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So many jokes possible on this thread, so little time..... However, on a more serious note, coupled with what @Acebassmusic says, an amp can get awfully warm during a gig, so boards can expand and wires can move. When the thing is off it cools off and "resets" back to its original state. I'm not saying that's the reason, just that it's believable that something like you experience can happen.

I'm now the owner of a Sandberg Custom 5! My wife, the guy at PMT and me all came to the same conclusion: there was definitely a sound in the MM soapbar pickup found on the Sandberg Basic that just couldn't be replicated with the XTenders in the Custom, but the XTenders have a very nice tone, and are much more versatile, and so overall the bass you see in the picture is the one I took home. It responds very well to tweaking, and the default sound suits my style of playing, which is to sit back in the mix rather than cut through it, although with some tweaking you can get a really nice honk out the bridge pickup. My wife said that the XTenders had a much smoother sound, and that the low B string had much better note definition. Listening back to the recordings I made, there were far more mistakes using the Basic. At this level of craftmanship it's so subjective, but it's probably not controversial to say the Custom's form factor suits me better. Surprisingly Sandberg never got back to me after I asked them a few questions, but the bass spoke for itself, and PMT got the sale. Just for the record, the main question I asked them was what type of pickup was in this Custom. There are actually two types of XTender. I have my suspicions I know which one it is, but wanted it confirmed.

Am I right in thinking that class d amplifiers get this HPF for free, or at least the amp's designers would need to explicitly build an amp to generate subsonic frequencies, which would make no sense?

Amazed there isn't a larger market for this kind of thing. Who wouldn't want to make their kit last longer and make their sound sound better? I had to laugh at one comment on the YT vid which said they wouldn't buy one because they couldn't hear the difference.

On one thread that flew past me maybe a week ago, someone posted a video of this magical effects box that, when engaged, wouldn't change the sound recorded by the microphone to my ears but you could see the cones of the cabinet doing much much less work. Nowhere did it mention it was an HPF, but I assume that an HPF was a large part of its secret sauce. I now cannot find the video, nor remember the name of the box. Does anyone know what I'm talking about? I think it was either a 4x10 or a 6x10 in the video.

Listening back now and sheesh that's some bad playing. Oh well, better get practising. You can probably tell which one is which because I had trouble playing the maple bass.

I'm listening back to recordings I made today at PMT. Conditions were not great: I had little time and it was bloomin' loud in there (pesky other shoppers) so I couldn't hear myself. One thing's for sure though listening back, you cannot just pick up a 5er and play it like a 4 string. Sympathetic vibrations abound and much of what I recorded is not fit for public consumption. Still, I don't want to make it a wasted trip. Which sample is your favourite? I managed to sneak in the B string near the end of the sample. Three samples are of one bass dialed on different pickups (rear, front and both), one is of the single pickup bass.

As it so happens, I've just walked through the door back from PMT after they booted me out at closing time. I got a few minutes on both. I will use the words "Basic" to describe the lighter single pickup bass, and "Custom" to describe the darker dual XTender bocote bass. Both basses are very good, good enough for me to be happy with either. They're different: the Basic is a wee bit cheaper, is lighter in weight, and dare I say it a little nicer to go up and down the neck. Conversely the Custom has a much larger variation in tone. Comparing these two to the Yamaha TRBX605 also at PMT, there is no comparison. Maybe the Yamaha and I didn't gel but the neck felt all wrong and the sound was not pleasant (even after amateur playing is taken into account). Looks-wise, you can see the pictures for yourself. The maple on the Basic is stunning in the flesh (in the wood?). The Custom has a more functional look. I don't dislike it, but I don't like it either. On the Custom I could get close to a Musicman when leaning towards the rear pickup. Nothing close to a P came out the neck pickup but it was smooth. Perhaps a J with a slight tilt towards the front pickup? I emailed Sandberg to ask them how the wiring of the single bucker was done in the Basic: series or parallel. I never got a reply but based on my playing, I would say they're in series and I was unable to get a Musicman burp from this bass. That's not to say it was bad: if I want a Musicman sound I could just buy one and if it were a SUB I'd have spare change over a Sandberg. For the benefit of this thread I may head in with an audio interface to record a short clip of me fumbling to play something. Could even make a game of it: guess the bass and which pickup 🙂. For me personally I will be back with my wife, whom I've said before has excellent taste in everything. She'll help me decide if either is the one for me, but at the moment both are contenders for augmenting the stable. It's quite exciting as the last bass I bought was probably around 13 years ago (and yes it was a Sandberg.) As an aside, I really do like and recommend PMT Oxford. They're patient and always willing to help me. Must be tough competing with Thomann's prices and service, but I wouldn't purchase an instrument without playing it first. Thomann would get sick of me after the 7th or 8th return.

