dannybuoy

If we’re going with a car analogy, the tyres would be the strings, and the engine the pickups. You’d be mad to not buy a car because you didn’t like the stock tyres, just as you would a bass and it’s strings. When it comes to the engine though, there are those that love buying and fitting various bits to make their car go faster. But most can’t be ar$ed with that and either leave it alone or get a different car instead. Same applies to pickups!

I had a Classic 50s P also and it was hands down the best sounding P I've ever laid hands on, it peed all over my Am Std and Roadworn. Just the neck was too wide with sharp edges, I wish I'd kept it and got a luthier to reshape it!

If you get the chance, get to a shop and try some. You'll never really know which one you might prefer until you get your hands on it. I sold my old white VM P to fund an American Standard, and ended up regretting it and preferring the sound of the Squier!

Tonal quality is subjective though isn't it - he's not fitting them with Glock pres and Delano pups because they are cheap and cheerful, he probably thinks they sound great. It seems to me that rather then say Yamaha, who have a few set finishes and specs, every time I look at the Sandbergs on Bass Direct they are different. Perhaps the dealer orders a big batch and specifies which colours and pickups etc they want in? It would certainly be worth asking Bass Direct what it would cost for a standard model with Black Label upgrades without going to the additional expense of a fully custom bass via the configurator. There's a 5 string superlight TT5 with Black Labels up there now btw!

I didn't know this, what about the other 500 manufacturers that copy Fender shapes?! New shapes have grown on me though, especially the P style. I prefer then now that they stand out a bit more, they look more modern without overstepping into ugly territory.

A P with flats and a J with rounds is a good starting point.

Ahem: https://www.instagram.com/p/BvphmXYA20t

Soloed J pickups never sound great in my hands, even though I've heard others make them sound great. P + J blended didn't quite do it for me either until I tried a Yamaha BB - the J pickup is so beefy it's louder than the P, which gives it a much growlier tone like a Jazz when using both pickups.

The extra pickup and pot does affect the loading of the P pickup and change the sound ever so slightly. In the same way that your bass will sound brighter with 500K pots vs 250K. Many purists prefer a solo P for this reason, others fit a toggle switch, others don't notice or don't care about the difference!

Many, many pedals. It does depend on what you want to spend though! A Darkglass Vintage or Alpha Omega Ultra would be a good bet, but they are not cheap. If it's just for recording though, you could do it all in software, try downloading a trial of the Darkglass plugins and also Line6 Helix Native.

I didn't know they'd been around that long, but it still applies to new shape Californias and Forty Eights. I do like them but they just seem a bit off to me!

It is a top job, but the relic concept doesn't fit with Sandbergs IMHO. It works on Fenders because there are old basses around that actually look like that, so a well reliced Fender could pass for a real vintage instrument. Dressing up a model that has only just been released as something from the 60s just looks out of place!

According to the extensive Talkbass thread, the new CVs aren't as good as the older Chinese ones. They are now built in the same factories as the VMs to a similar price point, just with different hardware and specs. If you look for a used one you could end up with a better bass for less dough.

Looks like a 505 with a fancy top as far as I can see! I tried a 505 and 305 in a shop and the cheaper 305 sounded much better to me. A bit like the difference between Ibanez SRs with the pokier Nordstrand pickups vs the more neutral / bland Barts.

I'm sure each manufacturer offer a range of cable types, but I've had a few Van Damme ones fail on me, whereas the thicker Klotz and Sommer ones I bought to replace them have lasted a long time.

11.5 lb / 5.2kg For bodybuilders only, more like! This is on par with the sunburst TT5 I briefly owned, also with Haussel pickups, which was a similar weight.

The materials and construction will affect the acoustic tone, but the pickups don't hear those vibrations emanating from the wood itself, as you say they are not microphones. But the vibration of the string is affected by the system it is connected to or coupled with, as said by fellow engineer @Thunderpaws up above. For instance, certain wider grained softer woods can result in a dulled high end, as the intermingling wooden fibres with microscopic gaps inbetween can dampen higher frequencies, just as when you add a foam mute to your bridge. Hence the differences often heard between rosewood and maple boards.

A lot of these sub sonics come from the percussive element of hitting the strings. When you pluck, before the string is released, it moves over the pickup at a slower speed than a freely vibrating string would, as it's attached to your fingers. If there was no filtering whatsoever in the entire signal chain, you would be able to see the cone move just by wiggling the string slowly over the pickup.

Still can't believe I snagged my Basic 4 for about tree fiddy. Must be the name - not many people want to spend big coin on something called a 'Basic'!

If it’s not in the manual, I doubt anyone would know. It’d be possible to measure it though! Personally I’d just do a visual test, crank it up and take the grille off your cab if it’s in the way. If you can stop the cones lurching about without having an audible effect, it’s doing the job, then see what adding a second one does.

Sounds a lot more organised than any I've attended! Chord sheets are a great idea. I'd also start a Facebook page and encourage any musicians to nominate songs they'd like to play (e.g. posting a YouTube video), that way you could end up with a bunch of strangers agreeing to learn them before the night and playing some lesser known tracks that otherwise wouldn't have a chance.

A steep low HPF should have no affect on tone, just remove the sub sonics that your amp and speakers waste power trying to reproduce, so you can squeeze more actual audible volume out of your rig without blowing it up.

Haussel perhaps? Saw a 4 string J set for sale that had pole pieces almost up to the edge of the case.

Their lacquer is different to most basses though, I saw a video review of a 4003 stating that the chemicals they use are strictly controlled, so they had a choice to change their instruments, change where they're built, or just build fewer of them, and they opted for the latter. Whether that means the finish is higher quality, or just more environmentally unfriendly and/or carcinogenic is anyone's guess!