Sandberg appreciation society

[Old Horse Murphy]

1 minute ago, DJ '65 said:

Thanks for the reply, yes they haven’t sold the early ones for a while. It seems to be the same old story everywhere since Sandberg changed to Cali II to keep Fender happy.

The other alternative is earlpilanz on EBay. He's made some pickguards for me in the past. He asks for the original to be sent to use as a template but he's very quick and the quality is excellent. 
 

It might be worth dropping him a line. 

[DJ '65]

Cool, I’ll give them a shout! Many thanks.

[fretmeister]

Gigink original scratchplates make custom ones too.

 

The owner is a member here.

[Folkesy]

53 minutes ago, Old Horse Murphy said:

The other alternative is earlpilanz on EBay. He's made some pickguards for me in the past. He asks for the original to be sent to use as a template but he's very quick and the quality is excellent. 
 

It might be worth dropping him a line. 

Second this! He did a smashing job with my Electra pickguard, see previous posts in this thread. I thought about getting a Sandberg one but it would've been loads with taxes and postage. 

 

Really pleased with the Earlpilanz one!

[DJ '65]

Thanks fellas I’ll get some prices and strip it down! Enjoy your Easter bank hols! 

[mcnach]

Sandberg won't post accessories to the UK anymore...  B-loody B-nuisance.

 

(what B word?)

 

Fortunately they post to Spain and I'll be there in a few weeks.  

[jezzaboy]

3 hours ago, mcnach said:

Sandberg won't post accessories to the UK anymore...  B-loody B-nuisance.

 

(what B word?)

 

Fortunately they post to Spain and I'll be there in a few weeks.  

Spot on. I tried to order a replacement tuner and there is no option for UK delivery on the on line shop. I even contacted Gregor on Facebook and he didn`t understand it either but it defo because of you know what. If you get the Sandberg importer to order a part, they wait until they have a delivery of basses coming in before you can get the part. Not ideal.

[Quilly]

Found that my Sandberg basic strung with flats is an ideal bass for acoustic sessions, always tight and focussed never wooly .

[mr4stringz]

My local music shop posted this on their Facebook t’other day. I’m not usually one for the flashy or garish, but a chrome/mirror finish is a different kettle of fish. Think I’d have to wear snooker umpire gloves if I owned this.
 

 

[mcnach]

It may be too early to say, but... continuing on my love/hate relationship with my VM4, I think I may have found a new #1 pushing away my trusty Stingray 😲

 

I had to stop using my Stingray because I carelessly damaged the preamp. It still works fine and I could use it, but the mids module doesn't work well, and until I get a replacement I turned to my VM4 and I'm really liking this beast now. A little bit of a sponge did the trick!

 

I still plan to put the Tone Capsule in this bass, plus a passive tone control always available, but I'm getting such a great sound from this bass now that I'm not in such a hurry. First, the neon DR strings mellowed out much faster than their otehr coated strings from what I remember, and that was nice although their low output bugs me sometimes. And then I had a gig with the UB40 tribute and I thought about cutting a bit of a sponge from Ikea (the one that's very soft on one side and coarse on the other, seems made for this bass  )... what a sound! 

 

It's a completely different sound from my usual with the Stingray, and it's not quite Precision either... it's got a lot of low mids, and the low end is mellowed a bit with the sponge mute, less of the very low end, but still fat and retaining great definition. It's a sound that seems to trigger my synth pedal very nicely too.

 

So I will definitely repair the Stingray very soon, but I'll be playing the VM4 primarily for a while... I love how light it is too, compared to the Stingray or the Ray35 that I tend to use.

 

 

[dmccombe7]

That's turned into one very nice looking bass.

Nice job 

Dave

[dmccombe7]

Something i've been curious about is how others run their bass / amp with EQ.

Appreciate there are a lot of variables here so its just a bit of fun and nothing too serious.

I'm finding i need to boost the low end (bass) on the VM4 while keeping my amp almost flat EQ. Pan is mid-point.

What about you guys ?

Just curious.

Dave

Edited April 27, 2023 by dmccombe7

[ezbass]

54 minutes ago, mcnach said:

It may be too early to say, but... continuing on my love/hate relationship with my VM4, I think I may have found a new #1 pushing away my trusty Stingray 😲

 

I had to stop using my Stingray because I carelessly damaged the preamp. It still works fine and I could use it, but the mids module doesn't work well, and until I get a replacement I turned to my VM4 and I'm really liking this beast now. A little bit of a sponge did the trick!

