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Carvin SB5000 / SB4000 Roll Call...Part 2!

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#541
Jarrett said:
I've got a SB500 and here are my suggestions when ordering;

Go with active electronics
Go with the volume/volume/tone/stacked bass & treble (if you like the tone from the clips)
Don't expect the Birdseye fretboard and headstock to match
If you do Birdseye on the board have the headstock plain or Birdseye matching body color
I haven't experienced neck dive
I didn't think about nut color
Click to expand...

Hey Jarret, you are one of the early adopters, I'm wondering if you know how much difference there is in the sound between volume/volume versus volume/blend? I *hate* the ergonomics of two volumes, but if the sound is noticeably different I might go with VV.

Also, do you have any experience with how much difference the body/FB woods make in the sound? I like the look of maple FB, but I'm going to get a solid color (probably that awesome green), so I don't care about the look of the body wood. I want a tone that cuts through, but I'm more interested in "thick" midrange than "bright" highs. Being a modern active instrument, maybe the wood doesn't play that big a part in the sound? Alder/maple maybe?

I really don't like a scooped sound, so I do want to get the midrange control, but then I miss out on the passive option. Arg. Is there any way to $convince$ CARVIN to make a Volume/Blend/PassiveTone/3bandEq/passiveOption bass?

Or should I just order it passive and put in a high-end 3rd party preamp? ACG, East, Bartolini, Nordstrand or Aguilar are all very nice.

I am 98% fingerstyle player, mostly ranging from heavy rock to fingerstyle funk to jazz.

I'll be visiting the Carvin store today or tomorrow, but I could use some advice (bias and opinion welcome!)...
 
#542
I haven't played a bunch of them, just a few back at the local guitar show earlier this year. The one that stuck out to me was the alder bodied/maple boarded 5-string they had. To me, that combination sounded better than the others and that's combo I went with for my first SB5000. The one I have coming in Monday is a maple capped/alder bodied SB4000 with a birdseye maple board. I'm interested to see if the maple cap makes a big tonal difference or not.

Like you I was going to order mine with the master volume/blend/mid option because the bass I played for 17 years prior to getting the SB had that same config and I felt like I needed it. The sales person at Carvin (who plays an SB) talked me out of it. He said if I really liked the sound of the one I played, I should stick with the stock electronics config as much of the sound is derived from that. He mentioned that Sekou was adamant about that config when they made the basses because it produced a specific tone that isn't the same with the master/blend setup. So I went with the V/V/T/B/T setup and he was right. It sounded great. I thought I would miss the mid control, but I don't. The mids are right to me as is. That said I have not played one with the master/blend option, maybe others have A/B'ed them.

With my other bass, I'd usually have to do a bit of EQ tweaking to get a good sound, but with the SB I run both my amps pretty flat and almost flat on the SB and it just sounds right out of the box. Same with going to the board, it doesn't really matter if I do pre or post out of the DI, as it sounds great flat. But if you want to add midrange, you'd have to do it external.

I would describe my playing as you did above, the only time I slap is at home of if I can sneak in a passage or two on a gig, but the majority of the time I am playing fingerstyle and doing rock, funk, jazz, blues type stuff.
 
#543
Cool, I think I'm liking the alder/maple idea.

I'm going to go with a mid control, as I am a midrange freak. I miss a midrange control on every bass that doesn't have one, including my old nyc Sadowsky. Does adding the mid control change the sound of the other eq controls, or is it simply an added mid control?

The salesman at the Carvin store thought that losing the passive option was not a big deal, as the bass sounds pretty much the same in passive or active modes. Is that the general consensus here? I'll check it out at the Carvin store, but I think a mid control is much more important than the subtle difference of running passive.

So the one remaining thing to decide on is the VV vs VB. Has anybody actually heard the difference on this particular model? How significant could it possibly be??? I have a VTVT bass (my MIA 62 RI jazz), and while it sounds good, I don't hear a tonal range that I can't get on a good VBT jazz. I'd love to hear from somebody who could quantify the difference...
 
