Thunderbird Club

[Christine]

@kat888 my tuners arrived this morning, they look OK so far but I'm at work and the bass is at home, I'll update you by Sunday at the latest on the fit

 

[Stevis]

Thanks, @Kat. I appreciate you passing along the Talkbass "knob etiquette" tip. Is this high noon practice because nobody wants to give away trade secrets on dialing in their own special bitch'n tone? Or is it purely about symmetry?

 

[vdub75]

I tried to ditch my SVT Preamp and so I tried the GK Backline 600 preamp section too. At first it was really "bleh", not the fat round mids I used to love about my svt Setup....

but then I tried the contour knob (having thought it was a mid Scoop only, I had never tried that one) and suddenly, it started to shine! contour at 12 o clock, preamp gain, treble and bass also at 12, hi mid at 2 pm, lo mit 3 pm, boost 1 pm and this Thing roars! loud enough to compete with a really loud guitar Player and a loud Drummer. I use a nobels ODR-1 in front of it for some tube-ish dirt.

 

[kat888]

Thanks, @Kat. I appreciate you passing along the Talkbass "knob etiquette" tip. Is this high noon practice because nobody wants to give away trade secrets on dialing in their own special bitch'n tone? Or is it purely about symmetry?

Out in Gen Pop there's a substantial body of opinion that amps should be run flat. Coincidentally 'everything at noon' works great for the compressor.

 

[GBassNorth]

The tricky part is understanding what is considered a flat setting on which amps. I think my SVT-VR uses noon (or 5) as the flat setting but I think my Musicman HD150 uses the Fender set up which isn't noon for flat. I can never keep it straight, all I know is I like where my knobs on the amp are right now and rarely ever reset them. I rely heavily on the tone control on my bass to fine tune the sound.

Here's a good read on Ampeg vs Fender/Vox/Marshall tone stacks...
Invalid Link Removed

 

[Stevis]

Out in Gen Pop there's a substantial body of opinion that amps should be run flat. Coincidentally 'everything at noon' works great for the compressor.

Good to know! I am not terribly wise in the ways of compression . I've always been more of the: bass --> cord --> amp, kinda dude (with the occasional DI in between). I do have this Invalid Link Removed with a compression feature but I have not toyed with it enough. There are also Tone Print compression effects options on my tiny TC Electronic practice amp. So, I need to muck around with that effect more and see if/how it suits me (while I make sure not to scoop the EQ on amp).

 

[kat888]

The BCP1 is pure fairy dust - not so much squishy as "fat and shiny". The Polytune was the first pedal I ever bought. Prior to that I was using my phone and before that an 80s Korg tuner.

I have two flavours of dirt, 12AX7 and 6550.

 

[kat888]

The tricky part is understanding what is considered a flat setting on which amps. I think my SVT-VR uses noon (or 5) as the flat setting but I think my Musicman HD150 uses the Fender set up which isn't noon for flat. I can never keep it straight, all I know is I like where my knobs on the amp are right now and rarely ever reset them. I rely heavily on the tone control on my bass to fine tune the sound.

Here's a good read on Ampeg vs Fender/Vox/Marshall tone stacks...
Invalid Link Removed

Yeah, knobs at noon presupposes an active tone stack. The Traynor has a passive tonestack and I dime the bass and mid and set the treble full off (flat be buggered!).

 

[Haji]

My SVT-3 Pro is mostly straight up noon with a slight boost on the bass and a little bit more of a boost on the mids. My GK 800RB is a much, much brighter voicing and I run the bass in that one at about 3 o'clock to get a similar tone. They couldn't be more different.

I really like the TC Electronic heads (toneprint technology fascinates me) as well as Warwick's new lightweight stuff. with all the new light stuff coming out, older heavy stuff gets cheaper and I don't gig often enough to need to take advantage of it. Maybe one day, but this is not that day!

 

[TwyreZ]

Someone plays Tbird on Orange Terror bass head with Ampeg cab ?

If so, what does it give ?

 

[Gaolee]

Depending on the light it's black or coffee coloured, as the mahogany comes though the transparent black finish. The next one, ie NRBird, will be Ferrari red with a white scratch plate (if Carlo has the paint for it).

The truss rod cover has had the steel wool treatment to remove the 'TBird PRO IV' logo (cos it ain't one anymore), but I'm thinking it might be better shiny - can it be buffed with a Dremel?

Buffed with a Dremel might work, or it might get too warm and melt the plastic. Another option is spray it out with gloss black paint or even clearcoat.

 

[Gaolee]

Did someone say VULGAR DISPLAY OF POWER?

Most of the times I can only get away with one, but I run two (either two 2x5 cabs and one head, or 2 heads and two 2x15s) if I'm using effects and can get away with it.

