Ander87

Hi guys! Well - it's been a ride... I started playing bass October 2018 after a long time playing guitars. Because of this, I am used to 'good gear' and knew I wouldn't settle for bad quality or an uncomfortable bass - I loved bass so much I ended up selling all my guitars and guitar gear to fund basses... The list has been long! I've had Spector, Stingray Specials, a Sandberg, Lakland, a Sadowsky MV5 and a couple of boutique basses like the Merlos I presented recently, a Sei I got in a trade or my ex-mine beloved Alpher. It's been a total of 9 basses in about 18 months, Jesus! Of all the basses I've had, the Alpher Mako (Jazz) and the Stingray Special 5 (Cruz teal, lovely!) have been my favourite tones and basses; I love a good punch and fat tones regardless or the genre but still with some zing and growl on the highs. Now that I am opening up to play not just my neosoul project but also want to get into an alt/hard/rock band, I ended up with this as my 'only' bass - and here it is! It's a Sandberg Grand Dark from sometime March 2020 equiped with the Darkglass Tone Capsule - this has the new pickups (TM plus, probs made by Delano?) that do give it an extra punch compared to how I remember the VM5 I had about a year ago. It would initially put me off to have a hi-mids / mids / bass preamp with no highs but to tell you the truth I don't miss them! I push them a tad bit in my amp to get my fundamental tone and I'm ready to go - boosting the preamp on hi-mids is plenty to do slap but without the 'hiss' or extra noise so I'm well happy - also banging feature - same volume either active or passive. Lastly, the musicman pickup splits to single coil. The wood department is alder body, hard rock maple neck and a gorgeous, nice chocolate streaky pau ferro board. Coming in at 4.15kg so defo well manageable! For obvious reasons I haven't tested it on a band environment but I do have to admit I love it, I feel at home with it's tones and should be one I'm planning to keep for a while! the finish is perfect and it is plek'd and all that - you know how Sandbergs do, I feel like this is a tier up compared to the regular sandys with the revisited pickups and new preamp...! With this, I am retiring off the marketplace for a while now (gosh, believe me it's been draining!), focus on playing and learning more. That doesn't mean I don't need a Line6 HX Effects to cover compressors and whatnot but hey, amp and bass is settled at last! Best, Ander.

I just got this Sandberg two days ago... Absolutely loving it! The darkglass pre and the pickups tick all my Stingray and Jazz needs and more...! Worth considering, I used to have a VM5 and this one is definitely a different beast...! Ander.

That's a very good point @itu - initially it ticks all of my boxes, but what if it's not what I expect? buying blind unfortunately has to allow for that possibility that it may not be for me. I want to reduce all my gear to that 5er that does most of what I want it to do right - if that ever exists....!

Hi gang, I've been offered a trade involving a Pavel de la Fuente bass - I've looked around and there's zero info on them in here; nonetheless, talkbass has some juicy dramas about scams from allegedly 3rd parties, deposits taken for basses never delivered after 2 or 3 years... The reality is the bass on offer is here and it does look good. Hipshot hardware, nordstrand electronics, swamp ash and hard rock maple - all in it looks well finished and the actual owners I've seen mention they are fantastic basses but hmmmmm.... thinking in terms of resale if I change my mind in the future and whatnot is always the trouble with less known brands...! What do you guys think / know / would do?