Thunderbird Club

[theFixer]

What in the name of Hellman's Mustard is in your avatar?

That is exactly why it's there

Random pic I bumbled across out on the web. Kinda fvx with my head

 

[D.M.N.]

Just ordered up a 9.2k Chinabucker for the Greco. I ultimately wanted the Thunderbucker 63, but for $120 or so less and with all the good reviews, figured the Chinabucker would be a good place to start.

 

[TBird1958]

Just ordered up a 9.2k Chinabucker for the Greco. I ultimately wanted the Thunderbucker 63, but for $120 or so less and with all the good reviews, figured the Chinabucker would be a good place to start.

Dylan, I can't recall what your thoughts were regarding the Greco pickup, is it not working/sounding good?

 

[theFixer]

I've never seen an oversize Les Paul bass like this one... and it's at a nice price!

Gibson USA Les Paul Standard Bass Oversized Body Heritage Cherry Sunburst 2011

 

[Gaolee]

To wrap the conversation up let me just say I asked the "under powered" question because I've heard it many times and even repeated it myself. In fact advice I've given many times on TB when asked about amp sizes is to go for something near 300 watts if you want tubes or about 500 watts if you want SS. More than that is even better, less can be limiting.

After giving that advice many times (which has worked well for the way I play and the venues I was in) I've started to question it using first hand experience vs generally accepted truisms. I found that I never turned my SVT much beyond half up when playing large indoor bars with my 610 and a heavy drummer and two guitarists each with a Marshall half stack. The one time I loaned out the SVT to a friend and had to instead bring my HD150 to play in that same bar I was sweating bullets about it not having enough balls. Turned out it was a total non issue. The 150 was turned up a little beyond the halfway point and was just as loud as the SVT.

Point being, real world experience with all variables roughly the same didn't amount to a noticeable difference in playing volume. Could the SVT have buried the HD150 in a full volume head to head at that venue - yes. But that's just goofy, no sane person would ever go close to those volume levels at that venue. Outdoor venues may be a totally different experience.

Just to play devil's advocate here - an Acoustic 360 stack has a whopping 200 watts, or so it's rated. The volume comes from driver efficiency and cabinet design. The tower of jank will be driven by a 120 watt head salvaged out of a small-ish Hartke combo of some kind. The speakers that will be going into the cabinet are in the high 90s for decibels/watts, so that should be sufficient, considering that there are four drivers. One is original, and I don't know what it is or how long it will last. When it dies, then it will get replaced with another high efficiency woofer. Plus, the amount of wattage relates more to headroom than it does volume most of the time. I seriously doubt that I will ever, ever turn up any of my amps past a small fraction of their capacity. They just get far too loud for the places I play. With DI, it's even less important to have ear melting power. (says the guy who has two Acoustic folded horns....)

 

[SturmUndDrang]

I've never seen an oversize Les Paul bass like this one... and it's at a nice price!

Gibson USA Les Paul Standard Bass Oversized Body Heritage Cherry Sunburst 2011

It's a nice mellow shade of red and a well done burst. If you snag it, share in the show your Les Paul bass thread. That place needs to pick it up, especially considering how much cooler LPBs are compared to T-birds.

 

[Engle]

I played first gig with the VP last night. The knobs that it came with look nice, but I can’t see the numbers, so I switched to the black ones.

It was an 80th birthday party. Good thing we can play quietly

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Bird brethren,
Seriously. How much in US $ would you think is reasonable for a 64 TB II with a long time stable headstock repair. Visible but not ultra ugly.
It is in reasonable condition otherwise and has an Ozzie Stamford case (original?). Nothing badly busted elsewhere but a couple of extra screw holes from a bit of tug bar experimentation.
TRC not original but everything else looks right- covers included. Neck looks good and straight.
It is "Burst.

This one just came on;
Gibson Thunderbird II 1964 "Sunburst" | ROCK-A-BUY!

 

[theFixer]

It's a nice mellow shade of red and a well done burst. If you snag it, share in the show your Les Paul bass thread. That place needs to pick it up, especially considering how much cooler LPBs are compared to T-birds.

I can't move on it. I just posted it to alert my ThunderBrethren, many of whom are devout Gibsonians

... and with all due respect... if the Les Paul bass were truly cooler than the Thunderbird... you wouldn't hafta be over here fishin' around for converts!

 

[TBird1958]

It's a nice mellow shade of red and a well done burst. If you snag it, share in the show your Les Paul bass thread. That place needs to pick it up, especially considering how much cooler LPBs are compared to T-birds.

Umm. No. I'm not kidding.

I can't move on it. I just posted it to alert my ThunderBrethren, many of whom are devout Gibsonians

... and with all due respect... if the Les Paul bass were truly cooler than the Thunderbird... you wouldn't hafta be over here fishin' around for converts!