#544
Just ordered ...

The waiting game starts now!

sb4000_white.jpg
 
#545
When no pictures can be found, it's time for some serious Photoshop!

The Specs: Left Handed SB4000, Classic White, maple fingerboard with black dots + black logo, chrome hardware, WBW pickguard, passive electronics, black pickups, ivory nut

I'm calling this combination, "Carvinilla", as in, vanilla ice cream :-)

sb_photoshop.jpg
 
#546
Still waiting on my 5000....it was supposed to be completed on Monday the 20th - (a "revised date" due to a mistakenly installed standard headstock) that didn't happen and it was not completed later last week.
I was told by a salesman that I should expect it early this week. Well guess what- the factory is completely shutdown all this week for the holidays and it was not finished in time to ship.
Good thing I'm a patient man; kinda why we play bass anyway, patiently planning to attain groove nirvana and the like...
 
#547
smeet said:
Cool, I think I'm liking the alder/maple idea.

I'm going to go with a mid control, as I am a midrange freak. I miss a midrange control on every bass that doesn't have one, including my old nyc Sadowsky. Does adding the mid control change the sound of the other eq controls, or is it simply an added mid control?

The salesman at the Carvin store thought that losing the passive option was not a big deal, as the bass sounds pretty much the same in passive or active modes. Is that the general consensus here? I'll check it out at the Carvin store, but I think a mid control is much more important than the subtle difference of running passive.

So the one remaining thing to decide on is the VV vs VB. Has anybody actually heard the difference on this particular model? How significant could it possibly be??? I have a VTVT bass (my MIA 62 RI jazz), and while it sounds good, I don't hear a tonal range that I can't get on a good VBT jazz. I'd love to hear from somebody who could quantify the difference...
Click to expand...

If you get a chance to visit the Carvin showroom in San Diego try the passive, white SB5000 they have there. It sounds great with lots of low mids. The active ones sound good too but were more like a scooped Jazz to me and the output difference when going active to passive was too great for my taste.
 
#549
Gomeztool said:
If you get a chance to visit the Carvin showroom in San Diego try the passive, white SB5000 they have there. It sounds great with lots of low mids. The active ones sound good too but were more like a scooped Jazz to me and the output difference when going active to passive was too great for my taste.
Click to expand...

I went to the Hollywood store. They had an active VVT alder/maple two-band SB5000 there, and I liked it quite a bit. I did notice that the passive mode is less scooped than the active, but if it had a mid control I think I could get close enough that nobody would notice the difference. I still think it's ridiculous that Carvin won't let you get both features, I would be fine with either a toggle switch or another pull-pot.

I did like the passive tone a bit better than active set to flat, but I really want the flexibility of a preamp, and the difference isn't that great.
 
#553
just ordered mine! pretty excited. these are my specs:

alder body/maple neck
classic white
rosewood fretboard
white pearl block inlays
plain maple headstock
stainless steel regular frets
cream pups
gold hardware
white logo
white pearl inlays on knobs
red tortoise shell pickguard
dunlop straplocks
ivory nut
 
#555
Ordered mine yesterday!
Here's the specs (I admit it, I totally stole the color combo from Lo_end_PUNCH cuz it's awesomely pimpin!!!):

alder body/maple neck
radiation green
birdseye maple fretboard
diamond mother of pearl inlays
matching green headstock
cream pups
stacked mid sweep
master volume/blend
gold hardware
white logo
white pearl inlays on knobs
white pearloid pickguard
dunlop straplocks
 
#558
G said:
Care to be a little more specific? Thanks!
Click to expand...

Every Fender 5 I've played felt awkward and fat - every one. I've played several SB5000s with varying setups, and even the most poorly setup SB felt at least playable - and the really well set up SBs felt as good as the best 5's I've played. Thin, fast and comfortable. These are NOT chunky necks.
 
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