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Retrovibe Barracuda


Bankai
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I had a search but can’t find anything on the forum about these. Some of you may know Retrovibe as the company that did a decent but now discontinued Rickenfaker.
 

They now have an active P/M model under the moniker; ‘Barracuda’.

 

Before I become the test case, has anyone already tried one?

 

https://retrovibe.co.uk/product/retrovibe-barracuda-bass-white-or-black-with-mm-p-pickups/

Edited by Bankai
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I have a Retrovibe Evo I picked up used and is my favourite bass. Despite buying used, a quick message to David Kronig, the designer, got a swift, friendly and helpful response. The Evo I own is a much better instrument, to me, than some I've played with price tags many times more than mine. Was planning on getting a white one of these, (ideally with a black scratchplate) soon but as I am Self Employed, that is now very unlikely. If you go for it, I will be jealous!

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52 minutes ago, Little Dragon said:

Despite buying used, a quick message to David Kronig, the designer, got a swift, friendly and helpful response.

He's a top bloke. Once got an email from him out of the blue alerting me about a bass I was seeking. Another time a Retrovibe beanie hat landed through the letterbox,said he felt sorry for baldie Scotsmen 😀

 

@Bankai

Ask Mr K if he's any series/parallel mini switches for MM,handy wee addition to have 👍

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And the answer is; out of stock. I’ve been sent a refund and he said it shouldn’t have been available to order. Likewise, the Renegade is sold out. He said there may be another run late this year but it’ll depend on the virus outcome.

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On 23/03/2020 at 20:12, Bankai said:

Everything suggests it’ll be a Sandberg VM4 on the cheap. 

And the Sandberg VM4 is my favourite bass of all the ones I’ve tried.

At £225, I think it’s worth a punt?

 

Not sure about that... there's a lot more to a bass than the type of pickups and their location. But it's probably a very decent bass. I used to own a Vantage (double MM on a Ric/Jazz hybrid type of body) that was pretty cool.

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40 minutes ago, mcnach said:

 

Not sure about that... there's a lot more to a bass than the type of pickups and their location. But it's probably a very decent bass. I used to own a Vantage (double MM on a Ric/Jazz hybrid type of body) that was pretty cool.

Very true, but it would have been in a similiar vein I feel.

Anyway, with the barracuda out I did the only natural thing and picked up the signature Oliver Riedel Sandberg instead..

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13 hours ago, Bankai said:

Very true, but it would have been in a similiar vein I feel.

Anyway, with the barracuda out I did the only natural thing and picked up the signature Oliver Riedel Sandberg instead..

 

Oh THAT is a really sexy looking bass!

I thought that Sandberg simply made good basses, but after being forced by circumstances to try a few (honestly, I didn't want to! ;) ) and eventually buy a VM4, I'm saying that these basses are pretty special. The build is superb. I was not in love with the preamp in mine (I didn't specify anything and went with the stock one to start), maybe I'm a little picky, but it is a fabulous bass regardless. If the 'basics' are good, and they are VERY good, then it's very simple to modify any bits you'd like different. It's just hard to say what to change when you order a bass, as you can't try it before you buy. 

In case it sounds like the bass wasn't that good... I've pretty much gigged with it exclusively (a few gigs with the Stingray, but >90% were with the Sandberg) since I bought it without any modification. It's still in my to-do list to remove the preamp and have it set fully passive (I like passive tone controls) and probably use a Tonestyler in it. The forced lockdown might just be the time I needed for it, however with one of my bands we're doing a lot of "remote song writing" recording etc and I keep using it... It's just soooo nice to play.

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I used to work in GuitarGuitar so had hours to extensively try some exceptionally high end bases and importantly all in the same room with the same amps so I could hear the difference in the bass rather than other variables.

Sadowsky, Laklands, Custom Shop Fenders, Rickenbackers, etc. I’ve tried them all.

And the Sandberg VM4/5 were my favourite by far, with Rickenbacker 4001/3 coming second.

However, I never managed to afford to buy one. I didn’t really like any of the standard finishes so would have had to custom order an all black with black hardware and hardcore aged. 

Then I discovered Ollie’s signature this week. On a discount. I was sold a thousand times over. I am a Rammstein fan too but that aside everything about the model I like.

California II (the updated version), VM4, uprated ‘hotter’ pickups, black nickel hardware, hardcore aged, black headstock and body, zero fret, active, gosh it has everything I would have specced given the option to do something completely custom.

And, I got it brand new for €500 under standard price. 

Edited by Bankai
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