NBD Sandberg Nighthawk plus

[Old Ozzie Guy]

Hi all, after 2 months of deliberations, and a few "fail to launch " (2nd hand basses), I'm the proud owner of a brand new Nighthawk plus. I had it strung with a set of TI flats, iv only ever used Labella previously, and a new set of TI's are going take a bit of playing in, before I pass judgement, although my first impressions have me wishing I'd stayed with Labella's..
The bass itself is a good weight 3.8 kgs, and the overall build quality, fit and finish is flawless. Inca Silver is more a peppermint (green), but it looks gorgeous, with black ebony fretboard, and black brushed alloy scratchplate, and black hardware .
The 2 main points that sold me on this model , was
1. a 3 band active eq ( with bass,
low mid, hi mid ) , and in bypass a passive tone.
2. Pick-up configuration of a noiseless single coil, with a MM style Humbucker in the bridge pos, with a coi tap.
My only complaint, so far, is the rubbish sandberg gig bag, for a cost of $4,000 aud ,I really expected more than a cheap generic plastic bag, with Sandberg embossed on it.
Why bother... anyway, now I understand why every single second hand Sandberg iv seen , came with a hard case, or a Mono type bag..
Anyway, I will give a full run-down, in a few weeks.

 

[Conor Hartwell]

Gorgeous bass.

 

[jastraw]

My dream bass. I love to hear more of your thoughts about it.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

The bass came with the action set quite high , although it's probably fine for slap players , my little Gibson bass is set low, and I like it that way. The bridge on the Sandberg is definitely "adjustable ", with 1 lock screw, 3 hight & tilt screws, and 1 screw for intonation. I will be giving the bass to my guy to work his magic, as iv previously tried, and failed , to do low set ups on bass guitars.
Anyone know how long a set of TI flats take to be played in ? I usually play 1hr a day minimum.
I will do an in-depth review, in a month after a few shows, and weekly rehearsals.

 

[Ian774]

congrats!

Two things:

-Flats on that kind of bass is like mayo on pasta. Not sure it’s the perfect match, but each to their own.
-$4000?!?!?!?!??!??

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

That's $4,000 aud. Is about 2,500 euro. How much are Sandbergs in UK ?

 

[jimmydean]

Hi all, after 2 months of deliberations, and a few "fail to launch " (2nd hand basses), I'm the proud owner of a brand new Nighthawk plus. I had it strung with a set of TI flats, iv only ever used Labella previously, and a new set of TI's are going take a bit of playing in, before I pass judgement, although my first impressions have me wishing I'd stayed with Labella's..
The bass itself is a good weight 3.8 kgs, and the overall build quality, fit and finish is flawless. Inca Silver is more a peppermint (green), but it looks gorgeous, with black ebony fretboard, and black brushed alloy scratchplate, and black hardware .
The 2 main points that sold me on this model , was
1. a 3 band active eq ( with bass,
low mid, hi mid ) , and in bypass a passive tone.
2. Pick-up configuration of a noiseless single coil, with a MM style Humbucker in the bridge pos, with a coi tap.
My only complaint, so far, is the rubbish sandberg gig bag, for a cost of $4,000 aud ,I really expected more than a cheap generic plastic bag, with Sandberg embossed on it.
Why bother... anyway, now I understand why every single second hand Sandberg iv seen , came with a hard case, or a Mono type bag..
Anyway, I will give a full run-down, in a few weeks.

That's odd , Sandberg's are always shipped with a custom padded gig bag .

 

[Ian774]

That's $4,000 aud. Is about 2,500 euro. How much are Sandbergs in UK ?

I had misread sorry. This model here is roughly the same.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

Well some may call it , a custom padded bag, a gator mid level transit, is way more substantial., just my opinion..

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

I use the bass with 2 configurations. 80% of songs, I run a J type passive., with a dcx for clean svt type tones. 20% of songs I use the Humbucker solo,with active pre , and DG AO, for hi gain tones. Mayo works for me

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

Congrats!

The gig bag is okay if you're just going to a rehearsal or want something slim and light. I wouldn't trust it thrown in with a bunch of other equipment. They used to have an upgrade "deluxe" gig bag, but that is no longer available.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

I just "thought ", the bag would be more than a $100 bag, are Sandberg's margins that small??, I doubt it. It just pushes the overall cost up another $300. I had been looking at a few s/hand Sandbergs, and every one of them had a hard case. Or a hi end bag..(+ the factory bag , "as new") lol .
I should have clicked.
Anyway, I love the bass, iv just been 'sidetracked ', with the bag, the cost, and my choice of strings... gotta love TB..

