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Thunderbird Club

#14,941
hillerup said:
So... I've bee sourcing a lot of spare parts for some mods I've been wanting to do for quite a while...

As mentioned several pages back, I'm planning to turn both my Epi Pro-IV and Pro-V into passive basses, and since their pickups are already passive ones with active EQ circuitry, it should be a fairly easy mod.

My initial plan was to re-arrange the controls slightly and wire them VTVT with a 3-way toggle, for which I have all the parts.

But after reading the posts and schematics by redstrand on page 742, I'm intrigued to maybe use a parallel/series switch instead - Or maybe take it a step further than that:

The Pro-IV/Pro-V pickups have 4 conductur wiring, with 2 wires soldered together - If these were unsoldered, would it be possible to do coil-splitting by using two mini-switches and get some similar pickup combinations as on the Gibson 2015 T-bird?

Obviously they wouldn't sound identical, since the pickups are different...

Any thoughts on this? Have any of you guys done coil-splitting mods to your Pro-IV/V's?

If neither of the above mods work out, I could always throw a set of HongKongbuckers in them, but that will be the last and most expensive route, since I would also need to get chrome bridges and tuners as well...
Click to expand...
I will be keenly interested in this idea, especially with a guinea-pig going first! ;)
 
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#14,942
Count Bassie said:
I will be keenly interested in this idea, especially with a guinea-pig going first! ;)
Click to expand...

Yeah... Thing is, I already have the parts for my original idea... Buying 4 DPDT On/On/on switches in black as well is not exactly cheap, unless I opt for the parallel/series switch instead - Then I would only need to buy 2 DPDT On/On switches. Then I could even do a classic control layout with VVT in a row, and one 3-way toggle and one mini-swicth below the controls, which might be cool as well...
 
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#14,943
hillerup said:
Yeah... Thing is, I already have the parts for my original idea... Buying 4 DPDT On/On/on switches in black as well is not exactly cheap, unless I opt for the parallel/series switch instead - Then I would only need to but 2 DPDT On/On switches. Then I could even do a classic control layout with VVT in a row, and one 3-way toggle and one mini-swicth below the controls, which might be cool as well...
Click to expand...
Ok I just glazed over.

But I'm staying tuned!
 
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#14,945
hillerup said:
Unfortunately I don't own an Ampeg rig, but would love too...

However, I do have a virtual one in my Amlitube Ampeg SVX software (SVT-Classic, SVT-4 Pro, BA-500, B15-R Portaflex models)

Anyone care to share their settings, so I can try them out?

The more growly, the better! :)
Click to expand...

Not sure how well real world settings will translate into the virtual universe, but I'd be happy to share. With my Bicentennial running into a '71 V4B and flatback SVT bottom, my rehearsal settings were always pretty much as follows: volume at 10 o'clock or so, Ultra Hi on, Ultra Lo off, bass at 11 o'clock, mids at 10 o'clock (with the midrange freq selector in the center position) and treble at 10-11 o'clock. I found that by rolling the tone controls back from the center (flat) position, I could run the volume knob up higher to get more grit. Naturally, if the virtual amp has a master volume, that might not be necessary. I also found that turning the Ultra Hi on, instead of turning up the treble yielded a slightly different sound.

Having said all that, old Ampegs usually don't require too much tweaking. The mojo is in the midrange control and mid frequency switch. My advice would be to set everything flat (Ultra switches off) and go from there. Bear in mind also that different eras and varieties of Thunderbird don't all necessarily carry the same sound characteristics - the Bicentennial is a way different than my Gibson Thunderbird Studio, which is sorta similar to my Epi Classic IV Pro and none of them sound like my Epi CS/LE T-Bird IV. 60s birds are different, also.

BTW, a B15-R is essentially a 90s V4BH, which doesn't exactly sound like either a vintage V4B or B15N.
Have fun!
 
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#14,946
lowend1 said:
Not sure how well real world settings will translate into the virtual universe, but I'd be happy to share. With my Bicentennial running into a '71 V4B and flatback SVT bottom, my rehearsal settings were always pretty much as follows: volume at 10 o'clock or so, Ultra Hi on, Ultra Lo off, bass at 11 o'clock, mids at 10 o'clock (with the midrange freq selector in the center position) and treble at 10-11 o'clock. I found that by rolling the tone controls back from the center (flat) position, I could run the volume knob up higher to get more grit. Naturally, if the virtual amp has a master volume, that might not be necessary. I also found that turning the Ultra Hi on, instead of turning up the treble yielded a slightly different sound.

