TV Jones ThunderMag and ThunderBlade

[deepestend]

Starting a fresh TV Jones thread. Anyone else using them? I've been using ThunderBlades in my Lakeland HOBO for a while now, but just replaced the bridge with a ThunderMag. Going to try it out at practice tonight but love it at home.

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

ThunderBlade (curiously labeled as a Thunder’tron) equipped bass, here. It’s a wonderful sounding pickup!

 

[deepestend]

Dropbox - jazz odyssey.wav - Simplify your life

Jam from last week using thunderblades. Stereo room mic.

 

[deepestend]

Thunder’tron (not ThunderBlade as I had thought!) equipped bass, here. It’s a wonderful sounding pickup!

View attachment 4834461 View attachment 4834425

Pretty sure that's a thunderblade and the sticker is wrong. It's their only blade pickup.

 

[deepestend]

@Ricky Caboverde what is that bass? Love the streamlined simplicity and the woods. How does it sound?

 

[Ricky Caboverde]

@deepestend its Marc Rutters’ take on a telecaster bass. It was commissioned several years ago by a TBer; and I only just got it about a month ago, second-hand. The body is a beautifully grained piece of redwood and it’s incredibly light! The whole bass resonates wonderfully with each note. I’d love to own another Rutters instrument someday.

The tone is thick with lots of clarity and character in the mids. Here’s a clip I recorded a little while ago:

 

[deepestend]

@deepestend its Marc Rutters’ take on a telecaster bass. It was commissioned several years ago by a TBer; and I only just got it about a month ago, second-hand. The body is a beautifully grained piece of redwood and it’s incredibly light! The whole bass resonates wonderfully with each note. I’d love to own another Rutters instrument someday.

The tone is thick with lots of clarity and character in the mids. Here’s a clip I recorded a little while ago:

Looks and sounds great. I think that clip captures the sound of the pickup nicely: a little zingy and bouncy but present.

 

[deepestend]

The ThunderMag sounds great live. A little less zingy and airy than the ThunderBlade, but that is more the sound that I'm looking for in the bridge position.

 

[scuzzy]

I have a thunderblade in one of my builds. 1k pots, and it's still very dark. No zing present that you speak of.

Still sounds great.

 

[AlexanderB]

I have a thunderblade in one of my builds. 1k pots, and it's still very dark. No zing present that you speak of.

Still sounds great.

View attachment 4835387

What strings are you using?

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

@deepestend its Marc Rutters’ take on a telecaster bass. It was commissioned several years ago by a TBer; and I only just got it about a month ago, second-hand. The body is a beautifully grained piece of redwood and it’s incredibly light! The whole bass resonates wonderfully with each note. I’d love to own another Rutters instrument someday.

The tone is thick with lots of clarity and character in the mids. Here’s a clip I recorded a little while ago:

Aaaaa, so you're the one who bought that sucker. Thing's way dope.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

@deepestend its Marc Rutters’ take on a telecaster bass. It was commissioned several years ago by a TBer; and I only just got it about a month ago, second-hand. The body is a beautifully grained piece of redwood and it’s incredibly light! The whole bass resonates wonderfully with each note. I’d love to own another Rutters instrument someday.

The tone is thick with lots of clarity and character in the mids. Here’s a clip I recorded a little while ago:

sounds good

 

[ctmullins]

I have a thunderblade in one of my builds. 1k pots, and it's still very dark. No zing present that you speak of.

Still sounds great.

View attachment 4835387

With 1k pots, it’s no wonder it’s dark.

Try 1M instead.

 

[scuzzy]

What strings are you using?

Dunlop nickels. It is short scale.

With 1k pots, it’s no wonder it’s dark.

Try 1M instead.

Pardon the mistype. It's a 1 meg stacked pot. Still dark with the admission of being incorrect.

 

[ctmullins]

Pardon the mistype. It's a 1 meg stacked pot. Still dark with the admission of being incorrect.

Have you tried the pickup wired straight to the jack? That would be the most treble possible (in a passive circuit).

 

[scuzzy]

Have you tried the pickup wired straight to the jack? That would be the most treble possible (in a passive circuit).

Have not. It's got clarity, but it's certainly a dark pickup.

Matches the description on their site, so I didn't think anything of it.

 

[2saddleslab]

Been using TV Jones pickups for almost 20 years, starting w/ ThunderTrons on my Dean Stylist.

In 2013/14 these two previous builds from the 90's were updated w/ TV Jones ThunderBlades [neck].

Initially I used a ThunderBlade on my custom Cabronita.

Then gave the ThunderMag a try. It had great tone but the output was decreased compared to the ThunderBlade.

I ultimately decided on the Supertron [guitar] bridge pickup used by the Fender Custom Shop, and according to Tom Jones himself, is exactly the same as the ThunderBlade, except for the housing.

@Ricky Caboverde, love everything about that custom slab!!

 

[Confunk]

I played a Gretsch G6154 SpectraSonic Bass, and I should NEVER have let it go, but...
It had 2 THUNDERTRON pups, sounded super-fine. I think that TV Jones pups are way under the radar- Very nice fidelity and tone, especially on a semi-acoustic bass.

 

[wellshuxley]

Pretty sure that's a thunderblade and the sticker is wrong. It's their only blade pickup.

My ThunderBlade pickups also have incorrect stickers! They are certainly blades

 

[Deleted member 271037]

All I know is that all the non-blade TV Jones pickups I've tried were useless with Fender string spacing. The E+G were outside the pole pieces and significantly weaker than A+D. Does the blade versions fix this?

(Lovely sounding pickups with the right string spacing though!)