Thunderbird Club

[JJR58]

Do you folks leave the stickers on the back of your Epi 'Bird headstocks?

Negative good sir.

 

[Larry V]

Do you folks leave the stickers on the back of your Epi 'Bird headstocks?

I leave them on the back of the headstock. It's information and no one can see it. I don't leave the protective film on the PG once I've decided I'm keeping the instrument though. That's just weird.

 

[GBassNorth]

Pugs snort-a lot.

...sounds like my ex-wife

 

[JIO]

Nope. Stickers, protective plastic, etc. all come off when they get home. I once bought an almost 20 year old guitar from someone that still had the sticker, plastic AND hang tags on it, including the one with the price tag from the original shop they bough it in. He NEVER took anything off of his instruments. He actually played them on stage like that....

 

[GBassNorth]

Do you folks leave the stickers on the back of your Epi 'Bird headstocks?

Only if they say "Limited Edition"

 

[JIO]

Only if they say "Limited Edition"

 

[Dadagoboi]

-Thunderbirds do add some thunder, even if they don't cut through as much.

Please, I would like to hear what other bass players think !

IMO you obviously SHOULDN'T be playing a Thunderbird. That's OK, more thunder for the rest of us.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

A few observations after playing bass and keys for decades in several bands at festivals and bar gigs.
-My perception of each gig is not always the same as my band mates, LOL
-The success of a gig is mostly about the vocals, sound quality and ability to read and work the crowd. Some of the best musical performances fell flat while some fairly ragged shows really hooked the house. It helps to keep the setlist flexible.
-If the monitors suck, the band suffers no matter how good the FOH
-You can practice till the cows come home in the jam room....the fastest way to ratchet up the quality is to get out and play a lot of gigs.
-Lead singers always have some sort of cold or throat affliction.
-Thunderbirds do add some thunder, even if they don't cut through as much.

Please, I would like to hear what other bass players think !

In general, other than the lead singer issues, I think these are true. I think a really tight bands tends to have less disparity in terms of gig perception. That's very seldom a problem on our worship team, but I've been in band situations where it was almost always true.

Being happy with the situation is key to a good gig. Part of that is being flexible, but good monitors and a good monitor mix as well as FOH mix are key. A good sound person is worth their weight in THUNDERBIRDS.

Speaking of which, if yours isn't cutting through, you need a better amp, sound guy, or something.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Thunderbirds can cut through with the right eq. I have found that a Broughton Hi/Low pass filter makes a huge difference. I'm not sure what magic is stuffed into the little box, but somehow the bass sounds the same, but has far more presence without turning up. I think what it does is cut the lower frequencies that a Thunderbird can make, but that suck the life out of amps. It leaves the thunder and meat, but takes away any unnecessary rumble. Once that went into the signal chain, problems with cutting through or disappearing in the mix at certain points went away.

What settings do you typically use?

 

[GonePlaid]

Only if they say "Limited Edition"

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Ooooohhhhh.... didn't realize you were only referring to the S/N. Yeah, my S/N looks printed on like those in pictures posted earlier.

They both have at least two stickers. One also has the "Hey! I am not trash!" sticker for the people who think only 7ender can make a REAL bass.

 

[Gaolee]

What settings do you typically use?

The top end varies from about 15khz to a whole lot higher. Low end varies from pretty much off to about 50 or 60 hz. It depends on the room and whether I'm playing a Thunderbird or the upright. I'll cut treble more with the Thunderbird and cut bass more with the upright, especially if there's some rumbly feedback. As I recall, I stole my initial settings from Kat and worked from there. I don't know what magic Broughton has in that little red box, but it makes a huge difference.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I'm not sure what we will end up with. Small poodles can be calm, and they don't shed. But, they are poodles, so there's that. My feminine side doesn't go quite far enough to think a poodle is the best idea. Portugese water dogs were the ancestors of poodles. My brother's family just got one. The puppy is probably the sweetest, most docile puppy I have met. A puppy that doesn't bounce off walls all the time is an amazing thing. A colleague has a Pomeranian. Those are supposed to be yappy, but this one just isn't. I guess they can be trained if you start early enough. It doesn't shed much either. It looks like it should. My wife thought pugs were kinda cute. I'm less sure, but that's OK as long as she's happy.

