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Thunderbird Club

#88,521
Mantis Tobaggan said:
I picked up my Thunderbird from the tech today. It turns out that the entire time I have owned it, it was not grounded properly. One of the pots is supposed to be grounded to itself and it wasn't. It sounds like a great, normal bass now. This whole time, I thought I just didn't like the sound of Gibson Thunderbirds. :banghead: Extremely relieved. It is like a new bass day. I look forward to bringing it to band practice next time.
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YYYESSSSSSSS!!!:cool::thumbsup:

Ya just gotta love a simple solution!:hyper:
 
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#88,522
theFixer said:
YYYESSSSSSSS!!!:cool::thumbsup:

Ya just gotta love a simple solution!:hyper:
Click to expand...
It’s crazy because the original Gibson Thunderbird I purchased was destroyed in shipping. After some hassle, I obtained a refund and purchased this one. I didn’t like the sound and upgraded all of the hardware. I still didn’t like it and researched settings, other pickups etc etc. Finally, I brought it to the tech at Sam Ash in Clearwater and found the problem and got it fixed. Over a year later. But at least it is resolved.
 
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#88,523
Mantis Tobaggan said:
It’s crazy because the original Gibson Thunderbird I purchased was destroyed in shipping. After some hassle, I obtained a refund and purchased this one. I didn’t like the sound and upgraded all of the hardware. I still didn’t like it and researched settings, other pickups etc etc. Finally, I brought it to the tech at Sam Ash in Clearwater and found the problem and got it fixed. Over a year later. But at least it is resolved.
Click to expand...

A simple fix can make all the difference. You now have a proper Bird. Time to tear it up live Mantis.
 
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#88,524
Mantis Tobaggan said:
It’s crazy because the original Gibson Thunderbird I purchased was destroyed in shipping. After some hassle, I obtained a refund and purchased this one. I didn’t like the sound and upgraded all of the hardware. I still didn’t like it and researched settings, other pickups etc etc. Finally, I brought it to the tech at Sam Ash in Clearwater and found the problem and got it fixed. Over a year later. But at least it is resolved.
Click to expand...
Electrical issues can be the hardest ones to track down. I'm glad it was a quick, simple, inexpensive fix for you!:thumbsup::thumbsup:
 
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#88,525
PillO said:
Sorry. Next time I'll put quotes around the name of the technique so as not to offend :D

Regardless, she uses that same technique that Geddy and Les use.

Fun fact - during Jeff Beck, no one on stage was using a pick...
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No, no, no offense taken. Just made me wonder if there’s any decent flamenco in our northern territories..;)
 
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#88,526
Chucky Stiletti said:
No, no, no offense taken. Just made me wonder if there’s any decent flamenco in our northern territories..;)
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Yeah, I knew there was no offense.

I think the technique is interesting. I wonder why so few use it. Because it is difficult to master? Because there is no demand for it? Because no one bothers with anything that isn't slappity poppity anymore? I don't expect that I will learn it; but I can't be bothered learning to play with a pick either. If Jeff Beck doens't need a pick, I don't either...
 
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#88,528
PillO said:
Yeah, I knew there was no offense.

I think the technique is interesting. I wonder why so few use it. Because it is difficult to master? Because there is no demand for it? Because no one bothers with anything that isn't slappity poppity anymore? I don't expect that I will learn it; but I can't be bothered learning to play with a pick either. If Jeff Beck doens't need a pick, I don't either...
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I have tried to master it for years and it sounds good on lightning fast runs. To actually play in time that way seems more challenging (to me anyways) but Geddy seems to do just fine..
 
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#88,529
Chucky Stiletti said:
I have tried to master it for years and it sounds good on lightning fast runs. To actually play in time that way seems more challenging (to me anyways) but Geddy seems to do just fine..
Click to expand...


I had a response worked out that involved playing with yourself, other people's junk, and trying to finish together, but it was just working to hard for a series of ahems.
 
