M@23

Me too! I only quoted you as I wanted to agree with your solo comment, before the rest of my post.

Or all solos, on anything that isn’t a bass 👀 Bass playing aside (he’s obviously very good). He has 9m subs because he’s very good at what he does. YouTube is an ad platform. A lot of the things people mention that that irritate them, all the gimmicky stuff, is him playing the game very well. I don’t think we need to be concerned about his employability as a bassist and I don’t think he’d be interested in the pay cut anyway!

Either use it for the experience, if you’re new to it all, to get your repertoire up and get a few more gigs under your belt, or walk away. I certainly would not start trying to resolve issues of a band I’m brand new to.

They are nitro I think. Certainly a really thin finish that didn’t take long to wear, but looked great. Cool basses. I believe they also had the graphite rods in the neck and the Greasebucket circuit. I remember them being a really good price when new for a US Fender, but not too many seem to pop up 2nd hand.

To echo a couple others, don’t be put off by their simplicity and lack of options. I grabbed a 5 string one for various gigs coming up where tradition dictates it’s the best fit for the genre. It’s since jumped to the front of the queue for EVERY gig/session. It is so responsive to how it’s played. Also, it’s a Fender, and it has one of the best sounding B strings I’ve played.

Sounds like a winner. I’ve never played one, but always think they look cool. What’s the fretboard? Looks very dark.

66% of mine qualify. The P5 bass is a recent acquisition, and damn, it is good.

Is it an Elrick? What’s the EQ all about? Fantastic looker, that.

The Markbass 102p is such a cool cab. It’s really punchy and full sounding for such a small cab.

My cedar one was the first 5 in the UK and is well under 7lbs! Amazing if they’ve somehow made them even lighter.

Gross. Sadowsky appears to have become such a confused brand. I know this gets mentioned every time the brand does now, but they’ve gone from a simple, easily identifiable product range, where there was guaranteed quality top to bottom to something where the bottom rung is/was a catalogue of errors and a top line that’s not even made by the master luthier whose name is on the headstock.

I used mine with a Tecamp Puma or Glock Blue Sky, so I was never going to get anything but ‘modern’, but it was a beast of a cab. Clean headroom for days.

My old Vanderkley 212 was great for slap, it’s probably what it did best actually.

That’s why I bought mine. It’s was the lightest 5 string jazz available. Didn’t really care about much else as I could no longer play 4 or 5 nights a week with a 10lb’er on my shoulder. Wasn’t really bothered about tone or anything else. I’d had a Sandberg before, so knew there was little to worry about. As it happens, it’s my favourite sounding jazz bass I’ve owned.

@Madein1962 very nice bass, case fits it like a glove. How’s the padding? Reckon it’d take a knock and keep your Jaydee in tact?

Yeah, I get ya. I’ve not scratched mine, but there are a few little imprints - can’t really call them dents as they’re not even noticeable unless under close inspection. I’ve not knocked it, so no idea how they appeared. But I’ve had it nearly 2 years, that first year saw about 70 gigs, and last year saw about 12 🤣 so it’s standing up no worse than any other bass. I should buy a hard case, but always get stuck with finding one that would offer more protection than damage with the potential of the smaller/lighter body rattling around inside. In fact, I was wondering about buying the aged hardware as I think this bass will age really well. I’m gassing for a HCA Sandberg too!

They’re Sandberg Stainless Steel, 40-128. 40, 60, 80, 100, 128. Also, TM5 SL, nice! I use a TT5 SL. Would love to try a TM SL.

I love what they’re about and Jack Conte is fun to watch. I like this one, Kenton Chen on vocals is incredible. Sean Hurley too!

I don’t think that’s the issue. It’s more where the string is one gauge over the nut, then tapers off. The string underneath the retainer may be too thin to properly ‘wedge’ itself under the retainer. the issue could be that the string retainer needs a thicker bit of string to properly apply that downforce. Or, it could be that the thinner bit of string isn’t making 100% contact with the underside of the retainer. If it’s not in there properly it could rattle and vibrate against the retainer a bit when you play the open A. If you’ve got a ‘normal’ string without that taper, I’d try that. Even an old string would do to test it.

Have you always used those tapered strings? It could be because that skinny bit of string isn’t allowing the retainer to put enough pressure on the A string.

There’s so much wrong with the title of the thread.

A £300 HB is never going to be worth much more than £300, even if you spend an extra £350 upgrading it. Which is fine and great if you get a bass you love for £650, not so great if you like to chop and change basses. I’d like a Sandberg VM5, I had a mk1, my only gripe was that it weighed about 11lbs, also I prefer a smaller body and the newer ones have well and truly put that to rest. I know if I got a VM5 again it’d work wonders for me out of the box, be sub 9lbs and come from a cool company. I’d really like a relic’d one as well... heavier relic the better; which will only add insult to injury for some.

Has anyone played a VM5 with Aguilar pickups and preamp? I was looking at VM5s and noticed a very nice shell pink and orange, soft aged, with Aguilar pickups. Apparently this is an option from 2020! I had no idea. But am very interested!