Thunderbird Club

[PillO]

This would make a good stage prop.

The dwarfs dancing around the 18" Stonehenge monument could carry it.

 

[PillO]

I loved lawn darts! I don't know what ever happened to our set.

And you can't get them anymore all because some kid wanted to play goalie.

 

[PillO]

see my last post above And you've never witnessed a drunken badmidton game?

I've not seen drunks playing badminton nor cricket. Not saying that it doesn't happen, just that I have not witnessed it.

 

[GBassNorth]

i guess it doesn't really matter in the grand scheme of things but since a Thunderbird without an amplifier can't do much other than look spectacularly sexy, we discuss amps the same way strings/pups get discussed...different brands, materials, construction, types, etc have a huge impact on how the bass will sound/play...pretty much the same applies to amps..

I don't know what class my hybrid vintage Musicman HD-150 is but I love it. IIRC it runs on a very high plate voltage and is push/pull (whatever that means). I think it dates back to the early to mid 80's and still has the original tubes in it. I normally run it in 75 watt mode, which I guess means I'm only using half the power tubes? All I really know for sure about it is I like it and it's my favorite hybrid, done right with SS in the preamp and full tube in the power section (unlike most hybrids).

 

[JIO]

I've not seen drunks playing badminton nor cricket. Not saying that it doesn't happen, just that I have not witnessed it.

Probably EPO on the cricket field...

 

[PillO]

I had a left hand injury a few years ago, so I bought a Uke bass to be able to keep playing. I returned it within a week. Just couldn’t handle the rolling rubber strings.

It is like having worms under your fingers.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

I don't know what class my hybrid vintage Musicman HD-150 is but I love it. IIRC it runs on a very high plate voltage and is push/pull (whatever that means). I think it dates back to the early to mid 80's and still has the original tubes in it. I normally run it in 75 watt mode, which I guess means I'm only using half the power tubes? All I really know for sure about it is I like it and it's my favorite hybrid, done right with SS in the preamp and full tube in the power section (unlike most hybrids).

full on Class B output..

 

[PillO]

Had plenty of those too. Living in the mountains in Colorado while a teen with the nearest neighbor over a mile away forces you to play stupid games with siblings. Those games would always evolve into something more dangerous. We'd start with a pinecone war, which doesn't hurt at all until someone lobs a 1 pound green sap filled one at you. Like any war, escalation is inevitable. The green pinecone escallation would be met with a quick escalation to rocks, which would eventually lead to punches being thrown, and then a call from mom to come in for dinner. A quick trip to the bathroom to wash all the blood and sap off and we'd be chowing down food at the table like nothing happened. All in a days fun.

Indeed. Because kids are no longer allowed to play "fighting" games, kids no longer learn about conflict escalation.*

A couple of summers ago on a camping trip, we gave the kids supersoaker water guns to play with. The adults waged proxy wars through the kids, but maintained to the kids - no shooting adults, we don't have guns. Sure enough, one of the kids shoots an adult. Adult explains that he is unarmed and is not fair game and that the only retaliation available is the "nuclear option". Kid does it again and discovers that shooting an adult results in getting dunked in the lake. A valuable lesson in strategy for the kids.


*All just my opinion. Perhaps one day I will have time and resources to pursue a PhD in a discipline that allow me to do such research properly.

 

[PillO]

Probably EPO on the cricket field...

I am unsure what erythropoietin would do for a cricket player. I'm not sure that cricket is an endurance sport and so I don't think it would have much if any performance enhancing effect. It is a performance enhancing drug that is extremely hard to detect. Last I looked at it, rather than directly measure for EPO, testing facilities use hematocrit as a surrogate (which can lead to false positives).

 

[PillO]

I'm going to assume Traynor claimed 25W RMS for this discussion, as opposed to "peak to peak", which was marketing BS because the amp companies using that terminology just meant whatever they liked. That said, I haven't seen anything definitive claiming that Traynor said they were 25W. The re-issues claim 20W, which is still way up there, but I can believe someone might pull it off with the best tubes and Class AB.

It would have to be push-pull; you'd need 4 of them to run parallel for pure class A or anything close to it for 25W.

I'm looking at plate power dissipation, not plate voltage. The standard for EL84 plates is 12W. Some can run hotter, but if you run them too hot for too long, they melt. In pure class A[1], you can get about 6W or a bit more from each tube (still at 12W dissipation). To get 12W *output* power per tube, you have to run at class B, which introduces extra distortion. It's possible Traynor came up with a class B amp (or close to it) that sounded good but I haven't personally heard of a class B tube guitar amp.

Also, running at high voltages and plate power, you typically have to run the screen grids hotter. Those will melt down easier than the plates. (I've seen my share of tubes with fried plates and screens! I haven't destroyed any myself, but I've wounded a few while pushing the limits.)

