mattpbass

I’ve been gigging a 5-string Ida Nielsen (black/gold one) for the last 4 years and it’s an awesome bass, replaced an American Elite Jazz which it played and sounded better than. I also own a shell pink TT, but this new Ida just doesn’t hang together for me. Even the newer black ones aren’t as nice since they ran out of the original gold fabric for the pickguards.

I’m just setting off down this path, been running a Jad Freer Capo (pre amp pedal) for almost a year, love the thing and 90% of the time going straight to desk/PA and working on in-ears. For smaller gigs where amp is needed the pedalboard is going into an Aguilar Tonehammer 700 and SL410 cab, which is fine but I really just want the sound of the Capo amplified, not further colouring from the TH. So I’ve recently ordered the Coda head that JF make specifically for use with the Capo (or any other pre-amp), it’s just a 700w power amp which in itself is quite unusual, and it’s also a class G amp rather than D, which I’m really curious about. Taking a punt being as I can’t find a single review or user anywhere online but the Capo is amazing so I trust their quality, counting down the weeks till it arrives…

I’m playing Sandbergs, 4 and 5 strings, flats and rounds. All sorts of genres, 70s disco, 80s and 90s pop/rock, modern r&b/pop. I don’t use drive very much like some of the other guys but just as a set and forget mojo machine with some nice saturation it works great for everything.

Yeah, as an owner I’m still reading, I just haven’t got much to say other than I plugged it in, found a setting I liked and just left it at that. 😅

Yeah I checked too, I don’t think my OCD could live with that. 😅

Might be an optical illusion but to me the pin stripes look wider at the pickguard than they do near the strap buttons, now I’ve seen it I can’t un-see it!

We should all have had them delivered to that address, I’ve got a spare suitcase you could have borrowed. 😁

No worries on the DI front, it sounds awesome. Looking at getting a flight case for my board and I’ve also realised it’s taller than my other pedals, it’s such a dinky footprint I guess they had to squeeze it all in there somehow!

Motown clean no problem, clean with some hair no problem, distortion definitely but I dunno if I’d say full whack, but I don’t need that so not looked for it, the other fellas might have pushed more in that direction.

Heh, good to see you both succumbed! 😁 I’ve now had a couple of rehearsals with mine and I still can’t say enough good things about it. You’re completely right that its versatility is absolutely as claimed, but I think what impresses me most is every sound I get out of it is usable. Every time I think I’ve got a favourite setting I try something else and it’s just as good.

The light up logo is so cool, must add about 30% extra tone by itself. 😀

Pedaltrain Nano would work perfectly, can fit the Cioks underneath.

It will be in the ballpark but obviously the configurator shows price in Euros rather than GBP and there is also some dealer discretion to the price.

I much prefer the newer shapes, to me they strike the perfect balance of looking like a traditional J/P but with enough of their own vibe to be more interesting than just a straight copy.

Excellent, I have a HX Stomp and there’s no doubt as a one stop shop Helix are pretty great, I’m sure it will serve you well.

I’ve had the Jad Freer Capo for about a month now and it’s superb, couldn’t recommend it enough. Not cheap but less than half the price of a Noble!

It still isn’t going to sound exactly like a P bass because the P pickup is reversed and Sandberg use 500K pots rather than 250K like Fender. I have a passive VS4 (pickup normal way round) and with flats on it sounds pretty close to a P to me, with a vintage sounding pickup and wiring I’d think it would be more or less identical.

I’ve not played an Electra but seems likely they would compare well to other basses in their price range. They’re still put together in Germany, just made in Korea. Yeah, passive Sandbergs are definitely rarer in general, I found the VS4 online and had to custom order the TT.

My VS and TT are both Californias that look like they’ve been kicked down the street. 😂And agreed, what you are getting at a given price-point with Sandberg is certainly higher quality than Fender. I’d say the passive VS is close to a traditional P.

Cheers dude, my pleasure. I’ve played and owned a lot of nice basses and never been happier than with the Sandbergs so if you can afford another go for it, or if it’s too much of a push don’t sweat it, you’ve already got a great bass with the VM.

Having said all that I just looked up a video of me playing the VT and it does sound pretty good, and man it was nice looking. 😂 https://www.instagram.com/p/CRrLGJrCewa/?igshid=YmMyMTA2M2Y=

Agreed, the VM5 I have is definitely not traditional P, though I do love the sound of it in the mix, and same with the TM5. I’m similar to you doing function stuff from all eras, I’m not someone who tapdances on pedals and changes bass every song (I know the audience don’t care 😂) so I just want a really great solid bass sound for the whole set and they both work great. The most classic sounding are the passive VS4 and TT4. The TT4 had the black labels in and I didn’t like them in it (despite liking them in the Ida) so swapped them out (and changed pots etc) for Lindy Fralins and now it sounds classic J to my ears. The VS4 has Sandberg’s own big pole P pickup in it which I thought I would change but actually love, with flats it’s just great. I was really surprised with how little I enjoyed the VT4 but again it was the black labels so maybe it’s just those in a passive set up don’t work for me.

I’ve currently got an Ida Nielsen 5 (basically a TM), a VM5, and passive TT4 and passive VS4, and have owned a TM4 and a VT4. So I’m not surprised you liked another Sandberg more than the other options. 😀 But I don’t know if it’s good or bad news that I liked the sound of the VT4 least by far. The VT4 was a masterpiece (as in the relic level) and absolutely beautiful, played amazing, but the sound just never worked for me, it never felt P or J enough to be satisfying. It was passive, maybe the active version might have a bit more about it. So that probably doesn’t help at all, sorry. 😂

Nice! There will be about £90 to pay when it hits the UK, they use UPS so you’ll get an email from them and can pay it online so it doesn’t get delayed.

Bass>Cali 76>HX Stomp>Jad Freer Capo>Desk>Fischer Amps In-Ear Stick>JH Audio JH11s.