That really really came out sharp! Great idea!
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Thunderbird Club
- Thread starter TBird1958
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- club thunderbird
I'm running my Bird thru a vintage Hybrid (SS Pre and Valve Power) Musicman HD150. I frequently leave it in half power mode and even at 75 Watts is still plenty loud wth my Bergantino HT322 cab. What's great about this head is you can dial in as much or as little grit/grind as you want at nearly any volume. Wish they still made the original style HD amps.
Thanks! I just needed that white silkscreen gone... kinda was the ticket!
hillerup
There are basses, and there are Thunderbirds!
I tried to steer my wife towards the Abarth but after test driving it we both much preferred the 500 Sport manual. The Abarth deal breaker for us was the steering geometry changes they made, it took the 500 from a great little town car and runabout to something that couldn't even do a U-turn on a residential street and added an exhaust note that would rival some Harley motorcycles (our neighbors would have loved us driving through the neighborhood at 2:00 in the morning). Other than that it was a blast to drive.
- Jul 1, 2005
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- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
Valves? Got 'em in all sizes.
50 watts: '64 Ampeg B-15N, stock CTS speaker.
900 watts: Genz Stramliner, 3 tube preamp, 6lbs. '67 B-15 cab with 400 watt eminence speaker.
65 watts: 1970 Oliver PF 500, stock CTS speaker.
In the middle: 200 watt 2 tube Ampeg B-1 head with the 67 cab.
In reserve, 'THE PIG', 1650 watts:
50 watts: '64 Ampeg B-15N, stock CTS speaker.
900 watts: Genz Stramliner, 3 tube preamp, 6lbs. '67 B-15 cab with 400 watt eminence speaker.
65 watts: 1970 Oliver PF 500, stock CTS speaker.
In the middle: 200 watt 2 tube Ampeg B-1 head with the 67 cab.
In reserve, 'THE PIG', 1650 watts:
Gaolee
Official leathers tester and crash dummy
I have an Ampeg SVT4-PRO which is a hybrid with stupid power. I also have an Ampeg SVT-100 which is 100 LOUD tube watts. Then I just bought an MTI era SVT tube head (300 watts give or take) because the price was nice. Needs some cosmetic refurbishing on the faceplate but damn that thing sounds amazing!!!!
Tube heads are bigger and heavier but man I love that sound!! I have owned lots of heads in the past but never had a full on SVT before, That was on my bucket list so I went for it.
Tube heads are bigger and heavier but man I love that sound!! I have owned lots of heads in the past but never had a full on SVT before, That was on my bucket list so I went for it.
- Jul 1, 2005
- 4,291
- 21,932
- 79
- Disclosures
- CataldoBasses: Designer/Builder ThunderBuckerPickups:Consultant
Six to get to 50. Then the solid state takes over, 800 watts per channel into 4 ohms each, 1600 bridged. The SVP weighs 39 lbs, ain't no class D but still a lot lighter than an SVT.
I owned a first gen SVT around '71, switched to three Coliseums with three 8-10 SVT cabs around '75. I'm amazed I can still hear.
I find that it is really easy to underestimate how little it takes to tweak your hearing. I can be in the bedroom banging around on guitar, with a 5 watt tube amp, to emerge and realize my ears are ringing. I am not enough of a Mr. Wizard to know if the difference in frequencies (bass vs guitar) affects hearing or if it is purely about volume? I seem to recall that you need more watts to move more air with bass than with a guitar but that is one of the many areas where my understanding is very limited.
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Haji
Supporting Member
Its both sound pressure and the length of the wave. My other endeavor away from music is shooting. Because I have been at that most of my life, I'm very in tune with ear pro. For the range I have a couple sets of Peltor Comtacs; electronic war pro. They act like a noise gate, stopping any sound above loud conversational level. I've also tried almost every type of plugs known to man. The ones I've used for both endeavors is are Surefire EP-7's, and while they're awesome I keep them for shooting in the summer. For music, including going to live shows, I use the D'addario PW-PEP1 Pacato plugs. They sound the most natural out of every type I've tried and come with regular and small baffles. Turns out my ear canals are narrower than everybody else's.
Sound advice! (Pun intended).
I'd also add, that if you're a gigging artist in a bar or stadium venue or if you regularly play at volume with a band during practice you really owe it to your ears to have your hearing checked out once a year. Hearing protection is critical in loud settings but so is establishing a hearing baseline with your doctor so you can spot over time if your hearing capability is degrading.