Thanks for the input. I have a California JJ (as it was called back then) and absolutely love it. I caved and got my local PMT to order these two instruments in so I can try them. Will be very interesting to compare to one another. I thought I was going to buy the Yamaha TRBX 605 but I really didn't get on with that when I tried it. Will keep you posted.

Friends, I've got GAS for a fiver. Given my experiences with my existing Sandberg I would like it to be Sandberg again. There are some for sale at PMT, but I'm not in a position to pop into their Birmingham store to try them out. I will probably ask if I can have them transferred, but that requires a deposit for each bass and so may get expensive. This is just for curiosity's sake so I'm not going to bass (badum tish) any purchase on the replies here, but which of these would you, sound unheard, pick? Why? Even better, all you Brummies, have you tried them? What were your experiences? https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/sandberg-custom-bocote-5-string-bass-with-gold-hardware https://www.pmtonline.co.uk/sandberg-basic-5-buckeye-burl-rosewood-dots-gold-hardware

How does the sound post stay in place without the bridge?

I can only over a cautionary tale. I took a broken item, £150 to the Post Office to get it fixed in Germany. I was assured that there would be no customs to pay the other end as it was for the repair of a faulty item, despite me insuring it for the full amount. Fast forward a week, and the company the other side had 15EUR to pay for the privilege of picking up my item. As an aside, Supernova lights are absolutely amazing. They absorbed the cost, fixed the 10 year old light and returned it without a quibble.

To put the tonal counterargument for triangular ports at the corner of the boxes, I'll defer to the prose of BFM: The way I read this you would get a similar effect putting round ports at each corner of your box. In a band context I doubt I would be able to tell the difference, but maybe others will be able to.

Impressive playing. On a tangent, I've been really lusting after these Delano The XTender pickups. Every single video shows them to be amazingly versatile, going from J to P via Musicman. Anyone own a set? As a longshot, anyone own a set that I could possible come over and try? They're not easy to come by.

The website says that there's an instrument in, an aux in and a headphone out. Can't see any other io in the photos either. Shame because I agree that it would be a nice idea.

My experience of PJB documentation and press releases is that their copy is not good, to put it mildly. They're riddled with typographical or factual errors and I'm guessing this is a copy pasta from another product, or a prototype. If it's not a mistake then it's conceivable that the speaker is coax, but again given PJB's history of mistakes and the heritage of the double4, I think that's unlikely.

Bought some DB strings. Ian was a pleasure to deal with and the strings arrived promptly in good condition. Will definitely be happy buying from Ian again.

I was in exactly the same position as you, wondering why people thought this. Then I got into the bundled effects plugins, and I realized I think it's there. There are sliders that offer values that don't make sense, a plugin called "ReaVerb" that doesn't actually offer tweakable reverb (that's "Reaverbate") and usually there's no visual representation on what the settings have done to your sound. Here's a video comparing ReaComp to other compression plugins:

Sheesh they really should add a hyphen to their patreon URL. I had to double read that.

As I understand it the Blackstar headphone amp has no eq so you're at the mercy of the headphones and its sound signature. I was never a fan of the amplug but maybe it was the headphones I was using

Just out of interest how much were they?

Nice demo. I've been to all kinds of shops around London looking for a EUB for silent practice. Of the ones I found, none could hold a candle against the Yamaha SLB-200 in terms of playability and tone......and price. There's one for sale right now. Cannot believe it's still available.

Sure, that's fine. There are times though when you'd like to be able to swap batteries and charge outside the device. Bike lights and effects pedals are two examples that spring to mind.