mcnach

For completeness: I did like it that one time I talked about above. But ultimately was not that nice, so I sold it after a few months. There are better cheap low gain overdrives out there. The TC Electronic Spark Booster, for example. And the Caline Orange Burst which although it seems a bit thin on the low end, it does sound very good (I have been using one for over a year now, the bass control quite high up). edit: the Nobsound Little Bear B3 valve overdrive is pretty cool too, weird little unit. But its power requirements are a lot higher than most other pedals. Mine is going to eventually go in my pedalboard, I just haven't got around to redoing it, but I sometimes use it on its own and I like it a lot. It was only about £35-40 if I recall correctly

Years. I have some that I've owned for at least 15 years. I only stopped using them live because they're black and I lost a couple in very little time, so I started using coloured ones that nobody can easily "borrow by mistake". These have been going on strong for 8 years or so. Buy good quality cables. You can get good ones here in Basschat from OBBM, or there's an ebay shop called "designacable" that uses good cable and connectors and have a lot of colour choices, connector types etc. They are good too. Is the problem the cables you use, or the socket in your bass, 'though?

That's exactly what I thought, even the pickup looks similar with the polepieces sticking out the same way. I still have one. They were £60 at the time. Mine got defretted (frets removed by myself in 20 minutes and then had a luthier friend of mine plane the fingerboard properly, filling the fret slots with sycamore veneers) and I put a DiMarzio Model P in it (decent and inexpensive pickup, comes often in the market place used). It actually turned out better than my fretless MIJ Fender Precision, beautiful maple unline board... and the Fender is long gone. Instruments in this price range are best seen as something to spend some time working on, or simply as a platform for modification. If you enjoy doing that kind of thing, you'll have fun and can end up with something decent. If you just want to play the bass, it'd probably wiser to save and spend a bit more. To be fair, you can't possibly expect great quality at that price...

It certainly does a nice traditional Precision type of sound, I like the P type. The MM is not as nice but it's fine. I was supposed to be playing at a beer festival tonight but there was some misunderstanding and the organisers booked more bands than they needed... and we drew the short straw. So I'm at home alone while my girlfriend is in Malta. It's been a noisy evening here Preamp is fine too, nothing amazing but no urge to change anything. The more I play it, the more at home it feels. I loosened up the truss rod a little bit and now it's got a pretty low action. The fretwork is excellent. I've got a MarkBass SuperBooster pedal, the one with the VLE and VPF controls. It does a good job of emulating what a passive tone control does so I should give it a try.

