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thunderbird tone out of a fender?

G

gibsonbass76

Aug 17, 2007
98
0
#1
I have a older epiphone Thunderbird and I love the tone but I find the bass extremely uncomfortable! The neck is thicker than I'm used to and the neck sits out too far that my hand falls a sleep. I have a p/j fender, is there anything I can do to make it sound like the bird? I play the bird with both pickups all the way on.
 
#8
the only way a fender's gonna sound close to an epi t-bird, is if you route out the fender and slam the t-bird pickups into it. i think there was a thread on here where someone did just that. i remember it having sound samples too, and it sounded mighty good to my ears.
 
#9
jaco_bass said:
to get a tbird tone out of a pbass just make fart noises and hit the strings with a fly swatter
Click to expand...

Well, I guess that might work. I was gonna suggest roll all the EQ settings on everything down into the mud and letter rip!

All sarcasm aside, a mahogany neck and mahogany body sounds like no other. A mod to a p bass by putting T bird electronics comes close, a Fenderbird closer still. But a P bass just wont do the T bitd tone easily....IMHO
 
#12
The Fender Zone USA model had a pair of humbuckers on it, and was about as close to a Thunderbird sound as I've ever heard. I wish I'd gotten one when they were around. You can still find them here and there, but they're about as pricey as a Thunderbird.

My project bass comes close to a Thunderbird on some levels. I found a Precision body made out of mahogany, and the fanfret neck gives it a nice, fat E string.
 
#13
Your best bet is to put a Syemour Duncan Quarter Pound PU in the Fender, string it with roundwounds, turn the tone knob on the bass all the way up, and crank up the highs on your amp.

Or just get a Gibson T-bird, they are AMAZING basses! Just saw on MF they have some stock left of T-bird Studio basses in Ebony finish on the way.
 
#15
Use an Aguilar or Sadowsky outboard Pre-amp with your P/J. Run both pickups full on, and boost the bass 30% on the Pre with the bass's onboard tone control on full or nearly full. Crank your rig, being sure you have good robust speakers and plenty of power. A pick over the bridge pickup is a good thing for that sort of tone, too. A little compression might help, too, especially if you can get it to add a bit of sustain.
 
#16
Jim Carr said:
Use an Aguilar or Sadowsky outboard Pre-amp with your P/J. Run both pickups full on, and boost the bass 30% on the Pre with the bass's onboard tone control on full or nearly full. Crank your rig, being sure you have good robust speakers and plenty of power. A pick over the bridge pickup is a good thing for that sort of tone, too. A little compression might help, too, especially if you can get it to add a bit of sustain.
Click to expand...


Yup, easy to do with an Aguilar OBP-3 onboard also.


.
 
#17
there was a point in Entwistle's gear history where he transitioned between a Precision and Thunderbird ('70-'71), and he had a real consistent mean growl to his tone. i'm talking Live At Leeds, up through some of the live Who's Next stuff. that's all between a P and T-Bird.
 
#19
the funny thing about that is, i played bass in a Who tribute show a couple weeks back. my SX Jazz, fed into a Boss DS-1 distortion w/ the tone down and the distortion up halfway, got pretty damn close to that sound. there was no fuzz or buzz on the overdrive. just a loud, sustained growl. perfect for the "Pinball Wizard" thing he'd do live, where he played that two-note guitar lick during the intro.
 

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