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#88,531
Christine said:
Do you know, if I had the time and money I would love to catalogue the sound changes different woods and combinations make to a standard bass, same design just change the hardware over and take sound samples. i honestly believe it would surprise a lot of people who believe wood has no effect. I agree the lions share of sound comes from the pups and strings but we share 98% of our DNA with the Halibut, it's that 2% that makes the difference
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Ask Chucky. He has compared the sound of his 68(Honduran)to his newer TBird(African). That's why I spec'ed Honduran in my "dream" bass. Didn't know you can't get it over there.:(
 
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#88,537
C5BD91D2-7BC5-4E5F-85C0-86CE2CCA2C18.jpeg

OK crappy pic. This is a continuation of my vintage audio fever dream series. The bottom unit is a 1981 Technics pre/power amp deal. No tuner. At 120 watts per side, it can power pretty much any speaker set. Probably the apex of consumer audio at that time. Not to be confused with audiophile level. Push a button and a glass door opens to access the lower controls. Notice the radical change between this and my 1976 Pioneer in five years.
The 19” width was industry standard. This thing is a beast and powered my home studio for several years. Above, a 1990 Pioneer cassette deck featuring six tapes at once. Shuffle too.
It was cassette’s last gasp at competing with compact disk.
Retailing at $600, it’s packed with features, but totally useless today. Just another reminder of the speed of consumer electronics. What’s the next big thing? Thanks for letting me drone on about off topic useless crap. Don’t know if I could do so elsewhere.
 
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#88,538
Inky13 said:
View attachment 3102585
OK crappy pic. This is a continuation of my vintage audio fever dream series. The bottom unit is a 1981 Technics pre/power amp deal. No tuner. At 120 watts per side, it can power pretty much any speaker set. Probably the apex of consumer audio at that time. Not to be confused with audiophile level. Push a button and a glass door opens to access the lower controls. Notice the radical change between this and my 1976 Pioneer in five years.
The 19” width was industry standard. This thing is a beast and powered my home studio for several years. Above, a 1990 Pioneer cassette deck featuring six tapes at once. Shuffle too.
It was cassette’s last gasp at competing with compact disk.
Retailing at $600, it’s packed with features, but totally useless today. Just another reminder of the speed of consumer electronics. What’s the next big thing? Thanks for letting me drone on about off topic useless crap. Don’t know if I could do so elsewhere.
Click to expand...
Interesting to see this stuff again.

I was very much into hifi in the 80's thru about 2010 and had amassed quite a set up, all top notch stuff. It was sometime around the early 2000's that I finally realized the gear industry was playing a very expensive game of rapid planned obsolescence.

My stereo setup was replaced with a quad set up, which was replaced with a first generation Dolby surround setup, which was replaced with a Dolby 4.1 set up, followed closely by a Dolby/THX 5.1 set up, then replaced with a 7.1 set up and finally an 8.1 set up before I threw in the towel and said screw it.

Buying big new floor standing speakers at $8,000 each once every 10 years was no big deal when it was only stereo. But add in a front and rear center channel, and a pair of side channels and a pair of rear speakers and a nice subwoofer and you were quickly into the $25,000 bracket for nice floor mount speakers. Consequently, out of necessity I did like everyone else did, I got rid of my nice big beautiful sounding BW floor mount speakers (at a huge loss, nobody wanted monster floor mounts at that time) and bought Polk wall mounts (never liked the Bose sound). I made the change at the 7.1 upgrade.

If I could do it all over again I'd probably go with a nice quad speaker set up with four good mono block amps and limit it to just music and possibly a 5.1 set up for movies with a high power NAD, Marantz, or Yamaha integrated amp.
 
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#88,539
Chucky Stiletti said:
I have tried to master it for years and it sounds good on lightning fast runs. To actually play in time that way seems more challenging (to me anyways) but Geddy seems to do just fine..
Click to expand...


A brilliant move for Yes to enlist GL. No-one else could really stand on stage taking CS's place. :bassist: Love hearing the gnarly J filling in for a Ric. No one can slag a J after hearing this.
 
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