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Thunderbird Club

#140,683
I didn't mean to diss Rick Laird, he was Ray Brown's student, and that's badass all by itself. It's just that he played a Jazz Bass through an Acoustic rig (tone...), and served the number. But he had a natural way that gave voice when it seemed right to do so. He otherwise spent a lot of time underpinning the chart so John, Jerry and Jan could go walkabout. Took second fiddle as it were.
But he did the gig, and what a gig.
 
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#140,684
Count Bassie said:
Been practicing that... got no call for it though... yet...
Click to expand...

On a good day, I can play it (with notes for the changes because I can't memorize it) but holy crap is he fast. And I need to rest afterwards - it is a lot of effort. On a bad day, I sound like a hack. I am a full time hack, but I can pass as capable on occasion.

As for learning things that you will never use, I am the master. Groove is in the heart - when will I ever play that? Pure stupidity project.

OK, I'm not a hack at stupidity - I pretty much have that nailed.
 
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#140,686
NAD.

I posted a few weeks ago that the Carvin Pro Bass 100 that I have been playing through for the most part (great tone at low volume) had its compression circuit go wonky on me. I gave the knob a shot of Deoxit and it seemed to work for a bit, but the problem returned.

There was a used Marshall MBB 60 at a local that sat there for awhile. Interesting try by Marshall to get in the bass game in the 2000s. Anyway, I liked how it sounded. Lots of bells and whistles: tube pre-amp; vintage and modern channels, pre and post line out, effects loop, headphone jack, aux in. But it is heavy. Anyway, I bought it for a very reasonable price. Took it home, poured a Jameson Cocktail and cleaned it up a bit. Been playing with it for a few hours and am digging it. My Strat sounds great through it too with the “boost” button on. Major grit.

C6A458AF-4F84-4084-8292-F12227F7C12A.jpeg


I like to practice at sane levels. The inexpensive GC special underneath is way too loud when I get it to have decent tone. I usually slave it when no one is home.

Anyway, some might say there’s one born every minute, but I’m liking this amp. Win for the seller who moved an old, heavy piece and win for me who got a versatile tone machine at hardly any cost. Some of you like your pedals, but I don’t do pedals (now get off my lawn).

Only thing left to do is remove the grill to clean a bit of dust and tighten the rattling logo.

And here’s a current pic of “Thunder Corner.”
63A3497A-A792-4B67-A3C1-BEBAA5B70BC2.jpeg
 
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#140,687
PillO said:
On a good day, I can play it (with notes for the changes because I can't memorize it) but holy crap is he fast. And I need to rest afterwards - it is a lot of effort. On a bad day, I sound like a hack. I am a full time hack, but I can pass as capable on occasion.

As for learning things that you will never use, I am the master. Groove is in the heart - when will I ever play that? Pure stupidity project.

OK, I'm not a hack at stupidity - I pretty much have that nailed.
Click to expand...
We play “Groove”......people love it..
 
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#140,688
Count Bassie said:
I didn't mean to diss Rick Laird, he was Ray Brown's student, and that's badass all by itself. It's just that he played a Jazz Bass through an Acoustic rig (tone...), and served the number. But he had a natural way that gave voice when it seemed right to do so. He otherwise spent a lot of time underpinning the chart so John, Jerry and Jan could go walkabout. Took second fiddle as it were.
But he did the gig, and what a gig.
Click to expand...
He was also often compared (unfairly imo) to Stanley and Jaco...not that kind of player...
 
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#140,689
Miles_ONeal said:
Who are your influences on tone?
Click to expand...

The first tone I noticed was Flea's in Higher ground. That brought me to Jazz basses. Then Geddy's distorted tone, again with a Jazz. After mucho experimentation and losing money buying and selling pedals, I finally settled on what I have now, giving me a somewhat woolly tone, not clean, but not really OD'd either. I fool around once in a while with it, but always come back to it.
 
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#140,691
PillO said:
On a good day, I can play it (with notes for the changes because I can't memorize it) but holy crap is he fast. And I need to rest afterwards - it is a lot of effort. On a bad day, I sound like a hack. I am a full time hack, but I can pass as capable on occasion.

As for learning things that you will never use, I am the master. Groove is in the heart - when will I ever play that? Pure stupidity project.

OK, I'm not a hack at stupidity - I pretty much have that nailed.
Click to expand...
Your self-debasememt chops are pretty good too!
 
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#140,694
I spent several hours on my new-to-me Embassy today and was wowed (not an easy task, just look at the gear I've owned/own). The previous owner (Dave Lowell) did a great job with this. CTS pots, Switchcraft jack, series/parallel switch, Hipshot tuners, Ernie Ball super slinkey strings, very nice molded case.

The play-ability is excellent (I really like these strings, I've never played them before), the neck width is close to perfect for my preference, and the profile is just right. Nice fretwork and the Hipshots are smooth. My only nit on the entire bass is that even with the bridge fully lowered, the strings are a little higher than I prefer. I'm guessing I can file or replace the saddles?

Tone. The Probuckers have many tones on tap, and the tone pot drastically changes from wiry to dub, quite impressive indeed. But what really takes this bass over the top, is the series/parallel switch. In series, it sounds like a mad Thunderbird, growly and angry with a very pronounced midrange. Put it back in parallel, and it can get in Pbass territory, or turn the tone knob for a smoother bassy tone. The real beauty of this setup it that I can go from Paranoid to Long Cool Woman just by pulling up on the volume switch. Just a small movement in the blend or tone knob really changes the tone. This bass will rock for practice or gigs. Major tonal changes with minimal knob twiddling. I found a large variety of tones by keeping the blend towards the bridge, and the tone pot wide open, small moves-big changes.

This is the best bang for the buck bass purchase I've made in many years. It looks great, is very well balanced, and plays like a bass costing over 3X the cost. My only problem is I was going to use the Probuckers in my ThunderJazz project and put some Chinabuckers in the Embassy. I'm really re-considering that strategy now, I really don't want to mess with it. And I definitely am going to use the V/B/T series/parallel circuitry in my ThunderJazz.

I really can't understand why these basses aren't wildly popular; yeah they may not be Thunderbird sexy, but they are classy, featherweight, well balanced, and to me, much more ergonomic.
 
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#140,695
Count Bassie said:
I didn't mean to diss Rick Laird, he was Ray Brown's student, and that's badass all by itself. It's just that he played a Jazz Bass through an Acoustic rig (tone...), and served the number. But he had a natural way that gave voice when it seemed right to do so. He otherwise spent a lot of time underpinning the chart so John, Jerry and Jan could go walkabout. Took second fiddle as it were.
But he did the gig, and what a gig.
Click to expand...

He also played a P-bass with an added Gibson 'mud bucker' hugging the neck heal. Many players then liked the full-on bass lowness it offered, especially through the 360. He also played a clear lucite-bodied Dan Armstrong bass. After MO disbanded, he tried to keep playing in NYC but found all the music there a letdown from what MO was doing and stopped playing bass altogether and became a professional photographer.
 
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#140,697
JJR58 said:
You're crossing dangerous territory. But that doesn't happen here.

Click to expand...

Great song about I am not sure what happened, but surely it did.

We never fail to cross around here. Cross what? Erm...

Just got back from band practice. The Flamingo with Burners sounded like Armageddon. My opinion of those strings is 100% changed. They sounded harsh and burnt tan at first. Now they have lots of black and white in them. No tan left. Tan is the wrong color for a bass sound. They have just enough metallic teal blue to color the sound.
 
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