 

[Smallmouth_Bass]

I just "thought ", the bag would be more than a $100 bag, are Sandberg's margins that small??, I doubt it. It just pushes the overall cost up another $300. I had been looking at a few s/hand Sandbergs, and every one of them had a hard case. Or a hi end bag..(+ the factory bag , "as new") lol .
I should have clicked.
Anyway, I love the bass, iv just been 'sidetracked ', with the bag, the cost, and my choice of strings... gotta love TB..

I had the same thoughts on the Ibanez EHB basses; the gig bag is such a piece of crap and on a bass that is more than $2000 (cdn). I quickly bought a Gator Transit and sold the original one for peanuts. The standard Sandberg gig bag is very luxurious in comparison! The Ibanez gig bag was a poor fit and had no padding at all!

It could be that they figure every player has their favourite bag or case, so why put too much money into a "free" case when they'll just end up getting changed? It could be also that because they're smaller, lighter and slimmer it saves on shipping costs. But yeah, not the most impressive thing...

 

[Killing Floor]

That’s freakin cool!

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

I had the same thoughts on the Ibanez EHB basses; the gig bag is such a piece of crap and on a bass that is more than $2000 (cdn). I quickly bought a Gator Transit and sold the original one for peanuts. The standard Sandberg gig bag is very luxurious in comparison! The Ibanez gig bag was a poor fit and had no padding at all!

It could be that they figure every player has their favourite bag or case, so why put too much money into a "free" case when they'll just end up getting changed? It could be also that because they're smaller, lighter and slimmer it saves on shipping costs. But yeah, not the most impressive thing...

I have a gator transit for my Gibson LPj, it is way more substantial than the stock Sandberg, and the transit is gators mid level..
I got the Gibson "taco" with the LPj, really, why do the manufacturers even bother.

 

[pineweasel]

I actually like the Sandberg bag and use it in preference to my Mono Sleeve. It’s a decent mid range bag, slim and lightweight next to the Mono, and fine for toting around town or popping in the back of the car.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

This is my last post on 'd bag' ! Apparently most of older models sold with the deluxe bag, so maybe some of us are comparing oranges with apples.
Back to the instrument, I have an outdoor gig on Sunday, and a 40m spot at a club the following Tuesday night, so I'm looking fwd to see /hear , how it all goes. I'm not totally happy with its current set up, iv had a go at it, it's closer to how I like it, but, I will get my guy to "wave his magic set up wand", hopefully tomorrow.
I will add, the bass was from a shop in Melbourne, I live in Surfers Paradise. To give a US comparison, the bass came from NY , I live in Florida, the temperature/ humidity change is quite drastic.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

I Quick update. I just don't like the rubber band tension of the TI's. (And I'm missing the rich thump of Labellas) . So...because I have to get the bass set up, (bass arrived with really high action, I adjusted truss 2 x quarter turns, and still not happy). I love the action, tension, sound of 45 to 105 Labellas on my short scale gibson, so I'm getting a set of 760fm 49 to 109 fitted. As I mentioned 45 to 105 on 30", should be similar to 49 to 109 on a 34". Before some start on about my logic, I will just say, a Les Paul strung with 10s, have similar tension to a strat with 9s.. the longer the scale , the less tension, on the strings. Errr, I got that wrong, the longer the scale, the MORE the tension, as my example of 10s on a LP, being similar to 9s on the longer scale strat.
Anyway, I will eventually sort out my new bass.
To be continued....

 

[HaphAsSard]

As I mentioned 45 to 105 on 30", should be similar to 49 to 109 on a 34". Before some start on about my logic, I will just say, a Les Paul strung with 10s, have similar tension to a strat with 9s.. the longer the scale , the less tension, on the strings.

Your logic is barse ackwards.
Tens on a Les Paul (24.75" scale) have similar tension to nines on a strat (25.5" scale, more or less like a steel-string acoustic, or a classical guitar) because, gauges being equal, the longer the scale the more tension on the strings, which means that, if I like 10s on a Paul and I use the same tens on a strat I'll get more tension: in order to get similar tension on both guitars, I need to reduce the diameters on the strat.
(Vice versa, if I like nines on a strat, I'll get less tension on a LP guitar unless I bump up the gauges to 10).

If you like the tension you get on your LP Jr. DC bass (30.5" scale) with 45-105 La Bellas, and you want roughly the same tensions on your new long-scale Sandberg, you need to go thinner, not fatter (the 39-96 gauge, 760FX set may be the ticket). The 49-109 set (760FM) will subjectively feel, and objectively pull, a lot tighter instead.

 

[Old Ozzie Guy]

U are right, Don't know how I mixed it up, when relating to the bass..
I'll let all know how it ends up