Westone

[bigd1]

What is it with these bases?
I remember these when they first came out, in fact I bought one. They were great for the money at the time, but by today's standards, they are not that great.
Whenever I have seen one for sale in the last few years, people seem to hold them up as a bass to have. They really was never that good.......................... or is it me

[M@23]

I have a Matsumoku 1986 Rainbow II semi acoustic 6 string, it is better than any Gibson 335 I've owned or played. This is the top spec model, beautiful flame maple cap on mahogany and exquisitely built. Can't speak for the basses, having never had one. But, this is a top quality guitar.

[chaypup]

Which one did you have?
They really are that good.

[bigd1]

I had a Thunder 1a I'm not saying it was rubbish I just don't think they are as good as people seem to think.

Edited November 15, 2015 by bigd1

[chaypup]

Bottom of the range, bolt on neck entry level bass.
Try a Superheadless or a Thunder III and then tell us what you think of them.
Obviously it's subjective anyway...

[oldslapper]

I had a thunder llla during the mid eighties. My memory of it is that I toured twice with it over a Stingray.
It was a great bass, well made, flexible pre amp. However, like my hair at the time, it didn't balance too well.

Edited November 15, 2015 by oldslapper

[TheGreek]

My first bass was a Thunder 1A - compared to most of the other stuff at the time it was a great bass....

[Rich]

I always wanted a Superheadless. Still do, actually. A real 80s funk monster

[ezbass]

I had a Thunder lll that I defretted.

[URL=http://s308.photobucket.com/user/ezbass/media/ThunderIIIWashburn.jpg.html][IMG]http://i308.photobucket.com/albums/kk344/ezbass/ThunderIIIWashburn.jpg[/IMG][/URL]

[HowieBass]

Matsumoku built instruments have fans because in general they're really well made guitars and basses - I think the reason why they're gaining traction these days is that they were a little overlooked back in the 70s and 80s (Japanese Squiers are becoming popular for the same reason).

[sharkboy]

I had a Superheadless and apart from one major downfall, it was a great sounding bass. Unfortunately that one major downfall was reason enough for me to get shot of it. Rather than going for a double-ball option for the strings, you fed them through a hole in the top of the neck, then clamped them down with a small metal bar secured with allen screws. So once you trimmed them down to size, you had a bass with 4 sharp ends sticking out of the end of the neck, which led to far too many painful encounters. But that wasn't even the worst part of the design - these were cheap components and the threads would strip so easily that it became difficult to maintain sufficient pressure on the strings to allow them to hold their tuning. I lost count of the number of times I had to go to a local engineering firm to get these components rethreaded, but it eventually was one time too many and it had to go. The Stingray that replaced it is still my go-to bass, 23 years later

As for the Thunders. the IA and IIA were decent but basic instruments, but the IIIA was actually something quite special

[SICbass]

[quote name='oldslapper' timestamp='1447609744' post='2908898']
I had a thunder llla during the mid eighties. My memory of it is that I toured twice with it over a Stingray.
It was a great bass, well made, flexible pre amp. However, like my hair at the time, it didn't balance too well.
[/quote]

What a whopping mullet! 😉 Thanks for sharing.

[Roger2611]

I have a Thunder III fretless and a Thunder II Guitar, both are fantastic instruments, I haven't found anything I would want to replace them with so they are keepers, we don't see many of the II and III's come up for sale so I assume others feel the same way

[ubit]

Ive got one up the loft. I took it down to join my collection, but after plugging it in, it went back up the loft. It's just not a very good guitar. It's a shame as , when I was 20, it was my only bass and was gigged quite a lot. The sound is pretty ropey!

[RhysP]

[quote name='Rich' timestamp='1447610560' post='2908908']
I always wanted a Superheadless. Still do, actually. A real 80s funk monster


[/quote]

I A/B'd one of these against my Jaydee Supernatural when i had it - the Westone totally kicked the Jaydee's arse.

[Count Bassy]

I have the Quantum (32" Cricket Bat). Brilliant tone & action (IMHO). Sadly I've moved onto 5 strings, so it's not played much these days.
Re the sharp string end! What you do is clamp them up, markthem and cut thjem about 3mm shorter. That way no sharp ends sticking out, and you can use any strings rtaher than hving to hunt down double ball ends. (and I've never had a string slip on it either).

[Chris Sharman]

Had a thunder 3 back in the early 90's and regret selling, currently have a Thunder 3 fretless (see avatar photo) and as others have said they are fantastically well made (if a tad heavy) with great tonal variety available. I can't recommend them enough and would have a collection of them if I could.

[vonbladet]

[quote name='chaypup' timestamp='1447609455' post='2908888']
Bottom of the range, bolt on neck entry level bass.
[/quote]
[quote name='TheGreek' timestamp='1447610196' post='2908903']
My first bass was a Thunder 1A - compared to most of the other stuff at the time it was a great bass....
[/quote]

My first bass still [i]is[/i] a Thunder 1A. I'm a fairly rudimentary player, but I haven't shown any signs of outgrowing it yet. I put D'Addario Chromes on it and keep it in passive mode and it magically turned into a heavy, poorly balanced but otherwise pretty decent P-bass. The hardware is solid, the wood is decent, the electronics are functional, and it sounds like a P-bass sounds. Anyone hoping for a budget Wal or something should keep looking, but it does a perfectly good job of what it does.

(My second, and very recent, bass is a J&D jazz bass that - literally - cost less than my wife's most recent pair of shoes, and that's fine too as far as I can tell. It is possible that I am both cheap and easy to please.)

[geoffbyrne]

I had a Thunder III Fretless Mk2 (soapbar pickups).

Active, passive, in/out of phase, serial/parallel. Did it all. Beautifully made. Fantastic finish. Unfortunately a 4 string.

Highly recommended.

G.

[Skybone]

Some of it is nostalgia, but also some of it is that they were actually good instruments.

I seriously regret selling my old Thunder 1A, but don't regret selling my old Raider & Spectrum basses.

I regretted selling my old Ibanez Artist 2619(s), 1978 Iceman, Aria SB Special II and a few other "classic" MIJ guitars.

Compared to today's "entry level" instruments, they weren't that great. But compared to other "entry level" instruments at the time, they were serious bit of kit for the money.

[bassbiscuits]

I had two Thunder 1A basses, and a Spectrum ST. I remember them as being decent basses, though not outstanding and I sold them all in the name of upgrading.

I briefly had both a Thunder 1A and a Charvel, but the Charvel was way better than the Westone (despite it's none more 80s pointy headstock, which is why i eventually sold that too).

I seem to remember that the Thunder 1A weighed an absolute ton as well. I think i paid £80 at the time for it, so I was very grateful, but I don't think I'd use one much now, certainly not over a decent Fender P bass.