You just need to get a malamute and run it through an inverter.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I agree about the little red box. It's especially handy for my apartment playing. I would of course use it live, if that ever happened. But the fact that you can control the unwanted lows and highs is a huge bennie.

What are these "unwanted lows" of which you speak? Are you a uke player in disguise?

 

[GonePlaid]

In general, other than the lead singer issues, I think these are true. I think a really tight bands tends to have less disparity in terms of gig perception. That's very seldom a problem on our worship team, but I've been in band situations where it was almost always true.

Being happy with the situation is key to a good gig. Part of that is being flexible, but good monitors and a good monitor mix as well as FOH mix are key. A good sound person is worth their weight in THUNDERBIRDS.

I won't/can't disagree, but in this area you are your own sound person and there is no FOH at any place we play. Most of our gigs are at small-ish restaurant/lounges, where, if there's a house PA, it's used for announcements: "Farquhar party of 4, your table's ready" or "will the owner of the red AMC please move....". They aren't real sound systems; we gots to bring our own. These days that's usually 2 'daisy chained' Bose L1's set in a position to act as both PA and monitors. We hear exactly what the crowd hears[only we hear it first]. Also, 'cos of the size of the room(s)-and age of audience-there's no need to mic the instruments-not even my THUNDERBIRD.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Do you folks leave the stickers on the back of your Epi 'Bird headstocks?

So far. I haven't really thought about it either way. But some day, if I decide to sell one, maybe I'll be able to get thousands[1] more than the suckers who removed theirs.

[1] Thousands of yen to a picky Epiphone collector. There has to be one somewhere.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

Nope. Stickers, protective plastic, etc. all come off when they get home. I once bought an almost 20 year old guitar from someone that still had the sticker, plastic AND hang tags on it, including the one with the price tag from the original shop they bough it in. He NEVER took anything off of his instruments. He actually played them on stage like that....
Invalid Link Removed

If the hang tags were attached by thread woven through the strings, that would still work for noise rock.

 

[BklynKen]

I won't/can't disagree, but in this area you are your own sound person and there is no FOH at any place we play. Most of our gigs are at small-ish restaurant/lounges, where, if there's a house PA, it's used for announcements:"Farquhar party of 4, your table's ready" or "will the owner of the red AMC please move....". They aren't real sound systems; we gots to bring our own. These days that's usually 2 'daisy chained' Bose L1's set in a position to act as both PA and monitors. We hear exactly what the crowd hears[only we hear it first]. Also, 'cos of the size of the room(s)-and age of audience-there's no need to mic the instruments-not even my THUNDERBIRD.

Are you able to take advantage of the early bird specials or do you usually have to play through that?

 

[JIO]

I won't/can't disagree, but in this area you are your own sound person and there is no FOH at any place we play. Most of our gigs are at small-ish restaurant/lounges, where, if there's a house PA, it's used for announcements:"Farquhar party of 4, your table's ready" or "will the owner of the red AMC please move....". They aren't real sound systems; we gots to bring our own. These days that's usually 2 'daisy chained' Bose L1's set in a position to act as both PA and monitors. We hear exactly what the crowd hears[only we hear it first]. Also, 'cos of the size of the room(s)-and age of audience-there's no need to mic the instruments-not even my THUNDERBIRD.

The venue of course affects ones sound delivery - we play in varying situations from great FOH to marginal DIY. The drums are always going to be an issue, especially if your drummer believes hitting hard is where his tone comes from but our rule of thumb is vocals loudest so you can hear and understand all the lyrics, and everything else sits below that volume-wise. When doing a 3 band night - we are always the band that plays with less volume, and no less dynamics. A recent comment was that an audience member took her ear-plugs out during our set. That made me happy.

 

[Miles_ONeal]

I leave them on the back of the headstock. It's information and no one can see it. I don't leave the protective film on the PG once I've decided I'm keeping the instrument though. That's just weird.

Agreed. That always comes off my instruments.