Al Krow

Well that's certainly been my view, but there's clearly another school of thought which says pretty much the opposite. Are they essentially pushing a gospel of snake oil which is not based on science? Are we saying that the wood of a bass is mostly about: - look, feel, finish, durability and weight and sustain (all important factors, for sure) - but has little impact on tone? Oh dear, I seem to have side tracked my own thread within 5 posts...😂😂😂

Is that correct? If so, then the whole debate around tone woods seems a bit otiose (sorry one of my fav words and totally appreciate the opp to sneak it in when I can 😀)

Fundamental plus harmonics = overtones. The musical notes we hear. Simples If a low E fundamental is 41 Hz, how are the sub harmonics being generated and where are they primarily appearing in the signal chain? Apologies if this is a noddy / well understood point, but I'm struggling to get my head around the string vibrations necessary to produce a wave at < 41 Hz on an E string, so I'm guessing it's a feature of the interaction of that 41 Hz (or any other plucked note) with the body of the bass and woods which are then picked up by the pups?

You're not going to 'hear' anything much at all if you have your HPF set to 40Hz on a 4 string and 20 Hz on a 5 string. The low E on a 4 string is 41 Hz and the low B is 31 Hz. So you're already cutting at below what the bass is putting out (and indeed a frequency range below what most cabs are able to convey with any authority in terms of us being able to hear). What you should notice is less speaker excursion because the HPF is eliminating the energy diverting sub-sonic 'crud', and thereby allowing the speakers to work more efficiently in the audible frequency ranges. Fyi - the Thumpinator cuts at 28 Hz. If you've not seen the impact it has on speaker excursion, then the linked video clip is worth watching and listening to through a pair of headphones - you're not going to hear much difference, but you can easily see how much less hard the speakers are having to work! I use my Thumpinator at the start of my signal chain as a 'crud cleaner' and then into a Spectracomp which can then do its thing on just the audio frequency range and will be, itself, working more efficiently, the benefits of which then flow into the rest of my pedal board --> amp --> cab.

I wonder if any retailers would do a replacement with the Black Label pups without charging for existing unwanted / surplus Sandberg ones or Delanos? Anyone had any positive experience of this.

I've taken the really lazy option of...just using a Thumpinator (but then I only have a large board). 😀 In lieu of your mini board - I'm really tempted by the B1 Four X as a stand alone mini gigging board. I think your earlier post about it having the same DSP as the B3n has got me a little excited about this forthcoming pedal (out mid May??). It seems to have combined a compact form with a decent interface and decent DSP i.e. it takes some of the best features of the MS-60B and and B3n and puts them into a very affordable package. Oh yes the X rated version has an expression pedal. ...Shame: I've discovered it's got a plastic chassis which puts a bit of question-mark over how rugged the B1 Four is going to be.

Not sure why it's taken so long for me to spot this but the Mooer GE 300 also does Synth! (Probably 'cos Mooer seem to be taking forever getting this launched?) "There’s also the Synth Engine, a new tri-voice polyphonic synthesis module with options for wave form, pitch, filters and arpeggiators - with no special pickup or guitar modifications required." If my current pedal board could (theoretically) be replaced by a Helix Stomp and a Panda Future Impact ,then it seems to me that the GE 300 could, in turn, potentially replace both those and it comes with the bonus of an expression pedal.

£600 budget? He's going to need a decent amp to pair with any of those cabs and nice as they are, they are going pretty much blow the entire budget methinks. This, however, could seriously tick a lot of boxes! They're selling for nearly £900 new.

Ok cheers. I guess the Nano is likely going to be the smallest board to let you get a PSU underneath.

What are the above two boards like for putting a 'flat' isolated PSU underneath e.g. a Ciocks DC5 or a 1SpotCS6? That would be an important feature for me with any board I was getting.

Can you recall when the B3 first came out? I know it predates the Zoom MS-60B with which it shares the older chip set. I got my (first!) MS-60B when they first came out in early 2013...seemed like a lot of pedal back then, particularly for the size but feels a bit like ancient history now with advent of the Stomp - which I must work out how to switch on some time soon 😄

Don't do it...don't do it...don't do it! Don't get rid of your beloved Zoom B3n! 😂 Unless you're gonna be replacing it with the Zoom B1 four / x 😉 Must admit for £70 I really fancy getting that piece of kit as a neat and amazing value headphone amp, with the same DSP power as the B3N; and for another £15 getting the X-rated version with an expression pedal!** (Btw no pics, even the cut down one of your B3n is showing on your FS thread?) **ok I guess I need to self-declare as being a gear abstinence troll after that (and several other) comments on this thread. Soz Sibob. Not sure what the punishment is. Probably need to buy an Alembic bass or something...

Ok thanks. In which case they must be the original Sandberg pups. Just found details of typically used Berg pups from his highness, on a related thread, which is a good summary of the options (although tbf there are a lot of former Delano pup users who would say that the description below is being a little kind i.e. they were sterile / tame. But 'hi-fi' works if one is being too polite which those pups definitely were). If those had been Black Label pups, I'd have been very tempted to get the VM5 advertised as Bax are currently retailing them for £1,175.

[duplicate post]

Sandberg-experts (S-experts? 😉), and that certainly includes you Mr C(!), are these the famed 'black label' pups on this VM5? The retailer provides a pretty useless description accompanying the description on their site!

Hmmm...I'd best go quickly get myself a 'Berg then 😂 Btw - don't include me in the anti-Ric camp. I was actually very impressed when I picked one for the first time a couple of years back. Certainly blew the other leading bass (ok it was a couple of Laklands) that I was comparing it to, out the water in terms of tonal versatility and simply really good sound, and not what I'd gone in expecting.

Hah! Well you've laid down the challenge and I guess we've got a budget of up to around £2k to play with, if we're comparing like with like. So how about a Sandberg California TM4 then for starters? In terms of lacquer and, in fact, finish generally, it was pretty flawless!

I think with a 'cutting' edge product it's going to be hard to get folk to engage until they can see what a prototype is capable of. This will, I suspect, evolve with time into the Mk II and Mk III.

When you say 'finish' do you mean the 'look' of the bass (on that subject, each to their own) or did you mean the quality control / way it's been put together? In which case I'd say that was a BIG claim!

Snooze over a BBQ... but what a great way to be spending Easter on a day like today! 😎 Well you could maybe console yourself with an almost new BB734A in the FS, which is on for a good price. I suspect you may love it Interestingly the BB5000A that Andy mentioned a few posts back doesn't seem to be shifting quite so quickly...

Really sorry to hear about the OA Mark, that's rough.

Be nice to Cuzzie. Be nice to Cuzzie. Be nice to Cuzzie. Be nice to Cuzzie...

Swapping the Nordstrand pups out on the SR Premium range would be an expensive and totally retrograde step in my opinion. YMMV etc.!😎

Haha, you must be getting old if you're forgetting so quickly. But seriously Cuzzie, correct me if I'm wrong on any of the following: you play your basses almost exclusively in passive mode, you don't own a Yammy bass and you're not actively gigging? So dishing out advice to someone who's doing the opposite on all three counts would seem a bit odd to me.