My 2012 Gibson Thunderbird is probably the most comfortable bass I have if I’m standing. It has zero neck dive, weighs 8.5 pounds. I did change out the bridge from the Gibson three-point to a Babicz. Additionally, as you mentioned, I have gone to the Bill Wyman/Robert DeLeo style of having a fairly steep angle on the neck instead of horizontal.
Tbirds and by extension Gibson bases get a bad rep for sounding “muddy” but if you put on a fresh set of Roto sound strings roll back some of the low end boost the mids and run it through a nice overdriven amp (not a preamp pedal) you’ll get absolutely massive tone perfect for power trios or one guitar groups
13 or 14 years ago I got a Epiphone Thunderbird, whatever the more deluxe VVTT model was/is called. It also had a standard mounting hi-mass bridge that Epiphone offered at the time. I loved the size of it. I'm 6'2" & 250, and I loved the 35 in. scale. I really like the super rich or clankey tones. But the neck dive just felt too much like work, and playing it got old fast. I still miss the 35 in. scale and from time to time I'll look for another 35 in., then I get over it.
Me Spector has 37 scale and smokes the T Bird in every way imo. I wouldn't consider using a T Bird instead of it. No way no how. Gibson is a Guitar company whose majority of Basses succ. They only still in business cause the Les Paul Guitar. Basses never built dey company. They neglected Bass pretty much the entire Time they've existed. With few exceptions over the years. Other companies surpassed them and instead of trying to improve, and catch up, they got worse. 2024 Gibson isn't 1996 Gibson. They changed to something worse. Better options are available these days.
Such a cool looking bass. Great to see you reviewing a budget bass at the moment Jonny - not much about on RUclips at the moment. I had the Epiphone version, which sounded great but had a neck like a baseball bat. This active version is not a good idea, I think.
Great, comprehensive and honest review as always. Really enjoy your videos. I nearly bought an Epiphone Thunderbird once because I was playing in a hard rock band and listening to a lot of Nikki Sixx. Glad I didn't. This looks just as bad. Bought and EB-0 instead... Just as horrendous. Neck dive, awful bridge design, muddy sounds etc. Raffled it for charity in the end as couldn't bring myself to sell it to someone. At least it made some money for a good cause.
There exist - by fault (?) - different push/pull wirings for this HB Thunderbird version. I contacted the HB Support about this - I noticed the following "pull" variants: active neck only, active bridge only, whole passive and active parallel. According to the mail from HB the push/pull SHOULD be active/passive. Aeons ago I had a standard Gibson TB which I played for years and I loved it despite all the negative aspects. I bought the HB VS70 only for fun for a reunited fun band project. And this cheapo sounds different to an original TB but - heck - sounds very well. Hint #1: you have an forearm - that's the point against neck dive. Hint #2: don't play Tibbies if you have short arms ...😈😉
The bridge looks like it’s located several inches closer to the neck than a REAL Tbird. That means the ENTIRE neck is moved left several inches! That’s gotta make that bass completely unplayable! Plus, the strap button should be at the neck joint! Unless that’s a short scale, I can’t imagine it’s very usable. The geometry is completely off.
Doesn't sound too bad but other than that I hate it. I've never liked Thunderbird's. They scream " I'm trying to look cool at the expense of everything else! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!!" I wish I could give you my HB MB-5 SBK. Had it for a year now and after playing (trying to get any sort of usable sound out of it) it for about 10 minutes I put it down and it's sat ever since. Still has the tag hanging from a tuner. Now that's a piece of shhhhhut your mouth. One pickup, 2 volumes. What a great idea!
@@JonnyDibble I was very lucky that for Christmas my uncle gifted me his old bass which is a spector NS holoflash that I still use to this day. Beautiful bass to play :)
yeah, same. I really want to get a Dingwall D-Roc into my hands, though. I think that looks like the best possible approach to that shape. But they are easily 10x the money than the Harley Benton, so ... :/
Long ago, I wanted a thunderbird but I couldn’t afford it. Instead I got an Iceman bass from Ibanez, which had all the same problems😂. Still, it’s a pretty bass and it sounds good. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
Honestly the tone here sounds pretty flat in most settings. Between this and the hunk of crap you'd call a bridge...no go. I always wanted to at least try a tbird, esp as a plectrum guy......but this dampens the enthusiasm
If you reviewed as much as you complain, this could be a somewhat decent video. Of course, it has all the typical problems of a TB (to be expected), LOL. We all know that. Despite this, I think it's a really good bass for its price.
