Thunderbird Club

[dukeorock]

I have tweeters for upright bass duty. They get turned off for Thunderbird duty.

That’s how I’d do it as well

The tweeter is all about getting the higher overtones and fingerboard slap with the upright. With BG? None of that applies. You can get an angry piano sound without a tweeter.

Usually, for sure. There are some boutique cabs out there where the tweeters are way more useful and transparent than what we find on most commercial cabs. My ‘solution’ with the 1822 was to use very high end mid drivers, no tweeters, crossed over correctly. Gives me detail for upright, but I don’t even notice em on my T Bird. The typical tweeter in a commercial cab is like a $8 part with a cheap high pass...once you get up to a really nice cab, you may be surprised that you don’t even notice em

 

[Gaolee]

It takes a whole lot of signal processing to get the upright to sound like itself. Maybe I need boutique cabinets or something. Someday. The original 360 is OK with the upright, but not ideal. The new one, with a tweeter, is great. The Carvin isn't ideal but was inexpensive and is about as portable as you can get. So, it gets a fair amount of work in spite of itself.

 

[theFixer]

A question for you "uprighters"... what should a person expect to pay for a respectable "entry level" upright, suitable for living room & front porch use?

 

[dukeorock]

A question for you "uprighters"... what should a person expect to pay for a respectable "entry level" upright, suitable for living room & front porch use?

There’s a lot more low price Chinese uprights out there to be had in the $500 range. Some are ok, most not so much. For an American laminate like a Kay, Epiphone, etc., the prices are all over the map. I got my 1948 Epiphone B4 (awesome bass!) for about $1,500, but it needed about $500 worth of work, plus strings. Englehardt is the best bang for the buck. You can find em for like $800-$1,500 in excellent playing condition

 

[Dadagoboi]

PEDALPHILIA:

All this pedal talk got me fired up...I bought this Korg Pandora maybe 15 years ago in, I think, Torrance. At the time I owned no amp and only my '77 StingRay and '60 EBO and thought it would be a good way to begin my second childhood. Different Amp/ cab/ FX modeling/ tone controls and programmable presets (that's one of mine: Marshall Major and 8-10 cab starting from the 'Motown' preset). Built in tuner and drums, looper, etc.) I think it was $300 new. Been to Asia and back a few times and dropped a LOT. Still functioning.

Last week I started looking at used pedals/preamps, etc. Realized that the Pandora had done pretty good, maybe there was a new(er) version!

Of course, the interwebs...


AX10B, $53 on Reverb delivered in two days. You can probably buy a pumpkin latte for that much some places.

Similar possibilities but easier and MORE. It's been keeping me amused. No drum loops, but there's always the Pandora.

Consider one. And as always...

YESTERDAY'S TECHNOLOGY TOMORROW!

 

[BklynKen]

I couldn't get it to play. A pity, as I like to hear bass on Talk Bass.

Sorry, not sure. Maybe try a different browser?

 

[JJR58]

PEDALPHILIA:

View attachment 2886430

All this pedal talk got me fired up...I bought this Korg Pandora maybe 15 years ago in, I think, Torrance. At the time I owned no amp and only my '77 StingRay and '60 EBO and thought it would be a good way to begin my second childhood. Different Amp/ cab/ FX modeling/ tone controls and programmable presets (that's one of mine: Marshall Major and 8-10 cab starting from the 'Motown' preset). Built in tuner and drums, looper, etc.) I think it was $300 new Been to Asia and back a few times and dropped a LOT. Still functioning.

Last week I started looking at used pedals/preamps, etc. Realized that the Pandora had done pretty good, maybe there was a new(er) version!

Of course, the interwebs...


AX10B, $53 on Reverb delivered in two days. You can probably by a pumpkin latte cheaper some place.

Similar possibilities but easier. It's been keeping me amused. No drum loops, but there's always the Pandora.

Consider one. And as always...

YESTERDAY'S TECHNOLOGY TOMORROW!

