Bassdirect UK has a used Nighthawk for a fair price! Just saw the ad on my FB feed.
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Bassdirect UK has a used Nighthawk for a fair price! Just saw the ad on my FB feed.
Wow great price! Just need it to be a 5. I'm also on the fence about a Martin Mendez 5er. They catch my eye
Just purchased my first Sandberg 5 string and it should be on its way soon!
I recently owned a Lionel that I sold here a few weeks ago, but I'm playing 5 string 95% of the time nowadays.
The Lionel had great tone and fantastic build quality, so I can't wait to get another Sandberg back in the stable.
I recently owned a Lionel that I sold here a few weeks ago, but I'm playing 5 string 95% of the time nowadays.
The Lionel had great tone and fantastic build quality, so I can't wait to get another Sandberg back in the stable.
- Apr 15, 2010
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I can understand it. I’ve owned three Sandberg 5ers now and the Nighthawk feels different vs my TT5 and VS5. Strange cause Sandberg has one of the most consistent build quality around. It’s built like a tank. The neck joint feels more rigid and the sustain is crazy, feels and sounds like neck through bass rather than bolt-on, almost like my neck through Spector basses I used to own.
My beautiful new VM5 showed up today and I'm in love!
Got this one from Bass Buddha in Denmark and it only took 7 days to get from there to my front door in Nashville. Morten is a great guy to work with and he gets some of the coolest basses at the most affordable prices.
It looks just incredible and sounds even better.
I know some folks aren't big on "relic'd" looks, but I love a good relic job and this is the 2nd Sandberg I've owned that has factory wear and they do a great job with it.
In fact, I've owned 2 Fender Custom Shop basses that were Journeyman and Heavy Relic'd and quite honestly, Sandberg's relic work is just as good (if not better in some ways - especially with the hardware).
The tone is just phenomenal, and I was pleasantly surprised at how great the passive mode sounds. The treble becomes a standard tone knob in passive mode, but it actually makes a great combination of active treble, and passive tone, while it's in active mode. You can really tame the highs with this one knob in ways that I usually find difficult unless I have both a treble and tone knob.
My other basses are MTD, FBasses, and a Roscoe, but this instrument is so freakin good that I plan to leave the others behind and gig with this on the weekend.
The only complaint I had was the action seemed high, but it came with all the tools I needed and I got it exactly how I wanted it in about 10 minutes of tweaking. No fretbuzz, super low action and an amazingly comfortable neck. I have no doubt that Sandberg is hands-down the very best production instrument available today.
Got this one from Bass Buddha in Denmark and it only took 7 days to get from there to my front door in Nashville. Morten is a great guy to work with and he gets some of the coolest basses at the most affordable prices.
It looks just incredible and sounds even better.
I know some folks aren't big on "relic'd" looks, but I love a good relic job and this is the 2nd Sandberg I've owned that has factory wear and they do a great job with it.
In fact, I've owned 2 Fender Custom Shop basses that were Journeyman and Heavy Relic'd and quite honestly, Sandberg's relic work is just as good (if not better in some ways - especially with the hardware).
The tone is just phenomenal, and I was pleasantly surprised at how great the passive mode sounds. The treble becomes a standard tone knob in passive mode, but it actually makes a great combination of active treble, and passive tone, while it's in active mode. You can really tame the highs with this one knob in ways that I usually find difficult unless I have both a treble and tone knob.
My other basses are MTD, FBasses, and a Roscoe, but this instrument is so freakin good that I plan to leave the others behind and gig with this on the weekend.
The only complaint I had was the action seemed high, but it came with all the tools I needed and I got it exactly how I wanted it in about 10 minutes of tweaking. No fretbuzz, super low action and an amazingly comfortable neck. I have no doubt that Sandberg is hands-down the very best production instrument available today.
- Apr 15, 2010
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Super bass! The necks on Sandberg are the best I’ve ever played.
I got in contact with Beaver (owner) at Bass Central yesterday. Looks like I'll be heading south to go play what they have on hand and pick out a 5-string Sandberg. Maybe put a custom order in through them. I'm really excited I love my grand dark but I wish it was a 5 string.
- Apr 15, 2010
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Their 5ers are one of the best in the business IMO. My VM5 Nighthawk has one of the best low B I’ve ever heard, and it’s just 34” scale. The bass is built like a tank, the neck joint is very rigid. I made a short home vid, it’s just a quick iPhone recording but still this bass growls like a beast. https://youtube.com/shorts/XIXAt27B8Ss?feature=share
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A VM5 34" is exactly what I want. I kinda already have the perfect PJ... my ESP AP-5 is incredibly good. It's the neck profile though and flat radius that really makes it special. I've been messing with the idea of just putting delano or sandberg pickups in it. It's barely over 9lbs great Pelham Blue color with black hardware.
But me being me... I want the same bass but made by Sandberg lol.
Out of all the basses I've played, this Sandberg has a neck profile that is extremely similar to my FBasses.
I can't remember how wide the nut is, but it's slim. And it gradually becomes more and more slim (from B to G string) as you move from the neck heel down to the nut. It's a much bigger difference than the neck profile on my MTD or my Sadowsky - both of those tend to stay pretty wide as you move down to the 1st fret.
This makes the bass extremely comfortable to play and one of my all-time favorite neck profiles. Been playing it off and on all day and still can't get over how good this thing sounds.
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If anyone is interested, I swapped the Black Label P in my Lionel for an EMG GZR and did a little comparison (with a short clip) here:
Sandberg Lionel, Stock Pickup vs. EMG GZR (Sound Clip)
Sandberg Lionel, Stock Pickup vs. EMG GZR (Sound Clip)
- Apr 15, 2010
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Thanks for sharing! Great comparison clip. I own sandberg Nighthawk VM5 with black labels and although I really like how B and E strings punch, G string sounds thin and lacks lows. GZR is my favorite P pickup, but unfortunately I need a 5 string version that they don’t make. I always prefer Alnico pickups over ceramic ones, ceramic sounds too hi-fi and not as warm and round as Alnico. I’m thinking of trying some other pickups in my VM5 but not yet decided which one to chose.
- Apr 15, 2010
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The Aguilar P I had reminded me of the GZR, no crazy frequency bumps, just a really good balanced sweet sound. Not sure if they make one of those in the size you’d need but I think it would be a good start.
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Aguilar make all their pickups in 5 string version. Could you remember which model did you have?
- Apr 15, 2010
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Cool comparison. I tried the nordstrand np4 and ended up hating it. My two favorite Ps right now are the 50s style split P vintera and the Seymour Quarter pounder. They're both meaty and awesome but pretty different. Might need to just have a bass for each instead of picking one
Well cheaper than getting a whole other bass, you could try the vintera with an Audere Z mode preamp. I find them really flexible and the low z setting does add a ton of meat like an overwound pickup.
