knicknack

I firmly believe that ‘the wand chooses the wizard’... in that the basses that stumble into my life inevitably turn out better than the ones who’s specs I agonise over. There is almost no crossover between the instruments on my wall. I strongly disliked the colour of what is now my main bass when I first saw it, and yet here we are 3 years later! So much so that when ordering my next Sandberg I left them with a few options so I’m not 100% certain what will arrive in September!

Oh really! That’s interesting... in that case I have no idea!

I’d have to agree, but it’s less about the sound and more about what you can and can’t play with strings and frets!

Another vote for hotcovers... my comparably priced roqsolids are in a pile in the garage!

@Quatschmacher same! A friend ordered direct at the same time and got sorted months ago..

Dexed (asb2m10.github.io) Also, I've just downloaded Dexed (above), a DX7 emulator... I always have the Moog wired in to my Mac anyway as a controller, and some of the patches on this are bang on to those dodgy 80s MJ bass presets!

@Quatschmacher I guess the question is, anything worth the upheaval for? Having a look both of your patches now!

@meercatzbass You've done a great job there... both on my to-do list and not at all easy! Would you consider sharing your patches? I've uploaded most of my decent ones to this site, a great resource for several of the best used bass synths! Moog Sub 37 Patches, Presets, Soundsets and Sound Design. (presetpatch.com) Well worth a look!

The bassist on this is a member here... It’s not the song I expected from Rag but I kinda like it! Expecting some cool things from the album. Always keen to support, he really fights for live music!

Just to be clear I'm not criticising, it's a fun album and if it gets a younger generation interested in playing bass, or anything for that matter, then it's a good thing!

I've had a listen to the stems of the Dua album and honestly the bass parts are just compiled from a ton of sampled/programmed bits. Don't start now for instance has 5/6 bass tracks at least and i wouldn't be surprised if no real basses were touched in the making of it... One that flew under the radar a bit last year was Jessie Ware's latest album... in the same sonic space as Dua's, but to me it feels like the songs have a little more substance!

@deadline I've had three over the last couple of years and they've all been very similar. Far lighter than most Js or Ps i've played!

There's definitely some Musicman Cutlass DNA in there! I love the way they've tweaked them, I do find my old fenders feel quite unwieldy in comparison, whilst the 'bergs still have a classic look.

@Lfalex v1.1 Surely the best shout is to order whatever you want through a UK dealer, then you don't have to worry about such things? I can absolutely recommend Mark at Classic & Cool Guitars to help you get what you're looking for! They've relaunched the configurator this week so there may be some bugs... keep trying!

Where are you getting these from? Don’t seem that easy to find for sale!

We're back with the Hypotheticals again... I decided to go with Sunburst, it looks so good aged. So it's down to two... the classic 60s look or something a little more 70s standout. What do you guys think? I'm totally torn... the rosewood look never goes out of style, but all my basses are 60s-ish, so very tempted to go for something different! I have enjoyed both RW and Maple TT4s that i've tried so there's no preference there, it's purely aesthetic! Forgive the crudely drawn black blocks...

A little late with this but now most people who are going to hear this have heard it I thought i'd put in my thoughts! For me there were two clear standout candidates for the place on my board. The COG and the OC-2! If I was just going on the recorded sound I'd add the OC-5 and Octabvre to the mix here, but when it came down to just playing pleasure the COG was the only alternative that had that really lovely sub that just demands bass face. I ran a little test last week with a friend of mine who is a massive OC-2 fan and has a great ear for these things. He spotted the OC-2 in every lineup except for when the COG fooled him several times in a row! Honestly I think all 6 are great, and you'd be happy with whichever had the features/size you were looking for. Boss have done a great job with the OC-5 and it really does have the sound. But it is just missing that last special ingredient that would put in on my pedalboard. The same goes for the Octabvre (but more on that in a minute!) MXR and Markbass have done a great job to get so close in tiny enclosures. I believe both a based on a really early OC-2, which may account for the differences to mine. I could definitely spot them in the lineup as the brighter of the pedals here. I would say that my favourite changed on a daily basis out of these 2... I think the Markbass is by a fair margin the cheapest option here and it doesn't show. It's probably got the least volume on tap (check the settings in the video!) but is at least on a par, if not slightly louder than my original (which has been modified to run at proper volume at 9v, often the issue with these). For recording I'd actually favour the 3Leaf! I love the options on the tone control, and find it to be very clean and possibly the best at tracking. I did take it out on a gig (remember those?) and found it difficult to dial in to the sweet spot, partly due to the Volume/Blend setup. However... I've taken the plunge, and there's a new Octabvre MKIII on the way. I've heard some great things from OC-2 fans, so will be delighted to report back when it's here. If they have managed to keep the things i liked about it in this review, nailed the sub-ness and the control layout works more intuitively I can very much imagine it being the winner. Is it worth 3 Markbass Raws, or 2 OC-5s? Time will tell! I should say that if it wasn't for two points I wouldn't have bothered ordering the Octabvre. 1. The T-47 is a big pedal, and at the moment to keep it on my board something has to give! Obviously the T-16 is the same circuit, and comparable in size to the MXR and Markbass, but try finding one at the moment! Hopefully they are going back in to production soon. 2. It's a little tetchy with active basses and higher input levels. It might just be mine but i think I've heard others say the same. Just something to be aware of! If you play passive basses and can get hold of a COG T-16, and it's features are everything you need, I can't imagine you'd be disappointed. The tones available are very wide-ranging! I'd happily do a little demo if that's something anyone is interested in. Anyway, thankyou for reading and watching, and i'm happy to answer any more specific questions if anyone has them!

@krispn I actually borrowed it from a local Basschat member and fellow Sandberg nut! Not available to buy any more by the looks of things, around $100 dollars. You're about as far away from Bournemouth as it gets if I remember rightly? Anybody thinking of taking the plunge on one of these? I think they look wicked, would love to know how they sound!

@deadline Honestly I'd prefer my Masterpiece (and some other aged basses i own) to be a little less beaten up visually, but the way the necks feel played in is something I haven't found in an untouched bass thus far. In Sandbergs case the masterpieces get the heat and vibration treatment, and I would be sceptical if i hadn't tried the results! I have enquired about having all the good stuff without so much visual wear but it doesn't seem to be something builders are that keen to do for whatever reason! On a similar topic I left a slightly lifeless new JMJ Mustang on the Prime Vibe (this is the vibration treatment they use at Sandberg UK) for a week... to me the bass has just come to life. Might be all in my head, might be real!

Just a bit! I shouldn't have put that one up, it's a classic and i bet most people's favourite!

Of course there's always this classic look but my heart says Maple board (Hypothetically...)

Hypothetical question for you guys! If you were going to pick a masterpiece TT4 with a maple fingerboard from this lineup, which scheme would you go for? I haven't yet decided whether this ba... Hypothetical bass will be passive or active. *Please note that feedback may influence real-world purchasing decisions This is just a game, of course I'm not about to buy a new Sandberg Masterpiece TT4, that would be foolish in these difficult times! White on White with black blocks Black on White with Black Blocks Tort on Sunburst and imagine black blocks... (Configurator didn't do this one justice!) White on White with black dots