Look what my singer just gave me... Westone Thunder content

[Jimryan]

Evening all,

Every Wednesday I rehearse with a film Noir inspired jazz group (singer, acoustic guitar and me on upright bass). Been with them for just over a month now and really enjoy it. Unfortunately, over the past week I've had a wisdom tooth coming through and with it, it has brought one hell of and earache and the pain from both has messed with my sleeping. Why is that relevant? Well, the lack of sleep and pain I've had meant I really couldn't be bothered to lug my upright on the bus all the way down to rehearsal and back let alone stand there and play it all night. Instead I decided to take my fretless and things went brilliantly.

Anyway, halfway through we took a small break and the singer asked to try my bass. This surprised me as I didn't know she could play and this is when she admitted she doesn't "play", but has a bass and can play the odd line. The fretless through her off and she handed it back with a "I'll bring mine next week". Fast forward to this week where she called my bluff and brought her bass. A Westone Thunder. After all the threads on here about them, I finally got to try one. First thought, bloody heavy. Neck feels fantastic, and acoustically I'm impressed. Apparently it's been in a cupboard for just shy of a decade, but is still in tune and the intonation seems ok. Needs new strings and a battery though. Unfortunately I'm not gonna have a chance to plug it in until the weekend, but I'm looking forward to having a go. After having a go with it I got told I could take it home with me :-D

It needs a new battery, set of strings (don't know whether to use roto nexus or nylon tapewounds), some lemon oil and a bloody good polish, but I like it.

What are the controls on these beasts?

Cheers,

James

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[vonbladet]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1447886618' post='2911319']
It needs a new battery, set of strings (don't know whether to use roto nexus or nylon tapewounds), some lemon oil and a bloody good polish, but I like it.

What are the controls on these beasts?
[/quote]

Series-parallel toggle, active-passive toggle (you don't need a battery unless you like that kind of thing!), volume, regular tone, active tone (I think it's a fixed Q boost with sweepable frequency, but I use the passive switch on mine to not have to find out).

[Jimryan]

[quote name='vonbladet' timestamp='1447917108' post='2911384']


Series-parallel toggle, active-passive toggle (you don't need a battery unless you like that kind of thing!), volume, regular tone, active tone (I think it's a fixed Q boost with sweepable frequency, but I use the passive switch on mine to not have to find out).
[/quote]

Awesome, cheers matey

[bassbiscuits]

Nice basses - I had two natural wood coloured ones back in the late 80s/early 90s and they were pretty decent.

[Skybone]

Don't forget that it's an 18v pre-amp, so you need 2 9v batteries!

Nice.

[Jimryan]

[quote name='Skybone' timestamp='1447939820' post='2911623']
Don't forget that it's an 18v pre-amp, so you need 2 9v batteries!

Nice.
[/quote]

Cheers for the heads up on that one

[kevin_lindsay]

The final knob is the active EQ. It's flat at the centre notch position. Moving one way boosts towards a trebly sound, the other direction boosts the bass frequencies.

[razze06]

[quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1448008294' post='2912170']
The final knob is the active EQ. It's flat at the centre notch position. Moving one way boosts towards a trebly sound, the other direction boosts the bass frequencies.
[/quote]

And when he says boosts, he means it, especially on the low frequencies. Awesome bit of kit for what it is, very useable and playable. I strung mine with flats, and use it for soul and a bit of reggae.