Question for new NR Thunderbird owner(s)

[planetgaffnet]

Quick question.  

While I'm loving the overall feel of the new non-reverse, I am a tad disappointed with the sound.  Considering it shares the same pickups/circuitry/heritage as the reverse models, by comparison I'm finding the output [edit] to be muddy.  I have three other TBs of various vintage all of which have a much wider tonal range.

Anyone experiencing the same?

Cheers
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[Denis]

I can't compare it to a current T-bird but the NRs are set neck rather than neck through. That could account for some of it. I would guess it's more equivalent to a studio Thunderbird than to a regular T-bird.

[dadagoboi]

Quick question. 

 I have three other TBs of various vintage...

Cheers
P

Specific years of your TBirds could help narrow the reasons, besides string and setup differences (most importantly distance of pickups from strings).

[planetgaffnet]

The TBs are a 97', '04 and a '00 Gothic.  All are fitted with Hipshot Supertone bridges.  Strings are minty fresh D'Addario EXL 170s. 

I've been adjusting the pickups up and down since it arrived and to be honest nothing has really made any difference.  Hardly any top and quite farty.

I'm going to take a peak into the control cavity in a few minutes...
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[saltymonkey]

Mine new NR is not like that at all. Plenty of beef and sparkle. I'm actually rolling the bridge pick up and tone off a bit. I love this bass, have totally bonded with it.

[Dave W]

Although I haven't heard the NR, this sounds like an electronics problem. The output should not be low.

[planetgaffnet]

If I could be so bold, listen to this - or more to the point from about the 50 second mark - I'm not looking for a critique of my playing as this is simply a work in progress, just the tone):



This is my 2004 Thunderbird.  My set up generally involves going into a Sansamp and this is pretty much the sound I get straight out of the box (irrespective of the bass).  Plug in the NR and zilch...there's no drive whatsoever.  I'm not saying that there's no output volume, there is, but it's completely flat.

By way of a test, I desoldered the tone pot a few minutes ago and the tone is just as muddy across both pickups.  Weird.

Guess I might take it over to a tech I know this weekend.
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[stiles72]

I've noticed quite a bit of variance in the output and tone of modern TB+ pups.  My '00 Blackbirds pups are very hot, and much darker than compared to the stock pups that came in my 2007 IV.  The IV always sound weak and midrangey by comaprison. I bought a set of pups from Denis as replacmeents, and they are 80-90% closer to the Blackbird. My Studio 5'er is somewhere in between. Before I swapped the pups in the IV I tried messing with the electronics, including different pots, tone capacitors, wiring configs - but it was all the same. Only changing the pups helped me.

[the mojo hobo]

Mine sounds great, and certianly doesn't suffer from a low output. In fact it's quite the opposite, I lowered the pickups to tone it down a bit.

Now if I can just get it to shed a few pounds. It is heavy, too heavy for me to play a four hour gig with it.

[66Atlas]

I got curious...My NR is just as hot as my '11 Reverse with the pickup height the same. Definately seems like something might be amiss with yours...

[planetgaffnet]

I've spoken to my tech guy and am dropping it over next Tuesday.  He asked me a couple of questions which will probably make some sense.

First up he asked, by way of comparison, if one of my other TBs had a tonal range of 1-100 (with lower number being the bass end of things tonally) where does the NR sit.  I said there was no top end and would say the available range was low-bass to low-mids (ie 20-40). 

He also asked whether raising or lowering the pickups makes any difference.  I countered this by saying the output wasn't an issue (it's loud).  Raising the pickups just sent a hotter signal to the amp causing it to clip/fart.

Where we're at now is that he's going to remove everything from the pots and start from scratch.  He thinks it's probably just bad wiring.

Fingers crossed!
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[uwe]

Yes, there must be something amiss here. I played mine side by side with the B&CH and a sixties Non Rev. True, the Reissue is bassier, but not weaker than the other two, in fact the output signal is a little higher. It does sound bassier than a reg Rev TBird, but that is owed to the set neck and a much thicker body.

[planetgaffnet]

Uwe...there's nothing but mid-lows, no top whatsoever.  I feel a bit of a cock as I didn't really notice as I'd been playing the new one pretty much exclusively since it arrived.  Maybe my first post could have been better phrased, the output is fine (viz. it's as loud as my other basses), but tonally it's awful.

I've gone through a plethora of basses previously...Fender, Gibson, Warwick, Hamer etc.  different woods, bolt on set neck, neck through, but none of them sounded this bad.

I thank everyone for their input.  I'll report back next Tuesday.
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[clankenstein]

i wonder if the pickups are out of phase?

[planetgaffnet]

i wonder if the pickups are out of phase?

How would I determine this?  Anyhow, I'll give it 48 hours!  I'm not planning on rehearsing in that time.
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