 

I still plan to put the Tone Capsule in this bass, plus a passive tone control always available, but I'm getting such a great sound from this bass now that I'm not in such a hurry. First, the neon DR strings mellowed out much faster than their otehr coated strings from what I remember, and that was nice although their low output bugs me sometimes. And then I had a gig with the UB40 tribute and I thought about cutting a bit of a sponge from Ikea (the one that's very soft on one side and coarse on the other, seems made for this bass  )... what a sound! 

 

It's a completely different sound from my usual with the Stingray, and it's not quite Precision either... it's got a lot of low mids, and the low end is mellowed a bit with the sponge mute, less of the very low end, but still fat and retaining great definition. It's a sound that seems to trigger my synth pedal very nicely too.

 

So I will definitely repair the Stingray very soon, but I'll be playing the VM4 primarily for a while... I love how light it is too, compared to the Stingray or the Ray35 that I tend to use.

 

 

It kills me every time you post a photo, because I can't see them  

 

 

EDIT: Ah ha! I have found a way!

Edited April 27, 2023 by ezbass

[ezbass]

56 minutes ago, mcnach said:

continuing on my love/hate relationship with my VM4

I had a Basic VM4, which was a brilliantly built bass. However, whilst sounding fine, I found the pickup and/or preamp uninspiring. It was as if a Scandi style guru was asked to design the sound. It never sounded bad and I was happy with it for a while, but there was something missing. Hopefully, this is something that has been addressed in the many years since. Perhaps your idea of going passive with a tone capsule is the way to go.

[Obra]

14 hours ago, mcnach said:

It may be too early to say, but... continuing on my love/hate relationship with my VM4, I think I may have found a new #1 pushing away my trusty Stingray 😲

 

I had to stop using my Stingray because I carelessly damaged the preamp. It still works fine and I could use it, but the mids module doesn't work well, and until I get a replacement I turned to my VM4 and I'm really liking this beast now. A little bit of a sponge did the trick!

 

I still plan to put the Tone Capsule in this bass, plus a passive tone control always available, but I'm getting such a great sound from this bass now that I'm not in such a hurry. First, the neon DR strings mellowed out much faster than their otehr coated strings from what I remember, and that was nice although their low output bugs me sometimes. And then I had a gig with the UB40 tribute and I thought about cutting a bit of a sponge from Ikea (the one that's very soft on one side and coarse on the other, seems made for this bass  )... what a sound! 

 

It's a completely different sound from my usual with the Stingray, and it's not quite Precision either... it's got a lot of low mids, and the low end is mellowed a bit with the sponge mute, less of the very low end, but still fat and retaining great definition. It's a sound that seems to trigger my synth pedal very nicely too.

 

So I will definitely repair the Stingray very soon, but I'll be playing the VM4 primarily for a while... I love how light it is too, compared to the Stingray or the Ray35 that I tend to use.

 

 

 

I did exactly what you want to do. I put the Tone Capsule in my TM4 and kept the tone control in passive mode. 

Now I'm much happier with the sound, because the two perfect mid controls use a lot more than the original EQ with the treble control, especially when trying to imitate the Stingrtay sound.

[mcnach]

On 27/04/2023 at 21:37, dmccombe7 said:

Something i've been curious about is how others run their bass / amp with EQ.

Appreciate there are a lot of variables here so its just a bit of fun and nothing too serious.

I'm finding i need to boost the low end (bass) on the VM4 while keeping my amp almost flat EQ. Pan is mid-point.

What about you guys ?

Just curious.

Dave

 

I tend to roll off treble a lot and leave the bass EQ flat, or add a TINY bit sometimes. Then for pickup selection, I either use the P alone, or blend in a bit of the bridge. I find a sweet spot around halfway between the centre detent (both fully on) and the neck pickup alone, and switch to only P for a more aggressive sound and blend in bridge slightly to give me a tiny bit of a mid scoop to soften things somewhat. 

 

That's where I've settled with it, which works very nicely for ska/funk/reggae. When I turn up the treble (up to 'flat', I never boost it) it gets a a more aggressive sound that turns out to sound better in a more 'rocky' setting. 

 

I do miss a passive tone control. I know in passive mode one half of the treble control works as a passive tone, but it doesn't go as deep as I'd like, plus I like to have a passive control for the treble even in active mode, so that's the main reason I'm replacing the electronics. 

 

 

[mcnach]

On 27/04/2023 at 22:15, ezbass said:

It kills me every time you post a photo, because I can't see them  

 

 

EDIT: Ah ha! I have found a way!

 

 

How did you manage?