Why do you say you cannot intonate this bass, You actually can, but the intonation screws are on the other side of the bridge than what you are used to, so why lie about this ?
@@JonnyDibble I've probably called them worse lol I've never liked Thunderbirds or Beatle basses, it always seemed like fighting badly playing designs in order to hope people thought you looked cool with it
Think I would play a Harley Benton...absolutely nothing! I keep seeing this brand propped up and yes it's a copy often of classics and yes it's cheap and well it's always to me that a cheap copy so really why bother? Don't get it. Spend a little more and get a lot more
you won't be getting a lot more for spending a little more. HB is a great company for musicians on a budget like myself. i got a thinline telecaster copy from them and it's absolutely great for 200 EUR. I can't imagine getting anything close in terms of specs for that money from any other brand like Epiphone or Squier.
I mean what do you expect for a $170 bass? I honestly think shitting on a bass that is obviously for beginners that’s just want a cool looking bass that sounds decent serves no purpose. Plenty of other people have given reviews saying the complete opposite - saying it’s great for the money which makes more sense given the EXTREMELY affordable price point. Thanks for the video but your opinion is wrong here 😂
I’m actually shocked that they made the Thunderbird worse…. It’s a poor design from the beginning, but they didn’t make any improvements, only blunders. Blunderbird. Ironically, I’ve owned a Gibson Thunderbird for 20 years. It rarely gets played, but it looks cool 😂
Thunderbirds are some of the worst Basses on Earth no matter who makes them. The design is very flawed. Good news is a Thunderbird makes excellent firewood 😂
@JonnyDibble To each dey own. If it makes u happy and u enjoy them, go for it. Gibson sends rookies free gear everyday. In me career they never sent me anything for free. They're greedy to me and overpriced considering the numerous flaws they now have. The quality control is unbelievably bad considering the price. Also why support a company that doesn't want to work with me in Metal but gives country western artists tons of stuff free then attempts to charge me more than TWICE what the instrument is worth and then it shows up with ruined finish, not set up correctly, not ready to play, bs strings I'd never use and needing about approx $1,000 more to get it right? It's insane to me so I replaced them with Schecter. Schecter works with me. Schecter and Spector make much better Basses than Gibson imo for much better prices and they don't act like snobs addicted to country western. They have entire lines devoted to Metal and Metalheads like me.
TB is the high heels of bases! Being sexy has a price!
It’s true
Not gonna lie, didn't think it sounded all that bad, been a long time since I tried playing a T-bird though and I remember the EPIC neck-dive
Actually I liked the sound too. A fatso with presence...
My 2012 Gibson Thunderbird is probably the most comfortable bass I have if I’m standing. It has zero neck dive, weighs 8.5 pounds. I did change out the bridge from the Gibson three-point to a Babicz. Additionally, as you mentioned, I have gone to the Bill Wyman/Robert DeLeo style of having a fairly steep angle on the neck instead of horizontal.
Tbirds and by extension Gibson bases get a bad rep for sounding “muddy” but if you put on a fresh set of Roto sound strings roll back some of the low end boost the mids and run it through a nice overdriven amp (not a preamp pedal) you’ll get absolutely massive tone perfect for power trios or one guitar groups
In the right hands, they can sound amazing!
this sounds and looks fantastic. I am a massive TB fan, if I hadn't already had a Korean Epiphone TB, i would've bought this bass in no time
13 or 14 years ago I got a Epiphone Thunderbird, whatever the more deluxe VVTT model was/is called. It also had a standard mounting hi-mass bridge that Epiphone offered at the time. I loved the size of it. I'm 6'2" & 250, and I loved the 35 in. scale. I really like the super rich or clankey tones. But the neck dive just felt too much like work, and playing it got old fast. I still miss the 35 in. scale and from time to time I'll look for another 35 in., then I get over it.
Me Spector has 37 scale and smokes the T Bird in every way imo. I wouldn't consider using a T Bird instead of it. No way no how. Gibson is a Guitar company whose majority of Basses succ. They only still in business cause the Les Paul Guitar. Basses never built dey company. They neglected Bass pretty much the entire Time they've existed. With few exceptions over the years. Other companies surpassed them and instead of trying to improve, and catch up, they got worse. 2024 Gibson isn't 1996 Gibson. They changed to something worse. Better options are available these days.
