Thunderbird Club

[Gaolee]

Have you tried the Pro IV (not Classic) without the pre?

I'm not doing much, I find, with the eq. Most of my tweaking ends at the pan pot...

I haven't tried a non- active Epi neck-through. I have a bolt-on Epi and a couple Gibsons at this point. The active 'Bird got defretted and de-preamped, and got Alumatone Bass Bars in place of the stock pickups. Alumatones are dead silent, but I put copper tape in the route for pots anyway. Those pickups are interesting in that they get a more scooped modern sound as you get them closer to the strings. I'm not sure how they work, but I like them enough that I have the single-coil sized guitar version in a rebuilt Squier Bullet, the Zombiecaster. In a guitar, they sound something like the three way child of a piezo, a single coil, and a P-90. If you can imagine that. I like 'em a lot, and they make the fretless 'Bird even more unique.

 

[Mosstone]

Has anyone made any before-and-after recordings of the TB+ pickups vs the Hong Kong pups? I'd sure like to hear that.

I love the pickups in my Classic IV Pro and I've only owned it for less than a month, but all this talk about the Chinese pickups has made me curious.

 

[CharlyG]

It's why I like the P/J configuration. Drop in a set of Barts or Quarter Pounders and good to go...

 

[Gaolee]

Typically pickups are set closer to the string on the treble side to balance output. E strings put out a lot more energy than G strings.

That sure was a poorly written sentence on my part! I was thinking about how lowering the whole pickup seems to help make the bass sound better, even though it means you have to turn the amplifier up a bit. I fought having the G string in particular disappear in the mix, and lowering the pickups has been helping.

I twiddle with all adjustments for a while, then leave them alone forever more when the next thing that can be endlessly adjusted comes along as a distraction. That leads to all kinds of oddball solutions to problems that didn't exist before I started messing around. Taking advice from me about almost anything is probably a bad idea.

 

[TwyreZ]

Good plan!

The MAX is 3 DB hotter than a ThunderBucker '66 which was the hottest Gibson made (for the original NR). That's twice the output. Yes it's very loud and now living in my single pickup MAXbird . Pix in a few days

Just used the bass with the band. Very happy with the new pickups.
I'll leave the 9.2 in the neck position. Very full sounding. The bridge gives a bit of growl.
I have a balance that I am very happy with and across the strings. Pleased as punch.
These pickups are noticeably nicer and clearer in the mids that the TB Pluses I pulled out of the bass.

"Fortunately", I don't have money, otherwise I will be before a terrible dilemma.

That's why it was never enough Tbird(s), lots of microphones to be tested, as with EMG for example, there are lots of possible combinations .... I wonder what it would take to have a Tbird with his monstrous tone :
2x EMG TBDC or 2 TBCS?
DC + TBP ?
.....?


But it would also a Tbird with two Thunderbucker MAX....

I ' (VERY Very very) need money !

 

[YaPeL]

Has anyone made any before-and-after recordings of the TB+ pickups vs the Hong Kong pups? I'd sure like to hear that.

I love the pickups in my Classic IV Pro and I've only owned it for less than a month, but all this talk about the Chinese pickups has made me curious.

They sound less "muddy", more clean, sadly I never recorded mine with the chinese pickups

 

[ThaCoast]

Hi guys, I decided to install a pair of thunderbuckers on my t-bird goth, but according to my luthier, the default bridge doesn't let the string go as low as the thunderbuckers manufacture recommends, so the question is, has anyone replaced his/her bridge for this purpose? and if so, which one did you guys got? thanks

Thunderbird replacement pickups are much smaller in cavity size than epiphone's & much deeper as well. If you want the bridge pickup to have it's optimal string response, i'd suggest filling the bottom of the bridge pickup cavity with a block of wood. It should suffice to give you the thunderbucker response. I know Tbird has on his sixx bass when he replaced the stock ones with Lull pups & possibly other birds that were equipped with the standard Gibson thunderbird pickups.

 

[Dadagoboi]

That sure was a poorly written sentence on my part! I was thinking about how lowering the whole pickup seems to help make the bass sound better, even though it means you have to turn the amplifier up a bit. I fought having the G string in particular disappear in the mix, and lowering the pickups has been helping.

I twiddle with all adjustments for a while, then leave them alone forever more when the next thing that can be endlessly adjusted comes along as a distraction. That leads to all kinds of oddball solutions to problems that didn't exist before I started messing around. Taking advice from me about almost anything is probably a bad idea.

I try to put the bass down for a time after adjusting pickups and come back to it a few hours or a day later with 'fresh ears' to assess the damage I've done. There are many variables, that's for sure!

