Looking for a 5 string passive that loves flatwounds

[greencow]

Long stroy short: My 7 years old Yamaha RBX 270 is showing enough fretwear to require to much work for any luthier around here to take it in.

And so I am looking for a new bass. On my list sofar:
Fender American Standar Precision
Yamaha BB 1025X or 2025X, depending on where I can find one.
(I live in Estonia and the Fender above would cost around 2000 euros when bought from a local retailer and around 1500 when I order it from thomann.de)

So, add to this list if you can.

[nukes_da_bass]

You are in Europe- don't rule our Sandberg!

[greencow]

The thing with Sandberg is they all seem to be active to some extenct
But the looks alone might be enough of a reason for me to manage living with a battery

[felixxx]

I would suggest, that whatever bass you decide to get, buy it directly from US. Find retailer that is doing international shipping, and there are plenty of them. It is going to cost you about a half of what you would pay in Europe.
If I were you, I would get a used bass. You can get fantastic pre-loved bass for a fraction of the price. Of course shipping is still big chunk of the cost, but way cheaper than buying locally.

[greencow]

Originally Posted by felixxx

I would suggest, that whatever bass you decide to get, buy it directly from US. Find retailer that is doing international shipping, and there are plenty of them. It is going to cost you about a half of what you would pay in Europe.
If I were you, I would get a used bass. You can get fantastic pre-loved bass for a fraction of the price. Of course shipping is still big chunk of the cost, but way cheaper than buying locally.

I do think that this would only apply if I could get the sender to ship the body and the neck separately. With the taxes applied I would most likely end up paying a lot more, for an instrument outside of EU

[felixxx]

You are right. I bought G&L L2000 from US like that. The neck was taken off and packed with the body. Because the bass was used I didn't pay any custom on it. In total, it costed me exactly one third of the price of new one in Australia.

The postage for the whole bass would have been about $400 which would still be a lot cheaper.

Now, I have no idea about the postage to Europe, but you can always check.

[HeavyDuty]

I'm delighted with my American Standard P5 wearing Ernie Ball Group 1 flats. Great passive P tone!

[awilkie84]

Fender J5 & P5 are great with flatwounds. Loved both of mine!

[greencow]

The more I look at the Sandberg California VM5 the more I want one.

[precijazz]

Originally Posted by greencow

The more I look at the Sandberg California VM5 the more I want one.

Try one. They can be switched to passive mode, but the good thing (and this comes from a former 'active sceptic') is that when toggling between active and passive with the EQ set flat, you hear just a very subtle difference. The preamp is really good.

On the other hand, this bass (I've got a VM4) made me go back to rounds again.

[greencow]

A quick question regarding the 2-band EQ on Sandberg basses.
If the bass is switched to passive mode does the battery still drain? Just wondering.

[precijazz]

Originally Posted by greencow

A quick question regarding the 2-band EQ on Sandberg basses.
If the bass is switched to passive mode does the battery still drain? Just wondering.

I understand that the preamp is turned on when you plug the cable in. So I guess the battery drains in passive mode, but I'm not sure. On the other hand, you can still use passive mode when the battery is empty.

[greencow]

Going to add this to my list
http://www.public-peace.de/index.php/bassesamps/jakes