thunderbird pro 4

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,just got an epiphone thunderbird pro 4,initial impressions
-fit and finish-good paint job,frets nicely finished,treble pot not as smooth as the others but works with no noise,tuners nice and smooth,they are not schallers but so far very usable,bridge nice and chunky and easy to adjust.
playing-neck had a back bow which was adjusted to give some relief and action lowered,there is a buzz on the D and G string at the 7th fret which may be a high fret at the 8th or the strings are duff,there are no buzzes anywhere else,will change strings to see if that does the trick.
the neck is very slim like a jazz bass and not like the other epiphones which are more like a baseball bat in comparison.great neck for flying about on.
sounds-plenty of thunder with the eq set flat and pick up balance/pan centered.neck pick up is very thuddy which would be good for dub/bob marley stuff,bridge pick up puts you in ray country without the over zingyness you can get with a musicman,I,ve a/b them.
both on gives you a big wide sound with a lovely high register for great rock tones-so far so good.
I,m very happy so far and makes a fine addition to the stable.
I should have mentioned earlier that it is tranluscent black which is very nice and matches any of your stage outfits and won,t go out of fashion.
Construction is neck through which is the same as a ricky made of a maple laminate so the head break bogey should not strike as long as you are sensible.This was a major consideration to me gigging cause you know that it,s a rough envoironment.
I have gigged this and it kicks like a mule,recorded some tracks and it recorded realy well,very smooth.
At the moment a very happy bunny and for the price I have no complaints yet and the neck dive isn,t as pronounced as with the others.
It is a long reach to the end compared to the musicman which feels like a sawn off in comparison and the acess to the highest frets is not very good but how often do you go above the 15th fret in reality .
hope this helps anyone.

[shinhoman]

I tried one of these a few months back. It's a great improvement to the standard model, feels a lot nicer and sounds a lot clearer. well done gibson.

x

[bassmachine2112]

hiho, after a few niggles,here,s the update-I,ve played about with the pick up blend,deepest dub to honky cat,not as brittle as a musicman but nice.
active eq-there is a lot of voices in this one.
will keep you posted
ps epiphones qc department on setting up a bass is needing to learn how to do it especially Gabor

[robocorpse]

Shame their Thunderbird cases don't fit the Thunderbird pro. Gotta source a 3rd party case, which has put me off a bit.

[Meenie]

I got the five string in March,its a real beauty,sounds awesome.

I was under the impression you could get a fitted hardcase from epiphone for about £65-70?

I allready had a spare case that it fitted in so i didnt bother.

[bassmachine2112]

I got an epiphone fitted case for it for £69.99 .The guy in the shop said they don,t fit those cases so I insisted we try it out and would ya believe it it fitted like a glove with a few inches to spare at head end.
It is a huge wardrobe of a case and awkward to fit in car for gigs but does it,s job.

[Arran_Ramone]

Ah awesome, I'd love to own a Thunderbird- I think that's going to be my next bass, especially for Drop D stuff, my P-Bass isn't a great suitor to that style.

Nice buy

[robocorpse]

[quote name='bassmachine2112' post='809780' date='Apr 17 2010, 07:44 PM']I got an epiphone fitted case for it for £69.99 .The guy in the shop said they don,t fit those cases so I insisted we try it out and would ya believe it it fitted like a glove with a few inches to spare at head end.
It is a huge wardrobe of a case and awkward to fit in car for gigs but does it,s job.[/quote]

Interesting, I was told the older Epi cases made for the bolt ons don't fit the Pros. They definitely don't fit the Tokais.

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,maybe it,s a newer case that fits all or the pros,Ill measure the length of the bass fromm strap pin to head and keep you posted

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,here,s the sizes-bass-48" overall from strap pin to head
case-52" overall
gap from head of bass to end of case-1 1/2"
hope this helps

[Meenie]

[quote name='Arran_Ramone' post='810366' date='Apr 18 2010, 03:16 PM']Ah awesome, I'd love to own a Thunderbird- I think that's going to be my next bass, especially for Drop D stuff, my P-Bass isn't a great suitor to that style.

Nice buy [/quote]


i'm using my 5 string t-bird tuned to A-D-A-D-G and it rules!

[bassmachine2112]

hiho,is it a pro 5

[Meenie]

yeah,the black one....Black basses are better for drop D!

[bassmachine2112]

I have done a few gigs with this now and I do a few tunes in drop d and it really thunders down tuned.

[Meenie]

[quote name='bassmachine2112' post='825370' date='May 2 2010, 10:12 AM']I have done a few gigs with this now and I do a few tunes in drop d and it really thunders down tuned.[/quote]


just re strung mine and ive noticed the frets are really worn allready,anybody else found unusually fast fret ware?
you can actually see the string wind marks on some and when i say worn i mean it,they look like the big dipper at blackpool pleasure beach!
i think they must be made of some seriously soft and cheap stuff,Epiphone made a cracking bass but its a shame they scrimped on the fretting.

[bassmachine2112]

HI, i noticed fast fret wear with the standard strings right away but I was aware of this from posts on the net about the standard strings.
I changed them quickly to rotosound 66,s and now I can see where the frets have worn shiny flats on the contact area of the frets on the strings now.
Softer strings might be a good idea,I,ve heard that DR-hi beams are softer.
The alternative if you feel confident is to replace them with quality fret wire-dunlop jumbos or medium,whatever floats yer boat.
I would have no problems with doing the work because this one is a keeper and they last for so long it,s a one time fix unless you get cheap chinese strings.
I have had this issue with another bass of mine,accelerated fret wear in front of your eyes with these cheapo strings-you get what you pay for.
hope this helps

[Meenie]

[quote name='bassmachine2112' post='865758' date='Jun 13 2010, 10:24 AM']HI, i noticed fast fret wear with the standard strings right away but I was aware of this from posts on the net about the standard strings.
I changed them quickly to rotosound 66,s and now I can see where the frets have worn shiny flats on the contact area of the frets on the strings now.
Softer strings might be a good idea,I,ve heard that DR-hi beams are softer.
The alternative if you feel confident is to replace them with quality fret wire-dunlop jumbos or medium,whatever floats yer boat.
I would have no problems with doing the work because this one is a keeper and they last for so long it,s a one time fix unless you get cheap chinese strings.
I have had this issue with another bass of mine,accelerated fret wear in front of your eyes with these cheapo strings-you get what you pay for.
hope this helps[/quote]


thanks for the advice,ive chucked some DR drop tuned strings on it,the problem ive got now is getting the intonation on the 135,all the others are sweet,the fat boy just wont have it though!
Tuned to A,D,A,D,G so its pretty low stuff,got some recording coming up so im starting to get sweaty!
The problem seems to be that the saddle on the bridge is just a bit too long,is there a manufacturer that makes a saddle that would just fit in and be the right length?
Bit out of my comfort zone now!
Help me obi wan kebasschat, you're my only hope!

Edited June 13, 2010 by Meenie