scrumpymike

1 hour ago, fretmeister said:

 

Me too. I'm a 40-100 on a long scale, but 45-105 at least on a shortie.

+1

If you're playing along the Bristol/Exeter M5 corridor, need to cancel a gig, and are looking for a replacement band, give me a call on 07770 946135 or ping me a PM on here!

My hugely experienced and normally busy classic rock covers band Silverback is short of gigs this year, especially in the first 6 months. We didn't take much on as we knew we'd have to replace our drummer in the New Year but had no idea how long that would take. As it happened, we found a replacement very quickly and now we're all dressed up with nowhere to go 😞

Find us on FB at https://www.facebook.com/silverbacktheband

Cheers,

Mike

On 20/02/2024 at 14:31, FieldsNPT said:

The Vox Starstream A2S turned up on Saturday. So far, so very good. The gigbag seems to be a tightish fit, but it's nice to have to keep the dust off. The fit and finish are excellent - Gotoh bridge and tuners, Aguilar pickups and preamp. The nut is perhaps cut a little high for the quite small fretwire, but that's the only thing I noticed. It gives of an FGN vibe to me, based on the fit and finish of an FGN S-style guitar I have, though the neck is all gloss. I'm not sure who else even has a factory in Japan which builds for other brands, so it could well be FGN. The strings are Ernie Ball and feel quite high tension. The low E in particular sounds like a piano when plucked open, and the body and ABS shell resonate nicely. All in all I'm very pleased with it.

Glad to hear that what you've received meets your expectations. I'm a flats guy so my first change was to fit TI Jazz Flats with a replacement nut to fit.

Just out of curiosity, I looked up the price of the Aguilar package that's standard on the Artist version - and it's pretty much what you paid for the bass!!

Let us know how you get on!

So, first a reminder. A few days back I shared on here my intention to buy a short-scale Cali ll SL TM but decided against it because of helpful feedback on here suggesting that the active tones would not be 'old school' enough for my tastes. I've been exchanging e-mails with Thomann since and now share the dialogue with you guys, starting with their response to my initial doubts arising from the posts on here!!

A: "Please ignore the Chats ...

90% of all Sandberg basses are with active preamp and Sandberg / Delano Pickups.
Sandberg is one of the most successful bass brands at the moment.
It can´t be so bad.

Especially for the SL basses with Paulownia body, you need the active preamp.
It helps you to get a great, powerful sound.

I can't recommend a passive SL version. And we don't have them in our assortment.

But I think, if you are looking for the lightest, best sounding and most easy playing bass - I can´t offer you something else.
It has a nice full modern sound."

Q: "I will follow the advice from my Basschat friends on the Sandberg Appreciation Society forum because a) they understand the sounds I like and b) they also know the sounds of the various Sandberg pickups. This is why online special-interest forums are so helpful.

So, I am looking for a TT with old-school Alnico V pickups and paulownia body BUT I am not prepared to pay premium price for special order. Does my original choice the Cali ll SL TM have Alnico V pickups?"

A: "The Standard Sandberg pickups T4 are ALNICO V, made by Delano
On these pickups the neck pickup is reverse wound and polarized.
This causes the bridge and neck pickup to operate in humbucking mode when they are both turned up.

The T4 Black Label are Ceramic, more clear in sound and more output.
And also the M4 has Ceramic, more clear in sound and more output."

Q: "Just to be clear, does this mean that Cali ll SL TM is fitted with: 1 x T4 Alnico V + 1 x M4 Ceramic?"

A: "Yes, plus the active preamp with passive mode."

I've ruled out the SL TM so looks like my options are to go for either 1) an active SL TT and hope I can live with the tones, or 2) a passive ash-bodied TT and hope it's not at the top end of the weight range.

P.S. Why on earth Sandberg can't weigh all their basses before they pack them beats me - Maruszczyk do!!

5 minutes ago, FieldsNPT said:

I can't wait to be honest. There's not much info about them at all on forums or YT, and I think selling it would be difficult at any price in today's market so maybe price is less of an issue. My wife likes the word "bargain" though, she's always "spending money to save money" as it were. 🙂 

IMHO they were worth every penny of the original RRP. That's no surprise as the Vox brand is owned by Korg so the design, specification and quality were always going to be of the highest order. Trouble is bass players are generally a conservative lot and Marmite-y designs rarely sell well.

Welcome to the world of short-scale basses btw!

