Reversebird

Hi Love these basses. I agree they all look the same. It might be different reissue dates / times. The B could also stand for Jack Bruce. Same as the CB Cliff Burton and RT Roger Taylor models. Aria UK might be worth dropping an email to. Good luck.

Not really sure I see the point of this bass from Jaydee. It's almost an exact clone of an EBMM Stingray and it's in the ball park price wise as a secondhand Stingray. They appear to have added nothing unique to the Stringray formula. I know which one I would have....defo the EBMM. When you consider the innovations, style and sheer beauty of their "Mark King" and "Supernatural model" basses this is a poor show from Jaydee, I can only assume it was a one off for a customer.

Love posting stuff that nobody has a clue on 😁👍

Hi all I'm looking to find the age of my BB1100s. I know it's made in Tawain and the Yamaha date code means it's either 1987 or 1997 as they rerun the dating letters every 10 years. It's a sort of violin sunburst colour. One thing I do know is it's exactly the same as my 1986 BB1100s which was made in Japan and is natural colour. Weight feels the same wood quality is the same. Electrics, bridge, knobs, tuners everything. So does anyone know 1: when was production for basses was moved to Tawain 2: what year did they stop making the BB1100s 3: are there and differences in the later Tawainese ones compared to the earlier ones as I believe all the components where the same on the early Tawainese ones as the Japanese ones just not produced in Japan ? I'd like to think mines another eighties one but who knows. Any help would be appreciated.

I think what I'm looking for is an active tone control. On an active circuit you can cut and boost curtain frequencies labelled Treble / Mid / Bass...obviously. Each must have its own frequency sweep range. I want one knob that covers more than just a narrow band of the frequencies.....sort of. I believe the technology is available and possible to put on circuit board, but whether it's practical is another thing? EMG two band circuits have dip switches to select the frequencies to suit your style of playing and then you can cut and boost the bass and treble in those frequencies. I don't think what I want exists. I think it's going to be compromise of butchering an active circuit and trying to work out which work better with my style of play and the Tbird pickups. Cheers

Sorry another late post: I have a bolt on neck Epi Thunderbird and an Epi Classic pro. I managed to tame the bolt on's darkness with decent 500k CTS pots and 0.033 paper in oil cap and then played it through a guitar compressor (Aria Ross/Keely clone) which rolls of the lows a bit and boosts the highs or at least that's the effect it has. I now have a twangy E string which still holds it's warmth and clarity. The Epi Classic Pro was definitely a bit brighter in standard out of the box form than the bolt on neck but I still changed out the cheap chinese pots for CTS ones 500k and 0.033 paper in oil cap. It now has a tone knob that change actually change the tone, in so far as it effects the pickups and how much brightness is available from each and the overall sound going to the amp. I think the Gibson designed pickups are a much needed upgrade in these excellent "budget" basses, you just got to get used to the sound and learn how to tame that sound to your needs.

Hi I was looking to upgrade a spare Thunderbird bass I have with an active circuit. I just want to boost the tonal qualities and output signal of the pickups without using pedals etc. I tried a varitone and it was ok but it doesn't boost the output signal and was still a bit wishy washy. Problem is I want it to look standard and don't really want to drill any extra holes or use stacked pots because I have witches hat knobs which I like. There is plenty of room in the cavity for a circuit and battery so no mods needed there. My first idea was find: An active single tone control knob that had a large sweeping range of bass tone say from 50 to 4k. I haven't been able to find one yet ? My second idea was: Take a three band circuit (they are pretty cheap now) and use only one of the pots ? Problem is I assume that each pot has a set of parameters / band widths. So I assume it's trial and error thing testing each pot with the TBird pickups to see which one is the most useful and gives the best dynamic range. Any one else thought about this problem or got any suggestions ??

Hi You are right about the Gibson Non Reverse reissue being a bit short of the mark so I upgraded mine. It's missing its truss rod cover at the moment I broke it putting it back on. New one should be here anyway now.

My Epi Classic Pro.

[quote] name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1407242539' post='2518663'] Growl is such a loose term as it means so many different things to different people - to me, growl is a Precision or Rick being driven hard (think Live at Leeds or early Rush), whereas to some people growl is the back pickup of a Jazz bass. To me that's burp. [/quote] I agree, to me it's Bruce Foxton with a Rickenbacker going through a valve Marshall head and 2x15 cab. I have also heard some quite cheap and basic guitars going through decent amps that have "that" sound. I think you have to set some parameters. The sound your looking for is only in your head and it's a growl into a clean none EQ'd amp that is solid state or valve ? Active or Passive pickups, single coil, humbucker, light / heavy gauge strings, Hi mass bridge in chrome, nickel, aluminium, Thru body stringing, bone, brass, graphite nut, do you play with fingers or a pick ? the list is endless. In my opinion nearly all basses (and I've played most of the common ones on the market) can be made to sound like other basses with the use of some the amazing pedals now available and a decent amp with a decent EQ. Plus the advice being given here although helpful and gives a grounding for known attributes in guitar and pickup make up ie maple is brighter than rosewood, active EQ gives far more control over sound than passive etc is pretty useless to you because it's "that" sound in their heads not "that" sound in your head. I gave up looking for my Utopia because I've probably had it perfect two or three times over the last 25 years but due to listening to and playing varied music the sound I thought I liked changed. Hence the reason why amateurs and professional alike have a few (or many) basses they keep revisiting. I like threads like this makes you think about "your sound" and how your peers preceive theirs. Good luck with your search.

