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Thunderbird Club

#99,141
I should add that some of my favourite gear was made in Japan and some of the most collectible pedals are the Japanese versions.

At one point in Harley history the aluminum casting, specifically for the lower legs of the front forks was out sourced to Japan...from what I hear as no other reason but our inability, comparably, to do it well. I was always surprised by that
 
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#99,142
Andii Syckz said: ↑
The fancy stuff lets you tweak for hours, but you know the good old gear A-Z.
PillO said:
A surfeit of choices becomes its own limitation in that there is not enough time and attention to properly evaluate all the possible options.
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There are a lot of options and tweaking available on the XR18, but I'm not that much of a PA geek. There's a lot I will probably never get to.
I have figured out how to label the channels, EQ, compression, reverb, how to get an octave down effect for the chorus of Boris the Spider (and how our friend could turn it on an off from an ipad), how to do monitor mixes and how to record the 16 channels to my laptop.
I really like the fact that I can save the EQ settings for the room and then load it next time we play that room. When I bring it back to my rehearsal room, I load those settings.
As a tool for the purpose of live mixing and recording a weekend warrior band, I recommend a digital mixer.
 
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#99,144
A little bit off topic here, but these are just pure magic to me.

64c01895441d9f1da64694c607b1f824.jpg

43739508.jpg
 
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#99,148
Engle said:
I wouldn't buy one of their bass amps, but their digital mixers have a pretty good reputation. Admittedly I did no research on the Behringer's ethics beforehand.
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I didn't do much research, per se. One of the first Behringer products I saw in a music store was what looked like a rebranded Mackie at a stupidly low price. I did research that a little, and found Mackie was already raising hell about it. After that, I just paid attention whenever anyone mentioned the name, and similar issues came up a number of times. Where there's a choice (and there typically is), I'll take the more ethical company.
 
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#99,151
Miles_ONeal said:
I didn't do much research, per se. One of the first Behringer products I saw in a music store was what looked like a rebranded Mackie at a stupidly low price. I did research that a little, and found Mackie was already raising hell about it. After that, I just paid attention whenever anyone mentioned the name, and similar issues came up a number of times. Where there's a choice (and there typically is), I'll take the more ethical company.
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The tech where I take stuff has said if your Behringer unit(whatever)quits, toss it out and get another-not worth fixing. I bought one of their passive 4 channel mixers b/c of cost and rarity of uses. If it takes a :poop:, I'll lose it but not lose any sleep. So far it's worked fine but I don't like their weird plug from transformer to mxr.
 
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#99,155
dukeorock said:
Since Behringer bought Midas, TC Electronics and Klark Teknik (sp?), the quality of so many of their products has gone up dramatically. I still can’t bring myself to buy any of their stuff yet though. They have one semi modular synth that for once isn’t a clone (rip off) of something else and the price is so reasonable I’ve been tempted, but have never even fired one up. Don’t know why, but I just can’t do it. Maybe I do know why :)
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I managed to stumble into some Behringer equipment. There's a headphone preamp that lives in the rack that came from somewhere. I didn't buy it, but it showed up in the basement of bad ideas somehow. Beats me who it really belongs to, but it had been floating around the house so long that I put it to use. The other two pieces of equipment are mic preamps that are unique in that the inputs are on the front. For my purposes, that's perfect and means I don't have to run them through a separate patch bay or root around in the rack's guts when I want to record more than 8 channels at one time. Most mic preamps that you can run into an interface have the inputs on the back, which would be buried in the wiring mess back there. I wouldn't use their equipment for years, and only use those specific things I just mentioned. One because it was just here, the other two because they are somewhat unique. I wasn't looking for exceptionally high quality and don't expect a whole lot out of any of it. So far, so good. No failures and the sound quality is acceptable for what I do with it.
 
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#99,157
Markamb1 said:
My mistake Mercury was created by ford.

Mercury is a defunct division of the American automobile manufacturer Ford Motor Company. Marketed as an entry-level premium brand for nearly its entire existence, Mercury was created in 1938 by Edsel Ford.

What I never knew was that mercury was supposed to bridge the gap between Ford and Lincoln as a medium priced car. I always thought Mercury was bought by Ford and became the low end version. Shows how much I think of mercury... those 60s cougars were Nice though.
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Mercury was always a step above a Ford. A little like the distinction between an Oldsmobile or Buick and a Chevrolet. Marketing hierarchies are weird things.
 
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#99,159
BuffaloMcD said:
Advice sought:
I picked up a Epi TB IV Goth for next-to-nothing. SN lookup tells me it was made in 2004 and looks to be unmodified, which I guess means Epiphone TB Plus bass humbuckers although there are no external markings.

I love the way the bass feels and looks. I also like the low-end fine, but would like to get more of a classic Entwistle TB sound out of it.

Is it worth updating the pickups on such a cheap bass?

What pickups would people recommend for my desire outcome.

Thanks for your advice.
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Thanks for the great post, I'm surprised some of my fellows haven't beat me to an answer.

In short, you should probably just enjoy that specific bass for what it is, if sounds good and plays well for you just keep it at that. There are Thunderbird repro pickup out there that range from about $70.00 - $290.00, they're not quite drop in, but close. They'll all give you a warmer, more vintage growly tone, the Epiphone pickups being a bit dark.
So, what you really need to do is buy another Thunderbird - I'd suggest the new Epiphone Vintage Pro. it'll give you that JAE tone that you're craving. :)
 
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#99,160
JJR58 said:
A little bit off topic here, but these are just pure magic to me.

View attachment 3251441
View attachment 3251442
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I would happily play either one of those. They even have their covers intact. Where did you find those? I am now suffering from a hopeless GAS condition, especially about the green one. And the aging white one. And... Ah, never mind. Those are beautiful.
 
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