Guild Thunderstar Bass head

mellowgerman

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Alrighty gents, I decided that before I do any more playing and/or exploring of the Thunderbass, it needs to get a proper 3-prong plug installed for safety and gone through to make sure it's otherwise healthy, caps and all. I dropped it off with a reputable, experienced local amp tech this morning to have it gone through. I sent him a link to this thread as well and let him know about the wealth of knowledge on Guild amps that exists on here. Will report back when the amp is back at home!
 

adorshki

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I sent him a link to this thread as well and let him know about the wealth of knowledge on Guild amps that exists on here. Will report back when the amp is back at home!
Great idea.
I try to remember to suggest that to folks taking in their acoustics for neck re-sets.
Also a good idea about getting a grounded plug installed.
Used to be one of Capnjuan's primary instructions.
 

mellowgerman

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Still anxiously waiting to hear back from the tech... I knew it would take a while, but I'm so exciiiiiiiiited to thundergroove. Oh well, I'd rather have it done right and take a while than a rush-job that results in more expensive repairs down the road (or puts me in the grave)
 

AcornHouse

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I took my bargain into my amp tech, rather than doing it myself. Too much to do, and he can handle any surprises.
 

mellowgerman

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News from the workbench: Amp is clean, tubes are healthy, and a new properly grounded power supply cable has been installed. Could have gone to pick up the amp and left it at that, but I decided to go all out and have a complete cap-job done. So I imagine I may be waiting another two weeks or so, but once it's back in my hands, it will be good to go for years :)
 

mellowgerman

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Nice looking bunch of gear there, mellowgerman.

Thank you, I'm very happy with my Guilds! I will say though, the ol' modified 1968 mahogany natural Starfire is going to be leaving me soon. It has been a fun revival project, but my red 1970 is really the perfect instrument for me, so I feel like I can't justify keeping the extra one around. As a lot of you know, those hardshell cases take up quite a bit of space. We live in a relatively small apartment and between my girlfriend's bass and my fretless, I have my emergency "backup" bass bases is covered too. A close friend of mine has expressed serious interest, so it will very likely be finding its way up to CT to live with him within the coming weeks.
 

mellowgerman

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It's baaaaack! Just picked up the amp yesterday and it is like new! Tubes were all still good, but the filter caps were all replaced, a grounded power cable was added, and all of the pots and jacks were cleaned out. Works like I imagine it would have on day 1, back in 1968. I love it. The tone through my Eminence 12" loaded cab is monstrous. Can't wait to play around with it more on Sunday & Monday (my weekend).
On a side note, the tech did give me all of the old caps and components, so I still have them. Those were all original as far as I know, so in case any photos or info from them could help someone, I'm happy to provide what I can.
 

mellowgerman

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proud dad here, sharing photos of my babies



Z8WgwWD.jpg
 

fronobulax

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Nice although I would not want to transport that speaker cabinet unless there are handles, wheels or both that are not visible.

What's going one with the patch cord in the upper left? Are you somehow "telling" the amp that you are only using one channel and so it "behaves" differently?
 

mellowgerman

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Nice although I would not want to transport that speaker cabinet unless there are handles, wheels or both that are not visible.

What's going one with the patch cord in the upper left? Are you somehow "telling" the amp that you are only using one channel and so it "behaves" differently?

The cab, though solid wood, is actually much lighter than it looks. I would say it is similar in weight to the Aguilar DB112 I used to own, if not a tad lighter... probably around 40 lbs. The nice thing is that it has about a 2" ledge around the top and the bottom, so it makes transport pretty easy. The cool thing about the cab is that my cousin built it in the late 80's. It came to America with my family in 1995 and recently my dad gave it to me to convert into a bass cab. I installed an Eminence Legend 12" speaker, a 1/4" jack, and made the name badge for it sporting our family name "Hutzenlaub" since I suppose we kind of co-engineered it (in the 4th dimension anyway). It was a bit of a crap-shoot since the cab wasn't designed with a bass guitar speaker in mind, but I figured that since it was just about the same size as my old Trace Elliott cab, it had potential. Happy to report that it sounds excellent!
Though I'm not 100% sure on the exact intended output wattage of my Thunderbass... it is considerably louder than any dual 6L6 45-50watt tube head I have had. Can't wait to use it in a jam and properly put it through its paces.
The patch cable allows me to blend both channels together. To my ear the "bass" channel is rather mid-heavy and the "normal" channel has more of a scooped mids tone. When running both channels via the patch cable, I can control the mids by favoring one or the other and makes it a far more versatile amp than my old Thunderstar Bass head was.
 
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fronobulax

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Thanks.

My college roommate had a 1x15 speaker cabinet that he built. He may have been using plans based on the Dead's Wall of Sound. I think he had a JBL in it and I seem to recall an Ampeg head, ('70's) B4 perhaps? Anyway it was a nice piece of wood work so it was moved with more care than cabinets covered in Tolex. He built a dolly and a piece of plywood that was screwed in for transit and covered the front and protected the speaker. He was the better bassist so I moved that cabinet a lot. Those days are long gone ;-)
 

mellowgerman

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Thanks.

My college roommate had a 1x15 speaker cabinet that he built. He may have been using plans based on the Dead's Wall of Sound. I think he had a JBL in it and I seem to recall an Ampeg head, ('70's) B4 perhaps? Anyway it was a nice piece of wood work so it was moved with more care than cabinets covered in Tolex. He built a dolly and a piece of plywood that was screwed in for transit and covered the front and protected the speaker. He was the better bassist so I moved that cabinet a lot. Those days are long gone ;-)

Yeah, once I had my Aguilar cab (which go for $600+ new) I developed some very gentle cabinet handling habits and I pretty much never let anybody else lug it around. Since I don't tour anymore these days and rarely get a chance to jam outside of the house, I'll be sure to be extra gentle on the rare occasion I move the Hutzenlaub cab... especially considering how sentimental it is!
 
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Yeah I may just stick with 8417's. Even if they are pricey, I am no longer a touring bassist and will rarely have the opportunity to break out the Thunderbass and really open it up to jam with others, so I imagine that if I have a tech look it over now, replace any caps that need it, swap the power cable, etc. she should be good to go for quite a long time. Then if the once-in-a-blue-moon $150-200 tube swap is necessary, it will be well worth the pleasure of enjoying the amp as its creators intended it.

Also, I did manage to acquire a schematic and rather lengthy instructional manual for the whole Thunderbass line from a gentleman on the talkbass forum... it seems to cover a lot of the different variations of the amp. If anybody would like a copy, it's a pdf and I'd be happy to share

Thanks for all the input and help, guys!
I’d love to have the pdf and any information.. I just bought one the same age as yours.
 
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