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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
- Start date
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- Tags
- club thunderbird
Should have bought the 410.
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Yah, my first real amp was a used Acoustic 150B and it wasn't terribly heavy. I lifted a full tube Peavey amp once and I couldn't believe how heavy it was!
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Such a leisurely pose... like "could you please turn it on so it warms up a little?"
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
an SVT top weighs 97 lbs!!
Another reason why I never owned one.
To us Traynor was just the cheap house brand at Long & Mcquade...
Just read the ad. He spent 40 years looking for one. Now he has had it for a year and it’s for sale?
it's called a "Drop Test" and it's part of IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) environmental standard 60068.
you cannot get ETSI (European compliance) certification without it so you need it to be able to sell product in Europe. years ago we were testing an E-mu E-4K keyboard to this standard and I ordered a precision accelerometer (cheaper ones are used everywhere today but not so much in the 90's) from Analog Devices to be able to graph the data as a function of drop height (for the ETSI report) and a sales manager from Analog Devices came to the E-mu office with a federal agent to see exactly what we were going to do with it....no joke.....
Who knew the government was so interested in jam jar accelerometers?
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Pete Traynor was dropping amps since the 70s. Don't know when the IEC standard come into force. And I thought everything in Europe had to go through CE marking. Is ETSI supplemental?
I wonder if Epiphone/Gibson do any drop testing with THUNDERBIRDs
- Jun 30, 2010
- 49,588
- 221,963
- Disclosures
- musician/artist/owner - Gildaxe
Thunderbirds and U-S-A ... I remember being in a thrift store right after our illegal invasion of Iraq and I found a black T-shirt in the rack with a huge angry eagle with outstretched talons against some sort of red-white and blue reference. I passed it by but have since regretted not buying it as a blatant illustration/symbol of American aggressiveness. I don't mind the "angry piano" reference but prefer my concept of a Thunderbird not being tied to anything political. This is only in retrospect as I know at the time it was only referencing 1776 and quite benign. Symbols are powerful.
THUNDERBIRD
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Really? I have always had a positive impression of Traynor. Along the lines of - if you can't afford a Marshall/Fender, get a Traynor, they are almost as good. And now with what I know, I would likely take the Traynor first. Along with a THUNDERBIRD
ETSI is the FCC of Europe. Environmental falls in that category. For non- intentional radiators a DLC (Declaration of Self Conformity) suffices. For intentional radiators a competent body (Govt. appointed lab) must be involved. All of this (including their UL 508 safety equivalent ) falls under the CE banner. Prior to the EC, German TŪV Rheinland standards were recognized by most European countries with some exceptions..Who knew the government was so interested in jam jar accelerometers?
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Pete Traynor was dropping amps since the 70s. Don't know when the IEC standard come into force. And I thought everything in Europe had to go through CE marking. Is ETSI supplemental?
I wonder if Epiphone/Gibson do any drop testing with THUNDERBIRDs
Nope. Didn't listen. Not interested at all. Not wondering how you got such unnatural sounds from a Thunderbird. Nope.
I always had a positive impression of Traynor, too, but a lot of folk thought anything that wasn't a Big Name (Fender, Marshall, Ampeg, VOX) was somehow "less than". I didn't just color outside the lines, I walked off the map a lot as well.
Hence my love of the THUNDERBIRD.
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it's called a "Drop Test" and it's part of IEC (International Electrotechnical Commission) environmental standard 60068.
you cannot get ETSI (European compliance) certification without it so you need it to be able to sell product in Europe. years ago we were testing an E-mu E-4K keyboard to this standard and I ordered a precision accelerometer (cheaper ones are used everywhere today but not so much in the 90's) from Analog Devices to be able to graph the data as a function of drop height (for the ETSI report) and a sales manager from Analog Devices came to the E-mu office with a federal agent to see exactly what we were going to do with it....no joke.....
Great story!
But when did that standard come into being?
The Peavey Heritage VTX 130 is ~95 pounds. Puts a Twin reverb to shame. And only the power section is tubes!
It makes sense an SVT head would weigh that- 300 watts plus all tube pre. Some serious iron and copper in there.
Neck dive on these is a THUNDERBIRD of a different color.
Honestly cannot think of a Thunderbird bass amp I would rather have.
I'm not a fan of Ampeg. Marshall/Orange/Hiwatt etc are expensive.
A Fender Super Bassman or 100T or a Mesa might be alright, but I'd really rather just have a Traynor YBA200.
The early tube amps were obviously great, but when I started buying gear in the late 70’s the Traynor stuff was solid state. My perception was that a Peavey was a better choice.
I had a YVM-4 PA with the matching 6x8 tower cabs. Granted it was indestructible, but it didn’t sound great.
Then again my buddy had a Monoblock and 215 in the 80’s and that thing was a beast!
Woulda, coulda, shoulda bought a bunch of Traynor tube amps and a 60’s Thunderbird in the 80’s...
