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Thunderbird Club

#12,121
By the way, my brother did buy the EB. He's been a dedicated 7ender Jazz player for years, and he's selling a 7ender Jazz because he wants the EB. He did a series of recordings to demo a cabinet, and he came over to play all kinds of bass guitars through the cabinet, including my arsenal. He's been listening to those recordings for a couple months and decided the EB was the best sounding of all of them, with my EB-2 a close second. They are very different sounding, but they both sound fantastic. The 7ender Jazz just sounded nasal and whiny in comparison to those, the '92 Thunderbird, and the Precision. The Precision is pure thumpiness, so it's just a completely different animal from anything else. The sound got him.

There's hope for the boy yet. I doubt if he will ever be chosen by a Thunderbird, but there's going to be plenty of opportunities for him to be influenced by 'Bird magic.
 
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#12,123
Okay everyone,

When Bird hunting is there any thing in particular to look for (or avoid)
That is unique to the T bird?

Also, I know when it comes to the 2015 models I know the consensus is there not that good.
Other than the higher price point, is there any really legit reasons not to consider a 2015 T bird?
Lets assume I find a great deal on a used one, is there any detrimental changes that alienate them from prior models?
 
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#12,124
Gaolee said:
By the way, my brother did buy the EB. He's been a dedicated 7ender Jazz player for years, and he's selling a 7ender Jazz because he wants the EB. He did a series of recordings to demo a cabinet, and he came over to play all kinds of bass guitars through the cabinet, including my arsenal. He's been listening to those recordings for a couple months and decided the EB was the best sounding of all of them, with my EB-2 a close second. They are very different sounding, but they both sound fantastic. The 7ender Jazz just sounded nasal and whiny in comparison to those, the '92 Thunderbird, and the Precision. The Precision is pure thumpiness, so it's just a completely different animal from anything else. The sound got him.

There's hope for the boy yet. I doubt if he will ever be chosen by a Thunderbird, but there's going to be plenty of opportunities for him to be influenced by 'Bird magic.
Click to expand...

Hah... one bassist's nasal and whiny is another bassist's focused and articulate.... that said, the EB really did shine in those recordings. It has excellent humbucker warmth without any mud. I would characterize the tone as authoritative and thick. It is not, however, a tone I would necessarily look for in my fretless playing, where my Squarmoth, when the amp is set for it (it wasn't in this case), is near ideal (a Pedulla Buzz and a Warmoth Mk 1 fretless are still in my distant future).

Regardless, I'm stoked to have it. I thought the EBs were garbage when I tried one out at a local shop when they first came out (shoddy construction, crap tone), but this one, despite some manufacturing oddities, sounds stellar.

As for Thunderbirds, I don't have long enough arms and the body shape is awkward for me, so no, it's unlikely I'll ever have a 'Bird.
 
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#12,125
I just bought a 2015 because of the differences between that and the earlier ones. I don't know what not that good means. More recent Thunderbirds seem to be lighter than older ones. I'm not sure how Gibson is making them lighter, but the lower weight is pretty nice. As far as pickups, those are why I wanted a 2015 in the first place. I had an EB, which uses those pickups, and it's an amazing sounding instrument as well as being incredibly versatile. It is different, though. I'm not sure how to describe the difference, but here it goes anyway. The 1992 I have sounds like an angry piano with EB Cobalt flats on it. It can be tamed a bit, but it's always going to sound a bit edgy and it's always going to snarl a bit. The EB could sound like a Fender Jazz or it could sound much thicker and stronger. It didn't have the nasal quality that Jazz basses sometimes have. Thunderbird ergos work for me in a way that nothing else does, so when my brother mentioned that he would buy the EB if I ever sold it, and 2015 Thunderbirds started popping up used off and on, that was that. The EB had DR Sunbeams on it, for what that's worth, and that's probably what I'll end up putting on the 2015 'Bird sooner or later.

I can't think of much of anything that you have to be wary of when looking for a Thunderbird. Some of them have a strap button on where the upper horn would be if it had an upper horn. I personally don't think they balance very well with the button there, but moving the button to the heel of the neck solves that problem. They still balance like a Thunderbird, not a 7ender, so keep that in mind. I have seen them floating around with neck repairs, so that is an issue. They are neck through, so you can't unbolt the neck to replace it.
 
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#12,126
Bassmike62 said:
I'm curious...
What (if any) light OD pedal are you guys using with your Gibson pick-uped Birds ?
Click to expand...

I use a very slightly dialled-up Tech 21 VT Bass DI. It's weird, I haven't been a fan of using pedals and I've never really needed to as my guitar players use cranked 100 Watt Plexis with 8x12s each, but they've scaled back to 50 watts and one cab each, so I'm turned way down on the SVT and it's leaving my tone a little "round" for Southern rock, so I added the pedal to bump the dirt up at lower volume and it works really, really well. I had to work to get the tone and the T21VTBDI is basically matching the dials on the SVT with the blend knob at just over half and the level knob at 3'o'clock.
 
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#12,133
mistergoats said:
I know you guys are all like "DUH!"

Just have to convince my wife that I have a spare grand...
Click to expand...

A bird like this could be yours, Goats... ;)

0008.jpg
 
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