Having said all that, old Ampegs usually don't require too much tweaking. The mojo is in the midrange control and mid frequency switch. My advice would be to set everything flat (Ultra switches off) and go from there. Bear in mind also that different eras and varieties of Thunderbird don't all necessarily carry the same sound characteristics - the Bicentennial is a way different than my Gibson Thunderbird Studio, which is sorta similar to my Epi Classic IV Pro and none of them sound like my Epi CS/LE T-Bird IV. 60s birds are different, also.

BTW, a B15-R is essentially a 90s V4BH, which doesn't exactly sound like either a vintage V4B or B15N.
Have fun!
Click to expand...

Cool, and thanks a lot! I will definitely try these settings out when I have my basses back home from the storage facility/rehearsal space. :)
 
#14,947
Nocturnal said:
ThunderPunkBird_zpspakgkvb2.jpg
Click to expand...

Actually I think this bass needs those gold strings that Entwhistle used to use... :)
 
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#14,950
StephnG said:
Yup they sure do! Since Gibbo won't play nice & supply me a lefty, this just may have to suffice....
Click to expand...

I'm building a lefty ExplorerBird for a customer but strung right handed, I joked I'll be able to play it as a Reverso. I know another Texas guy who learned to play that way. He buys both Lefty and Rghty basses but they're all strung backwards.


P1090490P%20LEFTY%20copy_zpswywxxtjz.jpg

It's actually going to be black/white pick guard with a LH bound and blocked ebony board neck. Pic is a photoshop job.
 
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#14,951
bazzanderson said:
EMG 35DC is the typical dual coil design. EMG 35CS is a dual coil BUT ceramic and steel therefore warmer sounding. People complain about the DC as being brittle but I think it sounds great in the bridge position. The CS at the neck just makes sense (and sounds great).
Click to expand...

Not a fan of EMG's generally but I have an old pair of CS 3 coils. I changed out the stock EMGs in my Chaparral 12 for them as soon as I got the bass, much better sound IMO. When I sold the bass I switched it back to the original pups. I kept the CS pair, they don't make them any more IIRC.

I could see how the combo could work for you, though. I used ThunderBuckers in the neck and middle positions and a a hot Thundercoil single coil (11.7k) in the bridge position to get maximum tonal variation on this. Stacked pots also help.

P1090349P_zpsaksbhyaz.jpg
 
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#14,952
Dadagoboi said:
I'm building a lefty ExplorerBird for a customer but strung right handed, I joked I'll be able to play it as a Reverso. I know another Texas guy who learned to play that way. He buys both Lefty and Rghty basses but they're all strung backwards.


P1090490P%20LEFTY%20copy_zpswywxxtjz.jpg

It's actually going to be black/white pick guard with a LH bound and blocked ebony board neck. Pic is a photoshop job.
Click to expand...
I need one of those in my life. My bank account doesn't agree, but that's why there's slingin' rock and stealin' cars...;)
 
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#14,953
A month or two ago-about 6500 posts back- I posted a link to vote for my friend Lacey Caroline in the Nashville WOBA awards. She's into the next round final four in all three categories she was up for stuff in. Thanks all for voting! The next round starts last week of April and I'll post a link when that happens. Again, thank you!

She's got kind of a punk undercurrent to her stuff, which is very much country in it's story telling. Check her stuff out on Youtube; ya might dig it.
Lacey Caroline
 
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#14,954
Haji said:
A month or two ago-about 6500 posts back- I posted a link to vote for my friend Lacey Caroline in the Nashville WOBA awards. She's into the next round final four in all three categories she was up for stuff in. Thanks all for voting! The next round starts last week of April and I'll post a link when that happens. Again, thank you!

She's got kind of a punk undercurrent to her stuff, which is very much country in it's story telling. Check her stuff out on Youtube; ya might dig it.
Lacey Caroline
Click to expand...

Love her voice- thanks for sharing.
 
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#14,957
bazzanderson said:
I gotcha. I based my purchase off of several online reviews of both and opinions of players that combined both in different basses (thunderbirds being one of those bases).
Click to expand...

More research to do then, which is okay as I'm not in any hurry. The first thing is to replace the 'orrid factory strings (can't just go down the road and buy a set of RS66, had to mail order them).
 
#14,958
Dadagoboi said:
Not a fan of EMG's generally but I have an old pair of CS 3 coils. I changed out the stock EMGs in my Chaparral 12 for them as soon as I got the bass, much better sound IMO. When I sold the bass I switched it back to the original pups. I kept the CS pair, they don't make them any more IIRC.

I could see how the combo could work for you, though. I used ThunderBuckers in the neck and middle positions and a a hot Thundercoil single coil (11.7k) in the bridge position to get maximum tonal variation on this. Stacked pots also help.

P1090349P_zpsaksbhyaz.jpg
Click to expand...
Tell me about this Thundercoil single coil.
 

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