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For me a new pair of £20 Artec soapbars 13.5k rehoused into Thunderbird chrome covers, attached to 500k pots and a 0.33 paper in oil cap. Growls like a Tbird should for around £60.00 all in. The best Kent Armstrong pickups are not the Far East ones (although they are value for money) the ones you want are the ones hand made by Kent in Ashford Kent, where you can talk to him and have the pickups acoustically adjusted to sound exactly like the sound in your head and reasonably priced. That's the way forward if you can't find "that" sound off the shelf :-))

Hi Has anyone tried either of the new Vox Teardrop or the Phantom bass. I had an Italian Vox Phantom and it was a nightmare to play the neck was far too heavy for the body and we are not talking Epiphone dive this was Tom Daley dive. So I was looking at the Teardrop and wondered if Vox had found a decent balance with it being short scale. Nowhere round my area sells them and there are no personal reviews on the internet so just looking for a heads up before I decide to buy. Cheers

Hi Boost will certainly get you more out put but I think you need to look at either a rotary EQ like the Aphex bass exciter or a Graphic EQ. I can't see a boost fattening your sound. Try a cheap Behringer graphic EQ and see if you get the sound the sound you want and then go from there. You could do it even more cheaply by playing with your EQ on your amp, obviously depending on how good your amp is? Before you buy anything though have a look at some of the suggestions I made on you tube and see if any of those reviews gives you something close to what your after. Good luck :-))

Hi Not really sure what you mean by beefing it up. If your looking for a fatter bass sound a compressor sometimes works and usually because of the nature of a compressor there is a gain knob, Ovnilabs is a great website with hundreds of compressor reviews. If your looking for more control over your sound then maybe a graphic EQ pedal, Boss and Ashdown make some good ones but there are loads out there If it's a bit more dirt and grind then you need to look at a distortion or drive pedal, I use a dual drive Ashdown Nate Mendel. I have the Behringer DI box it's basically a copy of the Tech 21 Sansamp and yes I have used it with active bass and yes you can control your sound a bit more, at the moment I use an Aphex Bass Exciter which tweets your bass and treble more or less and is probably what your looking for or something similar, they come up for sale every now and then around £50 but there are lots of similar pedals with a rotary EQ / shaping usually they come with compression and drive etc on one pedal. Finally if it's clean flat boost your after then you could do worse than try the Seymour Duncan boost pedal, I think you can drive up to 25db of CLEAN gain into your amp again second around £30 I'm sure there are plenty of opinions on pedals from people on this site, GOOD LUCK

It might be an alternative scratchplate for my Mike Dirnt Precision which is black :-))

Brought a sheet of this from China. Supposed to be big enough for a P bass scratchplate works out about £12.00 including postage. Anybody like me think it's funky and different?? https://www.dropbox.com/s/zkilf11duxysgp4/2014-07-21%2015.25.39.png

https://www.dropbox.com/s/jd2wb5vxa61n66y/2014-01-10%2012.35.12.jpg Tanglewood Resonator circa 2002 very very rare beast from this maker

https://www.dropbox.com/s/98e0rzmjj69dvhq/2014-07-06%2016.44.50.jpg My old Shaftesbury circa 69 / 72

https://www.dropbox.com/s/y07eedc18fxgr38/2014-07-18%2021.57.00-2.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/pcmrxycxkvwu4ya/2014-06-15%2015.56.28.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/6ixs6dat7r9jnp2/2014-05-03%2017.01.34.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/nac9evbl6n8t10a/2014-05-05%2013.21.18.jpg https://www.dropbox.com/s/vw4bs2pggke9d0w/2014-06-15%2016.00.40.jpg I have a picture of John Entwistle playing a Non Reverse Thunderbird in about 1969. My Gibson reissue looked nothing like it when I brought it so I decided to build the bass that Gibson should have reissued in my opinion. The tuners are Hipshot mini cloverleafs, specially made by Hipshot for the Thunderbird,standard cloverleafs don't fit. Artec 13.5k custom made pickups, original Gibson 9.5k Hipshot 2 piece bridge not a direct fit but lots of room to intonate and no loss of sustain over my Hipshot Superlight NOS Kalamazoo thumb / tug bar Witches hat knobs, controls moved to the correct sixties configuration 500k CTS volume pots 500k CTS no load tone pot Rotosound Nexus black strings Schaller strap locks top horn one moved to the neck for emaculate balance Plays and sounds amazing. Last job is to fill the holes from the original bridge and have the whole bass painted copper orange like Mr. Entwistles one and add a black scratch plate. Trying to find either someone to engrave the bird on the new scratchplate (preference) or there was a guy on eBay selling lazer cut stickers but I can't find him now.