 

[veebass]

The discussion on pickup height and angle is fascinating and reflects my experience on my TBird journey.
I tinkered with the TB pluses in my 08 Gibson a lot to start with to get even response across strings and between pickups and my experience is their response is very sensitive to adjustment. I ended up with them reasonably close to the strings and angled slightly down on the bass side, as has been mentioned. But I was never able to get completely happy with them- always felt something was missing. Not horrible but just not IT for me. This is really interesting because the ES 335 Bass SUPPOSEDLY has the same pickups (just in a different casing) and in a similar position but to my taste it lacks for nothing- warmer, stronger, clearer.
When I got my single pickup Greco a while back I was just blown away with the fullness and power and it got me thinking again about the pickups in my Gibson. Later when I saw all the info about the Hong Kongbuckers I thought I would give them a try- not much to loose and I get to put bright and shiny on the bass!!!!!.
My observations in balancing the Hong Kongbuckers is that I found them much easier to balance than the TB pluses. I find them not as sensitive across the strings. The balance between the pickups on mine is a little bit complicated by using a pair of 9.2K pickups (because my first priority was to put a 9.2 in the neck position) and means that I have the bridge 9.2 pickup almost out of the body to get it high enough (don't forget- the Hong Kongbuckers are much shallower than the TB pluses- need to pack under them with foam BTW). I think you would need the bridge pickup this high in any case to get much out of it. I guess the ideal, if I was concerned with getting more out of my bridge pickup- which I am not (I am getting enough)- would be a Thunderbucker MAX or an old Greco pickup in the bridge position. I don't anticipate that the height of the bridge pickup will cause problems, it all seems solid enough and I am guessing this is how it is with vintage TB IVs.
What would be useful is a plastic spacer under the pickup ring- does anyone know if you can get these?
I guess I could crank the neck pickup further into the body and take the bridge down a little, but I would prefer not to, as the tone from the neck pickup is exactly how I wanted it.

 

[hillerup]

The discussion on pickup height and angle is fascinating and reflects my experience on my TBird journey.
I tinkered with the TB pluses in my 08 Gibson a lot to start with to get even response across strings and between pickups and my experience is their response is very sensitive to adjustment. I ended up with them reasonably close to the strings and angled slightly down on the bass side, as has been mentioned. But I was never able to get completely happy with them- always felt something was missing. Not horrible but just not IT for me. This is really interesting because the ES 335 Bass SUPPOSEDLY has the same pickups (just in a different casing) and in a similar position but to my taste it lacks for nothing- warmer, stronger, clearer.
When I got my single pickup Greco a while back I was just blown away with the fullness and power and it got me thinking again about the pickups in my Gibson. Later when I saw all the info about the Hong Kongbuckers I thought I would give them a try- not much to loose and I get to put bright and shiny on the bass!!!!!.
My observations in balancing the Hong Kongbuckers is that I found them much easier to balance than the TB pluses. I find them not as sensitive across the strings. The balance between the pickups on mine is a little bit complicated by using a pair of 9.2K pickups (because my first priority was to put a 9.2 in the neck position) and means that I have the bridge 9.2 pickup almost out of the body to get it high enough (don't forget- the Hong Kongbuckers are much shallower than the TB pluses- need to pack under them with foam BTW). I think you would need the bridge pickup this high in any case to get much out of it. I guess the ideal, if I was concerned with getting more out of my bridge pickup- which I am not (I am getting enough)- would be a Thunderbucker MAX or an old Greco pickup in the bridge position. I don't anticipate that the height of the bridge pickup will cause problems, it all seems solid enough and I am guessing this is how it is with vintage TB IVs.
What would be useful is a plastic spacer under the pickup ring- does anyone know if you can get these?
I guess I could crank the neck pickup further into the body and take the bridge down a little, but I would prefer not to, as the tone from the neck pickup is exactly how I wanted it.

Thunderbucker Ranch sell those plastic spacers to put under the pickup rings...

Link Removed

 

[mistergoats]

Gibson Bass GAS never sleeps.
I sold a bass recently so had a little bit of "bass money" laying around. My birthday soon, so my lovely wife told me she wanted to throw some more against it to get something nice, so I started looking a week or so ago (not that I ever really stop).
Only really looking in Oz, as the exchange remains bad. There are usually not lots of Gibson basses available on the second hand market here and often overpriced, comparatively speaking, so I didn't hold out much hope of finding something nice.
In the space of a about a week, all outside of eBay, I found an EB13, but the guy ended up deciding to keep it. Then found a mint Gold Top Les Paul OSB that I think the guy wants a bit too much for. I emailed him to see if he was interested in trades or part cash/ part trade. He says not really because the wife wants the $$$, but to hit him up anyway and if there is anything catches his fancy he will talk to his wife about it. So I put a couple of scenarios to him.
Not expecting hear back, a couple of days later, I find a G3 70s Tribute yesterday. I grabbed the G3 and am waiting on shipping and bank account details to close the deal. Then yesterday afternoon, the Les Paul guy gets back and says he is thinking seriously about the trade options I put to him, but needs to convince his wife who wants the full $$$$. I got back to him and said I am probably out for a cash/ trade deal as, in the meantime, I had found a G3 and committed my available $$$ that way, but, assuming the G3 deal doesn't fall over, that I was happy to do a trade for a couple of Fenders. He's thinking about it. Not sure how that one will end up. I don't know where I found the time to go to work before I retired!

Anyway, does anyone have experience with the G3 70 Tribute? I read good things about them when they were around and thought I must get one, but one never crossed my path until now.