I lied. I didn't rush. There was a car crash on the M8 near Edinburgh, but that wasn't me. The weather is beautiful so I drove gently doing 60-65mph, windows down and calm jazz playing (well, at times blasting to compensate for the wind noise but it was actually a nice fun drive, just under one hour to get there). As I arrive there, Teo sees me and smiles, but then his face changes and he says "Yes, the bass is here, but unfortunately..." and my heart sunk. What happened? Someone sat on it and broke it? They sent the wrong bass, what??? There was a problem with the finance. I took the 0% over 10 months finance option because I was going to sell a couple of things and that way it buys me time and I don't have to touch my wallet. It seems that Barclays was only paying if they deliver the bass to me, not if I collect it However, by now I've sold one guitar and two basses that alone more than cover the cost of the Sandberg, so all is good. I asked to cancel the finance and I'd just pay straight. Teo looked very relieved, and we proceeded to look at the bass and give it a quick run through some amp I didn't even pay attention to. The bass is really nice. The colour is better in person than I was expecting from the online pictures, and the ageing is practically non-existent... so very very very pleased with the finish. The neck is just right although the edges of the fingerboard could have been a little less sharp (I guess the more aged ones are a bit more rounded off?) but that's nitpicking, it really feels nice... The bass balances very well, it's 8.1 lbs, so nice and light, yet it *feels* solid. I can't describe it. Really happy with that. Sounds... early days. I like the basic sounds I'm getting, but those strings are not the ones I'd have chosen and they're far too bright, so I'll reserve my judgement until I have some of my favourite strings on it. I nearly returned a Schecter Model T once but I completely changed my mind after I put a set of DR Sunbeams on it... The preamp, I need to experiment and see how the controls interact to find my sweet spot, we'll see. If it bothers me I'll either make it passive or put a John East U-Retro that I already have in my drawer (was meant to be for the Maruszczyk Jake I just sold, but I ended up leaving it passive). Having said that, I am pleasantly surprised as I expected to dislike it like I dislike most 2-band preamps. The treble control does a good job at cutting just the amount of top end that I want. Many preamps just operate way too high or take too much off the mids. This one is nice. The bass is... BIG. I don't see myself boosting much here, but a quick try allowed me to see that I can treat it much like I treat the Stingray's 2EQ to get to the right amount of mids that I want in my sound, but turning down the bass a tiny bit and leaving treble flat or reducing it a bit too I seem to get a nice thick well defined sound with both pickups on. I'll have to play. I like that with the preamp EQ set at the centre detent it sounds just like it does in passive mode, and it's a good sound. The P pickup in particular I am enjoying. It's got a really nice bark, when you dig in it growls, but it can be mellow if you play more gently. The MM may be lacking a bit of 'oomph' on its own but when both pickups are together they sound very good, so I'm not inclined to change anything. I may investigate to see if it's wired in parallel, and see if I can wire it in series for a thicker sound... but I wanted this bass for the P and P/MM sound, and those are good. I have no idea what pickups are these, they are whatever Sandberg uses by default these days and they're good. Anyway, here is the beast...

Classy colour combination! I love the look of that double-P one. The bridge pickup looks pretty close to the position in a Stingray. Nice pair of basses! I went for metallic orange and specified as little 'aged' as possible. I actually went to pick it up a few hours ago... and it just looks like a high gloss new instrument, with a couple of very very very minor marks. It's pretty light (8.1 lbs), feels and balances great. Not a huge fan of the strings it came with but then I don't like new stainless steel strings ever... I'll wait a bit and see. I'll probably end up with DR Fat Beams, or maybe nickel Sunbeams as they're a bit mellower. The colour is very vibrant, much nicer than I thought from the pictures online. Here's a couple of pictures taken outside just now, taking advantage of the sun, as the pictures look just like 'in the flesh'. I haven't yet adjusted anything, I think it needs a *touch* on the truss rod as the relief is a bit higher than I'd prefer... which is not unusual as it was set up in Germany and the temperature/humidity here will be different, but even as it is it plays nicely and feels very "solid" despite its light weight. A quick test made me smile... good start Not sure I love that preamp, there's few 2-band preamps I love... we'll see. I've got a John East U-Retro in my drawer that could go in there if the original frustrates me... but first strings. Never judge the electronics in a bass until you've got the right strings on.