Get an old beat up 1968 - 1973 VW Bug. When (not if) the motor blows up you can rebuild it for $300 or replace it with another used one for about $600. Just don't forget you'll need a nice warm jacket, gloves and thermal underwear to compensate for the ineffective heater. Also be sure to have a windshield ice scraper for the inside of the window to compensate for the lousy defroster. Besides when you sell it you'll probably get back what you paid for it. Of all the cars I've had, Bugs are consistently the cheapest to own and easiest to fix.
Don't know what your budget is but if you're looking for something newer and a bit safer take a look at a 2012 - 2014 Fiat 500. Mine (2013 500 Sport with manual transmission) has been absolutely problem free (unlike most Fiats historically), is a blast to drive and can easily haul bass gear with the lift gate and fold down rear seats. Other than an oil change once a year it's never been back to the dealer for anything (can't say that about my other cars).
I know perfectly well about beetles, my first car (in 2006) was a 75 Superbeetle. But the Prices are sky-rocketing over here, can't find a decent one for less than 5 Grand.
A fiat 500 (I know about those, my best Buddy/room mate works in a fiat Workshop, the whole Yard is full of Seicentos, Cinquecentos and puntos... those breed like bunnys.....) is not an alternative, can't fit anything in there, I Need at least a small Station wagon (gonna get an Audi A4 now, a Golf/Rabbit Station would be okay, too). We're in the Thunderbird Club, a reverse Thunderbird wouldn't even fit in the backseat of my old passat....
If it's a station wagon (estate in the UK) I have had a Jaguar x type 2.2L for the last 7 years, cheap to buy, cheap to run and if you want more room then it's a van or nothing. The only downside has been that I can't get more than about 14,000 miles (22530KM) out of a set of tyres, mine has done 210000 miles and still going strong, I like it so much I'm struggling to swap it
Good luck on the car hunt. Finding anything that's both affordable and reliable can be a real challenge sometimes. I haven't owned too many wagons but I have owned the sedan versions of the A4 and Jaguar X Type as well as a Rabbit (pre Golf).
My Audi A4 Quattro sedan was a great car but a bit less reliable than I had hoped for. With Audi cars it seems if you get one that doesn't have a lot of service history in the first couple of years it'll pretty much stay that way for many more just watch out for the ones that have made frequent shop visits, it seems those only get worse over time (as mine did). My Rabbit GTI was cheap, relatively reliable and a fun car too with surprising space inside. The Jaguar X Type sedan we had proved to be very reliable and fairly inexpensive to buy on the used market. With the all wheel drive it was also great in the snow (my wife is still upset at me for selling that car). I did have a Ford Escort Wagon and it was dead reliable and dirt cheap with lots of room on the inside to haul gear. Like the Rabbit it was a no frills basic car, but that also means there's less things to go wrong with it as it ages.
That's actually a good point, mine is a 2 wheel drive and it's not brilliant in the snow but no worse than any other 2 wheel drive car I guess but the all wheel drive is supposed to be exceptional, we don't get a lot of snow here so I'm no expert
The Thing is, my plan was to drive the passat for a year and a half as Long as it had TÜV (we have "TÜV" here, which is a technical surveillance check you gotta repeat every two years, if you don't pass, the car is not allowed on the streets anymore) and to save up 2-3 Grand in that period to buy something decent... well... didn't work out as I planned it.
Would something like an Astra or Mondei wagon work for you? Plenty of space but a more 'working mans' brand
it would, but for now the Audi A4 wagon will do, at least until next summer. if it don't blow up again...
now to something bird-related again:
I Play a Gallien Krueger Backline 600 with my Thunderbird nonreverse, normally I use an Ampeg SVT II Preamp into the effects return of the backline but I want to give the backline a Chance! Any recommended EQ Settings for Thunderbird with GK? I liked the fat middy Sound I could get with the ampeg preamp. Yeah, I got thunderbuckers in my bird, it's strung with chromes!
I Sound much like this one with the ampeg.... can this be achieved with the GK only?
I Play a Gallien Krueger Backline 600 with my Thunderbird nonreverse, normally I use an Ampeg SVT II Preamp into the effects return of the backline but I want to give the backline a Chance! Any recommended EQ Settings for Thunderbird with GK? I liked the fat middy Sound I could get with the ampeg preamp. Yeah, I got thunderbuckers in my bird, it's strung with chromes!
I Sound much like this one with the ampeg.... can this be achieved with the GK only?