At one point in the not too distant past, I had two Acoustic 360 stacks and an Acoustic 320/408 stack. The pure wattage wouldn't be all that impressive, but it works out to five 15s and an 18. The 18 and one of the 15s were horn loaded. I never wired it all together, but thought about it. Cranked, each one can exceed the threshold of pain. I think a Bird through the entire stack could probably crack concrete and make people puke six blocks away. That's a reasonable use of electricity.

I played through a Sunn 2000 a while ago and thought it sounded really good. Normally, I'm not a big fan of tubes on bass, but it had a good "round" sound, for lack of a better description. Maybe it was just that specific 2000, but ever since, I have thought that if the Acoustics ever all went somewhere else, that's what I would want. As it stands, I will probably keep the '68 360 and the '13 360M forever. Roadies? Bah! I need the exercise. Plus, people know you are out for blood when you show up with almost 200 lbs of amp and cabinet.

I'm not sure Carol Kaye would approve. If anybody was ever the person I wanted to be like as a bass player, it was probably Carol Kaye, since she essentially took dumb songs and turned them into hits with the right bass line. I don't play like her at all, but I completely admire her influence on pop music.

 

[godofthunder59]

Short one head and cab

 

[D.M.N.]

At one point in the not too distant past, I had two Acoustic 360 stacks and an Acoustic 320/408 stack. The pure wattage wouldn't be all that impressive, but it works out to five 15s and an 18. The 18 and one of the 15s were horn loaded. I never wired it all together, but thought about it. Cranked, each one can exceed the threshold of pain. I think a Bird through the entire stack could probably crack concrete and make people puke six blocks away. That's a reasonable use of electricity.

I played through a Sunn 2000 a while ago and thought it sounded really good. Normally, I'm not a big fan of tubes on bass, but it had a good "round" sound, for lack of a better description. Maybe it was just that specific 2000, but ever since, I have thought that if the Acoustics ever all went somewhere else, that's what I would want. As it stands, I will probably keep the '68 360 and the '13 360M forever. Roadies? Bah! I need the exercise. Plus, people know you are out for blood when you show up with almost 200 lbs of amp and cabinet.

I'm not sure Carol Kaye would approve. If anybody was ever the person I wanted to be like as a bass player, it was probably Carol Kaye, since she essentially took dumb songs and turned them into hits with the right bass line. I don't play like her at all, but I completely admire her influence on pop music.

I've wanted to get an Acoustic 360 setup for ages. Never actually had the chance to test one out, but love the idea and examples I've heard. I've actually contemplated building one of the cabs and doing it up in Sunn aesthetics, and then running one of the 2000s into it as the low end half of a rig. Or picking up an old cab that may have had the amp removed. I think the old Sunns sound fantastic, like you said the a roundness and depth to them (especially when paired with the original JBL loaded cabs), but they are also really crisp and bright. I mean, they are essentially just Dynaco Hi-Fis. With my Precision I usually run them at Bass 2, Treb 10, Contour 10, and then adjust the volume and bass boost in accordance with the situation (lower volume, bass boost on, high volumes, bass boost off as to not get too muddy and reduce the amount of distortion). With the Greco, I'm finding it's better to do pretty much the same, but keep the contour at 0, otherwise it gets a bit too...congested sounding, for lack of a better description. Takes away from the clarity.

Hiwatts are some other amps I'd love to try out at some point.

And Marshalls. I'd be interested in running a Super as a leads/high amp, and trying out a Major. Love Ronnie Wood's tone with his Majors in the Jeff Beck Group.

 

[godofthunder59]

I've wanted to get an Acoustic 360 setup for ages. Never actually had the chance to test one out, but love the idea and examples I've heard. I've actually contemplated building one of the cabs and doing it up in Sunn aesthetics, and then running one of the 2000s into it as the low end half of a rig. Or picking up an old cab that may have had the amp removed. I think the old Sunns sound fantastic, like you said the a roundness and depth to them (especially when paired with the original JBL loaded cabs), but they are also really crisp and bright. I mean, they are essentially just Dynaco Hi-Fis. With my Precision I usually run them at Bass 2, Treb 10, Contour 10, and then adjust the volume and bass boost in accordance with the situation (lower volume, bass boost on, high volumes, bass boost off as to not get too muddy and reduce the amount of distortion). With the Greco, I'm finding it's better to do pretty much the same, but keep the contour at 0, otherwise it gets a bit too...congested sounding, for lack of a better description. Takes away from the clarity.

Hiwatts are some other amps I'd love to try out at some point.

And Marshalls. I'd be interested in running a Super as a leads/high amp, and trying out a Major. Love Ronnie Wood's tone with his Majors in the Jeff Beck Group.

I used to run Majors along side SVTs, still have my Major the SVTS are long gone.

 

[D.M.N.]

I used to run Majors along side SVTs, still have my Major the SVTS are long gone.