Exactly

 

[D.M.N.]

Dylan, I can't recall what your thoughts were regarding the Greco pickup, is it not working/sounding good?

I like it, but it's not quite bright enough for me. The tone, while great, is a little dense and a little dark. Not muddy, mind, but the '62 Precision I use has a very bright, twangy, gritty sound, with a lot of top and high mids, and a strong though not over powering low end. It nails the Leeds tone with the Sunns on the edge of breakup, very much in this territory:

With the chinabucker I'm looking to get into a territory somewhere between the Greco stock pickup and the Precision. I want a little more brightness and clarity, and a little less heat to the winding than the Greco. I'll do some before and after recordings when it arrives and post them up to offer some comparison between the Greco and Chinabucker.

BTW, here's two demos I was working on a month or so back which feature the Greco pickup pretty prominently. Rotosound Swing 66s, plugged straight into and M-Audio box, into Logic, with a Hiwatt amp model.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Just to play devil's advocate here - an Acoustic 360 stack has a whopping 200 watts, or so it's rated. The volume comes from driver efficiency and cabinet design. The tower of jank will be driven by a 120 watt head salvaged out of a small-ish Hartke combo of some kind. The speakers that will be going into the cabinet are in the high 90s for decibels/watts, so that should be sufficient, considering that there are four drivers. One is original, and I don't know what it is or how long it will last. When it dies, then it will get replaced with another high efficiency woofer. Plus, the amount of wattage relates more to headroom than it does volume most of the time. I seriously doubt that I will ever, ever turn up any of my amps past a small fraction of their capacity. They just get far too loud for the places I play. With DI, it's even less important to have ear melting power. (says the guy who has two Acoustic folded horns....)

More importantly, with tubes, HEADROOM = Reliability. Many HD owners I know bring a back up amp to their gigs..

 

[TBird1958]

I like it, but it's not quite bright enough for me. The tone, while great, is a little dense and a little dark. Not muddy, mind, but the '62 Precision I use has a very bright, twangy, gritty sound, with a lot of top and high mids, and a strong though not over powering low end. It nails the Leeds tone with the Sunns on the edge of breakup, very much in this territory:

With the chinabucker I'm looking to get into a territory somewhere between the Greco stock pickup and the Precision. I want a little more brightness and clarity, and a little less heat to the winding than the Greco. I'll do some before and after recordings when it arrives and post them up to offer some comparison between the Greco and Chinabucker.

BTW, here's two demos I was working on a month or so back which feature the Greco pickup pretty prominently. Rotosound Swing 66s, plugged straight into and M-Audio box, into Logic, with a Hiwatt amp model.

If the Greco pup ever becomes excess - you know who to contact

 

[Gaolee]

More importantly, with tubes, HEADROOM = Reliability. Many HD owners I know bring a back up amp to their gigs..

I have never needed a backup of any kind (famous last words). I'm not convinced that solid state is any more reliable than tubes these days, if it ever was. This coming from a person who plays through solid state bass amps exclusively.

 

[theFixer]

Check out this offering from Eastwood. They really screwed the pooch with their selection of pickups (my opinion of course), but otherwise, it looks great!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

 

[TBird1958]

Check out this offering from Eastwood. They really screwed the pooch with their selection of pickups (my opinion of course), but otherwise, it looks great!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Their copy of a Gibson Kirst Novoselic sig RD. Interesting.

 

[Gaolee]

Now that Henry J is gone, do you suppose we will see more of this kind of thing? Warmouth making 'Bird bodies again, for example? I kinda hope so.

 

[PillO]

I can't move on it. I just posted it to alert my ThunderBrethren, many of whom are devout Gibsonians

... and with all due respect... if the Les Paul bass were truly cooler than the Thunderbird... you wouldn't hafta be over here fishin' around for converts!

I think the most exclusive club may be the Gibson Midtown club with all of 36 members....

But Thunderbird club is the most fun!

 

[theFixer]

Now that Henry J is gone, do you suppose we will see more of this kind of thing? Warmouth making 'Bird bodies again, for example? I kinda hope so.

I like yer thinkin'... but I need to see the corpse before I get too hopeful

 

[PillO]

Check out this offering from Eastwood. They really screwed the pooch with their selection of pickups (my opinion of course), but otherwise, it looks great!

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

Their copy of a Gibson Kirst Novoselic sig RD. Interesting.

I think that the intent of the Eastwood guitars and basses is to reproduce the look of the originals, with no regard for the sound. WRT their take on the RD it is all passive whereas the RD was always active (many with some extensive preamps).

I have tried a couple of Eastwoods. They played well and sounded good, but were not what I was looking for.