Thunderbird Club

[kat888]

The wallpaper was a lucky find in the bargain bin at Homebase last year

Lucky for Homebase or lucky for you?

 

[kat888]

As much as I like the other 2 sets of knobs and will keep them for future use, no poll is necessary. I think the abalone look schweeeet! I'm a little disappointed they are not primarily blue/green as was specifically stated in the ad, but I still like ' em.
View attachment 2882641

Another member of the Abalone Speedknob Society .... exxxxcellent.

The ASS song:
Black and blue and purple and green
There were never none so mean
You don't know the trouble we've been
Black and blue and purple and green

 

[MommyPlaysBass]

Another member of the Abalone Speedknob Society .... exxxxcellent.

The ASS song:
Black and blue and purple and green
There were never none so mean
You don't know the trouble we've been
Black and blue and purple and green

Well, I have been known to be an ASS sometimes so it's nice to finally have a theme song!

Oh wait, the song is about pretty colors.........

 

[Shannon]

Thunderbird in action at last nights gig. There were people there that I did not know personally, so it was a success!

I call shenanigans! The bassist is in front and centered! Clearly a doctored image! Somebody fire a drummer! Carrots!

Cool pic though.

 

[kat888]

Well, I have been known to be an ASS sometimes so it's nice to finally have a theme song!

Oh wait, the song is about pretty colors.........

Re your future amp quest -- a (discontinued) Mesa M6 Carbine does 320W @ 8Ω and 600W(ish) at 4Ω and has some interesting voicing options. It's a valve/mosfet class A/B hybrid and I would expect it has some serious heft. Mosfets have a soft clipping characteristic which sounds more musical should you drive them too hard (guilty as charged!)

Typo alert: M6 not M9!!

 

[D.M.N.]

Watts are a funny thing... Nowadays people talk about amps that are between 500W - 1000W being the norm, and anything lower than 500W not being enough etc...

My last rig (full stack Marshall 100W SuperBass with two 412 cabs) was deafeningly loud and way overpowered for the gigs I used to do back then.

Agreed. Don’t know the technical ins and outs, but they gotta be measuring the watts at a different frequency. I’m more interested in the power at 60hz than 1k. My ‘200 watt’ Traynor gets as loud or louder then my ‘800 watt’ class D amps. Not knocking class D. My Mesa sounds awesome, but the power rating thing is a head scratcher and that’s even assuming every manufacturer is being honest with their specs. TC Electronics very famously took a lot of flack over their
‘450 watt’ amp. It bench tests at 236 watts, if memory serves. Their response was that due to their clever digital processing, the amp ‘feels’ like a 450 watt amp. I’ve played em and they don’t.

The original 360 was rated at 200 watts. Those were Cro Magnon watts, not effete little latte sipping modern watts. They drank cheap beer and then ate the steel can.

The Sunn 2000s is rated at 120w before distortion, it's pretty "low wattage" for a bass rig. But, that's 120w, 20 Hz to 15 KHz, within 1 dB of 120 watts with less than 1% total harmonic distortion. Sunn used the same parameters as Dynaco hi-fi amps to rate their products (at least the early ones), compared to most other MI manufacturers who used much less stringent guidelines. You limit the frequency band it's being measured at and allow for up to 5% THD or more, and it's suddenly more on the order of a 200w amp. Combine that with a highly efficient speaker like the JBL, and it'll crush some 500w amps.

 

[Gaolee]

Another member of the Abalone Speedknob Society .... exxxxcellent.

The ASS song:
Black and blue and purple and green
There were never none so mean
You don't know the trouble we've been
Black and blue and purple and green

That song is about the colors of sounds that come out of a Thunderbird. Except there's often an electric blue outline. And sometimes a bright, shiny orange/yellow. It depends on settings and strings.

 

[kat888]

The Sunn 2000s is rated at 120w before distortion, it's pretty "low wattage" for a bass rig. But, that's 120w, 20 Hz to 15 KHz, within 1 dB of 120 watts with less than 1% total harmonic distortion. Sunn used the same parameters as Dynaco hi-fi amps to rate their products (at least the early ones), compared to most other MI manufacturers who used much less stringent guidelines. You limit the frequency band it's being measured at and allow for up to 5% THD or more, and it's suddenly more on the order of a 200w amp. Combine that with a highly efficient speaker like the JBL, and it'll crush some 500w amps.

