Hey guys. Anybody know of any replacement pickups for a five string thunderbird apart from Lull's T5 (if he sells those individually) and Thunderbucker Ranch's? Thanks
I should specify that I'm looking for something that will still sound "Thunderbird-ey" in a five-string. Not "EMG-ey," unless EMG makes something that sounds "Thunderbird-ey." I'm just curious what other makers or brands are out there apart from the two that I know of. Thanks.
How about this? Is this the tone you are after? I have them in my buzzard 2 (wood body, carbon neck), they are status' standard pickup. Think John, mark king, even pino has a status sig (its in the retro range, that used different pickups however). Tone wise they are really clear, hardly any noticeable colouration of tone. Edit.... Johns pickups were status earlier versions..... Still available. Some price.
Dang. I'm not quite that good. Just a bit shy of John's technique. Just a bit. I wonder how they would sound in a straight alder bass with a more traditional playing style. "thunderbird-ey" or "growly" at all? I guess I can look up some status basses and try to get a better idea. Thanks for the tip.
I'll try for you, my B2 has alder body.... Ill see if i can record in a bit.... Will prob just be cam corder but ill try... For now...
I'm essentially looking to make a five-string version of this on a budget: Pretty sure I've found the right bass to use. Just trying to figure out what pickups to throw in there apart from the obvious Lull's or Thunderbuckers. There's always somebody on here (like yourself) who has experience with brands that I've never heard of (like Status). I always learn something new when I poke around in here. Thanks.
Its all good, i do love the lull pickups... But being on the other side of the pond..... Yeah im gonna stick with UK brands or at least big distribution brands, as import duty bumps the total up, then the lovely fees the mail companies charge for letting you know... But that aside, if you decide to give status a shot, ask rob or dawn what would be best for the tone you want..... Im sue they do chrome covers also, as i have seen a few older models and some new with them (mark king chrome bass was amazing), they also do nice EQ if you want actives.... Expensive but nice. (about £100 for eq) After watching the lull vid, yep the status pickups definitely do have that tone. Im gonna try and get some audio done tonight if the daughter gets to sleep soon hopefully that will help
sorry jacoby75, i did set out to do some standard tracks..... then i found some isolated files online..... and i did this instead its just the neck pickup throughout, with a hiwatt 100 in my line 6 x3 set for pretty normal tone.
I have an oddball Gibson-era Tobias five-string that came from the factory with standard Thunderbird pickups (the recent matte black ceramic version). Works and sounds great!
Thanks. I wouldn't mind trying some good old fashioned actual Gibson T-bird pickups, but I don't see where I can buy those online. At least not five-string versions. If anybody knows where to look, I'd appreciate it. Thanks.
That's part of what I was trying to say - there's no such thing as a "five-string version". They're blade pickups, so you can use it for any number of strings, as long as they fit inside the sensing width of the pickup. So what is your intended string spacing?
Not sure. I don't have the bass yet. Here are the specs I can get from the website, but it probably doesn't tell you what you need to know: Nut width: 1.771" 35" scale 16" fretboard radius. Here's the bass: http://www.schecterguitars.com/bass/diamond-p-custom-5-detail
seriously id leave them as stock, maybe add a pre amp if you feel the need later. i love P+MM.... {} sorry for the mug shot {} and i have a 4 string P (MM+P routs) kit im about to start when the weather is better ill get a quick demo of the pickup mix later, just for an impression
Good looking basses! Is that top one a Sandberg? I may indeed just leave it stock, or swap the pickups for different P+MM pickups down the road, if I like the sound. I wanted a P/J, but the splittable MM may work just as well. My ultimate goal, if I like this bass, is to get another one since they were so cheap, and put the T-bird pickups in that one. But that will depend on whether I get some money for my birthday or not. If not, I'll just leave this one stock, most likely.
Yeah top one is indeed a sandberg VM. Awesome basses. Bottom is my modded yamaha bbg5a In all honesty as long as you have a solid beefy tone (sorry jazz guys a jazz just aint got the tone), on solid, comfortable bass...... its technique and amp/eq that brings the initial balls up front, add in some nice tubey compression/light crunch and its all good. I do really like the looks of those schecters, is it a newer model? I hope they do maple boards we all know proper fenderbird tone is the maple neck
I want to say that model came out in 2012, but I could be wrong. It is definitely a newer model. Most recently they came out with an active version of this in 4-5 strings, but I'm a passive guy at heart. I like my bass to just sound like thumpy wood and strings, and leave my pedals/amp for the tweaking. I'm really looking forward to trying it out. I had a Schecter Stiletto Studio 5 back in the day that I liked a lot and played at a professional level with. I ultimately sold it to get a passive jazz (sorry, but it worked for what I was doing at the time. ), but it was a solid bass with a great, great tone. So I expect good things from this one. We'll see. The only complaint I had about the Studio 5 was that cosmetic things were going wrong with it after a short time. Gold finish wearing off the hardware, both strap buttons got stripped really early on, etc. But it always sounded great and was real easy to play. And a maple board would be sweet. I've read a lot of folks say that on the boards. If they come out iwth one in maple I just might have to have three of these basses. And yes, technique is incredibly important. A great player can make a crap $200 bass sound like butter, or a crap player can make a $2,000 bass sound like crap. I think I fall somewhere in the middle. : ) I don't expect to play Entwistle parts . . . . ever. I just want some growly, vintagey smooth bassey goodness to play in church (modern worship like Tomlin, Hillsong, etc) and in an occasional country/classic rock cover band. I think it will work out.