I'm doing all I can to hide all my pictures from you!!! 

 

Seriously, it's frustrating, I know some people have trouble seeing my pictures (which is not great especially on the Marketplace!) while others have no trouble. I haven't figured out why. It happens regardless of the picture size, and it's not like even 1 Mb is a lot in 2023... 

 

I'm hosting them on Dropbox, as I have done for about 10 years, but only recently I've become aware of an issue.

 

[mcnach]

On 27/04/2023 at 22:21, ezbass said:

I had a Basic VM4, which was a brilliantly built bass. However, whilst sounding fine, I found the pickup and/or preamp uninspiring. It was as if a Scandi style guru was asked to design the sound. It never sounded bad and I was happy with it for a while, but there was something missing. Hopefully, this is something that has been addressed in the many years since. Perhaps your idea of going passive with a tone capsule is the way to go.

 

You're describing my feelings about the VM4 for a few years. Only last month I was considering selling it! I'm doing a bit of a Spring cleaning selling stuff I don't use much, and it was tempting. I think if my Stingray hadn't failed me, it'd have been put up for sale by now.

Glad I didn't now! It's always been a great bass to play, light, comfortable, the neck could have been a bit wider but it's fine... However, the sound was never really there. I got good results with DR Pure Blues strings, but still...

 

By 'forcing' myself to use this bass I've managed to get the sounds I needed, 'though. It's still not where I want it to be, but it's very close. I hope the Tone Capsule will give me the extra amount of versatility that would allow me to use this bass in any setting. I will report back.  

[mcnach]

On 28/04/2023 at 11:29, Obra said:

 

I did exactly what you want to do. I put the Tone Capsule in my TM4 and kept the tone control in passive mode. 

Now I'm much happier with the sound, because the two perfect mid controls use a lot more than the original EQ with the treble control, especially when trying to imitate the Stingrtay sound.

 

 

I have listened to some clips you posted earlier, I have to confess that you were partly what made me decide to try the Tone Capsule

I normally go to John East for all my onboard preamp needs, and even got a Uni-Pre Deluxe (3-band, semiparametric mids and dedicated passive tone) but it just didn't fit in the control cavity. That's when I saw the Tone Capsule: I love that the bass control is set higher than most others (40 Hz is too low, for me. 70-80 Hz seems a better choice), and the dual mid frequencies are very well chosen too (for my liking, again)... Then I listened to your TM4 and bought one

I've got all the different pots for it (I had to get a stacked dual 50K for the mids) and I just need a free weekend to sit down and do the deed.  

 

 

[dmccombe7]

Is it the Darkglass Tone Capsule ?

Had a Dingwall NG2 with a Darkglass preamp and it was nice but quite aggressive but it suited the NG2 bass and the Prog project i was using it for.

Curious to see how you get on with it in the VM4.

Dave

[mcnach]

4 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

Is it the Darkglass Tone Capsule ?

Had a Dingwall NG2 with a Darkglass preamp and it was nice but quite aggressive but it suited the NG2 bass and the Prog project i was using it for.

Curious to see how you get on with it in the VM4.

Dave

 

 

That's the one. There will be a passive tone control as well, always on.

[Obra]

On 29/04/2023 at 19:32, mcnach said:

 

 

That's the one. There will be a passive tone control as well, always on.

 

I bought Darkglass Tone capsule directly from Sandberg, but they sent it to me through the dealer. Also they sent me a stacked pot and a wiring diagram (high mids are now tone in passive mode as I requested). Everything fit tight but perfectly inside.

 

I decided for the Tone Capsule because I previously had a Darkglas Vintage Ultra V2 pedal on which I manage to get the sound I was looking for. Only later I saw that the Tone capsule on board preamp has the same (or almost identical) frequencies. I wanted it inside not in a pedal.

 

 

[simondee]

Hi fellow Sandbergers

 

i need to change the strings on my used but new to me VM4. Tuning to drop C for doom project and the nut isn’t wide enough for 110 or 120 gauge. 
 

any filing tips lads so I don’t bork it? Not had to do this before. 

[fretmeister]

The zero fret does the real work so the nut is really just a string guide.

 

I used a metal nail file to widen mine. The nut is quite soft. I match the number of strokes per side to keep the alignment the same and regularly try the string in the slot.

 

Just wide enough to guide the string but not tight enough to interfere with tuning.

[warwickhunt]

Has anyone ever taken a California VS (P bass), routed it for JJ pups and replaced the VS pickguard with a TT Jazz plate to cover the P pup route?  If so did you get a custom guard or will a Sandberg TT fit?