Ah. I saw that one. I don;t know why i was under the impression you had 3.
What are the specs on your SB4 en route?
I've been through
a lot of SBs. I've bought and sold a few as well as tried many during the 10-day trial period. I wish they had a store here where I could have just gone and sat down and played them all at once to save on time and shipping costs, but then I guess they would be $3000 like Sadowskys.
Through all of that I've found that I really prefer plain jane SB5000s. Not chambered ones and ones that don't stray too far from the stock config. In my opinion, those are the best sounding of the bunch. Alder body, Maple fretboard, stock electronics. That config really rubs me the right way pretty much every time I play one.
The one I have coming is a Ash/Maple SB4000 fretless. Originally Fretted from carvin, but with a converted and finished the birdseye maple fingerboard. Solid 1 piece ash body, active passive v,v,b,t option, J99a pickups, white pearloid pickguard and original carvin tuners.
This bass is sort of a departure for me. Historically, I haven't been comfortable on a SB4000 due to playing 5-strings since the early 90's. Also I prefer Alder to Ash sound wise, but I wanted a fretless bass and kind of needed a four string for use with students, so I thought this purchase would kill a few birds with one stone. Plus I had heard clips of this bass and it sounds good and the price was right. Not mention I think fretless maple is sweet looking. Building the bass I wanted new from Carvin would have been twice as much.
Although one day I envision building a six string Icon like the one Bassalo recently purchased but fretless with no lines or dots. Just a big glossy slab of birdseye maple. I think that would be a wonderful instrument to play. I just don't know how the Icon's sound compared to the SB's though. I'd like to hear a clip of them.
Have any of you found a rig you find especially compliments your SB? If it's your current rig please share
It pretty much sounds good through anything. It sounds so good straight to the board, the main thing is finding amps that doesn't get in its way too much. Right now I'm using a TC Electronics RH750 into one or two SWR Golight Jr 2x10s. It does sound good, but a good portion of picking that rig is that its light and portable. Nine pounds for the head, 36 pounds for the cab, plus it has a tuner built in which means I can carry less stuff. Also the RH750 works as a good DI sans a cab.
Surprisingly enough the best sounding amp I've used with my SB5000 was also the cheapest. The TC Electronics BG500-210 combo amp. That thing sounded really good, better than my current rig. But it was bulky, heavy and many people were experiencing reliability issues with them. I only kept mine during the GC 30-day trail period, but it was fine. The final straw for me was I was lifting it back into my truck after an audition and felt my back go zing! A bulky 75 pound combo was just to much to be moving around all the time. I knew at that point it wasn't something I wanted to use longer term, but man did it sound good. I got it when GC was blowing them out for $350.
(sorry Just not my thing) I used my SB since they are the only basses that I have that have a passive option (and thats what the artist wanted) and it sounded surprisingly good.
