Sandberg appreciation society

[Ed_S]

17 hours ago, ead said:

Having owned one for a while I think the best features are:  Greater comfort, lighter weight (on the whole by quite a margin), an active passive switch and, it's probably heresy and I will be burned at the stake, the preamp to me seems better thought out.

 

I shall now await the MM police with some trepidation 

 

The preamp in my Central doesn't pick up Radio 1 faintly in the background, whereas the preamp in my Stingray Special certainly does. Whoever thought that out needs an award of some variety.

 

They're both really nice basses with a lot of crossover in the sound, but they smell totally different. The back of the neck on the MM has their gun wax thing going on, and the fretboard on the Sandberg has maybe a linseed oil (..reminds me of glazing putty) aroma.

[Ed_S]

22 hours ago, Pirellithecat said:

Any "Central" users out there?   Be interested to know how you're getting on with them ...........  have a VM4, fancy a VT/TT Superlight, but can't find a 4 string Central to try before deciding (and then saving, and then negotiating with SWMBO and ......... )   Can't really find much comment on't internet so thought I'd ask.😁

 

I had TT and TM superlight 4s before moving back to 5s and getting a Central. I'd say I liked the TT most out of the 4s as the superlight body (mine were both earlier cedar ones) didn't seem to convey a lot of natural low end but the TT just went with that and sounded like a Jazz, whereas the M pickup in the TM always seemed a bit overly twangy and I found myself continually trying to sort it out with the preamp EQ. The Central isn't a lot heavier but has what I'd call a more conventional tonal character unplugged, which then balances nicely with the quite lively pickup and preamp when you plug it in. I'd say they're quite different propositions.

[Graham A]

Purchased a hardcore aged Sandberg VT4 from GuitarGuitar over weekend, so had it a couple of days. I was loving it, then tonight as i was playing in active mode the bass sound began to break up, it now appears that the active circuitry is dead ( no sound coming through the amp ). I've changed the battery but it's still the same. When i disingage the active circuitry it's fine, just not getting anything in active mode. Anyone had anything similar or confirm that the active circuitry is dead? I'm in the process of emailing GuitarGuitar, i know things go wrong, but this shouldn't happen to a brand new bass costing the thick end of £2000!! 🙁 

Edited August 8, 2023 by Graham A

[Guest]

ça doit juste être un fil dessoudé

 

[Graham A]

12 hours ago, toonet said:

ça doit juste être un fil dessoudé

 

 

From what you've said it could be a loose wire, even so i've only had the bass brand new a couple of days. Sadly not a good start to my reacquaintance with Sandberg 😟

Edited August 9, 2023 by Graham A

[Bigwan]

If you're happy with everything else I'd be minded to have guitarguitar repair the thing. Probably just a single solder joint job. Worst case the preamp needs replacing. Worse things happen at sea! 

[Graham A]

5 minutes ago, Bigwan said:

If you're happy with everything else I'd be minded to have guitarguitar repair the thing. Probably just a single solder joint job. Worst case the preamp needs replacing. Worse things happen at sea! 

 

I know, just a bit frustrating. I was just trying to see if it was a common issue as i've only ever had a passive Sandberg before. I suppose i could always play it in passive mode 😂

Edited August 8, 2023 by Graham A

[LowB_FTW]

6 minutes ago, Graham A said:

 

I know, just a bit frustrating. I was just trying to see if it was a common issue as i've only ever had a passive Sandberg before. I suppose i could always play it in passive mode 😂

You only have a passive Sandberg now. 😂

Too soon?

 

Apologies, if I could've resisted I would've.

 

All the best in getting it fixed.

 

Mark

[warwickhunt]

Could be worse... you could have bought a Fender! 

 

Hey!  Just saying.    

[Graham A]

10 minutes ago, warwickhunt said:

Could be worse... you could have bought a Fender! 

 

Hey!  Just saying.    

 

I've got a Fender P @warwickhunt, it looks like that's the bass i'll be gigging on Saturday night now. I was so looking forward to trying out the Sandberg too 😭

[MuseMatt]

Used to have a Sandberg and I kinda miss it, it was a treat to play. However the sound combination wasn't quite for me (could've of course not used the ricky pickup but just went for something else at that point). The relic on it was quite nice, and it had a 0-fret, something I thought sounded pretty neat.

 

[Soledad]

A first-time Sandberg owner here. Been a lifelong Fender man and still love the Precision. Just bought a California TT4 fretless (from italiancross here) and I am very impressed indeed.

I do get quite excited about details and have a slight OCD tendency... bear this in mind!
SO - love body shape: a slightly reduced Jazz (which I always felt was a tads big), the weight and balance with Euro ash body (tads over 4Kg), the build, detailing, hardware... everything really. The neck/body joint is insanely accurate. The cast bridge and string tree, the tension adjust on the tuners, 6-bolt neck, thick slab of rosewood fingerboard, the silky pots and their own lovely chrome knobs.... it just goes on. And then you spot the body is 2 piece BOOKMATCHED straight down the centre. That is special and takes a maker that really cares to do that.

