Sandberg VM5/Warwick Thumb comparison

[keatz]

Hi, I made a short little audio sample showing the comparisons between my Sandberg California II VM5 and Warwick Thumb B05. Both strung with Rotosound 66. For those that are interested, which of these German's do you prefer?

0:00 - Sandberg Passive
0:18 - Warwick Passive*
0:33 - Sandberg Active
O:49 - Warwick Active
1:05 - Sandberg Tube OD
1:20 - Warwick Tube OD

Dropbox - SandbergVsWarwick.mp3 - Simplify your life

*Warwick in passive mode isn't true passive as it still requires battery. It just bypasses the MEC EQ

 

[Turxile]

Nice. I like the active Thumb but I’m biased, I mainly use Warwicks.
I quite liked the passive Sandberg sound, much better than the active.

 

[keatz]

Nice. I like the active Thumb but I’m biased, I mainly use Warwicks.
I quite liked the passive Sandberg sound, much better than the active.

Funny you say that, because I've mainly been playing it in passive mode.
The thumbs weight, neck dive and profile was playing havoc with my wrist, so I had to get a new bass to look after my body. The sandberg is extremely comfortable to play, perfect neck profile and it just holds itself up. I just need to find my sweet spots again with eq and effects.

 

[India_Sierra]

The Thumb really sounds more characterful and lively to me but the Sandberg also sounds good. I will listen again tomorrow on my home stereo so I can really appreciate the difference.

 

[keatz]

I did some seperate frequency averaging graphs of each which shows some subtle differences.
S=Sandberg
W=Warick
P=Passive
A=Active
T=Tubey Overdrive

 

[Marko Hazabent]

Hello. I have a dilemma. I own Sandberg California VM5 which i like. I always wanted a Warwick Thumb, although I never really held it in my hands. There is an opportunity to acquire Thumb 2008 5 BO locally, but i cannot buy it and the guy selling it is interested in my Sandberg so we could swap. The thing is although Warwick is “kinda” superior in price and renome i doubt i will gain anything getting Thumb.
Sandberg is true passive, has zero fret and is sonically much more versatile. But that Thumb is giving me an itch...
I also have Fender AmStd P, so I am looking for some modern alternative to that classic sound.
Im kindly asking for your oppinion about my dilemma...

 

[Guinness20]

I've got really bad GAS for a VM5 Nighthawk. They're both good sounding basses but in terms of playability Sandberg wins easily for me, can't stand the string spacing on the Warwicks.