I've owned the very same thing and loved it. Incredibly comfortable to play and wear. Another innocent victim of GAS ☹️

GLWTS

57 minutes ago, FieldsNPT said:

I'm a recent convert to bass, having been a very poor guitar player I am now mostly a novice bass player. First I had a fretless Sire P7, then recently added a Sire P8. They're very nice basses although I'm not sure I'm a fan of basses around 9.5 pounds. I also have some mild tennis elbow after playing the fretted bass. Anyway, I have been eyeballing the Vox Starstream A2S basses being blown out on the voxamps site, and was disappointed when the red version sold out. Anyway, today I bought the black version for £399, the last one by all accounts, so it should be here next week I think. I'm not a total fan of the look of the body, though a super-light bass will be interesting to try for sure. I'll post a pic when I get it. Cheers!

You've got a massive bargain there my friend! The original retail price of the premium-quality Artist versions was £1350, later reduced to £799 as a clearance price. I bought mine at that point and absolutely love it, especially the innovative design. The build quality on mine is second to none and the Aguilar package it comes with is the best active set-up I've ever played. I've made a couple of mods to fit strap-locks and improve strap balance but that's just my obsessive tendency 🙂 

My trouble is I don't really understand the fundamentals of pickups and electronics. For a start, I didn't realise you can combine passive pickups with an active pre-amp.

I haven't tried many but the only active package I've found to my liking is what's on my Vox Starstream  A2S.  That comes with Aguilar AG 4J-70 pickups and the Aguilar OBP-2 pre-amp. The thing is that the Vox has the J-vibe perfectly covered and I wanted something different from the Sandy.

Thanks guys, keep this stuff coming! If Cuzzie doesn't jump on, I'll ping him a PM.

7 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

I guess it all depends what you like tonally, the black labels are massive okay if you want a modern, powerful, super clean and neutral sound, but I've come to realise that I prefer a much more organic, 'soulful' tone and dynamic response from pickups.

 

I do highly recommend the Alnico V J pickups in the TT passive, they sound superb.

 

 

If you want an active preamp, I'm sure they'd be happy to make you a TT5, but with the pickups from the passive model.

 

Good luck in your endeavours!

 

Oli

 

 

Thanks, now that's my kinda sound!!

15 minutes ago, TRBboy said:

That's a stunner! 😍 You may well like them Mike, a lot of people do. Plus as long as you like the rest of the bass, pickups can be changed (admittedly it would be frustrating to have to on a new, expensive bass though). 

Yes, it is a stunner but I already made an expensive mistake with a  s-s Spector Euro 4 fitted with  active EMGs  and I can't afford to make another one 😊

13 hours ago, TRBboy said:

Ah okay, gotcha. Well if it's on VM/TM pickups, that will be Sandberg Black Label pickups, and I've absolutely no idea who makes them 😅.

 

I was really excited to try them, ordered a gorgeous VM5 I waited 9 months for, and then absolutely hated them when I got it! 🤣 Each to their own of course, but they were my least favourite Sandberg pickups I've had. I just found them to be HUGELY powerful and aggressive, too much so to my ears (and I like a hot pickup), but they just didn't have enough actual tonality for me, it was like a loud, angry lot of nothingness. All anecdotal and subjective of course, weren't for me though. After waiting ages for the bass, I sold it immediately (not solely because of the pickups).

Well, that's very interesting and has saved me from making a big mistake. Looks like I've just put a deposit down on what you didn't like (see below) - and based on what you've said, I definitely won't like it either! 

There's a few gaps in my knowledge of Sandberg pickups (and pickups in general) that some of you on here may be able to fill. My only Sandberg ownership experience has been a Lionel, which I loved but moved on because I needed a broader range of sounds. I've just put a deposit down on a Cali ll SL TM4, which should certainly be more versatile with its J + H configuration.

According to Thomann, Sandy pickups are made by Delano. Are the Sandy pickups just re-branded Delanos or are they made to a different Sandy spec?

The images on the Thomann website show two different designs of pickup - single-pole (labelled with the Delano logo) and double-pole (plain).  Is there any functional difference between the single and double-pole designs?

21 hours ago, fretmeister said:

My TT4 Superlight is excellent. No dive, just very comfy to play.

I do play the Lionel more these days, but sometimes I just want that jazz thing! 

There's a few gaps in my Sandberg knowledge that you and others on here may be able to fill. My only ownership experience has been a Lionel, which I loved but moved on because I need a broader range of sounds from my basses. The Cali ll SL TM4 I've put a deposit down on should certainly give me that.

My questions are about Sandy pickups. All I know so far is that my Lionel had a Black Label J and, according to Thomann, Sandy pickups are made by Delano. Are they just re-branded Delanos or are they different designs made to a Sandy spec? Also, what's the functional difference between the single and double-pole designs that you see on Sandy basses?

