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Carvin SB5000 / SB4000 Roll Call...Part 8!

#2
I first played a Carvin SB5000 in April 2010 and made my order the next day. I received my first one in June 2010 and have been playing them ever since.

I've compared my SB's to Sadowskys, Mike Lulls, Lakland, etc. and have always walked away happy with my SB5000 purchase.

They are great basses and I'm extremely happy Sekou Bunch and Carvin got together and made this model happen.
 
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#3
Here are some of the ones I have owned:

oldSBs1024.jpg

fretless.jpg

RosewoodSB4-1.jpg
 
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#6
WoodyG3 said:
Gonna' keep 'em forever and ever, Jarrett? ;)
Click to expand...

I must have forgotten to post the fine print :D

("Keepers" are defined as instruments currently owned by poster at the of time and date listed in the post. Poster claims no long term retention plans of said instruments and maintains right to swap them for new SB's at any given time and/or for any silly reason whatsoever)
 
#8
Jarett:
What makes a bass a keeper aside from aesthetics. A certain wood combo you like best

Anyone:
Would a LB75 with the same J99a pickups be close to the SB5000?

I'm looking for SUPER aggressive, clarity, no warmth or big lows personally to complement my other basses. I was thinking Maple body, Maple neck but I need the LB75 spacing.
 
#9
Tunaman said:
Jarett:
What makes a bass a keeper aside from aesthetics. A certain wood combo you like best

Anyone:
Would a LB75 with the same J99a pickups be close to the SB5000?

I'm looking for SUPER aggressive, clarity, no warmth or big lows personally to complement my other basses. I was thinking Maple body, Maple neck but I need the LB75 spacing.
Click to expand...

I would think that the J99's with the same electronics and/or passive tone pot would be very much in the same ballpark tone wise. The "no warmth" might be a problem though.

What is the spacing on the LB75?
 
#10
Tunaman said:
Jarett:
What makes a bass a keeper aside from aesthetics. A certain wood combo you like best
Click to expand...

Not too much aside from this:

I prefer the SB5000 model
Weight (gotta be 9.5 or under)
Prefer solid Alder bodies (with or without maple cap)

If I ordered a new one today I would do a tung oiled Mahogany neck instead of Maple solely because I like the feel of the wood. I'd also try low wide frets to see if I dug them, if not then back to SS Med Jumbos. I might try a master blend knob if I did a new one too, but if it didn't sound the same, back to dual volumes.

I've found that aside from those things, the stock config works pretty well for me.
 
#12
Tunaman said:
Anyone:
Would a LB75 with the same J99a pickups be close to the SB5000?

I'm looking for SUPER aggressive, clarity, no warmth or big lows personally to complement my other basses. I was thinking Maple body, Maple neck but I need the LB75 spacing.
Click to expand...

No warmth or lows? Maybe you need a guitar? :hiding: :D

You may be able to still order a B5. A B5 is essentially a B50 w/ tighter spacing. A B50 is an SB5000 with a different body, and lower price tag.
 
#14
Just to also report another flawless experience, which I also did in the last thread, my SB5000 was dead perfect and exceeded all my expectations. I would also say all the SB's I played at the NAMM show were also firing on all cylinders, which is what drove my order. So I guess FWIW, there will always be hiccups, but I think this is a particularly strong product and Carvin is a very good company to deal with.
 
#15
Grateful said:
No warmth or lows? Maybe you need a guitar? :hiding: :D

You may be able to still order a B5. A B5 is essentially a B50 w/ tighter spacing. A B50 is an SB5000 with a different body, and lower price tag.
Click to expand...

Great call man! You're the first to recommend this...

I did a build & chose active electronics (I like that)...
AC - Active/Passive Electronics (Guitars Have Coil Splitters, Phase Switch) $60.00
MBS - Stacked Mid Sweep Replaces Tone Control (Must Order AC) $15.00
MVB - Master Vol & Blend Replaces Separate Vol (Must Order AC) $15.00

Its the same exact Preamp as the SB5000 then for sure?

I did a maple neck \ maple body for more clarity & grind.

These are my warm beasts!

ry%3D480.jpg
 
#16
Does anyone here have a custom made pickguard? I have a cool idea for my SB5000 and was hoping someone had a template already made up, or had work done where you know a template was created, since none of the results I've pulled from Google offer Carvin basses as a template design. Anyone?
 
#17
Tunaman said:
Great call man! You're the first to recommend this...

I did a build & chose active electronics (I like that)...
AC - Active/Passive Electronics (Guitars Have Coil Splitters, Phase Switch) $60.00
MBS - Stacked Mid Sweep Replaces Tone Control (Must Order AC) $15.00
MVB - Master Vol & Blend Replaces Separate Vol (Must Order AC) $15.00

Its the same exact Preamp as the SB5000 then for sure?

I did a maple neck \ maple body for more clarity & grind.
Click to expand...

It is the exact same preamp and even headstock if you want. Only the body and spacing will be different. Though in thinking about it, the neck may be different since it is narrower spacing. Maybe give 'em a call...
 
#18
I was somewhat surprised when Carvin introduced the SB4000. Seemed like a huge departure from what they'd been doing for the last couple of decades.

Anyway, I like the SB4000's appearance, with the exception of the tuning machines. To me, the bass would look that much more "authentically vintage" if it sported clover leaf style tuning machines.

I looked at Hipshot Ultra-Lites and they are compatible in terms of the headstock hole size. My concern is the width of the clover leaf style tuning machines: is there sufficient spacing on the headstock to accomodate the the clover leaf style tuners? The clover leaf style tuners on my basses are 1 and 9/16" wide while the Gotoh, modern style tuners are 1 and 5/16" wide. In other words, the clover leaf tuners are 1/4" wider.

I called Carvin and spoke with a tech. He understood my question but could not answer it. Has anyone done this modification or can anyone confirm whether the Hipshot Ultra-Lite clover-leaf style tuners would fit?
 
#19
oldno.7 said:
I was somewhat surprised when Carvin introduced the SB4000. Seemed like a huge departure from what they'd been doing for the last couple of decades.

Anyway, I like the SB4000's appearance, with the exception of the tuning machines. To me, the bass would look that much more "authentically vintage" if it sported clover leaf style tuning machines.

I looked at Hipshot Ultra-Lites and they are compatible in terms of the headstock hole size. My concern is the width of the clover leaf style tuning machines: is there sufficient spacing on the headstock to accomodate the the clover leaf style tuners? The clover leaf style tuners on my basses are 1 and 9/16" wide while the Gotoh, modern style tuners are 1 and 5/16" wide. In other words, the clover leaf tuners are 1/4" wider.

I called Carvin and spoke with a tech. He understood my question but could not answer it. Has anyone done this modification or can anyone confirm whether the Hipshot Ultra-Lite clover-leaf style tuners would fit?
Click to expand...

What is the measurement b/w center to center of tuner posts in your bass with the hipshots?
 

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