Al Krow

Congrats! Look forward to your review and pics! I've added you to owners' wall of shame on the OP...😊

In hindsight, it would have been worth the £1,100 Andy B was looking to get for his 4 years back. But £2.3k new feels a little too extravagant, for me anyway!

Yeah - I should probably have gone with that used Berg 4 years back and that would have dealt with the depreciation issue at a stroke. You may remember, I was very close to buying back then, but was persuaded it was likely to be too similar to my TM4. It's not, and much closer tonally to what I would be looking for in a bass. In terms of finish / looks, the Berg relatively easily wins over the 735A for me - it wouldn't if there was one in white, lol. IMO the Yammy goes to toe to toe with it tonally.

Oh and if you want to hear a 735A in action in the mix, this one is currently in the FS. Loved it!

Bass tone shoot-out: Sandberg Panther Special 5 vs Yamaha BB735A Must admit I’m a sucker for a good looking bass in glorious woods and those woods include mahogany and walnut. I came across a Sandberg Panther Special in the FS and felt a twinge of GAS for it and decided to look the 5 string version a little further. Turns out it was ticking a lot of boxes in terms of what I would be looking for: PJ config; 3 band EQ; active / passive; > 20 frets; not sure about the weight but described as being “modest weight” in a Music Radar review. But then I thought, hey I know another bass that also ticks all these boxes: the Yammy BB735A. The Berg sports an ‘effective’ 35.25” scale length for the B string which purportedly results in a meaty low B. The Yammy has body through stringing and a 5 piece laminate neck for extra strength and rigidity. Both are bolt-on rather than neck through, which would have been icing on the cake for me – but that’s just something I personally love design wise, as I think it looks fabulous. Bergs are really well put together basses. The thing that has put me off Bergs, since deciding to part with my TM4 a few years back, in addition to their cost (although tbf used ones are often a fair bit more affordable: they don’t seem to hold their value in the same way that Yammys do - I guess partly down to the much higher starting price?), was the relatively hi-fi nature of the some of their pups; Delanos in particular. So my key bit of further research was to look into how the Panther Special 5 sounded tonally and I managed to dig out a YT clip from our own Andy Boorman (Moonbass), where he gives it a very good tonal work out as part of his sales pitch for his old bass. Amusingly, I very nearly bought this bass off him 4 years ago, which was before the 735A was released, and might have done if I'd seen this video at the time. I think you will agree, it sounds pretty darned good! I then also came across a really good clip of the 735A with Tyler playing my old bass(!) It was really informative hearing them both 'side by side' as it were. I appreciate that signal chain and recording equipment will impact what we’re hearing the other end, particularly on YT clips, but a current Berg owner kindly confirmed that the Andy B’s clip was a pretty good reflection of how his current Sandberg Panther Special sounds. Be interested in what you guys think in terms of the tonal A/B of these basses? The Sandberg is on at £2,263 in PMT. For me, having heard them both side by side - the point we’ve made loads on this thread about Yammy’s holding their own against basses costing several times rings true even more for me having spent a bit of time doing this bit of research and is going to be something I continue keep at the forefront of my future buying decisions. Now if they only finished the 735A in white...

Strong album! Liked it even better on a second full listen though, and what felt initially like a slightly weaker middle to the album turned into classic Springsteen story telling. Not sure many of our heroes are able to turn out such quality, both musically and vocally, into their 70s as Bruce has done with this.

I know! It's basically a "live take" - who does that these days? Most albums are super engineered / stripped back...but fair enough, not many bands are going to be as tight and together as the E Street!

Out on Spotify today. Getting some good critical reviews. Looking forward to having a listen to as I'm driving down the M1 tonight...