Great honest review again mate, mullet game is strong! 😉
Thanks pal! 💪💪💪
Such a cool looking bass. Great to see you reviewing a budget bass at the moment Jonny - not much about on RUclips at the moment. I had the Epiphone version, which sounded great but had a neck like a baseball bat. This active version is not a good idea, I think.
I mainly review budget basses! Love them 😁 Ahh Thunderbirds. How I REALLY want to like them
It’s just preference, I love my tbird John entwistle never had a problem with the ergonomics of it either
idk if I would agree with that, he had a custom bass made for a reason
Great, comprehensive and honest review as always. Really enjoy your videos.
I nearly bought an Epiphone Thunderbird once because I was playing in a hard rock band and listening to a lot of Nikki Sixx.
Glad I didn't.
This looks just as bad.
Bought and EB-0 instead... Just as horrendous. Neck dive, awful bridge design, muddy sounds etc.
Raffled it for charity in the end as couldn't bring myself to sell it to someone.
At least it made some money for a good cause.
Thanks! Yeah Gibson just don’t do bass justice, unless we’re talking Ripper and Grabber era 😍
There exist - by fault (?) - different push/pull wirings for this HB Thunderbird version.
I contacted the HB Support about this - I noticed the following "pull" variants: active neck only, active bridge only, whole passive and active parallel.
According to the mail from HB the push/pull SHOULD be active/passive.
Aeons ago I had a standard Gibson TB which I played for years and I loved it despite all the negative aspects. I bought the HB VS70 only for fun for a reunited fun band project. And this cheapo sounds different to an original TB but - heck - sounds very well.
Hint #1: you have an forearm - that's the point against neck dive.
Hint #2: don't play Tibbies if you have short arms ...😈😉
The bridge looks like it’s located several inches closer to the neck than a REAL Tbird. That means the ENTIRE neck is moved left several inches! That’s gotta make that bass completely unplayable!
Plus, the strap button should be at the neck joint! Unless that’s a short scale, I can’t imagine it’s very usable.
The geometry is completely off.
It’s a pain 😅
15:30 The pros of the tone can never outweigh the neck.
I was channeling you in this video
Doesn't sound too bad but other than that I hate it. I've never liked Thunderbird's. They scream " I'm trying to look cool at the expense of everything else! Look at me! LOOK AT ME!!" I wish I could give you my HB MB-5 SBK. Had it for a year now and after playing (trying to get any sort of usable sound out of it) it for about 10 minutes I put it down and it's sat ever since. Still has the tag hanging from a tuner. Now that's a piece of shhhhhut your mouth. One pickup, 2 volumes. What a great idea!
“Other than I hate it” 😂😂
@@JonnyDibble It's the mullet of basses. Yup. Cheap shot totally intended 🤣
What is it with Harley Benton and not having a pickup selector?
Right?!
It has a push pull volume selector used to either control the bridge (push) or neck (pull out) pickup’s volume ..
@@cvanhetkaar96 sadly that’s not true. It’s series/parallel. No pickup blend
Less soldering labor, cuts the price
The Thunderbird is one of the coolest designs ever.
It’s VERY cool. But very bad
The first bass I ever tried as a kid was a thunderbird! It nearly put me off playing bass it was that uncomfortable!
Wow, well done for persevering!
@@JonnyDibble I was very lucky that for Christmas my uncle gifted me his old bass which is a spector NS holoflash that I still use to this day. Beautiful bass to play :)
I just wish that they had opted for a different Gibson design like the Ripper or Grabber. Why is it always the T-bird?
YES!!!
I don't think its possible to make a Thunderbird good, it's just hampered by a bad design
Thunderturd is a much better title
yeah, same. I really want to get a Dingwall D-Roc into my hands, though. I think that looks like the best possible approach to that shape. But they are easily 10x the money than the Harley Benton, so ... :/
@@mgr_1138 You are on the right track. Had mine 18 months and it's flawless.
I haven't tried one, but I'm intrigued by the new Ashdown (yes, like the amp) basses.
I came here to say exactly that 😂
Tbh when has anything referred to as TB been good?
Hey, I love those hero puppets
Thunderbirds look so cool but the ergonomics.....
Fashion HURTS
So, it’s an accurate thunderbird?
In many ways, yes
Long ago, I wanted a thunderbird but I couldn’t afford it. Instead I got an Iceman bass from Ibanez, which had all the same problems😂. Still, it’s a pretty bass and it sounds good. At the end of the day, that’s all that matters.
just buy one xD thanks for the recommendation youtube jaja
I think this bass is more a copy of the esp phoenix than from the gibson version. It also totally looks like that.
