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Pawn shop find!!

#41

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#44
Achtane said:
Hhhnnnnggggg I want an SBV-550!
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They are the hardest to find, the 500 was more the export bass, the 550's tended to stay in the Japanese market. That 550 above was imported with 3 others into the U.K a few years back by a chap who used to collect SBV's. There are only 4 550's here in the U.K as far as I know, and in Sea Foam there is only one. :smug:

I love them to bit's, play them all the time. They are getting a lot harder to find now though, but I do know a chap whom has the SBV-J2 on the right in the pic below, I'm working on it. The last 500 I saw on the Bay here (Metallic Blue, as the OP's) about a month ago went for $555.

As far as I remember, they were made between 2000 and 2007, there is a 5 string version limited to 100, but they are extremely rare, TRB pickups, active E.Q, pearloid tuners/plate and all the frills.

The pickups on the SBV's are the biz, high output for a passive bass, playability is really nice, I don't find any balance problems I would remark upon. After spending loads of bucks on stuff in the past, these suit my thing best, I'm on the lookout for them all the time.
 

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#46
Achtane said:
****, don't tell me things like this!

I too am always on the lookout for the SBV series. I've only ever seen the SGV guitars on eBay and even then it's pretty rare. There was a yellow SBV500 on craigslist but I missed it by a week...
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As far as the 5 string I've only ever seen one for sale in a Greek auction last year, it had a while to run and was already into the $$$$, they come in white, I believe they are called the Blue Jeans bass, SBV BJ-5 B, something like that (I wish I'd saved the pic's, it's a stunning looking thing).

V.good prices for them in the U.S, the 500 I bought 6 years ago from the U.K. Bay for $392, the 550 also from the Bay a year ago for $466 from a guy whom bought it for his wife, she didn't take it up so it sat in a cupboard for 2 years unplayed, quite a difference in sound compared to the 500 which is closer to a J bass sound, but both of them, cool and the gang :)
 
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#48
Very cool! Love the body shape on those. I used to have the cheapr MIC 90s reissue guitar version of that with the same finish. Instead of the original pickups and trem,itha a Strat-type trem and pickup configuration. Congrats! (That was a steal by the way.)
 
#53
That pearl plate does finish the look really well, that is a nice right time right place find. If you don't mind, keep us updated on the pro's and con's your finding with it, just out of a matter of interest, if you can, cool :)
 
#57
This is the 5 I was talking about :)

As far as weight, lighter than a J bass but not ultra-lite, I don't have an accurate scale to weigh them I'm afraid, both mine weigh a bit differently, the 550 is noticeably lighter than the 500.
 

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#58
WOW! That 5 is waaaay cool!! Looks like it has the same type bridge (Gotoh?) and preamp as my BB1500a? Yeah, as far as weight goes, my SBV is relativly light (I don't have a scale either), but I am going to guess 7-8lbs?

when I got mine and had the pickguard off, I sprayed all of the pots, but it looks like I am going to have to replace one of the volume pots. It seems to cut in and out and the shaft is getting way too loose, easy fix though (ummm, I wonder if some of the gunk that was on the bridge got in to the electronics...??). Looks like it is wired with (2) 500k vol and (1) 250 k tone. I don't want to change the tone, so I will wire in another 500k.....
 
#60
wake & Bass said:
WOW! That 5 is waaaay cool!! Looks like it has the same type bridge (Gotoh?) and preamp as my BB1500a? Yeah, as far as weight goes, my SBV is relativly light (I don't have a scale either), but I am going to guess 7-8lbs?

when I got mine and had the pickguard off, I sprayed all of the pots, but it looks like I am going to have to replace one of the volume pots. It seems to cut in and out and the shaft is getting way too loose, easy fix though (ummm, I wonder if some of the gunk that was on the bridge got in to the electronics...??). Looks like it is wired with (2) 500k vol and (1) 250 k tone. I don't want to change the tone, so I will wire in another 500k.....
Click to expand...

As a matter of interest, when I spoke to the guy who originally imported that 550 he told me he had replaced the pots with 1 meg's, to bring out some more of the articulation, which it seems to have done.

What else I've found about these basses is the tone control is a little like a parametric sweep toward the last 1/3 of adjustment/cut, brings out the mid's, sounds good with the tone almost right down. Enjoy the SBV, and hang onto it :)
 

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