Obviously I don't have a fretted equivalent to compare but my impression is the p'ups are nice and fat - plenty of mids in there and some decent punch. It's the passive version (I prefer passive anyway) but bridge sounds fatter than a Jazz and hence more useful to me on a fretless.

Just put some D'Addario Chrome flats on - I like those and EB Cobalt flats on fretless - mainly for the mids - sounding very good indeed striaght into my PJB Briefcase. Sustain is really good and I'm not finding any resonance-induced flat spot anywhere - they're a common issue and stand out more on fretless I think.

I've come to this party late in life but it's a bloody good party!

(pics have old strings on - suspected to ba Adagios)

 

[johnDeereJack]

Here's my most recent addition - a 5-string  Central. This thing is a StingRay killer! 😎

[dmccombe7]

6 hours ago, johnDeereJack said:

Here's my most recent addition - a 5-string  Central. This thing is a StingRay killer! 😎

That's good to know as i love the MM Stingray tone but not so much the necks.

This could be an ideal option.

Dave

[johnDeereJack]

14 hours ago, dmccombe7 said:

That's good to know as i love the MM Stingray tone but not so much the necks.

This could be an ideal option.

Dave

Yeah, I had a 4-string Stingray for ages but ended up selling it. I never played it as I'd moved back to 5's, but instantly regretted selling it. I've been looking for a 5-string replacement for a while now and this Cali Central just nails that distinctive StingRay tone. I A/B'd it in GuitarGuitar against a 4-string and a 5-string EB Stingray and I guarantee you literally could not tell the difference. If you blindfolded Sterling Ball I think even he'd have a hard time telling which is which, it's that good. You should go for it!

[Old Horse Murphy]

My recently acquired VM5 from Will at Bass Bros, weighing in at under 8 1/2lbs. I have a run of gigs and a bit of recording where a 5'er is needed so I took the plunge.  

 

I love SR5's but this is easily the best 5 String I've had the pleasure of playing. 
 

I'm up to three Sandbergs now and am really so pleased with them. 

[GCYPbass]

Hello to all.

I contacted Sandberg about special order of 5 string short or mediım scale and the answer I got is that they can build 32.5" 5 stringer. Has anybody specially ordered or already has a 5 string short or medium scale from Sandberg? I may ask a few questions about the process. 

Cheers

Edited August 17, 2023 by GCYPbass

[fretmeister]

I've done a special order but not for a 5 string.

[Graham A]

After having to return my lefty VT, i've been the proud owner of this lefty Sandberg TM4 hardcore aged in roquefort blue since the weekend. With a three gig weekend on the horizon i'm looking forward to seeing how it fits in with the band 🙂

 

Edited August 24, 2023 by Graham A

[NoirBass]

I am also a huge fan of Sandberg basses:

 

 

L-R - VM5 ash/rosewood, VT4 alder/rosewood, classic booster 5 walnut top/mahogany/rosewood, classic special 6 cocobolo top, mahogany/rosewood.

[dmccombe7]

1 hour ago, NoirBass said:

I am also a huge fan of Sandberg basses:

 

 

L-R - VM5 ash/rosewood, VT4 alder/rosewood, classic booster 5 walnut top/mahogany/rosewood, classic special 6 cocobolo top, mahogany/rosewood.

And a few amps in the collection too. 👍

Dave

[NoirBass]

1 hour ago, dmccombe7 said:

And a few amps in the collection too. 👍

Dave

Yeah! I’d been tracking a load of guitars that week.

[Gramski]

A new version of the Electra - a new colour BS and seems to be active only now (if Bass the World are correct).

 

NEW SONIC BLUE SANDBERG ELECTRA BASSES! - YouTube

 

The creme TT still looks best to me; I've been very tempted for a while as I've only got my P-Bass and is one bass really enough? 

Edited September 6, 2023 by Gramski

[Storky]

On 24/07/2023 at 19:44, Quilly said:

I changed out the Sandberg pickups on my VS California for overwound lollars and I couldn’t be happier with the change , bass sounding much more aggressive and driven 

That sounds like what I need to do! Do you have a link to the pick-up you put in?

[Tokalo]

I put a Kent Armstrong pickup in my Electra VS4 because one band needed a more vintage tone for a couple of gigs. It does that brilliantly, especially with TI flats. And it still rocks with nickel rounds in my dad rock band (I play through a TC

BQ500, which has a very clean, modern tone so the Sandberg p/u was a bit too bright).

I also swapped out the pre-amp for a K10gon passive loom because the volume control was faulty.

 

I couldn’t be happier!