NBD: Sandberg Lionel

[dmckee]

In my ongoing (ahem) “investigations” of short scale basses, I finally buckled and bought a Sandberg Lionel. It’s a lovely bass. Feels great ergonomically and balances perfectly despite being very light (not much more than 7lbs). Narrower/thinner neck than I’m used to but it’s growing on me. 

 

A few thoughts though I’d been keen on hearing other Lionel owners’ opinions on, mainly around tone. 

 

I’d read some folk saying the pickup is more modern / less vintage sounding than your average P bass. That may or may not be true, but my overriding feeling tonally is that it sounds much less like a 30” than I was expecting. 

 

My experience to date with 30” basses is that you get a more even tone across all the strings, so (for example) in areas like the lower frets of the D string, those notes just sound a bit thicker than they might on a 34”, and conversely, the E and A strings are possibly a little less deep, making the bass seem overall better balanced across the strings. 

 

But not on this bass. The E and A strings seem massive and the D and G strings seem thinner sounding. Ie much more like a 34”. 

 

Anyone else have that experience and/or any thoughts on why? (BTW I’ve got D’Addario Chromes on it, as I have on most of my other basses). 

[fretmeister]

Mine is passive. I swapped the pickup for an Aguilar AG-4P for more vintage tones.

 

I've had other basses with the Sandberg 2 band EQ and I've never thought that the detent position was actually flat - more like a little boosted on both knobs. Just back the bass knob off a bit if you need to. It's a P pickup so it's also very easy to balance output by adjusting the pickup height on one side or the other. Makes a big difference.

 

I also think that the "30 inch sound" is a myth. There are sounds for particular 30 inch basses - like a Mustang with it's unique pickup, or the woody thud of a Hofner Beatle bass - but after owning 3 shorties all with P bass pickups in them (a variety of passive and active pickups) - they all sound like a precision and different string choices have just as much impact as on a 34 inch precision too. They sound so much like "proper" precisions that I got rid of my proper ones as the shorties are so easy to play. If there was a 30 inch sound then there would be a 34 inch sound too - and just listening to a P and then a J shows that's not true.

 

If you take out the Lionel's pickup and preamp and put a Mustang pickup and passive loom in it, and a set of La Bella Mustang flats - it will sound very close to a Mustang and not the same as a P bass anymore. IIRC the Mustang pickup is not quite in the same place as on a P so there will be a little difference for that.

 

[fretmeister]

Congrats on the new bass BTW - it's a lovely colour!

[LeftyJ]

Mine is passive too, and with the much heavier ash body. I do feel the pickup in mine sounds fairly modern and powerful. In fact, the previous owner sold the bass for sounding too modern. He tried a different pickup in it (Fender Custom Shop '62 P reissue) but that didn't give him the desired results either. The ash body is very dense and incredibly heavy, even when compared to some of my longscale basses with fullsize bodies.

When I bought the bass there was a set of flatwounds on it that I didn't like at all - they were very boomy, and very unbalanced (the E was overly loud and thuddy even after adjusting pickup height, the rest was more or less OK). I played it with Ernie Ball shortscale Slinkies for a while, and currently have LaBella 043-104 on it which are perfect. 

 

I think the E and A sounding bigger than the D and G might be due to it being a shortscale: since the pickup is the same size as on a longscale bass, the treble coil is closer to the bridge relative to the scale length than it would be on a longscale. With the LaBella's it's not an issue for me. 

[fretmeister]

Pickup coil width is a fascination to me! (I know, I know: get a life!).

 

I'd like a shortie stingray, but with a pickup that is smaller so all the relative dimensions are the same. I'd love to find out if I can hear a difference. With the usual pickup on a shortie the pickup is sensing a higher percentage of the string than on a 34 scale.

 

Aguilar and Nordy do thin Bart sized soapbars with separate lines of polepieces, although they are doubles and not the 1 large pole as on a 'ray pickup.

 

Maybe one day I'll get someone to make one... and then discover I can't hear the difference and I've wasted £500 on a custom pickup!  

[dmckee]

Thanks both. Some interesting thoughts there. 

 

1. Active and passive. Although they appear to be very similar in volume they def sound tonally different. I need to try passive next time I have it out. Or back off the bass a bit in active, as you say. 

