Al Krow

I know! It's basically a "live take" - who does that these days? Most albums are super engineered / stripped back...but fair enough, not many bands are going to be as tight and together as the E Street!

Out on Spotify today. Getting some good critical reviews. Looking forward to having a listen to as I'm driving down the M1 tonight...

Recently picked up a MB combo (CMD 121H) in the FS to leave at my folks' place in Brum, as I'm spending a bit more time up there these days to give them a bit of support. Forgotten how good value and quality these MB combos are - for £400 (used) it's considerably less than the second hand cost of my separates! One of the features of MB cabs is that they tend to have a little high frequency roll off, which some folk love as being the signature 'warm' MB sound. I personally prefer a brighter / 'flatter' top end and it seems that the Tech 21 VTDI pedal + MB Combo is a marriage made in heaven to deliver this - highly recommend. If I had discovered that particular pairing a few years back I suspect I might not have let go my MB AC 121 Lite, which is still one of the best combos out there and one of the very few that can deliver a full 500W through it's own single 12" speaker, without the need for an extension cab.

This chap on TB has posted a decent comparison review. I was a little surprised at how good the Zoom multistomp was at doing an OC2 impression [0.52]!

Bought a MB Combo off Rory. The guy is a true gent. From experience, I know what a pain wrapping and couriering a cab can be - I was super impressed with the care and thoroughness put into getting that done by Rory. Thanks again for making this such a straightforward transaction. Cheers, Bas

@FinnDave - hey Dave, I appreciate that the recording / signal chain will impact on what we're hearing and certainly on a YT clip, as krispn has pointed out. But does the recording posted above come pretty close to your Berg's tone as you hear it in person at home? I can vouch that Tyler's recording of the Yammy pretty much nails the tones it delivers.

Here's a YT clip from our own Andy Boorman (Moonbass) of a Panther Special 5er, which gives it a very good tonal work out as part of his sales pitch...I very nearly bought this bass 4 years ago (and might have done if I'd seen this video at the time)! And this is the current competition for me, which wasn't available 4 years back - Tyler playing my old bass! Be really interested in what you guys think in terms of the tonal A/B of these basses. Having heard them both side by side tonight, I suspect I know already where I will be landing.

That's helpful, thanks Gav. I've got a very decent PJ in my Yammy BB and the 735A would be very difficult to beat in terms of value for the quality on offer. So a P MM set up would be a nice alternative, but if its closer to a P "J" from what you're saying, that would be OK too, and I like that it has 22 frets rather than 20 on a Sire (24 would be ideal). I'm totally cool with a clean preamp on a bass, the tone for me tends to be primarily driven by the pups and interaction with the body and neck of the bass itself and I've got plenty of tone shaping options on my pedal board and amp. But that initial 'core' bass tone IMO needs to come from the bass itself - it's harder to create something that's not there in the first place in my experience, although I know that some folk do swear by eg the Sadowsky preamps pedals.

Yes, I do too Dave 😁 but alas I'm now a dyed in the wool 5 string player...I would love to pick your brains about yours though, which I know you were very much in love with pre Covid, but seems you have reverted back to Ibby? Particularly interested in the weight of the bass and tone from the pups. A clip / recording of you playing it would be marvellous!

Dave's ad in the FS got me looking into these and the 5 string version in particular. Dunno if anyone has or had one of these in the 5 string version? What I've managed to find from the net (Sandberg website, PMT online and Music Radar review) is that it has: - a P split coil neck pup + humbucker bridge pup. Is that correct about the neck pup i.e. this is a variation of the VM series? If so that would be ideal; - on the 5 string the available string length is a little over 35" and positive comments about the low B; - be very interested on views of the Sandberg pups vs the Delanos which, as I'm sure folk are bored with hearing(!), I personally found too hi-fi on my TM4, preferring more of a bite/growl. For reference I do like the pups on my Ibby SR Premium and Yammy BB basses a lot; - 3 band EQ on the 'Special', which is a must for me, and seems to have active / passive option which is also a nice to have; - PMT only provide the shipping weight not the weight of the bass (lol!) although Music Radar describes it as having 'modest weight' and nothing on the Berg website from what I could tell. I do love mahogany and walnut woods and I will be pleasantly surprised if this is a sub 9.5 lb bass?

Thanks John, you're much too kind. Have to say I do LOVE the Tape Echo - it's taken me far too long to discover it on the B1-4 (and I should add in time on the B3N before that, which I bought as my first multi fx when they first came out in April 2017). There are a definitely a couple of songs in our sets where that's going to get used eg Feel it Still by Portugal.

Yeah a few of them and certainly a very good starting point but I will often tweak rather than use "as is" - particularly on the drive to either blend in clean and / or boost the low end. On the fx the ZNR noise reduction is often worth sticking on at the end and I may add a comp at the start of the signal chain. Amp and cab sims are pretty much good to go as they are. They do all need the patch volumes adjusting though, so you don't end up with volume spikes / drops - but that will be obvious as you work through.

Very welcome - please do let me know if you think any of them are half decent! Btw, as we discovered earlier in the thread, the patch sharing only works for the exact same model ie B1-4 only in this case and not available to upload even onto the B1X-4 unfortunately, which I previously had - ended up sharing the individual patch settings - easiest by doing a screen shot of the Zoom software in that case - and dialling it in. A bit of a pain, but not unusual: similar issue with HX Stomp and Effects in terms of patch sharing.

@JohnDaBass here you go John - my 4 dirt patches and a few of my others - available to download directly onto your Zoom B1-4 via ToneLib B1-4 DG B7K.zb1f B1-4 BlueB BOD.zb1f B1-4 BOF.zb1f B1-4 RAT.zb1f B1-4 TapeEcho300.zb1f B1-4 OctDnFuzz.zb1f B1-4 Z-Synth.zb1f

Brings back memories of a thread I started up 4 years ago on a similar theme... I did actually end up with a Yamaha - a BB1025 and I have another of that same model which is still one of my goto gigging basses alongside an Ibanez SR1825 (and you could also certainly also get the latter for your budget in vgc used). I'm just amused about the two statements I've highlighted. I wonder if it will turn out to be as false for you as it did for me!😁

One step up from the BB425 (an excellent bass btw!) is the Yamaha 735A which retails for around £750 and will cover a lot of bases: active 3 band EQ or passive if you want (a nice to have if the battery ever runs out mid-gig!), and P / PJ / J pup settings. Body through stringing and 5 piece laminate neck all add to the quality and durability. And as Paul has just mentioned, you'll still be left with a decent chunk of change to spare from your budget...

In case anyone's interested, I've just come across this forum and registered: https://tonelib.net/forums/ (link also posted on the OP for ease of reference).

OK when was the last time there was a thread on Marshall amps? Probably the same time as we were gushing over what a Vox AC30 provided when we had long hair and played the guitar! 😁 I have no recollection these days of what a Marshall bass amp sounds like; you're maybe gonna have settle for Ampeg or SWR like the rest of us...