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Club Sandberg (part 2)

#6,981
Good morning ☀️
Took my passive TT5 and put a Trickfish JCore preamp in it. Stacked volume/tone, blend, stacked treble/bass.
Active/passive switch added as well.

Let’s see how she plays with the new guts 😊
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#6,982
As I've posted before, my TT-5 Superlight was plagued with poor string-to-string balance from the factory, with a pitifully weak A string. I replaced the OEM pickups with Aero Type 1, which had slightly raised poles under the A, but then the D string got buried. This was partially cured with setup adjustments and wasn't all that bad through my personal G-K rig, but I'm usually playing through different rigs, and the balance was never right.

So I bit the bullet, and ordered some Nordstrand Big J Blades (20" radius, Warm & Wooly). The neck pickup required some routing of the body and filing of the pickguard, which is why I avoided them initially, but I just couldn't take the balance issues anymore. Thankfully, my local tech/luthier is also a bandmate, so he gave me a huge discount on the work.

In short: they rule. The balance is great, and the tone is fantastic. They sound like slightly beefier-than-usual J-bass pickups, but retain plenty of treble and clarity. Through my G-K rig, they're plenty aggressive IMO, which is great.

I bought this Sandberg hoping it would be a main player for the long term, and now, finally, I'm convinced it will be. It will be interesting to see how often I play my G&L M-2500 now that the TT-5 is reaching its full potential.

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#6,983
Naigewron said:
Man, this bass...

I play it in isolation, and I'm sort of "meh" on the tone compared to my old Lakland main. The Lakland had this incredibly pleasant Jazz-bassy scoop and punch that sounded so cool when dialing tones and playing it in isolation.

But then I play the VM5 with a band or just jamming with some tracks, and it just sits so incredibly well in any mix. The P pickup is such a vibe, and both pickups active just hits a sweet spot that fits everything. My only tiny gripe is that the P pickup soloed has so much more midrange than both pickups combined that it's easy to perceive it as being louder. But that's just the nature of pickup balancing.

And in terms of playability and feel, the two basses just don't compare at all. The Sandberg just fits my hands like a glove, whereas the Lakland was always a bit of a fight to play.

Kudos Sandberg, you guys know what you're doing.

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I feel the same way with my Oliver Riedel sig Sandberg. Same pickups. I would prefer the p pickup to be flipped like a regular p bass but I get that they wanted these to sound like a stingray and have potential punch.
 
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#6,984
evilgus said:
Hey folks,

Seriously considering getting a VM5 with rosewood board, for a general heavy/thick rock bass, but not sure whether to go Ash or Alder body. Can anyone offer advice on the practical differences? I've already got a few ash basses right now, such as a Sadowsky MV5 and MTD 534, so wouldn't mind trying Alder, but I've also had a few Alder basses in the past and found they hid back in the mix far too much....mind you, they didn't have giant Delano pole-pieces, so maybe that was the problem! :laugh:

P.S: I'm a big fan of Sylvain Auclair from Karcius and he seems to be rocking an ash VM5 for most of his gigs lately, so maybe that is the way to go...

Cheers,

EG
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I own alder basses and an ash. The ash jazz has a more trebly tone but it does have a maple fretboard. The alder is more warmer but all my alder basses have rosewood except for the Sandberg I have which has ebony. If you already own ash, get an alder Sandberg because with the active controls surely you could bump up the treble and bass to shine through a mix.
 
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#6,986
TheMartianBassist said:
check it out, friends
fresh out the oven from Germany. TM5 Masterpiece order just landed at Bass Central in Florida and headed my way.
Waited 20.5 months for this baby.

This is sandy #3 following the two TT5’s, with a final VM2 order not far behind. About 21 months in on that one.
Absolutely in love with the brand 👌

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Is this Roquefort Blue? I'm not usually a fan of blue basses, but I think these are stunning!
 
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#6,990
This guy is inbound tomorrow! My second TM4. Always regretted parting with the first one so I'm really looking forward to this one which is quite similar except it has light aging. Looking forward to probably the most playable bass I've owned and I may consider some mods down the road a bit. But I think I'm going to make this one a keeper! Happy to rejoin the "club" too!

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#6,991
dwellers said:
This guy is inbound tomorrow! My second TM4. Always regretted parting with the first one so I'm really looking forward to this one which is quite similar except it's a light aging. Looking forward to probably the most playable bass I've owned and I may consider some mods down the road a bit. But I think I'm going to make this one a keeper! Happy to rejoin the "club" too!

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Congrats man amazing color!
 
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#6,992
dwellers said:
This guy is inbound tomorrow! My second TM4. Always regretted parting with the first one so I'm really looking forward to this one which is quite similar except it has light aging. Looking forward to probably the most playable bass I've owned and I may consider some mods down the road a bit. But I think I'm going to make this one a keeper! Happy to rejoin the "club" too!

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Those Delano pups really bring the Beef!

Congratulations!

P.S. at least they look like Delano's.
 
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#6,998
Just popped a set of DR Black Beauties on my California TT4 SL last night… Not tried out these strings before so can’t wait to try these out properly at the weekend. If they sound half as good as they look on the pau ferro fingerboard and blackburst body I’ll be a very happy bunny!!! I had planned to go for some La Bella or D’Addario black nylon tapes but I thought I’d give these a go instead.

Only noticed taking the photo that one of the letter decals had slipped. Probably from using a headstock clip tuner (my bad). Have eased it back into place now.

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#7,000
Trades? I need to join this club!
I have decided my dream bass is an aged sandberg TM or TT and want to get my hands on one. 4 or 5 and ideally gold or creme or pink but open to others. I have an absolutely amazing Xotic Xj-1t that I never planned on selling and is the perfect jazz bass to me. I just always knew in the back of my head I would maybe one day replace it with something relic'ed. The sandbergs are just perfect to me and plus we all know how it is constantly looking at something new. My Xotic is in excellent condition and willing to do plus or minus cash.
 

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