I have a handful of tubes here I would try in such an amp. But I've seen a lot of good EL84s that were shot after just a few months (or even one month) being pushed too hard.

This is all true whether THUNDERBIRDs are involved or not.

[1] Class A: Each tube is amplifying the signal 100% of the time.
[2] Class B: Each tube is amplifying only one half of the signal.
[3] Class AB: Each tube amplifies more than half the signal but less than all of it.

1. I think that the Traynor ratings are all RMS - Pete Traynor had high standards for himself and his company.

2. With tubes, heat isn't the issue with higher plate voltages. The heaters would still be run at standard voltage. Arcing between plate and cathode or grid and plate would be an issue. Running a higher plate voltage may cause premature wear of the plate and/or cathode. Overtime, normal running of tubes will result in wear also. With a higher plate voltage, the grid may not be able to run the tube to full capacity, but should result in an increase in power output.

3. I think that there are plenty of push pull guitar amps. Any amp that runs matched pairs of power tubes is probably running push pull. The distortion introduced by class B is not clipping but is in the transfer from one tube to another (from one phase to the other). The distortion is small and is filtered out at the output stage.


I think we more agree than disagree here.

 

[Engle]

It is like having worms under your fingers.

Good description.
And digging in sounds like worms in your ears
I ended up playing my EBO.

 

[dukeorock]

What cabs do you like?

For the better part of 5 years I’ve mostly been playing a cab I made for myself. @JGR did the designing of the size, speaker selection and crossover and I built a few prototypes until we were happy. But regarding commercially available cabs, there’s a few Bergantino models I’ve liked a lot. The NV412 is a beast of a rock and roll cab. Duke LeJeune at AudioKinesis has some amazing designs. Alex, at Barefaced has a couple cabs I wouldn’t mind trying. For less boutique stuff, I could rock a couple Mesa Subway 15’s. There’s an older Genz 212 (predates the Uber series stuff)...can’t remember what it’s called now, but those were nice (Neox maybe?)

 

[MCF]

It is now!

I had to make a follow up visit with my Doc today, his office is close Mike Lull's so the LP came along. I hadn't been for a visit in some time and it was good to catch with Mike, he's just the real deal. He took the LP to his bench and had a quick look at the truss rod - it was way better with 30 seconds of his work. I mentioned my visit with the Doc and he said he'd have ready by the time I was done - I was back in about 50 minutes and the bass perfect, plays fantastic, the cracked pickup bezel is replaced and wow, it rawrs!

A sharp eye might notice something else a bit different

Congrats! It’s great the LP just needed some rod tweaking and the neck was in good shape after all. If a guy of Lull’s caliber approves, you can rest easy. Two new basses!

 

[GBassNorth]

Fatal Friday...

...I'm sure there's still enough blood on those darts to capture a DNA sample. The box inside and instructions are so nonchalant and innocent, from a different and less litigious time.

 

[PillO]

Fatal Friday...
View attachment 3568988
View attachment 3568987
...I'm sure there's still enough blood on those darts to capture a DNA sample. The box inside and instructions are so nonchalant and innocent, from a different and less litigious time.

The picture shows throwing them underhand. But we discovered that they could be thrown overhand as well.

 

[MCF]

Fatal Friday...
View attachment 3568988
View attachment 3568987
...I'm sure there's still enough blood on those darts to capture a DNA sample. The box inside and instructions are so nonchalant and innocent, from a different and less litigious time.

And it’s lawyers that led to the demise of them and a lot of the stuff we played with as kids in the sixties/seventies. I worked a couple of summers during college at a day camp for kids. Jarts were a favorite. And no one got hurt. Of course we weren’t drinking at camp...at least until the kids were gone anyway.

 

[NOLA Bass]

Hey, if anyone needs a gigbag big enough to hold a Thunderbird, I have a barely used Rudy Sarzo from ChromaCast. It is huge and has huge pockets to. Just listed in classifieds. I had it for my hollowbody, but sold that bass.

 

[Engle]

And it’s lawyers that led to the demise of them and a lot of the stuff we played with as kids in the sixties/seventies. I worked a couple of summers during college at a day camp for kids. Jarts were a favorite. And no one got hurt. Of course we weren’t drinking at camp...at least until the kids were

Glad I lived in the 70’s

 

[fasterpussycat]

I am unsure what erythropoietin would do for a cricket player. I'm not sure that cricket is an endurance sport and so I don't think it would have much if any performance enhancing effect. It is a performance enhancing drug that is extremely hard to detect. Last I looked at it, rather than directly measure for EPO, testing facilities use hematocrit as a surrogate (which can lead to false positives).

Cricket is absolutely an endurance sport -- that's why they are called 'Tests'.

 

[fasterpussycat]

@dukeorock -- IOS13 on my iPad absolutely suxxxxxx, apart from the new stealth mode.