My original bass had a humbucker and boy have I missed that tone.  All the Jazz, precision and P/J bass' I've played just haven't filled that void.  I play mostly classic rock and blues covers which is where this bass excels.  It has amazing tone and growl to die for.  I bought mine used and it was set up and ready to go by the time it got to me (just needed a new set of strings).  With a set of DiAddario semi flats and a KB200 amp I got a tone I'm not going to try to replace for a long time.  It wasn't a purchase I rushed into I tried other Epiphones (EB series [what can say I say, I'm attracted to the Humbucker]), Squire's, Ibanez (gsr, sr), ESP, and even a Danelectro.  None, NONE of those came close to the tone I got from the Thunderbird (of course I may be bias as it does play into the genre I prefer).  Any Bass that had a better sound was easily twice the price ($600+).  The body is killer, and as far as I can tell indestructible (You can search reviews online and find testimony to this).  Watch out for the neck dive though, I didn't think it would bother me at first, but after holding through practice for a couple hours it gets tiring. The neck is pretty chunky, it's not what I would call "fast". 4 stars is appropriate for this bass, It's good but needs a few modifications to be great.