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Club Sandberg (part 2)

#3,981
S.F.Sorrow said:
Hello all you Sandberg owners!

Something I wrote in another thread last week made me wonder about something...

It was about my custom order California VS. Passive only, Kloppmann PB63 ('63 P-bass) pickup.

The thing is, I absolutely love the excellent craftsmanship on Sandberg basses. I really like the neck profile too. But I personally don't like the bright sound they're going for with their stock electronics/pickups (or with the common Delano varieties they often seem to use).

What I wanted was the Sandberg "feel" and quality but with a vintage P-bass sound. I figured this would be pretty obvious when I specified Kloppmann '63 pickups. Apparantly not, because Sandberg equipped the bass with 500k pots. It sounded so bad out of the box that I hardly played it before I had it on my bench to find out what was wrong. I suspected they had used a very low value tone cap because I honestly couldn't even consider the idea that anyone would stick 500k pots into a bass that was essentially a vintage style Precision (at least electronically).

I know a lot of people like bright sounding basses but a P-bass with 500k pots isn't THAT kind of bright. It's just harsh, brittle, nasty IMO. It's such a poor choice for a vintage style P-bass pickup that I gotta ask the Sandberg community:

Has anyone experience the same? 500k pots in a passive P-style Sandberg with vintage voiced pickup? Is this actually a deliberate choice from Sandberg? Or is it possible that they simply made a mistake on my bass?

It was a quick&easy fix to replace the pots with 250k (I also changed the tone cap from 047 to 068 for a slightly fatter vintage'ish sound) but I must admit that I'm a bit disappointed to find something like this in a custom order bass in this price range.

Or do some people actually prefer the sound of vintage P-bass pickups with 500k pots???o_O
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I have had the same experience as you .. I have recently owned a tt4 masterpiece which I had the kloppmann jb71 installed on .. I love the sandberg finishes the build quality I think is even better than my jazz custom shop .. they have installed 500k potentiometers which for my personal taste are too clear .. I prefer 250k to have a more traditional sound with a classic pickup with sandberg build quality ..
 
#3,982
My Sandberg TM5 has arrived. Steel strings... Already replaced by nickels. Strangely it arrived with a very bad setup. Now, with the correct setup for me, it sounds wonderful, it's a very beautiful, versatile and comfortable instrument (4 kg). It delivers much more for what it costs.

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#3,983
Personally I wouldn’t get hung up on pot values etc.
They are so easy to change it’s very minor and the rest of the bass is absolutely stellar.
I would prefer a well made bass with not my fave pots compared to a POS bass with the correct pots.

Everyone has their own sound and preferences and I am sure if it was stipulated in the build on ordering they would do it - I don’t think they can predict the pot you like based on the fact a Kloppman pick was ordered to put in instead of Delano
 
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#3,984
Cuzzie said:
Personally I wouldn’t get hung up on pot values etc.
They are so easy to change it’s very minor and the rest of the bass is absolutely stellar.
I would prefer a well made bass with not my fave pots compared to a POS bass with the correct pots.

Everyone has their own sound and preferences and I am sure if it was stipulated in the build on ordering they would do it - I don’t think they can predict the pot you like based on the fact a Kloppman pick was ordered to put in instead of Delano
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I totally agree with you .. it is much better to spend a few dollars to change 3 pots than to have a bass with a poor build quality .. in fact I should have specified to sandberg the type of pots I would have liked .. actually let's talk about simple personal tastes, this does not mean that it remains one of the most beautiful and best built basses I have ever had!
 
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#3,986
Taustin Powers said:
It’s here!

View attachment 4300286

Surprisingly, I am not 100% sure it’s a keeper yet. Normally when I pick up a Sandberg, my immediate reaction is „holy cow, this thing plays itself!“ Not quite there with this one. Maybe it’s the setup? Maybe the strings? I‘ll work on it some, put some Lo Riders on it.

Haven’t plugged it in yet, so I can’t comment on tone yet.
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I changed strings and adjusted the truss rod, and it makes a world of a difference! Now I am getting that Sandberg feel that I love. :)

I can only recommend and urge everyone to learn how to set up their instruments. It can make such a big difference in playability and the overall feel and experience.
 
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#3,987
Taustin Powers said:
I changed strings and adjusted the truss rod, and it makes a world of a difference! Now I am getting that Sandberg feel that I love. :)

I can only recommend and urge everyone to learn how to set up their instruments. It can make such a big difference in playability and the overall feel and experience.
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Agreed - Sandbergs are very well made instruments, and IME they are usually set-up very consistently. But set-up is very subjective, and very dependent on string selection. First thing I do with any new instrument is change the strings.
 
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#3,988
What kind of strings you all using? I put some DR Pure Blues on my TM5 yesterday, not really digging them which is weird because I usually like a bright string. It's my first experience with them, I usually like DR strings and usually use Fat Beams on other basses. These Pure Blues seem pretty harsh on the TM5 though.
 
#3,989
DrGroovenstein said:
What kind of strings you all using? I put some DR Pure Blues on my TM5 yesterday, not really digging them which is weird because I usually like a bright string. It's my first experience with them, I usually like DR strings and usually use Fat Beams on other basses. These Pure Blues seem pretty harsh on the TM5 though.
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I am partial to round nickels...they seem to tame the highs nicely but also give me plenty of snap. I'm quite happy with good old D'Addarios or Ernie Balls. I've also used the GHS Balanced Nickels.
 
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#3,996
DrGroovenstein said:
What kind of strings you all using? I put some DR Pure Blues on my TM5 yesterday, not really digging them which is weird because I usually like a bright string. It's my first experience with them, I usually like DR strings and usually use Fat Beams on other basses. These Pure Blues seem pretty harsh on the TM5 though.
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I used my passive VS4 with D’Addario nickel roundwounds at first, but switched back to Rotosound Nickels pretty soon. They last a long time I find, and also don’t go all-in with high-end sizzle, but stay consistent for a long time. I switch them perhaps 2-3 times a year.
 
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#3,997
DrGroovenstein said:
What kind of strings you all using? I put some DR Pure Blues on my TM5 yesterday, not really digging them which is weird because I usually like a bright string. It's my first experience with them, I usually like DR strings and usually use Fat Beams on other basses. These Pure Blues seem pretty harsh on the TM5 though.
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I have Fender 9050L flatwounds on both my TM4's. IMO the "hi fi" sounding Delano pickups work well with warmer sounding strings.

I also have Fender 9050L's on my 48, but they really don't work as well... may have to change them.
 
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#4,000
Taustin Powers said:
DR Lo Riders on all my basses.

I like the stiffness, it allows for low buzz-free action. And they last a long time.
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Same here. Lo Riders only. And I tried both stainless steel and nickel Lo Riders on my VM5 and TT5 and liked nickels much more than SS although I tend to prefer SS ones before on my other basses.
 
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