Delberthot

I have almost a phobia about my amp packing up so 9 times out of 10 I buy brand new so even if it does go its under warranty. I'm happy to trust the most up to date lightweight cab or a 20 year old Trace Elliot

I was able to do practically any gig with my Shuttle 6.0 and Schroeder 1212L with or without PA support. It was the ultimate compact, loud rig

[url="http://edinburgh.gumtree.com/edinburgh/27/67912427.html"]I wonder what kind of bass it is[/url] Damn they've just added a description - it was funny at the time

You'd be amazed how that can happen professionally as well. I have a book on Cream and Jack & Eric's guitars are left handed, or rather then picture has been reversed and no one's bothered to check it. I was expecting one of those pictures that seem to be all the way through Ebay at the minute that look like someone has taken a close up picture of their guitar in a dark hole cos a lot of the stuff appearing in pictures could be anything.

Bout time I did a review for my Gothic Thunderbird. A very different animal to the standard Epiphone Thunderbird IV. Main differences include: 1) Jazz bass width neck ( 1.5" ) as opposed to the standard 1.73" 2) Mahogany body rather than alder 3) Ceramic pickups rather than Alnico (I'm assuming that's what they are) Some people have noticed that the pickup spacing is different as well but I don't have a standard to check it out. For the Eagle-eyed, you may notice that this bass is very similar to the Nikki Sixx Blackbird. That's cos they begin life as the same bass. The main differences being the pickups, the controls (or lack of) and the Blackbird Optigrab. [u][size=4]Fit & Finish[/size][/u] This bass is very well put together. The neck joint is very tight and everything is situated exactly where it should be. There are no rough fret ends on this bass - in fact I've never come across any rough fret ends on any Epiphone bass I've owned. The headstock is joined to the neck by means of a scarf joint which makes it more solid than the single piece Gibson ones, or indeed the Epiphone Explorers that use a single piece of wood for the entire neck. Single piece necks are weaker and therefore can suffer a break more easily. This bass is finished in what could only be described as the easiest to mark finish ever created to go on a guitar. Its a dull matt paint finish with no apparent laquer top coat. After some time you may find that areas that you are constant contact with become shiny. Scratches are so easy to make, you could even make one with your fingernail. It wouldn;t be deep but it would show up on the finish This bass uses the common 3 point bridge found on on most Gibsons and Epiphones. They're terrible. a pure pain in the proverbial to adjust. They are floating so there is minimal contact with the body which we are always led to believe is essential for a bridge to transfer sound from the strings to the body in order to resonate and so on. One issue that many Epiphones suffer from is the inserts that hold the bridge in are prone to coming out. This occurs especially when you try to lower the action most of the way down - you may find that as you turn the screw, the insert starts coming out with each turn. The solution is to glue them in. Why they don't do this in the factory I don't know. [size=4][u]Playability[/u][/size] Thunderbirds are completely different to play than your usual Fender or Fender clone by the fact that you have a large upper bout at the bridge end where you would normally have a nice contoured part to rest your forearm on. This requires a different technique which also combats neck dive The pickups on this are very growly, helped in part by the mahogany body to produce a very gnarly animal which can very easily overdrive your preamp. The solution is either to lower the pickups quite a bit or use the active input/pad on your amp. The neck is superslim, like the slimmest Rickenbacker neck you've ever played and like the Rick, the taper from nut to body end is very small which makes it more comfortable to play in my opinion The heel on the body is quite bulky so it is difficult to easily get up beyond the 17th fret - in fact its almost impossible. Then again, you're a bass player, why would you ever want to above there anyway [size=4][u]Weight & Balance[/u][/size] This is a heavy bass. I'm not sure exactly how much but its a lot heavier than it looks, helped by that mahogany body. And on to the big issue (nothing to do with the homeless) - neck dive! Right, for a bass to balance properly you really need the front strap button to be around the 12th fret. This bass has nothing after the 16th fret so that's why it will try to hit the floor any time you let go of the bass. The 3 best things you can do are firstly to buy yourself a big wide ass neoprene strap like a Comfort Strap. I have a Brooklyn Gear one that I bought from Stringbusters many moons ago which is more or less the same strap. This will also help to combat the fact that its a heavy bugger. I am by no means a big hard man, well I am big, but I can comfortably wear this bass all night using this strap. Use anything else and you'll be in pain in short order. I still have vivid memories of using a standard leather strap when I had my Stingray and having to take the strap off my shoulder and rest it on the other one after a while cos there was no padding to absorb some of the weight The second thing is to move the front strap bottom as close as you can to the magic 12th fret position. The closest you can get it is on the end of the heel which gets the strap to about the 14th fret if you use straplocks which helps push it out that wee bit further The only snag with this is that you need a strap with a very narrow end in order to comfortably be able to get it on. What I did was to find myself a strap with a very narrow end, cut it to about 3" long and connect it to my comfy strap by means of a nut and bolt using a couple of washers I had left over from a previous set of Dunlop Strap locks. The third and final thing is to buy a Hipshot Supertone bridge. The sheer weight of this will also add bulk to the end of the body, helping combat the neck dive ever further. It is a hell of a lot easier to adjust, offers string width adjustment and is a solid mass of metal which helps to solve our string to body transfer problem that the Epiphone bridge on stilts causes. [u][size=4]Sounds[/size][/u] If you want a bass that will cover most styles of music then this is it. I use it in a wedding/function band where I could be playing King's of Leon one minute, the Scissor Sisters the next then onto Nat King Cole (was a merry old soul) and it has never let me down. It will do thuddy, clear and crisp, nasal Jazz bass sounds, grindy rock and whatever you want to throw at it. The best setup for me is a low action so that when I dig in with my fingers or use a plectrum I get a bit of rattle and clank. The sound when using the bridge pickup solo'd is the best. I very rarely use the neck pickup. Just a slight amoung to fatten up the tone a bit [u][size=4]Overall[/size][/u] This is my third Thunderbird. I sold my first one when I couldn't get it to balance properly and didn't consider another until I was sure I could get it to balance properly. With the above mods which are very easy to do you can create a very playable, not to mention very cool bass. The Pro models are coming in at £250 and this one retails at £199. I'd still take this one over the pro for 2 reasons, namely: 'Proper' Thunderbirds are passive and secondly; I've heard so many stories about the terrible fretwire they are using on them causing premature fretwear. The first bit is of course only my own opinion and they could be easily changed to passive. The second one is worrying if frets are wearing out so quickly on what looks like a cracking bass. Gibson/Epiphone basses have never been as popular as Fenders so are never going to hold their value that well - for example I've seen 1960 Precisions going for £4000 and a Gibson EB2DC for the same period fail to make half that amount. A 1975 EB-0 going for 2008 Fender MIA money as well is another example. You get the idea. [IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/Thunderbirdnew/DSC08779Large.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/Thunderbirdnew/DSC08777Large.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/Thunderbirdnew/DSC08788Large.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/Thunderbirdnew/DSC08776Large.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/Thunderbirdnew/DSC08785Large.jpg[/IMG] [IMG]http://i927.photobucket.com/albums/ad111/Delberthot/Thunderbirdnew/DSC08783Large.jpg[/IMG]