Recently picked up a MB combo (CMD 121H) in the FS to leave at my folks' place in Brum, as I'm spending a bit more time up there these days to give them a bit of support. Forgotten how good value and quality these MB combos are - for £400 (used) it's considerably less than the second hand cost of my separates! One of the features of MB cabs is that they tend to have a little high frequency roll off, which some folk love as being the signature 'warm' MB sound. I personally prefer a brighter / 'flatter' top end and it seems that the Tech 21 VTDI pedal + MB Combo is a marriage made in heaven to deliver this - highly recommend. If I had discovered that particular pairing a few years back I suspect I might not have let go my MB AC 121 Lite, which is still one of the best combos out there and one of the very few that can deliver a full 500W through it's own single 12" speaker, without the need for an extension cab.

This chap on TB has posted a decent comparison review. I was a little surprised at how good the Zoom multistomp was at doing an OC2 impression [0.52]!

Bought a MB Combo off Rory. The guy is a true gent. From experience, I know what a pain wrapping and couriering a cab can be - I was super impressed with the care and thoroughness put into getting that done by Rory. Thanks again for making this such a straightforward transaction. Cheers, Bas

@FinnDave - hey Dave, I appreciate that the recording / signal chain will impact on what we're hearing and certainly on a YT clip, as krispn has pointed out. But does the recording posted above come pretty close to your Berg's tone as you hear it in person at home? I can vouch that Tyler's recording of the Yammy pretty much nails the tones it delivers.

Here's a YT clip from our own Andy Boorman (Moonbass) of a Panther Special 5er, which gives it a very good tonal work out as part of his sales pitch...I very nearly bought this bass 4 years ago (and might have done if I'd seen this video at the time)! And this is the current competition for me, which wasn't available 4 years back - Tyler playing my old bass! Be really interested in what you guys think in terms of the tonal A/B of these basses. Having heard them both side by side tonight, I suspect I know already where I will be landing.

That's helpful, thanks Gav. I've got a very decent PJ in my Yammy BB and the 735A would be very difficult to beat in terms of value for the quality on offer. So a P MM set up would be a nice alternative, but if its closer to a P "J" from what you're saying, that would be OK too, and I like that it has 22 frets rather than 20 on a Sire (24 would be ideal). I'm totally cool with a clean preamp on a bass, the tone for me tends to be primarily driven by the pups and interaction with the body and neck of the bass itself and I've got plenty of tone shaping options on my pedal board and amp. But that initial 'core' bass tone IMO needs to come from the bass itself - it's harder to create something that's not there in the first place in my experience, although I know that some folk do swear by eg the Sadowsky preamps pedals.

Yes, I do too Dave 😁 but alas I'm now a dyed in the wool 5 string player...I would love to pick your brains about yours though, which I know you were very much in love with pre Covid, but seems you have reverted back to Ibby? Particularly interested in the weight of the bass and tone from the pups. A clip / recording of you playing it would be marvellous!

Dave's ad in the FS got me looking into these and the 5 string version in particular. Dunno if anyone has or had one of these in the 5 string version? What I've managed to find from the net (Sandberg website, PMT online and Music Radar review) is that it has: - a P split coil neck pup + humbucker bridge pup. Is that correct about the neck pup i.e. this is a variation of the VM series? If so that would be ideal; - on the 5 string the available string length is a little over 35" and positive comments about the low B; - be very interested on views of the Sandberg pups vs the Delanos which, as I'm sure folk are bored with hearing(!), I personally found too hi-fi on my TM4, preferring more of a bite/growl. For reference I do like the pups on my Ibby SR Premium and Yammy BB basses a lot; - 3 band EQ on the 'Special', which is a must for me, and seems to have active / passive option which is also a nice to have; - PMT only provide the shipping weight not the weight of the bass (lol!) although Music Radar describes it as having 'modest weight' and nothing on the Berg website from what I could tell. I do love mahogany and walnut woods and I will be pleasantly surprised if this is a sub 9.5 lb bass?

Thanks John, you're much too kind. Have to say I do LOVE the Tape Echo - it's taken me far too long to discover it on the B1-4 (and I should add in time on the B3N before that, which I bought as my first multi fx when they first came out in April 2017). There are a definitely a couple of songs in our sets where that's going to get used eg Feel it Still by Portugal.