Hey fretmeister, thanks for this!! I was just about to post asking about strap balance on the Sandberg s-s SL basses but found the answer here first. Looks like I can go ahead and order my Cali ll SL TM4 without worrying about neck dive now.

Happy days 😊

BAG WITHDRAWN FROM SALE AND PRICE REDUCED TO £350!! Offered in A1 condition with no dings/scratches and all working as it should together with rack-mount ears.

This amp featured in last years S-W Bass Bash 'amp shoot-out', in which a very impressive bunch of top-quality heads were compared through an LFSys Monaco FRFR control speaker. The consensus was that the SVT-7 PRO sounded the best of the lot and I know of at least one member, who went out and bought one after the Bash. Anyway, somehow Santa found out how much I liked it and brought me a brand new one for Christmas 😊 After much hesitation, I've decided to let this one go and keep my less good but more compact Ashdown RM-800 as back-up.

Price excludes delivery but happy to meet within reasonable distance of M5 J25 or pack in original packaging for collection by courier arranged and paid for by buyer.

20 hours ago, msb said:

I haven’t seen too much that’s interesting from the various NAMM reports , but the ruby Dano Longhorn with the f hole and binding looks good. I’ll be watching for availability and price.

We were watching an old Who concert on Sky Arts a few days back with The Ox plucking the living daylights out of a poor little Longhorn - an image full of contradictions, it has to be said! Mind you, he must certainly have saved himself much time and effort when it came to smashing his gear up at the end of the gig.

14 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

I looked for them too without luck.

 

But my best guess is that they are working on a version 2 with a pickup switch or a blend, instead of P and J pickup both always full on, with no options for switching or blending, like this first version worked.

 

Didn't realise they'd disappeared from the product range. As you say, they're probably working on a replacement with pickup switch or blend pot.

17 hours ago, bogleshake said:

I see a lot folk giving a lot of love to Harley Benton gear on here and it looks like they are adding another new short scale to their range. 
 

Crazy cheap!

 

https://harleybenton.com/product/pb-shorty-sbk/?fbclid=IwAR2DJAR0DEq4jfuCaKvei8qxoPckSjGozlYwzpQAPWVjd_JIkC8XLV414rE_aem_AQR8RXgSqgXzrgvJf1Giy5oD3FihT0st7yJuptMC6EXB6oR6y8qkabINrhjDMtv8YGs

Just checked out the Thomann price. £103. Incredible!!!

4 minutes ago, Obrienp said:

I guess most people on here would rip off all the hardware and electronics to replace them with better after market items. However, you can’t cure a dodgy truss rod that way. It might still be worth it if you get a good one. I can’t think of another shorty P-Bass like object that comes anywhere near this price bracket.

Or buy the Harley Benton MV-4MSB Gotoh BM with the higher spec. I love mine.

9 hours ago, MJJS said:

There are currently two Atelier ZPOs available at Bass Japan Direct.
 

https://reverb.com/uk/item/76277268-atelier-z-zpo4-2016-transparent-blue

I had a nice 4-string Baby Z for a while. Really nice but pick-ups a bit too hot for me.

19 hours ago, gjones said:

I do like them but the gauge is enormous. I've only got one bass where the nut slots are wide enough to fit them.

Yes, I had to open the nut slots out on mine. The s-s set is 065 075 090 115, which is probably another reason why they initially got stuck away in the back of a drawer rather than being tried. Must say the fairly expensive set of nut files I splashed out on fairly recently have proved very useful ever since. Not much use when you need to down-size on slot width though. 🙂

Can anybody tell me anything about what I'm likely to get from a Jake C4P 30" in terms of playability and sounds, especially what the Haussel PB4 pickup brings to the party? It's really the classic vibe that I'm after.

Just fitted a RS88S 065-115 short-scale set to my home noodling bass (Encore P) and absolutely loving the sound and feel of these! They're an unopened set I got given with a used s-s ACG bought off here and I've only given them a try to avoid shelling out on my preferred La Bella 760FS-S strings.

Are any of you gigging these?

The comparison below was posted on here earlier and is very useful. I can see myself joining the ranks of Mustang owners before long, probably with either a JMJ or Vintera ll '70s. Thomann's UK online store is a good place to compare all specs and relative pricing in one hit although interestingly the JMJ specs are the only ones that don't give the neck width at nut. I believe it's the wider 40mm+ version same as the Vintera, which is my preference. Can someone confirm this?

Mustang comparison review