I’d love to try that bass!
Honestly the tone here sounds pretty flat in most settings. Between this and the hunk of crap you'd call a bridge...no go.
I always wanted to at least try a tbird, esp as a plectrum guy......but this dampens the enthusiasm
Check out the Ashdown Lowrider and the ESP Phoenix perhaps?
The only time a thunderbird is acceptable is if your band is playing behind chicken wire at a dive bar.
If you reviewed as much as you complain, this could be a somewhat decent video. Of course, it has all the typical problems of a TB (to be expected), LOL. We all know that. Despite this, I think it's a really good bass for its price.
Pretty sure the complaints about the bass constitute part of the review. That’s…how a review works when it’s not a happy one
Johnny with that hair and facial hair you are starting to look like Chris Bumstead. Time to hit the gym!
😆 I need more bronzer
Why do you say you cannot intonate this bass,
You actually can, but the intonation screws are on the other side of the bridge than what you are used to, so why lie about this ?
You can’t raise/lower the height of the saddles individually to adjust action. You can intonate it, but it’s the worst design
@@JonnyDibbleyou can’t adjust action for individual strings on an 900 € Epiphone thunderbird either, so that’s not better in this sense …
So what I'm hearing is; decent budget Thunderbird. Sadly still a thunderbird 😂
If you polish a turd, it's still a turd ;)
Thunderturd 😅
@@JonnyDibble I've probably called them worse lol
I've never liked Thunderbirds or Beatle basses, it always seemed like fighting badly playing designs in order to hope people thought you looked cool with it
Think I would play a Harley Benton...absolutely nothing! I keep seeing this brand propped up and yes it's a copy often of classics and yes it's cheap and well it's always to me that a cheap copy so really why bother? Don't get it. Spend a little more and get a lot more
you won't be getting a lot more for spending a little more. HB is a great company for musicians on a budget like myself. i got a thinline telecaster copy from them and it's absolutely great for 200 EUR. I can't imagine getting anything close in terms of specs for that money from any other brand like Epiphone or Squier.
I mean what do you expect for a $170 bass? I honestly think shitting on a bass that is obviously for beginners that’s just want a cool looking bass that sounds decent serves no purpose. Plenty of other people have given reviews saying the complete opposite - saying it’s great for the money which makes more sense given the EXTREMELY affordable price point. Thanks for the video but your opinion is wrong here 😂
I don’t think that makes my opinion wrong, just saying it how it is. It has problems because it’s a Thunderbird
I’m actually shocked that they made the Thunderbird worse…. It’s a poor design from the beginning, but they didn’t make any improvements, only blunders. Blunderbird. Ironically, I’ve owned a Gibson Thunderbird for 20 years. It rarely gets played, but it looks cool 😂
The original construction was mehhhh - so its a good Copy 😉
You’re not wrong!
Really... who uses a Thunderbird on a daily basis on gigs? That would be a herniated disc sentence on your lower back. 🤣
I’m in a Nirvana tribute, so I gave it a go… it’s a no from me
Budget version of an already bad bass
Pretty faithful in ways!
Thunderbirds are some of the worst Basses on Earth no matter who makes them. The design is very flawed. Good news is a Thunderbird makes excellent firewood 😂
I’m determined to try and like them 😅🥲
@JonnyDibble To each dey own. If it makes u happy and u enjoy them, go for it. Gibson sends rookies free gear everyday. In me career they never sent me anything for free. They're greedy to me and overpriced considering the numerous flaws they now have. The quality control is unbelievably bad considering the price. Also why support a company that doesn't want to work with me in Metal but gives country western artists tons of stuff free then attempts to charge me more than TWICE what the instrument is worth and then it shows up with ruined finish, not set up correctly, not ready to play, bs strings I'd never use and needing about approx $1,000 more to get it right? It's insane to me so I replaced them with Schecter. Schecter works with me. Schecter and Spector make much better Basses than Gibson imo for much better prices and they don't act like snobs addicted to country western. They have entire lines devoted to Metal and Metalheads like me.
I just wish that they had opted for a different Gibson design like the Ripper or Grabber. Why is it always the T-bird?
Right?! Even Gibson/Epiphone don’t want to do more Grabbers and Rippers 🥲🥲🥲
Or a Victory Bass. They don't get the attention/love they deserve IMHO.