A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Thats super cool, you could drop one in the centre position of a LP black beauty, and keep the other HB's
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

after looking at the price though.. a tad steep for what it is... pretty kool but pricy at 249 usd IMO
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Hey guys! This is Andy, inventor of A Little Thunder. I caught this thread and wanted to jump in, see if there are any questions etc! We get asked a lot what makes us different from an octave pedal... besides the obvious (the bass signal is for the lowest strings only) the sonic bitrate is 3x higher than say the Boss OC-3 and has very precise string sensibilities-- great dynamics, if you play hard or soft, you'll get a wide spectrum harmonics and string feel. Thunder also has near-zero latency thanks to calculations based on frequency and amplitude. Lastly, this cool mode called "Low Note Priority" detects which of the strings you're playing is the lowest and only gives the bass effect to that string/note.

What else... hmm. No 9V battery, routing or drilling, fits in any guitar w a humbucker, uses capacitive touch and (as of this week) now has additional features through a firmware update: Guitar World

Anyway! Here if anyone needs me!

-Andy

ex-250 said:
I just stumbled upon this and its pretty wacky. Its a pickup that doubles the E and A strings an octave down (or switchable to only the lowest note you're playing). Quite innovative.


http://www.alittlethunder.com/


Click to expand...
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Hey Andy nice of you to drop in, it's a cool idea and the execution is great,

I think I may have a great idea along the same lines for you, could you use the same principle to make a pickup that gives you signal an octave higher?
In a LP style wiring I'd put it in the bridge position and have a regular HB in the neck, you would get a great psuedo 12 string sound plus the ability to mix the signals which is impossible on a regular 12.

Seeing as you're gonna have to do the hard work I'll only take a 30% cut for coming up with the idea
 
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Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Oh hi Andy the inventor, nice to meet you. Let me ask you what seems quite a pertinent question lately...

Will it djent?
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Super cool!

I'd like one that does the E, A and D strings and mated to a tapped Strat Duncan Quarter Pound combo for the neck.

Andy, I'll give you $250 landed in Australia for one with a chrome cover!

Cheers, Will
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Having read through this thread again, I really like Regan's idea of a 12 string variant as well.

Andy, you could do a two in one combo with simple on/off switching for each phase,
magnets and coil matched with complimentary units and ideally a simple 9 volt setup
that can be easily fitted in the cavity somewhere.

Even a neck-bass and bridge-12 string versions.

Well done mate and kudos to you!
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

That is awesome. This pickup, assuming it works well, solves an issue I've been pondering lately - potentially just going a 1 guitar/drummer route with no bassist. And the thought in my head was exactly to double the low E and A strings so I didn't have to get a 7 or more string guitar and/or learn to play like Charlie Hunter.

I believe the guy in Local H tackled this "low 2 strings as bass" problem with a complicated signal chain, but here looks like something relatively simpler.

It's interesting that this requires a battery but isn't the conventional 9V active thing. Evidently you get to keep your other leads/pots passive, which is really nice.

I'm wondering if the optimal application is in neck position (from the looks of the demo video), or if it would work decently in bridge position. And if so, if trembucker/F-spacing would be available there.

Also, I'm curious how the actual pickup sounds, bass note capabilities aside.
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

So many things I wish not to leak! I suppose I can elude to 'many things are on the horizon' adage?!

regan said:
Hey Andy nice of you to drop in, it's a cool idea and the execution is great,

I think I may have a great idea along the same lines for you, could you use the same principle to make a pickup that gives you signal an octave higher?
In a LP style wiring I'd put it in the bridge position and have a regular HB in the neck, you would get a great psuedo 12 string sound plus the ability to mix the signals which is impossible on a regular 12.

Seeing as you're gonna have to do the hard work I'll only take a 30% cut for coming up with the idea
Click to expand...
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Will S-T said:
Super cool!

I'd like one that does the E, A and D strings and mated to a tapped Strat Duncan Quarter Pound combo for the neck.

Andy, I'll give you $250 landed in Australia for one with a chrome cover!

Cheers, Will
Click to expand...

Hey Will!

We use flat black ABS plastic so the capacitive touch controls remain sensitive but not overly sensitive.. nickel covers are possible but they make the cap touch controls ridiculously sensitive. As an alternative, this guy figured out a neat solution for $3 w vinyl chrome wrap (https://www.facebook.com/ALittleThunder/photos/pb.702581439808668.-2207520000.1459039566./895258913874252/?type=3&theater - We can also make you a logo-less Thunder if you so wish!
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

Hi!

A few cool ideas here.. When A Little Thunder is in the neck, the bass notes are very fat simply because the string vibrates more in that area. There are also nice harmonics and overtones jumping out of that region. With Thunder in the bridge, you get more attack on each note and still lots of sustain. The nice thing is that you can use any other pickup in your guitar in conjunction with just the bass signal in A Little Thunder (i.g., Thunder in Neck w JB in bridge, guitar = bridge signal, neck = bass signal-- best of both worlds). The pickup inside Thunder is an 8.2k PAF style pickup, warm and dynamic. Yes, both passive by the time they reach the pots/controls.

A high density lithium prism cell polymer battery inside lasts 12 hours of actual play time. For me, I charge 1x every 2 weeks. The battery can be discharged and recharged 500 times before losing just 12% of it's longevity and we also offer free battery replacement for life on all A Little Thunder orders. Thanks for the note!!

stratguy23 said:
That is awesome. This pickup, assuming it works well, solves an issue I've been pondering lately - potentially just going a 1 guitar/drummer route with no bassist. And the thought in my head was exactly to double the low E and A strings so I didn't have to get a 7 or more string guitar and/or learn to play like Charlie Hunter.

I believe the guy in Local H tackled this "low 2 strings as bass" problem with a complicated signal chain, but here looks like something relatively simpler.

It's interesting that this requires a battery but isn't the conventional 9V active thing. Evidently you get to keep your other leads/pots passive, which is really nice.

I'm wondering if the optimal application is in neck position (from the looks of the demo video), or if it would work decently in bridge position. And if so, if trembucker/F-spacing would be available there.

Also, I'm curious how the actual pickup sounds, bass note capabilities aside.
Click to expand...
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

stratguy23 said:
That is awesome. This pickup, assuming it works well, solves an issue I've been pondering lately - potentially just going a 1 guitar/drummer route with no bassist. And the thought in my head was exactly to double the low E and A strings so I didn't have to get a 7 or more string guitar and/or learn to play like Charlie Hunter.

I believe the guy in Local H tackled this "low 2 strings as bass" problem with a complicated signal chain, but here looks like something relatively simpler.

It's interesting that this requires a battery but isn't the conventional 9V active thing. Evidently you get to keep your other leads/pots passive, which is really nice.

I'm wondering if the optimal application is in neck position (from the looks of the demo video), or if it would work decently in bridge position. And if so, if trembucker/F-spacing would be available there.

Also, I'm curious how the actual pickup sounds, bass note capabilities aside.
Click to expand...

Here's the sound of just the 8.2k DC AL5 PAF (end of video) https://www.facebook.com/ALittleThunder/videos/850919801641497/
 
Re: A Little Thunder- a bassist in pickup form

regan said:
You could get a real actual bass for $250
Click to expand...
Yeah but good luck playing the two simultaneously. LOL

I think it's pretty reasonable, when you think about it. I mean it's like a pretty sophisticated pedal (which would be over $100) plus a pickup for the low strings, plus a "regular" pickup for all 6 strings, plus a battery, USB, it's a lot of stuff jammed in there.
 
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