Whack the crap out of it. Change the strings every 4 or 6 months. Lemon Oil the fretboard once a year - assuming I have the bass that long. Taking it out of the gig bag is the last thing I do when setting up for a gig and the first thing I do after one is put it back in.

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Cm_4M-nBpCE"]4 year old Chromes on a P[/url] [url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cYzCUk-A24o"] The best flatwound sound I have ever heard[/url]

Solved! Sample of 14mm thick engineered flooring and a sheet of A4 Fablon from Ebay £3.14

what a cock, I've put it in the wrong section - should be in the wanted section candygram for Mongo, Mongo like candy

After Friday's gig, I've come to the conclusion that I really like having the bridge pickup as high as possible to use as a ramp but I'm finding that it is choking the sound, especially when using a pick I am going to drop the pickup down a tad but still like the ramp idea so am looking for something to slot between the 2 pickups on the bass. I'd prefer ebony cos I wouldn't need to paint it but any dark wood would be fine as long as I can trim it to size easily. I had thought about buying a fingerboard blank and cutting it to size but I want to do this as cheaply as possibly

[quote name='Colledge' post='1006490' date='Oct 30 2010, 04:44 PM']if i had a superfly, i would buy an 8ohm 4x10 (making sure it has 8 ohm drivers rather than 2 or 32 (i don't even know if there is such a thing) and rewire it to present 2x4ohm loads so i could get the full power from a single cab.[/quote] Trace used 32ohm speakers in their 1048 cabs

why can't I just be bloody happy with what I have? I'm going away for a bit for sit down and a think

we'll see how it goes - ideally it would be a trade with a Hartke LH500 or staright swap for an LH1000 but I think that one may be a bit overkill

I'd like to but they very rarely come up second hand and I don't have the cash to buy a new one. I'd be selling my GK for £400 cos its only a few months old, mint condition and I really look after my stuff - assuming of course that is what I end up doing

I am thinking about getting another Hartke LH500. I had one at the start of the year but traded with my 8x10". I tried one at a practice the other week through a Peavey 4x10" and really liked the sound with the Thunderbird. I would like to have the chance to do a gig with one before I think about selling my Gallien head to make sure it is what I want and I don;t have the money to buy the Hartke and still have the Gallien. I wouldn't expect anyone to loan me their amp but I am unsure exactly what to do.

Unless you don't like the feel of your bass then there's no need to change. I have lots of love for the Thunderbirds but if you want one with a neck close to the Jazz then you need a Goth as they are narrower than the standard one Totally out of fashion as well so you can pick them up pretty cheap at the minute. I am a firm believer that as long as a bass can be adjusted to your liking it can be played live whether in your front room or on stage. You could probably pick up the rig I am using second hand within your budget ish. I love Trace Elliot cabs and have had loads of them. A lot of people are in lightweight mode so anything that weighs more than a cigarette paper is going for silly money. There is so much information available here and most of us are glad to be of assistance if you need any info to get yourself up and running

I've always wanted one after seeing Jack Bruce play one with his fingers from many moons ago. Hmm wonder if He'd have gone for the Gibby if the paint was actually dry on his after The Fool paint job

is it just me or does the colour of the body compared to the scratchplate make the bass look like one of those £50 jobs off Ebay?