Thunderbird Club

[Engle]

Agreed, I never personaly heard a noticeable difference between Speakon and phone connectors. I'll be looking for a good phone jack tho. I had a bad experience with my first rig years ago, a Hartke 5500H into a 215 vx Series. The cable I initially used completely fried. It's the only time I used a phone jack connecting head to cab, all the other stuff I had used Speakons. I don't remember what cable I used then, but I'm guessing I went for whatever was at hand at the time.

The Bird is really happy with this rig !

I found some heavy duty 1/4 phone jacks and made a bunch 1/4 - 1/4 and 1/4 to speakon cables.

 

[Engle]

Thx.
Any recommandation for those quality speaker cables ?

Just looking at the L&M site and the cables are expensive! Can you solder?

 

[GonePlaid]

I have seen some really good deals on used stuff at L&M.
As long as you have decent quality speaker cables, phone jacks get the job done. I wish the whole industry would move to speakons, but it doesn’t seem like it will happen.

I hope not! All my[stuff]-yes, it's older and works-is 1/4". I've passed on a couple of relatively interesting items 'cos they were Speakon only. I have no intention of-or interest in-buying a buncha adapters.

or

 

[Engle]

They're worth it for the pickups alone.

I wonder what it would take to get the early Greco pickups cloned? Do the higher wind Thunderbuckers come close?

Makes me want to get a coil winder and a 3D printer, but I already have too many projects on the go and I already stare at screens all day for work.

 

[GonePlaid]

Just looking at the L&M site and the cables are expensive! Can you solder?

I was a sailor, not a solder.

 

[Engle]

I hope not! All my[stuff]-yes, it's older and works-is 1/4". I've passed on a couple of relatively interesting items 'cos they were Speakon only. I have no intention of-or interest in-buying a buncha adapters.

or
View attachment 4263212

Adapters aren’t good for speaker connections. But all you need are a few 1/4 -speakon cables.

 

[Bassmike62]

Just looking at the L&M site and the cables are expensive! Can you solder?

Not .

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Not .

the Speakon design is clever, avoids the connectior coming off and in many cases (unbeknownst to the user) avoids guitar (line level) cables from being used as speaker cables where the capacitance in the hum reduction shield can cause output stages (especially Tube types) to oscillate and self destruct. many don’t know that a true to spec Speakon will accommodate 1/4” phono as well...

cheaper types don’t support this option giving the erroneous “either or” idea.....
quality affordable cables?....these;

 

[GBassNorth]

Although I understand why speakon is a better connector, to my mind, it is a marginal improvement that justifies only a small price increase over phone jacks; a much smaller price increment than is currently charged.

Signal quality wise I suspect you're correct, a good phone jack should be as good at passing a signal as a good speakon.

That said, I've always steered towards speakon tube amp to cab connections due to the locking feature. Chuck or others can weigh in with actual facts, but I've always heard that disconnecting a cab load from a tube amp while continuing to play thru the amp can do serious damage to the head. The locking speakon reduces the possibility of that happening by accident.

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

Signal quality wise I suspect you're correct, a good phone jack should be as good at passing a signal as a good speakon.

That said, I've always steered towards speakon tube amp to cab connections due to the locking feature. Chuck or others can weigh in with actual facts, but I've always heard that disconnecting a cab load from a tube amp while continuing to play thru the amp can do serious damage to the head. The locking speakon reduces the possibility of that happening by accident.

yep, a tube amp would rather see a short at the output than nothing at all which is exactly what happens these days when you pull the 1/4" out of the "Speaker" port....the female connector shorts itself to gnd much like connectors on active basses connect/disconnect the preamp battery when not plugged in.....kinda sucks for players these days cause a SS amp behaves exactly the opposite....it can run not connected to a skpr for days but any momentary output short will damage them if the amp does not feature output protection (many don't because circuitry at the output WILL affect transient response regardless of what anybody claims) which is really there to protect the speaker from a shorted output SS stage.....almost, like you gotta be an engineer to play modern instruments......

 

[dagrev]

They're worth it for the pickups alone.

I wonder what it would take to get the early Greco pickups cloned? Do the higher wind Thunderbuckers come close?

And since they sound so amazingly good, why has this not happened?
(I know, it really boils down to numbers and economics. That old supply and demand thing. Note to Gibson: Get a Greco and do a little reverse engineering and build a great PU instead of a dark PU.)