This is a rabbit i would not have expected you to pull out of your hat. Pretty cool.

 

[JJR58]

Sorry, not sure. Maybe try a different browser?

It played for me earlier. Seems it's just taking just a little longer to load then when you first posted it.

 

[Dadagoboi]

This is a rabbit i would not have expected to pull out of your hat. Pretty cool.

Hell, @dukeorock can't have ALL the fun!

 

[theFixer]

There’s a lot more low price Chinese uprights out there to be had in the $500 range. Some are ok, most not so much. For an American laminate like a Kay, Epiphone, etc., the prices are all over the map. I got my 1948 Epiphone B4 (awesome bass!) for about $1,500, but it needed about $500 worth of work, plus strings. Englehardt is the best bang for the buck. You can find em for like $800-$1,500 in excellent playing condition

Is there much of a used market for the low-end stuff?

I spoke with an old friend last night. It crossed my mind just how much fun it would be to get together with some old friends & their acoustics & me with my wash tub or what-have-ya

 

[dukeorock]

Hell, @dukeorock can't have ALL the fun!

It’s a slippery slope, man! Not sure why I’m on this kick with pedals and the single source thing, but looks like I’m not stopping any time soon, either. Worked on another idea last night until 4 am. I’ve been making samples of different sounds and loading them into an MPC style sampling drum machine to program beats, then load those into Logic and try to come up with something more like a ‘song.’ It has been fun though

 

[dukeorock]

Is there much of a used market for the low-end stuff?

I spoke with an old friend last night. It crossed my mind just how much fun it would be to get together with some old friends & their acoustics & me with my wash tub or what-have-ya

Absolutely! Uprights are great to have around, I think. Pretty addictive too

 

[Gaolee]

There’s a lot more low price Chinese uprights out there to be had in the $500 range. Some are ok, most not so much. For an American laminate like a Kay, Epiphone, etc., the prices are all over the map. I got my 1948 Epiphone B4 (awesome bass!) for about $1,500, but it needed about $500 worth of work, plus strings. Englehardt is the best bang for the buck. You can find em for like $800-$1,500 in excellent playing condition

That sounds about right. Mine is a plywood Christopher (Chinese made) that I got for $3K, all set up with strings that lasted a while and a Full Circle pickup installed. I got it from a retail shop. It was nearly unused. I suspect that it belonged to somebody who had ambitions but then quickly lost interest. I have seen them for a whole lot less on Craigslist and other places. You don't need top of the line for messing around and having fun with one. My first one was a nearly demolished ex-NYC school district beater. It lasted for a while. I paid $150 for it, as I recall, and got what I paid for. It didn't fall completely apart until the cat my wife and I had at the time decided it was a climbing toy a couple times. The cat lived just fine. The bass didn't make it. I'm guessing it was a Kay, but I don't know for sure.

 

[Gaolee]

It’s a slippery slope, man! Not sure why I’m on this kick with pedals and the single source thing, but looks like I’m not stopping any time soon, either. Worked on another idea last night until 4 am. I’ve been making samples of different sounds and loading them into an MPC style sampling drum machine to program beats, then load those into Logic and try to come up with something more like a ‘song.’ It has been fun though

Because once you go down a rabbit hole, you have to keep going. It's what we do.

 

[Dr_Feelgoood212]

PEDALPHILIA:

View attachment 2886430

All this pedal talk got me fired up...I bought this Korg Pandora maybe 15 years ago in, I think, Torrance. At the time I owned no amp and only my '77 StingRay and '60 EBO and thought it would be a good way to begin my second childhood. Different Amp/ cab/ FX modeling/ tone controls and programmable presets (that's one of mine: Marshall Major and 8-10 cab starting from the 'Motown' preset). Built in tuner and drums, looper, etc.) I think it was $300 new Been to Asia and back a few times and dropped a LOT. Still functioning.

Last week I started looking at used pedals/preamps, etc. Realized that the Pandora had done pretty good, maybe there was a new(er) version!

