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NBD - Sandberg Content!

J

Joce

Jul 20, 2005
238
194
Europe
#1
Hi TB!

The day of my first NBD post is finally here! Picked up this Redburst Sandberg TM4 from the dealer today after ordering it in January. I figure it's one of the last old design ones, since the updated designs were revealed shortly after my order. It's my first "nice" bass and I couldn't be happier.
Neck is really quick with it's satin finish and almost flat radius (was so excited when I first tested Sandbergs out I didn't even notice that!). Also, the Humbucker seems to be wired in parallel as it's thinner sounding than when switched into single coil mode. Always thought humbuckers had more oomph than SCs, but quick search on here revealed everything's A-OK!
 

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#3
Joce said:
Also, the Humbucker seems to be wired in parallel as it's thinner sounding than when switched into single coil mode. Always thought humbuckers had more oomph than SCs, but quick search on here revealed everything's A-OK!
Click to expand...
As I've played it more, I begin to wonder, if everything's fine: When the humbucker/single coil selector switch is in the backward position (humbucker mode) the bass is noticeably quieter than in single coil mode. Both in active & passive and when soloed or blended with the neck pickup. Is it normal that the humbucker mode is quieter than the SC mode?
The tone in humbucking mode is pretty scooped, whereas in the single coil mode it get's more balanced an transparent. Unfortunately the humbucker/single coil selector switch does not switch in a direction from bridge to neck, but rather perpendicular to the control plate, so more like side to side. This fuels my suspicion, something's up...

I adjusted the pickup height, because the E-string was considerably louder than the other strings and the output seemed low (same gain setting/clip LED flashing as my passice Yamaha Attitude Plus P-bass copy, amp: SWR 350x into Goliath III). Is that normal for Sandbergs? The humbucker/SC difference was already there before that.

Hope, someone can a shed a light on that for me, Thank You!
 
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#5
Quick update, if somebody runs into the same issue sometime down the line: I read online by tapping on the polepieces one can hear which coils of the pickup are active. I did that and it seems the switch directions are off. So the forward (more towards neck) position engages both coils in the humbucker and the backward (more towards bridge) engages just one coil of the humbucker, the one closer to the neck. Might shoot Sandberg an email, telling them their installation doesn't match their electronics guide anymore...
 

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