 

[dagrev]

Although I understand why speakon is a better connector, to my mind, it is a marginal improvement that justifies only a small price increase over phone jacks; a much smaller price increment than is currently charged.

I know they fix a "coming unplugged" problem (a problem I don't recall ever having), and are better for high wattage use (another issue don't encounter anymore). I have an a speakon fail to unlock and release. That ain't no fun as was a real pain. Having said that, I understand they may have their place, it's just not in my space. This based on what I know, and what I don't know. The latter is the larger of the two. So there is no doubt plenty wrong with my comment!

(See Chuck's comment above from one who actually knows what he's talking about.)

 

[Chucky Stiletti]

And since they sound so amazingly good, why has this not happened?
(I know, it really boils down to numbers and economics. That old supply and demand thing. Note to Gibson: Get a Greco and do a little reverse engineering and build a great PU instead of a dark PU.)

or go with 3rd party...my initial plan was to try the Greco pups in other basses but was so impressed (contrary to stuff I read) with the quality and the feel of the instrument that it's staying as is.....Lulls are next for me....Thunderbuckers ROCK but i want to try something else..

 

[dagrev]

or go with 3rd party...my initial plan was to try the Greco pups in other basses but was so impressed (contrary to stuff I read) with the quality and the feel of the instrument that it's staying as is.....Lulls are next for me....Thunderbuckers ROCK but i want to try something else..

I recall Scott saying that for him, the Thunderbuckers were the best reproductions, followed by the ProBuckers in the VPs as far as PUs that were available. That was his take several years ago and he didn't say what all he had tried. I'm sure the Lull's are spectacular.

Klein's make some fantastic repo PUs. I have an early 60s set that's fantastic. I wish they would consider a Thunderbird PU, making them the same way they do their other repo PUs, which is very unique and interesting.

 

[TBird1958]

or go with 3rd party...my initial plan was to try the Greco pups in other basses but was so impressed (contrary to stuff I read) with the quality and the feel of the instrument that it's staying as is.....Lulls are next for me....Thunderbuckers ROCK but i want to try something else..

I was thinking about a Youtube with Lull......

 

[dagrev]

I was thinking about a Youtube with Lull......

OK, enough thinking. Get that phone ready and fire that amp up! Please!

 

[Engle]

the Speakon design is clever, avoids the connectior coming off and in many cases (unbeknownst to the user) avoids guitar (line level) cables from being used as speaker cables where the capacitance in the hum reduction shield can cause output stages (especially Tube types) to oscillate and self destruct. many don’t know that a true to spec Speakon will accommodate 1/4” phono as well...
View attachment 4263235
cheaper types don’t support this option giving the erroneous “either or” idea.....
quality affordable cables?....these;
View attachment 4263237

I think the green Neutrik speakon panel connectors are the ones that can accept a 1/4” plug and the black ones do not.
@agedhorse has warned many times about generic brand speakon plugs getting stuck in amps, so I’ll repeat it here. Neutrik brand speakon connectors are not expensive. Using a knockoff to save a few dollars is not worth it.

 

[TBird1958]

OK, enough thinking. Get that phone ready and fire that amp up! Please!

Gotta wait for my weekend (Thur Fri) 'cause it's the Queen's work week just now - Mark (Queen's alter ego) doesn't do video, too shy.

 

[dagrev]

Used the white '76 ("Super Rare!) today after installing the new truss rod nut and time to adjust. I settled on Roto 66s (and even had a small blister on the left middle finger). The bass played great and sounded better than ever! Very happy camper while playing. I literally don't get all the whining on the interwebs about them being so hard on the fingers. There are more smooth strings, but Roto's don't deserve all the complaints. There's a bunch of people who need to start a Roto Princess Fingers Club it seems.

 

[TBird1958]

Used the white '76 ("Super Rare!) today after installing the new truss rod nut and time to adjust. I settled on Roto 66s (and even had a small blister on the left middle finger). The bass played great and sounded better than ever! Very happy camper while playing. I literally don't get all the whining on the interwebs about them being so hard on the fingers. There are more smooth strings, but Roto's don't deserve all the complaints. There's a bunch of people who need to start a Roto Princess Fingers Club it seems.

The tactile aspect of Flats........it almost creeps me out. Sorry, I love my calloused Rounds playin' fingers!

Dr Hellborg's, so coarse!