You know I've never been able to get on with Ampegs. The SVTs have always just left me...wanting something. Like maybe it was a bit muffled on certain frequencies. Or this kinda...rubber band feeling in the response? I get why they're a standard, but that might be part of why I feel they're a bit lacking in areas, because they are the standard, I hesitate to say generic, bass sound in rock. And because I don't think there are any of my major influences who played them: Entwistle, Bruce, JPJ, Redding, Casady, Wood, Pappalardi, Squire, McCartney. Actually, no, I guess Geddy did for a bit. I guess for me, when I hear them, they just aren't the sound of the bass in the Rock music I listen to.

 

[godofthunder59]

You know I've never been able to get on with Ampegs. The SVTs have always just left me...wanting something. Like maybe it was a bit muffled on certain frequencies. Or this kinda...rubber band feeling in the response? I get why they're a standard, but that might be part of why I feel they're a bit lacking in areas, because they are the standard, I hesitate to say generic, bass sound in rock. And because I don't think there are any of my major influences who played them: Entwistle, Bruce, JPJ, Redding, Casady, Wood, Pappalardi, Squire, McCartney. Actually, no, I guess Geddy did for a bit. I guess for me, when I hear them, they just aren't the sound of the bass in the Rock music I listen to.

I can totally relate to this! Tonally they are like beating something with a club (sacrilege I know ) they were loud and that's about all I liked about them. Give me a Marshall or a Hiwatt any day.

 

[GBassNorth]

All this Rig talk reminds me that I still have to sell my barely gigged SVT-VR and Bergantino NV610 rig. It's just too much for anything I'm doing these days. I haven't even plugged it in more than once in the last 4 years. If I could figure out how to set my paypal account up to accept payments it would have already been sold.

 

[Gaolee]

I've wanted to get an Acoustic 360 setup for ages. Never actually had the chance to test one out, but love the idea and examples I've heard. I've actually contemplated building one of the cabs and doing it up in Sunn aesthetics, and then running one of the 2000s into it as the low end half of a rig. Or picking up an old cab that may have had the amp removed. I think the old Sunns sound fantastic, like you said the a roundness and depth to them (especially when paired with the original JBL loaded cabs), but they are also really crisp and bright. I mean, they are essentially just Dynaco Hi-Fis. With my Precision I usually run them at Bass 2, Treb 10, Contour 10, and then adjust the volume and bass boost in accordance with the situation (lower volume, bass boost on, high volumes, bass boost off as to not get too muddy and reduce the amount of distortion). With the Greco, I'm finding it's better to do pretty much the same, but keep the contour at 0, otherwise it gets a bit too...congested sounding, for lack of a better description. Takes away from the clarity.

Hiwatts are some other amps I'd love to try out at some point.

And Marshalls. I'd be interested in running a Super as a leads/high amp, and trying out a Major. Love Ronnie Wood's tone with his Majors in the Jeff Beck Group.

Well, if you ever get down to Seattle, let me know. The '68 lives in the Basement of Bad Ideas and is the practice rig from hell these days. You are more than welcome to find out for yourself what it sounds like. The only downside is that it's a little noisy at idle, and it will occasionally sting a little if you are too close to a mic due to some archaic grounding. Neither of those issues is a problem if you aren't trying to sound perfect or sing into a PA.

For what its worth, I had the old one out to play a number of years ago, and got to listen to it side-by-side with an Ampeg head of some kind through an Ampeg 410 cabinet. Neither rig was cranked, and the bass player using the Ampeg was playing a 7ender Jazz. I was playing my 7ender Precision. The near universal consensus was that the Acoustic had a rich, full sound relative to the Ampeg, which sounded a little hoarse and scratchy by comparison. I don't know how else to describe it. But, those old stacks really are all they are cracked up to be. I expect there will still be a few in use 50 years from now when they are pushing 100 years old. After all, who ever would have thought a 50 year old amp would still be not just useful, but preferable?

Needless to say, I have never been much for Ampegs, and probably never will be. The only ones I have ever gotten on with are old fliptops and a friend's B100R combo. They don't have the overbaked sound SVTs have. Even so, I'll stick to solid state Acoustic Control equipment. I know what it does and how to get the sound I want out of it. The downside is that it can be hard to hear onstage unless you are liquefying the audience. Not that I have a moral problem with doing that...

The new 360M is the one I drag around for gigs most of the time, since it can sound like the old one, or it can be just a little drier and more hi-fi. It has a tweeter, so it can get the rockabilly clicky in a way the old one struggles with. If you want snarl and snap, the tweeter helps with that, too.

 

[Christine]

@kat888 I tried a tuner and it's a perfect fit but the clover leaves look like they are going to be very close together, I've measured and it will be about 1mm clearance but they won't touch. I hope that is some help with the blinging of your Bird