I had a black one and our Queen has a honey one. Fat neck, really good sound. Nothing like the originals. Cool beasts all on their own. One bass I kind of regret selling.

 

[Mosstone]

They sound less "muddy", more clean, sadly I never recorded mine with the chinese pickups

That's the thing... I don't think the Classic IV sounds muddy at all. It definitely has more bottom than my Jazz or Jaguar, but it's solid and well defined... Not what I would call muddy at all. Whenever I A/B'd the Classic IV against a Gibson T-Bird, I found the Gibsons always had a muddier tone than the Classic IV (with amp eq set flat).

I guess the more accurate question would be; does anyone have any recordings of their Classic IV with TB+ pickups vs the Chinese pickups.

 

[veebass]

I had a black one and our Queen has a honey one. Fat neck, really good sound. Nothing like the originals. Cool beasts all on their own. One bass I kind of regret selling.

Thanks, yes this is a black one I am in the process of buying.
Interested you say "fat neck".
The specs say 1.5 inches at the nut, which is pretty narrow.
Do you mean in depth?

 

[Count Bassie]

I wonder if it's practical to have a "passive mode " switch installed in my Pro IV, to see the difference without the pre? Maybe I could get a friend of mine involved... I do have a project or two anyway involving pickups, etc to do.

 

[JMacBass65]

When I saw them they were not all that exciting, nor together, kinda sloppy - add a 20 minute drum solo as part of Moby Dick, plus Page going off for another 20 and it's just not that thrilling. I was 13, maybe at the time, looking back I can hardly believe my folks let me go, I took the girl next door - she was a year older than me and I had the hots for her ( never got anywhere ). Tix were $5.00, I guess I just had different expectations at the time, I'd already seen Alice Cooper and believe me, that was a "show"

I have a bunch of boots form the 75 tour, and would agree with the wanking. Even when they were "on" for some shows in 75, those long wank parts are a bit much, but yeah, it was the style at the time. I like having the boots for historical purposes, but they get tiresome in many places.

That's what I liked about the O2 show - concise (and non-smacked out) versions of No Quarter, Dazed and Confused, etc.

 

[Mosstone]

I wonder if it's practical to have a "passive mode " switch installed in my Pro IV, to see the difference without the pre? Maybe I could get a friend of mine involved... I do have a project or two anyway involving pickups, etc to do.

I agonized for a while whether to get the Pro IV or Classic IV (I've never really been a fan of active basses, but I really prefer the natural oil finish). I figured if I ended up getting the Pro-IV, I could always install a passive/active switch, but I suspect the pickups in the Pro-IV are the same ones they use in the bolt-on bird. That pretty much made up my mind to get the Classic with the sweet Gibson pups (man, I never thought I'd say that!).

But hey, who knows? It'll be fun to find out! It might sound awesome in passive mode.

 

[CharlyG]

I had the natural Pro V for a while before they took them off the market. After moving the pups to get good volume out of the B string, it was a great bass. never should have sold it................altho i did pick up that one on the left after...

 

[Count Bassie]

I agonized for a while whether to get the Pro IV or Classic IV (I've never really been a fan of active basses, but I really prefer the natural oil finish). I figured if I ended up getting the Pro-IV, I could always install a passive/active switch, but I suspect the pickups in the Pro-IV are the same ones they use in the bolt-on bird. That pretty much made up my mind to get the Classic with the sweet Gibson pups (man, I never thought I'd say that!).

But hey, who knows? It'll be fun to find out! It might sound awesome in passive mode.

Had I been looking to buy one I'd have probably gone with the classic, tho I gotta say I'm something of a neck-thru fan. Besides, I understand from legend and from experience that the' Bird chooses the player...

 

[JMacBass65]

I have a bunch of boots form the 75 tour, and would agree with the wanking. Even when they were "on" for some shows in 75, those long wank parts are a bit much, but yeah, it was the style at the time. I like having the boots for historical purposes, but they get tiresome in many places.

That's what I liked about the O2 show - concise (and non-smacked out) versions of No Quarter, Dazed and Confused, etc.

And since this is the TBird club......

I once tracked a bunch of tunes for my band with a mud bucker Tele bass and my '76 SVT rig.

Upon playback, we all decided it sounded like crap and didn't sit well in the mix, save for one song.

I re-tracked everything on a T-Bird, direct to the board. Sounded great!

 

[Mosstone]

Had I been looking to buy one I'd have probably gone with the classic, tho I gotta say I'm something of a neck-thru fan.

The Classic is neck-through as well, so you wouldn't be missing out there.

, I understand from legend and from experience that the' Bird chooses the player...

I feel that way too. I passed up a lot of good deals on other birds before I found what felt like was the 'right' one. Purely intuitive, for sure, but I just knew it when I saw it on the GC used gear page. The bass I got is only a year old and flawless. Frets, finish, everything (except the tuners... I'll have to get some Ultra-lites, I'm afraid). I knew it was meant to be when I opened the accessory compartment in the case and there was a brand new Franklin strap (my favourite) with straplocks inside.