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Westone Thunder love.....


P-Belly Evans
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I've had quite a few, the Thunder 1a was one of the best starter basses available in the 80's, I did my first ever proper gig at High Hall in Birmingham in front of 2000 people playing a Thunder III fretless, sadly I find them a bit heavy nowadays so have progressed to lighter instruments, for some reason they always seemed to be seen as the poor cousin to the Aria Pro range of the same era although looking at some of the prices being asked for Westone's on eBay at the moment you would think they were rivalling the likes of Alembic and Wal!

 

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1 hour ago, Roger2611 said:

I've had quite a few, the Thunder 1a was one of the best starter basses available in the 80's, I did my first ever proper gig at High Hall in Birmingham in front of 2000 people playing a Thunder III fretless, sadly I find them a bit heavy nowadays so have progressed to lighter instruments, for some reason they always seemed to be seen as the poor cousin to the Aria Pro range of the same era although looking at some of the prices being asked for Westone's on eBay at the moment you would think they were rivalling the likes of Alembic and Wal!

 

Totally agree about the weight! I traded my first (crappy Encore P) bass and about 100 quid on top for the Westone at Musical Exchanges in about 1990 and was the happiest camper in Brum at the time. Still makes me smile when I play it. I think it is a custom too as the colour is nowhere to be seen in any brochures from the time. The xlr was an optional extra I do believe. The guitar tech who worked next door to Exchanges managed to lose the truss rod cover though, but hey ho it was a proper work horse through the 90s and shows the scars alright!!!

 

IMG_20200417_130006.thumb.jpg.d1686f3acbbc5952df24cec9dbdf2eaf.jpg

 

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After a couple of years with a Thunder 1A, I bought my Thunder III in 1985.  Always loved the look and sound of it but to give it more modern functionality, and after a lot of pondering, I replaced the original pickups and electronics in 2018 with a Bartolini 3 band eq etc and fitted some Gotoh lightweight machineheads of to reduce the neck dive.  I did it mainly for an 80s band I had going at the time, but the band folded shortly after.  The Thunder III has become my most played bass since then.IMG_0104.thumb.JPG.1c6af35da0d0b2f6661805325de3a52f.JPG

 

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