Nice stuff to try? Oh sure there is... but as soon as I get that bass in my hands I'm running back to my car and back home with it!!! There may be some reports of an unidentified object seen as a red blur on the M8 today. Besides, I should not be tempted for a while now. I've got a couple of little projects on the go right now to keep me away from serious gas [1] and I don't want to be spending more money. I funded the Sandberg by selling a Fender Stratocaster, my Classic 50 Precision, and the Maruszczyk Jake (The P/JJ one which the Sandberg is kind of a straight replacement for... I wanted to be able to own both for a while to ensure the Sandberg was the one to keep but the Maruszczyk received enough attention and the right offer was made, so I sold it... yesterday!) I'm just going to finish my coffee and I'll be on my way. [1] The little little projects, just because there's Tonestyler content 1.) Put that Tonestyler on my Squier Mike Dirnt Precision, FINALLY. Yes, I bought it months ago and it's still sitting there... 2.) I'm so disorganised and/or busy... I forgot that over a year ago I bought a wiring loom for a Jazz. It has a 6-position Tonestyler type of control. I bought it because I was curious and it only cost around £30. It's meant to go into my old Matt Freeman Precision, which now has 2 Jazz pickups close together at the bridge position. The plan is to use flats on this one, I've got a set of TI Jazz flats for it. 3.) One Maruszczyk left... the reverse P one. Slightly closer to the bridge than normal, but it doesn't make a LOT of difference. I meant to ask for it at the MM position, because I tried that and liked it, but I thought it sounded too much like a Stingray, so I figured I'd try it somewhere in the middle... and ended up not sounding like either, but much closer to a Precision than anything else. I'm installing a John East MMSR preamp that I had in my magic parts drawer... I need to remove a little bit more wood (the finish on this bass is the strangest thing that flakes so easily, and I damaged it a little bit, although it's largely covered by the metal plate (Stingray style) I am using on it... So that's 3 sort of new basses to play with, coming soon, to keep me away from temptations. Oh, no, there's a fourth one: 4.) Fretless precision! I want to put a piezo bridge on it. I just found a suitable buffer for it, and I'll have to make space for it under the pickguard, with a battery, and install a blend control. I love piezo bridge pickups on fretless. I use black tapewounds on this one and it's a lovely sound but miss that slightly 'woodier' sound you get from a piezo sometimes. With the buffer I'll be able to blend the magnetic pickup and use the passive controls. Too many ideas, too many bands, and not enough time, as my girlfriend keeps reminding me! (But I don't abandon her at all, which is why these projects never get done... and she's sort of invaded 'my workshop' with her art projects...) Aaaanyway... coffee over. Back in a few hours

I've come across this little buffer which sounds like something to have, and not expensive. It is $49, although there's also $17 for postage... but I like the idea, form and function of it. Essentially a little buffer with a trim control, to bring the impedance in line with that of a magnetic pickup. It should be easy to mount onboard in a Precision (a few minutes with a chisel under the pickguard and that's it). Then just add a passive blend control (or a switch if not interested in blending), and use the existing passive volume/tone controls. I could even use a stacked vol/tone potentiometer and keep the bass in a 2-knob configuration. That and one of the many piezo bridges available. The Hipshot one looks good and not so expensive... if you can find it. Graphtech saddles are a possibility for an existing bridge. Ghost make nice bridges with Graphtech saddles although not cheap. There's some decent looking on eBay for around £60, but they're in the US and postage & import duty brings the cost up a bit, so I need to see if I find an alternative within our own continent (and before Brexit... but let's not go there ) Here's the PZP-1 buffer: https://cafewalter.com/pzp-1/ And here's one possible bridge: https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Piezo-4-String-Bass-Bridge-Pickup-Chrome/372637793027?hash=item56c2f17b03:g:6tQAAOSw1ZBboCkQ Another alternative is, if blending is not required, installing the bridge with no controls on the bass except for a switch to act as a mute and use an external preamp (input impedance must be in the 10 MegaOhm range, which is close to an order of magnitude higher than many preamps out there, so that's something to consider). That would be the easiest thing to do, but it would be a strictly magnetic or piezo situation and no quick changes between both sounds. I don't see that as much of an issue, given my intended use, but if I can get a suitable buffer like the PZP-1, I think that's a neater way to go about it.

That's very close to the colour I wanted originally... but I didn't fancy it enough to pay the £525 extra they asked for...

Trip to Glasgow tomorrow morning!

Sounds good, looks stinky poo... For that amount of money I thing I'd rather go the Warmoth route and assemble it myself.

what we're talking here is very minor, I don't understand why people are afraid of using the truss rod. It's like being afraid of putting air in your tyres Sure, you can blow a tyre if you severely overdo it... but be sensible and you'll be ok

No, I meant loosening the truss rod a bit while using the SAME strings you already had detuned. That would increase the relief a bit and reduce the buzz somewhat, and *might* be enough. By detuning the strings, you reduced their pull, so by reducing the pull of the truss rod by the same amount (ish) you could get to a position where the bass plays well again. However with the lower tuning the strings may need a bit more room to vibrate freely, which is why I said that it *may* be enough to slacken the truss rod a bit. You need to try and see, If you already changed strings to a thicker gauge, then don't loosen the truss rod: you have higher tension already and if you slacken the truss rod the action will likely get too high.