 

2. Pickup placement. Yes, I do wonder what the D and G strings would sound like if the pickup was installed in the reverse position, keeping the E/A half where it is and shifting the D/G half to the neck side. If I ever put a J pickup in the bridge, maybe I’ll get it swapped over at the same time. 😂

 

And yes, it’s a cool colour! 

[fretmeister]

The PJ lionels and the full scale ones do have the P pickup the other way round. They do sound a little different. It makes a lot of sense - tighten up the EA and give a bit more bass on the DG.

 

Leo had a habit of doing things the strange way round - the strat and tele bridge pickups are really angled the wrong way too. My strat has the bridge pickup the Hendrix way round and it's a slightly different sound - more twang on the lows and more fullness on the highs.. Probably don't notice it when the drums kick in though!

[Lozz196]

Nice, just scored a Lionel myself, will put up a thread.

[dmckee]

2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

The PJ lionels and the full scale ones do have the P pickup the other way round. They do sound a little different. It makes a lot of sense - tighten up the EA and give a bit more bass on the DG.

 

Leo had a habit of doing things the strange way round - the strat and tele bridge pickups are really angled the wrong way too. My strat has the bridge pickup the Hendrix way round and it's a slightly different sound - more twang on the lows and more fullness on the highs.. Probably don't notice it when the drums kick in though!

I've not seen a PJ Lionel, or I'd likely have bought it!  But yes, the P pickup often seems to be the other way round in PJ basses in general. It does seem more sensible, as you say. 

[fretmeister]

I stuck a J pickup in my Lionel so the P pickup is the Fender way round. Just with a 3 way switch. I pretty much never use the bridge pickup alone on it, but the P+J is very useful.

[Lozz196]

I’ve just used my Lionel at band practice and noticed the same thing, was wondering if upping the strings from 40-100 to 45-100 might be worth a try.

[dmckee]

8 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

I’ve just used my Lionel at band practice and noticed the same thing, was wondering if upping the strings from 40-100 to 45-100 might be worth a try.

I’ve got D’Addario Chromes on mine (which are 45-100). What I did do was slightly lower the low half of the pickup and slightly raise the upper half. That may have helped a bit (or I’ve just got more used to it). It’s currently not troubling me. 

 

Overall, still not TOTALLY convinced by the pickup, but loving playing the bass. I think it’s the most natural/comfortable short scale bass I’ve played, ergonomically. And the neck is sweet.  

 

I’ve just sold my long scale fretless and now wishing I’d bought the fretless Lionel that popped up here earlier this year…. 

[dmckee]

I’d like to see a Lionel configured like this…. 

 

[martthebass]

I’ve currently got a passive alder bodied Lionel and briefly had a pink active.

I found the stock 40-100 strings horrible and weak and changed up to 50-105 ebmm slinkies which to me had a less brittle and more even tone - plus had better tension. 
Some owners consider the stock pup a bit modern sounding, well I wasn’t looking for old school and preferred the bit of bite, that said it’s nothing that can’t be dialled out with the tone knob and it’s more than capable of thump if that’s what you’re after.

The active I had was more hifi and, had I kept it, (if you recall it had a finish defect) I would have found it a usable tone on some stuff I play but I don’t think it was the sort of catch all that the stock passive does…….and the pup is hot for a passive anyhow (it has as much output as the active neo pup on my Darkray…).

[martthebass]

On 24/11/2025 at 11:15, fretmeister said:

 

I'd like a shortie stingray, but with a pickup that is smaller so all the relative dimensions are the same. I'd love to find out if I can hear a difference. With the usual pickup on a shortie the pickup is sensing a higher percentage of the string than on a 34 scale.

 

Aguilar and Nordy do thin Bart sized soapbars with separate lines of polepieces, although they are doubles and not the 1 large pole as on a 'ray pickup.

 

Maybe one day I'll get someone to make one... and then discover I can't hear the difference and I've wasted £500 on a custom pickup!  

Not sure how doable that would be as the string spacing is the same as the long scale, they are both 19mm at the pup. I think the Sterling version looks a bit cluttered due to it using the same bridge as the full size and the full size control plate but this is fixed to a certain extent with the use of the Ray special bridge in the ebmm version.