Mike:
I'm upset of course, partly because of your great recommendation and enthusiasm after I purchased the amp. I was so looking forward to plugging in the Nightbird and getting down to basics.
The back panels can be saved, for sure - they're about the only wooden part that has any integrity. The grill cloth and logo are fine. It's a pretty simple cabinet, and I think I could build a new one to the original dimensions. The tolex is mostly shot - it's already been replaced by woodgrain mactac on the side panels, and the bottom piece is moldy beyond cleaning.
It's hard to get a handle on the electronics, with my limited skills and experience. But I've just been playing the main speaker out through my 2x10 enclosure, and I don't get a reverb effect (although I can hear it open up when I switch the reverb on, and some noise appears on the reverb speaker). Seems very noisy and low overall volume compared to either the Thunder-1 or the Thunderbass.
Once the seller decides what to do, I'll either send him back the bits or do further diagnosis and planning around a reconstruction. Electronics I'll have to leave to my amp tech - diagnosis first, cost estimates, etc. I have a schematic, thanks, so I'm OK on that score. I presume I'll be able to make a solid cabinet from 3/4" or 1" ply, routed locking corners, glued and screwed, not sure I'll be able to find that pinky/beige tolex - seems pretty scarce on the websites I looked at. In any event, I seem certain to be in for another $2-300 minimum before I have a working amplifier, and then it will be a recover in a rebuilt cab - might be a fine machine, but that's hardly the way to create market value.
I am overall mightily disapppointed. You should have seen the package - one flimsy cardboard box, a piece of bubble wrap on top and one on the bottom, some cardboard wadded up and stuffed inside the cabinet. Given the rotting wood (there's even a dead woodlouse on the bottom panel), no metal trim, etc., and the normal banging about when shipping any heavy item, the whole thing was pretty much disassembled in the box when I cut the cardboad off.
What a pain this all is. The seller did have maximum Paypal coverage, so I'll look for help there if he doesn't come through directly.
I'll keep you posted.