I have to agree.

Big Stubby ones are the ones I like on bass, but I go for the 2mm and even 3mm ones. I find they give a better thicker attack. I doubt those would break. However, if you want the picks to flex, these won't do it.

That was my issue too. The dots would end up moving and falling off eventually. Not terribly bright either and needed to be charged up (UV light torch keyring type) frequently. Ended up using Luminlay fret markers which were a lot better... but then I stopped playing in that particularly dark venue. Still, it was cool when we got to play stages that contained UV light or a lot of blue light, which made the markers shine brightly.

I could not find one myself, and I ended up buying a cheap pickup on eBay and took the cover from it. The pickup was £14 if I remember correctly. I just could not find an alternative anywhere.

Try loosening up the truss rod first, that might be enough. By dropping the tuning on all 4 strings you've decreased the tension noticeably and the truss rod is pulling more than necessary. Turn it anti-clockwise, a bit at a time [1], and see if it gets to a reasonable playing setup. [1] I'd use a quarter of a turn at a time, and wait maybe an hour before deciding it needs more or less as some necks may take a bit to settle. Most basses I've used settle almost immediately and there's no need to wait, but some do take a little bit so if you're not sure about yours best to wait initially.

I was in good shape, working out etc, so weight was not much of a problem. However, I'm only 5ft 7", so the bulk + weight combined made it an unpleasant experience. Fortunately I only had to carry it to the 1st floor and the staircase was wide, so it was manageable. A few years earlier I lived on an old block of flats with high ceilings. Narrow staircase, steep. Mine was on the 3rd floor. I had bought a Laney VC50 212 combo on eBay that weighed like a small planet. The UPS guy called from downstairs and said he was not carrying it up for me, and I had to take it by myself, or he'd take it back to the depot and I could arrange to pick it up there. I was not driving at the time so I just said "sure, I'll take it, how hard can it be?". Well... it was hard. I could have opened the box and at least used the handles to lift it, but no, I just took the whole box and loaded it onto my shoulder. There were a couple of moments where I nearly lost my balance and had a vision of my heavy amplifier dropping to the ground floor over the staircase's banister... I do not recommend doing that. My cabs now are about 14Kg each. No more crazy lifting. Of course, now that I have lightweight gear I live in a house with the car parked 1.5 metres from the door and no climbing stairs needed...

+1 Expecting someone to be always available for any single band, unless it's *a regular job* is not realistic. If I only gig once a month, I guarantee you that I'm not going to be at home the rest of the time twiddling my thumbs... so what does it matter if I use my spare time playing sudoku, fishing, learning to become a hitman or playing with another band? If a gig opportunity shows up, I'll check my calendar "hmm, I'm practicing strangling and sniping that evening". If I can change it great, if not I'm just not available. I think some people get too precious/possessive about bands without dedicating the time that would justify that.

Maybe. Maybe not. A lot of us play in multiple bands with minimal issues. If the main band only gigs once a month there's lots of room for more action!

I used to not care. Then I found I could get great sounding basses that were light enough and well balanced = more comfortable. So I no longer go for heavy. I'll leave those to the OP

I feel your pain... The worst thing about bands is... people. The wrong ones make bands, and playing live, a most unpleasant enterprise. Get the right ones, however... and it's great. It's tough to get that, 'though. I got it several times, and it was only through being able to quit and not pursuing lost causes that I got there, so don't be shy to quit if things are not working. At the same time, sometimes our tolerance (let's face it, it's never 'perfect') is at a low point, and taking a break helps. It helps our sanity at the very least... and in the future we may be better equipped to face band stuff again. Or maybe we find we're done and prefer to just make music at home. One day at a time.

I bought Kevin's MarkBass SuperBooster. Couldn't have been smoother. Thank you Kevin!