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Club Sandberg (part 2)

#4,382
Hoping to join the club. Currently my 1B bass, but really loving it. It's a Sandberg California II SL/Superlight TT 4. Currently strung with D'Addario Chromes 40-100.
 

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#4,383
dmccombe7 said:
Playing my MarloweDK tonight at home to the sound of Joni Mitchel Shadows and Light album and i had a terrific tone. I know this sounds a bit daft but i was able to get a nice fretless tone for the slower parts without the vibrato of fretless with the neck PU only. Just the tone itself was so nice i could imagine this bass as a true fretless it would be an amazing bass. Then the Jaco tone for the faster parts using the bridge pick up with just a hint of neck PU thrown in and tone all the way down.
I could see me looking for a fretless version of it in the future. I dont know what it is about this bass but the tone is just superb every time i play it. I use it in a 70's punk band and it is superb, i play it at home to varying types of CD's including rock, prog, jazz and folk styles and it just seems to work for me. I'll be trying it with my main band the 70's Glam Rock covers band in January to see how it fits in but i'm confident it will be perfect for that too. It has a deeper tone with more depth than my current Fender Geddy CIJ and from memory better than the other 2 American Fenders i've had over the years.
I honestly believe this might be the best bass i've ever had.
I'm still tweaking the set up to get a little bit lower action at 12th fret. Currently at 2mm with neck almost straight.
Fitted with D'addario nickels 40-100 into a Mesa Mpulse 600 and Mesa SW 210/115 rig. Very nice.
Dave
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I have my good friends 72 Fender Jazz at my house. Alder w 70's spacing has a magic to it for my ear. I've been eyeing a Marlowe DK, but been a little nervous to pull the trigger. I played a friend's Sandberg the other day finally, and it was so comfortable and sounded great.
 
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#4,384
NOLA Bass said:
I have my good friends 72 Fender Jazz at my house. Alder w 70's spacing has a magic to it for my ear. I've been eyeing a Marlowe DK, but been a little nervous to pull the trigger. I played a friend's Sandberg the other day finally, and it was so comfortable and sounded great.
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My first Sandberg was a VM4 but the Marlowe was calling to me and after a lot of advice from a fellow bassist @Cuzzie i finally went for a 2nd hand one. Have to say the tone from the Marlowe is 2nd to none. The neck is slimmer more like my CIJ Geddy Jazz but the tone is what kills it for me. It has a nice warm feel to it but without the edge and bite of my Geddy. Its hard to describe the difference in tone to my Geddy Jazz. It can do edge and bite but its a slightly more rounded edge and bite. Possibly more of a hi-mid bite compared to the rasping bite of the Geddy J.
Necks feel very similar tho apart from the fact there's no gloss finish on the Sandberg. Balance is perfect on the strap or even sitting down. I like the balance knob between pick ups. It isn't like other balance controls i've used. It doesn't jump from one tone to the other when going past the mid point. Its a lot smoother change over.
It just feels like i'm meant to have it.
My VM4 is a great "work bass" as it does a lot of everything but nothing stands out about the tone whereas the Marlowe makes me sit up and really listen when i hear it on vid clips taken at gigs.
Love it, really love it.
Dave
 
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#4,386
thawkeyes said:
CUZZIE is basically a brand ambassador at this point. If it weren't for his sage wisdom, I wouldn't have taken the plunge on a sight-unseen TT-4, which is by far the best instrument I have ever played.
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100% agree. One in a million. One of the nicest guys i've met on bass forums. He's always happy to help, offer advice or just talk bass with you.
Dave
 
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#4,388
MascisMan said:
Am I correct in saying that the differences between a TT-4 and MDK4 are essentially the rear pickup location and neck profile?
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Dont know enough about the TT4 to answer you i'm afraid. From what i found on the website the difference is the positioning but i was sure i read somewhere that the Marlowe pick ups were custom wound in some way. ? Could be wrong in that.
Dave
 
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#4,389
I played my friend's TT-4 the other day. He recently upgraded to Kloppmann pickups as well. I'm curious if the MarloweDK pickups are more mid to late 70's style (less wraps in that era). As my friend with his 72 jazz bass told me, the pickups in the early 70's more closely resembled the 60's pickups in tone and design. It was later in the 70's they changed. I prefer the early ones, so makes me wonder on the Marlowe. I'm not a big fan of the later 70's jazz basses (especially the ash bodies). Just not my sound.
 
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#4,396
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
Are you selling off all of your StingRays and buying Sandberg?
I have 1 of each and will never part with either of them .
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I probably need to get rid of one bass to cover the money I shelled out for the new five string.
it’s either going to be my EBMM SLO Special or my Warrior five string. I can’t decide which and don’t really want to
 
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#4,398
Would agree that my VM4 does seem to cover virtually anything i do. I can get a decent sound for most styles from Prog to Glam to Punk to Classic rock.
My MarloweDK is the new boy here and will be trying it with my Glam covers band next week to see how it gets on. It worked amazingly well in the 70's punk band before Xmas and really surprised me just how well it slotted in to the mix.
I reckon the TM4 would be a great bass as it has that HB pickup at the bridge that can be split giving you that Jazz tone too.
Love the neck on the Marlowe. Its narrow and slim like my Geddy J bass but has a deeper overall tone.
Dave
 
#4,399
Hey guys and gals, I am considering a Ken Taylor 5 but there seems to be very little info or reviews online. I realize that you are probably all fans but maybe you can give me an idea of what to expect from these basses from a playability, tone and balance perspective. Thanks in advance
 

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