Supertim

Got a few that I have toured with as support, in no real order Dead Kennedys Puddle of Mud Kittie Therapy? The Offspring Chaimera Less than Jake Pitchshifter Oh and Billie Joe from Green Day described my old band as the "best he had heard in an age"

I might well be time to change the thread title, plenty of love on here now! Glad my first real thread was popular

I might well be time to change the thread title, plenty of love on here now! Glad my first real thread was popular

For me, my preferred writing instrument is always my trusty 1972 bic biro

Cheers for the replies guys. Clarky, I too am a pick player and I did find the transition to T Bird difficult at first due to the raised section and the unweildy 3 point bridge, however I just changed my right hand position and cup the bridge by resting my hand on it and keeping my pinky underneath the bridge. When I graduated to the Blackbird I made use of the "opti grab" which is basically a little metal hook for your pinky to loop into. This makes picking a whole lot easier and gives greater control when playing sixteenths and prevents the neck dive. A decent strap will also all but eradicate this. I am interested in theosd's comment about them lacking tonal definition, a point which bemuses me? Whilst I will admit that tonally they are a bit narrow, the tone that Tbirds do provide is perfectly defined, indeed in the wrong hands a TBird can sound terrible if it isnt EQd well such is the definition of the frequencies that it does supply! Further to this I am unsure about your comment re Ashdowns??? One other major downside is that it is a bass that is not really conducive to playing any chords or multiple string strikes. I play a few songs that are dropped D Tuning and with the TBird four string D "chords" are not as fluid and tight unless you are fully concentrating, which is not often when you are playing songs such as "Killing in the name of" or "sounds of madness" Like many others I fell in love with the TBird for its looks and its great straight rock crunch. I am a big Nikki Sixx fan (not as a bass player, he is pretty sh*t, more of a personality) and ever since he started using them again I fell in love with them and just altered my playing to compensate, something that has actually turned me into a more controlled player. I guess it could be a case of style over substance with this Bass. Cheers Mayb

The basic version of this is available in Guitar Guitar for £200. the only difference I can see is that it is a bolt on

Hi All anyone know any good sites for buying strings cheap for bulk purchase? got a lot of gigs booked in the coming months and dont want to have to take out a second mortgage!

Cheers Clarky, I know what you mean about the neck, I guess it is more of a rock bass than anything else. Funnily enough I am not a big fan of P Basses, for no real reason!

Hi Guys I am a lover of the Gibson Thunderbird in all its guises and it has occurred to me glancing these hallowed pages that there is not a lot of chat regarding these custodians of low end rumble. Have I just missed the discussions regarding them or are they an unfavoured bass of choice here? I currently have a couple, a Blackbird (which is the original Nikki Sixx custom model - see my pics in the live thread) and a standard mark IV. So is the T bird an unwanted member of the bass family in these parts? I know they do have a few obvious flaws however they are, in my opinion, one of the greatest looking and playing basses around. sh*t I even got the T Bird logo tattooed on my arm at one stage (since covered up when Gibson knocked my band back for a sponsorship/endorsement deal)

Guitar Guitar are doing Epi T Birds for £200 brand new. There doesnt seem to be a lot of love for the T Bird on here? Why is that? I know they have their downsides such as being neck heavy and the very un user friendly bridge and saddle arrangement but their sound is amazing and they look great

Cheers guys, I think I am going to be opting for the EB Combo, I used to use a HArtke cabinet and I liked the punch from the aluminium speakers. I used to use a Trace combo in my early days, I found it Ok but generally had to compromise a bit too much between clarity punch and low end for my liking.

[quote name='bungle' post='893622' date='Jul 13 2010, 12:37 PM']I have an EB-180. It was my first bass amp and I gigged plenty over a 2-3 year period with little bother. I found it to be very reliable, and have no complaints, I just replaced it because I fancied something bigger. It competed well enough at small gigs against a noisy drummer and two 50W fender guitar amps, but it needed DIing at anything bigger. If you really are competing against 300W (!) guitar amps you'll struggle, but I'm assuming that's a typo for 30W?! I still have the amp and keep meaning to shift it, if you're anywhere near Leeds then we could work something out? £120? I have some pictures somewhere.... FWIW, you might be better off looking at the F/S section on here for a budget combo - if you've got £300 to spend you're money will go much further than buying new.[/quote] Cheers Bungle, No type O the Guitarists both use 300W combos, however they are generally only at half volume and both of them use guitar sounds that are easy for the Bass to penetrate. I used a 200W Peavey for a gig on Friday night and it punched through OK, even at half volume. I am in the Glasgow area, so no joy on that front, I will look at the gear section cheers

Hi all newbie here just looking for a few comments on cheap combo amps. I have recently started gigging again after retiring from touring some 5 years ago. I sold of most of my gear back then, however I have just joined a local Pub Rock covers band and I am looking at a budget combo for small venue gigs. After a couple of hours of looking at various amps it is a tie between the HArtke A100 and the Ashdown EB 180 EVO II, both of which are retailing at under £300 Anyone use either of these amps and would care to pass comment on their long term reliability? Also anyone who has the Hartke amp, how does the sound work at high volume? I figure that by only using a 100W amp competing against 300W guitar amps I will need to utilise the higher end of the volume scale? any comments on either of these Amps greatly appreciated. If it helps I used to play through a Galien Kruger classic head and used a Hartke 4x10 for small to medium sized gigs and a Ampeg 8x12 for arena shows

Hi All Just joined after looking for some reviews of Amps etc. Been playing for 20 + years, albeit I have just came out of semi-retirement and joined a new band after spending a decade playing professionally. My specialities are Rock, Punk and Metal with a bit of mellowness added in, I play a Gibson Blackbird as my main Bass, I also have a Epihone T Bird and a Kramer ZX70. No dedicated amp at the moment as I sold my rigs when I 'retired' Used to favour a GAlien Kruger Head with a Hartke 4x12 for Club gigs and a Ampeg 8x 12 for larger shows. Now I am just playing in a fun Pub Rock covers band and I am looking for a relatively small budget combo, probably going to go for an Ashdown or a Hartke. 100 -200W would probably suffice. Anyway hi all, looking forward to chatting with you all ST