted money on other brands. Now my Top Favorite strings are Rotosound 66 and Dunlop Super Bright. Sucks that i cant find them on Guitar Center Stores.
 
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#6,191
The closest GC to me is a bit over an hour away. I save the gas money and order all my strings from BSO. Nobody around here carries any of the strings I typically use (Dunlops and Dean Markley Blue Steels). There is one shop in Nashville that carries a wider selection and carries Smith, DR and a few others...but not my brands. You'd think everything on the planet would be available in Music City, but unless its a Fender, Ibanez, Gibson, Epi or Musicman Stingray, you're gonna be hard pressed to get your hands on it.
 
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#6,192
Haji said:
The closest GC to me is a bit over an hour away. I save the gas money and order all my strings from BSO. Nobody around here carries any of the strings I typically use (Dunlops and Dean Markley Blue Steels). There is one shop in Nashville that carries a wider selection and carries Smith, DR and a few others...but not my brands. You'd think everything on the planet would be available in Music City, but unless its a Fender, Ibanez, Gibson, Epi or Musicman Stingray, you're gonna be hard pressed to get your hands on it.
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I AM surprised to hear that of Nash-ville:wideyed: especially for the strings.

+1k for BSO:hyper:
 
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#6,195
Pic from last nights show. Damn that's a sexy white bird!! image.jpg
 
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#6,196
Mikaelbass said:
Anyone ever considered a filter based pre amp(ACG/East) in their bird? Can't help but wonder how powerful pickups like the thunderbuckers and the mahogany body may sound with a system like that....
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I seem to remember that when the U-Retro was introduced that the pot size of the pre was too deep for a Thunderbird body. No idea if that is still the case but I'm sure there are some preamps that would fit in the cavity and give a greater range of sounds to an already great sounding bass.
 
#6,197
Well here's my non Thunderbird in the Thunderbird club! I still have to paint the back of the neck but its done. Dimarzio model Ps, all parts bridge, new tuners, knobs, backplate, flush mount strap locks and white pinstripe for binding. I put a deposit on a Spector legend 4X to make into my Nikki Sixx reverse. That'll be some work but it will be sweet for our "girls, girls, girls" shows
 

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