martthebass

Looks similar to my white one - the colour on the hang tag is Virgin white. Nice bass - we must be starting a trend for white Sandbergs and Glam.

To be honest I thought that the aged finishes avoid the flatting/polishing that a full gloss finish would have. I assumed the reason you can’t get a gloss finish at the moment is because they are temporarily not doing this process? My new soft aged gold Lionel is pretty glossy but less so than the shell pink one I had briefly - but it doesn’t look as if it’s been rubbed with an abrasive to age. The level of finish aging on the body really is minor and hard to spot from a couple of feet.

To be honest I’ve not seen many non aged gloss around, you can’t order at the moment, it’s aged or satin/matte only. I did have one recently in shell pink that was £1450 new but I had to return it due to a finish flaw on the neck. In general I don’t think the prices are that bad for a premium brand, certainly not when you consider the prices for new EBMM.

I’ll have to try and catch you Pete when you’re localish. We’re having a little break in October so will have a few weekends free.

A nice gig at the seaside yesterday, Withernsea to be exact. Very friendly pub/club with very enthusiastic audience. Struggled to get away….it was a late night, especially with the infamous overnight motorway closures. Third gig with the new drummer and he’s definitely settled in well. Sorry about the video quality - the stage was very compact and bijou so I’m hidden behind the tops. Can hear my backing vox though - heard but not seen. https://fb.watch/ukgfKVyQDx/

Think there’s one in mine…..I didn’t fit it. Sounds great.

Of the 2 it is the better player, something hard to define. It just feels more like a nicely played in bass than the gold; shiney neck, little paint sink lines etc, the relicing is more convincing on this one. Used it on a rehearsal tonight and it’s one of those rare basses that becomes part of you.

I bought the one on the right used, the Sandberg hang tag does have it and the 30” scale as custom adds.

You’re making me feel guilty now 😂

Agree, I’ve noticed significantly less Lionel stock available recently. Glad I managed to sort mine when I did. Still tempted with a short scale TT though, I’ll be interested to hear thoughts on this one when someone on the BC massive acquires one.

Who am I to question the business practices of a German company….they seem to sell a lot of units?

Neither did I, maybe they are 'real' player wear. The soft aged don't have any paint 'rubbed off' they're just small dings and scratches, hardware tarnishing; no sanding until the hard core aged and 'master' grades. TBH from a couple of feet away you'd be hard pressed to see any wear on the soft aged.

That is truly woeful..... I generally prefer a pristine bass but ironically own 2 soft aged Sandberg Lionels. However you can only get gloss finished Lionels with a soft or hard core relicing at the minute which is a shame. That said I do think the Sandberg treatment is one of the better ones; it looks pretty realistic on both of mine; maybe more so on the older one which also has neck shine and little neck pocket lacquer cracks.

Cheers Rich, I’d like to try one before buying but that’s not looking likely. Thing is I’ve been spoiled over the years with EBMMs and I’m concerned I’ll find the SBMM a bit ‘cheap’. Currently using a couple of Sandberg Lionel’s so hoping the quality isn’t too far off that.

Has anyone had a chance to try one of the new Sterling Ray shortscales with roasted neck yet? If so are they worth the upcharge? I’ve sort of given up hope of snagging a used EBMM shortscale (after my last attempt fell through) so wondering if this would be a decent compromise.

I’d go with the 12” set. In fact that’s not too dissimilar to my current set up. Very flexible, one cab for rehearsals and two for gigs. Very punchy and plenty of volume to the point where I would DI into a house set up.

Has anyone on here got experience with the Cali 2 TT shortscale? I’ve got 2 VS Lionels that have quickly become my go to gigging basses (after a couple of historical misses with Sandberg basses) and would like to know how it compares to the VS.

It depends.....there's a lot of unsold stuff. I put my US Sterling up for sale a few months back at a good % under retail and still got 'very reduced' offers. Fortunately it made me see sense and I kept it.

TBH Pete, we've been convinced to do the odd Wedding do and even with Glam it's definitely a mixed bag. We definitely push back on these days and recommend a good function band/DJ.

+ the one on this. A group of competent, friendly and professional individuals will always be my preference over the ego driven 'super-talent'. If it ain't fun, it ain't worth doing. To the OP, I'm always wary of taking too much notice of vocal sound quality on phone vids; I've cringed on occasion on band vids I've been on in the past where I thought the sound was ok and the video 'disagreed'. If the audience were dancing then don't worry. The only comments I have on the vocal quality on the vid is that it was maybe mixed a little high and could have done with a bit more effect as it was a bit 'dry'...............nothing to get too hung up about though, especially with the length of time the band has been going.

I think the closest we are to your neck of the woods is Withernsea at the end of this month.

Nice gig at a fairly local gastro pub type place last night. Hopefully our recent drummer issues are now behind us; the dep brought in that did the last couple of gigs with us (after the drummer for the last 9 years left with no notice) sadly hit some personal issues which left us drummerless with only 4 days to the next gig. Fortunately the dep that was due to come on board in November stepped in and smashed it out of the park. I’m hoping he’ll come on board permanently as he’s a great communicator on stage.

Noice. Never understood why they aren’t more popular, maybe the naff name? After many Rays I’m now down to just one EBMM and it’s a Sterling. I nearly sold it a while back, fortunately its lack of popularity meant it wasn’t pounced on quickly and I changed my mind. Enjoy!

You’re not wrong Dave, I was never into splitting hairs. If I recall correctly some post punk bands were originally punk bands, the early Joy D stuff like Warsaw was definitely punk and I think Simple Minds were a punk band called ‘Jonny and the self abusers’?

Thanks for the correction...my life is now complete. Having now 'done my research'...it appears that about 80% of the bands we covered in our post punk/'power pop' trio were in the post punk category as defined by Wikipedia.