Of course, the interwebs...


AX10B, $53 on Reverb delivered in two days. You can probably buy a pumpkin latte cheaper some place.

Similar possibilities but easier and MORE. It's been keeping me amused. No drum loops, but there's always the Pandora.

Consider one. And as always...

YESTERDAY'S TECHNOLOGY TOMORROW!

Carlo… and pedals?!

I think hell is starting to freeze over!!!

 

[dukeorock]

That sounds about right. Mine is a plywood Christopher (Chinese made) that I got for $3K, all set up with strings that lasted a while and a Full Circle pickup installed. I

Christopher’s and Shens are a whole other level from the typical cheap Chinese uprights I was referring to! Nearly traded a custom cab for a Christopher a few years back. Solid basses. If I were going new, I think I’d get an Upton. Cool company, made in the US and they have something for nearly every price range.

Because once you go down a rabbit hole, you have to keep going. It's what we do.

It really is

 

[Gaolee]

Knowing what I know now, I would probably go for an Upton if I could pay for it. But, I'm happy with the Christopher. It has survived a whole lot of things, and been fixed twice when it didn't survive quite as well. It sounds great unplugged, as it should, and with the tennis ball in place to help with the feedback, it's fine cranked up. A clicky pickup and probably K&K preamp for it are on my list of things to spend money on. Someday. Funny thing is I have bass guitar GAS off and on, but don't have upright bass GAS at all. This one is just fine for me, and keeps me completely happy. I even get pedal GAS on occasion, and I don't use pedals much. Go figure.

 

[theFixer]

That sounds about right. Mine is a plywood Christopher (Chinese made) that I got for $3K, all set up with strings that lasted a while and a Full Circle pickup installed. I got it from a retail shop. It was nearly unused. I suspect that it belonged to somebody who had ambitions but then quickly lost interest. I have seen them for a whole lot less on Craigslist and other places. You don't need top of the line for messing around and having fun with one. My first one was a nearly demolished ex-NYC school district beater. It lasted for a while. I paid $150 for it, as I recall, and got what I paid for. It didn't fall completely apart until the cat my wife and I had at the time decided it was a climbing toy a couple times. The cat lived just fine. The bass didn't make it. I'm guessing it was a Kay, but I don't know for sure.

... and so the GAS list grows.

I'm fine with a "cheapo"... but it's gotta stay in tune... not have parts falling off... you know... the bassics

I gotta lotta crap to sort out... but I'd like to see one within the next year I think

 

[Inky13]

Is there much of a used market for the low-end stuff?

I spoke with an old friend last night. It crossed my mind just how much fun it would be to get together with some old friends & their acoustics & me with my wash tub or what-have-ya

If you do any research, you will quickly see that the majority
of opinions will say to steer clear of CCB's. (Cheap Chinese Basses.)
The thinking is why hinder your learning with an inferior instrument.
Others counter that it's better to play a cheapie than not at all.
It's one of those circuitous arguments that comes up all the time.
(Tubes/SS, flats/rounds, Fender/Gibson. . I'm not advocating
either way, just be aware of what's available.

 

[Dadagoboi]

Knowing what I know now, I would probably go for an Upton if I could pay for it. But, I'm happy with the Christopher. It has survived a whole lot of things, and been fixed twice when it didn't survive quite as well. It sounds great unplugged, as it should, and with the tennis ball in place to help with the feedback, it's fine cranked up. A clicky pickup and probably K&K preamp for it are on my list of things to spend money on. Someday. Funny thing is I have bass guitar GAS off and on, but don't have upright bass GAS at all. This one is just fine for me, and keeps me completely happy. I even get pedal GAS on occasion, and I don't use pedals much. Go figure.

My USA Christopher ABG has two K&K systems, bridge and underside. Not that I have a lot of experience with amplifying acoustic instruments but they sound really good to me.

I have to ask Dave of Smithcreek/Christopher if he's aware of the Chinese company.