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Thunderbird Club

#71,067
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#71,069
hillerup said:
Not so great news - Apparently we have a man down at the moment...

Andy (@Nocturnal) got hospitalized yesterday... :(

Sending postive thoughts his way and wishes for a speedy recovery! :)
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Positive vibes going his way, please keep us posted Michael. And please let him know that i hope for a speedy recovery.
 
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#71,070
kat888 said:
New spectacles required mate -- there's a TC Vortex there already.



Been watching Danish TV (Gidseltagningen).



Bad news indeed.
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Oh... I have limited knowledge of hardware pedals and thought the Vortex was a dirt pedal of sorts...

Only have experience with the CE-2 Chorus and BF-2 Flanger pedals from BOSS - Briefly had a big MXR Flanger pedal, which I swapped for the BF-2 due to noise issues.

But that was all back in 80's... Haven't had a pedal since...
 
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#71,073
hillerup said:
Oh... I have limited knowledge of hardware pedals and thought the Vortex was a dirt pedal of sorts...

Only have experience with the CE-2 Chorus and BF-2 Flanger pedals from BOSS - Briefly had a big MXR Flanger pedal, which I swapped for the BF-2 due to noise issues.

But that was all back in 80's... Haven't had a pedal since...
Click to expand...

Never had a pedal until two years ago. Seems we are going in opposite directions.
 
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#71,076
jpmcbride said:
I just picked up this Epiphone Thunderbird. She looks good hanging next to the Les Paul!

Everything I hate about my Thunderbird bass:

(1) When is Gibson going to stop making these 3 point bridges? I know ... the answer is never. But, I really like to be able to adjust the action on each string individually. I always struggle to set up a bass with this kind of bridge.

(2) And whats with the bridge being so short that the string silk goes over the saddle? I like flat wounds and the silk always goes over the saddle on them.

(3) Neck dive.

(4) Big unwieldy body.

(5) Worst factory setup I've ever seen. Action extremely high, and the truss rod was loose. I wasn't familiar with how a double action truss rod worked and didn't initially understand how it could be loose. Once I figured it out (had to talk to an experienced tech), I was able to get it setup nicely.

But ... the sound! With flat wounds this bass has an amazing sound. How can a $349 bass sound this good? There seems to be a sweet spot in the sound with the neck pickup all the way up, the tone about 3/4 up, and then bring the bridge pickup all the way up then back it down until you hear the bass sing! For all my complaints about this bass, it sounds incredible. The neck feels good, the finish looks good, and its really an amazing bass for the price.

Oh, and the bridge that bothered me so much ... I ordered a hipshot replacement bridge with individual string adjustments and it also solves the silk over the saddle problem. Once that arrives and is installed I'll post an update.
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The HS Supertone bridge was a good move - like all their products it is well designed for its primary function and fully adjustable. Looping your strap over the lower elbow-bout will help keep the bass position more stable by pulling it toward your body. Upper strap peg re-located at the neck heal area also helps. As the first position is a bit out there due to the design, riding the bass a bit higher (not higher up - just closer to the nut) can make playing there more friendly/less of a stretch. I wasn't aware T-birds had double-action tr's - it's good you were able to get it sorted as tr issues on some Epi's are not uncommon.

IMG_6057.JPG
 
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#71,077
kat888 said:
Wahs are for guitars.
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Used to use a wah pedal (Dunlop Cry Baby) a lot at one time - it's a very expressive pedal for bass also. I gave my old one to my guitarist but still have a more modern one with a boost and on-the-fly tone control. You can get pretty gnarly with some overdrive. As "retro" sounds keep bouncing in and out of fashion, it just depends on where and how it's incorporated in a song/composition. Chorus is another such pedal.
 
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#71,078
kat888 said:
Never had a pedal until two years ago. Seems we are going in opposite directions.
Click to expand...

It's not that I don't use effects... But since we are using virtual amps/speakers and effects plugins in the band, I really don't need them physically...

I do have a couple of V-Amps though, which has built-in effects, if that counts...

Otherwise, yes - It does seem like we are going in the opposite directions. However I wouldn't mind having a full collection of all the BOSS pedals for fun, though I doubt her indoors would appreciate that... ;)
 
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#71,079
Count Bassie said:
Hey Michael @hillerup , how'd it ever go with that Epi Blackbird neck? I'm liking the Goth neck I ended up with, don't much mind the not-perfect fit in the neck pocket. Otherwise it's a very functional deal. Feels good to play.
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Not quite there yet... That's one of many projects, that's on hold onto we have settled in our new house.

Glad the Goth neck worked out for you. :)
 
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#71,080
kat888 said:
That's really weird. When I looked at the Cioks website a couple of hours ago those menus and the DC10 link page were entirely different. Good that it has 24VDC. My DC5 link is fab!
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I hear what your saying about combining and being able to use most PSU's that have at least two 12v outputs to feed the 24v. But to me* this is kinda defeating the reason why we spend big buks on dedicated psu's in the first place. Using up two outlets for one pedal, just seems counterproductive to me? And when you add in another pedal that prefers the 12v like say an Ampeg SCR-DI, one can see how easy it is to create a power struggle on your board.

All this brings up a very interesting point- I've been noticing a trend in the past few years towards pedals of all flavors that are starting to require more current draw, and higher operating voltages. And stalwarts like the Voodoo labs, are now starting to face challenges to keep up, where before they were more than adequate for most needs. The newer digital flavored pedals and many of the pre's etc; are particularly power thirsty little beasties.

As always, most applications of electronics continue to involve trade-off's and compromises.

And speaking of psu's- I've been gassing hard for a Yankee HS-M24, but my needs haven't yet justified the requirement for one of them yet. Although I have a dedicated Source Audio, pedalboard project waiting in the wings that will absolutely need something like the Yankee. So I'll have to wait and see how that plays out down the road.
 
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