TRBboy

Personally I would go for the Sandberg, you're getting a hand built bass for the same price as a factory built fender. I've been using Sandberg for about the last 10 years, and prior to that my mainstay was a fender US jazz for about 14 years (many other basses came and went!). I've had various different model Sandbergs, and what made me really fall in love with them was the neck feel, overall build quality and playability, just incredible. Clearly I'm a huge fan BUT I completely get what you're saying about the tone! They have a great tonal range, but can sound a bit HiFi/Sterile. It's only in the past 6 months or so I've realised that I've been craving that warm, organic tone like you get from a more traditional bass. So, I have a new Sandberg incoming VERY soon.... This time a TT5 passive - the main difference for me is that they have traditional style alnico V pickups, like a fender. I've come to realise that their usual pickups with the large (Delano style) pole pieces are what really create that HiFi tone. The bass is a bass; alder body, maple neck, couldn't be much more standard. But it's the pickups that make that difference. I'm hoping I will get that traditional sound, with the sandberg playability I love. 😊 This video was the final deciding factor for me, sounds great!

The new Ibanez EHB range is lightweight and really ergonomically designed, just depends how you feel about headless basses I guess! I've been lusting after one of the SR Mezzo 5 strings for a while, and see they've had rave reviews on here..... I just don't NEED one really!

You'd struggle to find a bad Yammy tbh. If it feels anything like my 435 you'll love it! I can't imagine it'll feel too different to your 414, apart from obvs being a 5 string, although I think the newer range do have a slightly thinner profile.

I've owned quite a few Yamaha guitars and basses over the years, and used to work in a guitar shop that was a Yamaha dealership. So I've played a lot of Yamahas over the years. I've never played a bad one, regardless of price point, they always seem to feel and sound great. Clearly some are better than others, but I don't think they've ever made a bad instrument! One of the few brands I would have no qualms about buying blind. 😊 This TRBX may benefit from a bit of a setup or some new strings, but essentially it will be a great quality beginner instrument.

Hi folks! Hope you're all well. Finally got around to listing my BB435 on the forum, so I thought I'd do a shameless plug on here! Open to sensible offers. 😊

Thanks man, that's helpful! 😊👍 I reckon I'll possibly put it out at £380 or something.

Hey folks! Hope you're all doing okay. As much as its an excellent bass, especially at the price point, it's time to move my BB435 on 😔. Just wondered if anyone would give me a steer on what they think it's worth currently? It's only about 6-9 months old and in great condition. New prices seem to vary quite a lot at the moment, from about £525 - £600ish, so I'm thinking maybe somewhere around the £400 mark? I'd be grateful for your thoughts anyway. 😊

Good thinking batman! Better still glow in the dark micro dots! 😉👌

Yeah I get that, especially with pedals, but I'm talking about the NE1 when installed on a bass here (as that's the only experience I've had of it); if someone has dropped several thousand quid on a BBNE2, are they really going to want to stick strips of tape all over the front of it or Mark it with a paint marker? Should they have to? I feel its a rare poor design decision on Yamahas part, it would have been easy to make a lot more user friendly.

Unpopular opinion probably, but I'll say it again; I really didn't like the NE1 preamp! That mid freq selector is hugely versatile but hugely annoying! A fractional turn of the knob changes the tone completely, and in a live scenario it's very hard to hear what's going on. You can spend a while playing with it to find that 'sweet spot' you were looking for, but then if you accidentally knock it it takes ages to find it again.... It just didn't feel very intuitive to me, on a lot of basses I've used, the mid frequency knob basically boosts high mids and cuts low mids clockwise of the center detent, and vice versa the other way. That feels logical. There didn't seem to be any logic to the NE1 to me, it was more like a random filter generator where you had no idea what sound rotating the knob would produce. I get that it's versatile, it just might have been a good idea to have some way to gauge what the different positions on the knob mean, markings perhaps, and maybe multiple detents to help you keep it set on the tone you like. Just my 2p

I really enjoyed working with it, easy to apply evenly and dries really quickly. I got it from Graff-City, you can see the other colours in the range here too. https://www.graff-city.com/spray-cans-c128/spray-paint-cans-c76/montana-spray-paint-c90/montana-black-spray-paint-p58

I wanted this sort of colour all along, in a matt finish, but it was quite hard to find. I ended up taking a bit of a gamble and getting some graffiti paint! It's the Montana Black range, loads of colour options and it went on really nicely! It's a nitro-combination paint. Spayed a few coats on and then a few coats of matt polyurethane laquer to protect it. Seems to have worked pretty well!

Hey guys! Finally did the finishing bits on my BBN5 yesterday, really pleased with it overall! Not quite sure what to do about a headstock decal yet, or maybe just leave as is. Maybe one of the 3d roundals off the newer BB's would look good?

Thanks! No, the original knobs were gold. I ordered a cream pickguard and cream knobs, thinking it would all match beautifully, but clearly they're nowhere near! 😂 It'll do for now, I might think about getting some white knobs instead though, would be closer to the pickguard colour than these.

Finally got around to putting my BBN5 back together last night, the pickguard still needs finishing and fitting properly, headstock decal needs doing, soldering electronics and a general setup and clean, but I think it's looking pretty bloody good! Quite chuffed tbh. 😊

If anyone's interested, bit more progress over the past couple of days. Rushed to get the last coat of laquer on before it got dark, and I don't know if I've buggered it up a bit though.... 😬 We'll see in the morning! 🤞

Started trying to design the pickguard for my apocalypse project last night... Its surprising how hard it is to do! I ended up looking at pictures of BB1500's and loosely used that for design inspiration.

Well, I've received all the supplies, and finally pulled my thumb out and made the first steps towards my apocalypse /quarantine project last night. It will be having a respray (experimenting a bit, but fingers crossed it'll work out okay!), I'm going to attempt to make a pickguard, and fitting new knobs. Did toy with changing the pickups and pots, but in all honestly there's nothing wrong with it at all! Will keep you updated with my progress. 👍 N. B. Excuse the nappy bags, they were just handy to put the hardware in!

I've seen other BB435's under 10lb too... Can't remember exactly what mine weighs, but I think it's about the same as Dave's was. My BBN5 is noticeably lighter.