Thanks for that Dylan.

TB's number one poster (you have a way to go yet Mike) and Ampeg endorser said once that he had measured the output on a fully WFO SVT at in excess of 700W.

 

[JJR58]

Re your future amp quest -- a (discontinued) Mesa M9 Carbine does 320W @ 8Ω and 600W(ish) at 4Ω and has some interesting voicing options. It's a valve/mosfet class A/B hybrid and I would expect it has some serious heft. Mosfets have a soft clipping characteristic which sounds more musical should you drive them too hard (guilty as charged!)

Good recommendation Kat.
That M9 is a killer amp. It does have a lot of heft. Don't need to run them hard either.

 

[MommyPlaysBass]

Pork & Pickle pedal is a no-show. Maybe Monday. But that gave me time to start researching heads, cabs, combos from all the info you guys gave me.

I see a GK MB 212 combo selling locally used for $495. What are the advantages of the GK MB 500 head & MBP 212 cab over the combo. I mean, if you compare new prices, the head & cab costs more than the combo so there must be advantages to that setup, right?

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

Thanks for that Dylan.

TB's number one poster (you have a way to go yet Mike) and Ampeg endorser said once that he had measured the output on a fully WFO SVT at in excess of 700W.

Can you please speak up?! I can't hear you!

 

[kat888]

Good recommendation Kat.
That M9 is a killer amp. It does have a lot of heft. Don't need to run them hard either.

Was a typo, now corrected ... M6 not M9, ie the cheaper one without the graphic EQ, compressor etc.

 

[Shannon]

Also...

 

[JJR58]

Was a typo, now corrected ... M6 not M9, ie the cheaper one without the graphic EQ, compressor etc.

Got it. Still another good choice.

 

[Shannon]

Was a typo, now corrected ... M6 not M9, ie the cheaper one without the graphic EQ, compressor etc.

And for some reason, I saw MI6 and wondered what was really going on here.

 

[ProgressiveDoom]

Crank this waaaay up!. Vintage Thunderbird content.

 

[dukeorock]

Lots of foam under that upright's bridge to go with the plugged F-holes. I'm guessing it's going to be loud! I usually just stuff a tennis ball in under the bridge. The tighter the tennis ball gets stuffed in there, the louder I can get. It's not foolproof, but so it goes.

I deaden the upright for loud gigs. Sounds better with less overtones to me in that context, but I’m not going for an ultra realistic acoustic tone, either

Good recommendation Kat.
That M9 is a killer amp. It does have a lot of heft. Don't need to run them hard either.

Heft describes that amp for sure. I have the M9 for upright as well. If it were just for electric, I prefer the M6 by a little. Steer clear of the M3. Not enough gas in the tank

 

[kat888]

Pork & Pickle pedal is a no-show. Maybe Monday. But that gave me time to start researching heads, cabs, combos from all the info you guys gave me.

I see a GK MB 212 combo selling locally used for $495. What are the advantages of the GK MB 500 head & MBP 212 cab over the combo. I mean, if you compare new prices, the head & cab costs more than the combo so there must be advantages to that setup, right?

I'm not trying to piss on anyone's chips here .... but I would never consider a bass combo for anything other than a home practice amp. It's easier to carry head+cab separately, if the electronics blow up it's easier/possible to connect to your backup, it's possible to upgrade incrementally/mix and match as what you actually want and need evolves over time.

A lot of class D amps have a headphone out, so should you go down that road, you can buy a head, use it with headphones and then wait until the right cab comes along.

 

[MommyPlaysBass]

I'm not trying to piss on anyone's chips here .... but I would never consider a bass combo for anything other than a home practice amp. It's easier to carry head+cab separately, if the electronics blow up it's easier/possible to connect to your backup, it's possible to upgrade incrementally/mix and match as what you actually want and need evolves over time.

A lot of class D amps have a headphone out, so should you go down that road, you can buy a head, use it with headphones and then wait until the right cab comes along.

Thanks for the info. And that's why I asked before calling the guy about the combo.

 

[BklynKen]

Thanks for the info. And that's why I asked before calling the guy about the combo.

I think Kat said in better detail what I was gonna say: Modular.