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Sandberg appreciation society

GisserD

By GisserD,
in Bass Guitars

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Henrythe8 Community Regular

Henrythe8

Posted
Posted

Joining the club with this one. 

I'm not at all a Sandberg expert, any help on this will be helpful. 

It's a TM5 made in 2011, especially for Fernando MAIER, bass player for the metal band Mägo de Oz. 

sandberg-tm5-hardcore-3823511.jpg?165815

 

sandberg-tm5-hardcore-3823510.jpg?165815

 

It' supposed to be rare, as the color is not readily available, and the block inlays are also yellow. It's a Hardcore aged treatment. 

I got this in a trade and was fairly surprised by the tonal qualities of the bass. The electronics active/passive with the twin band preamp are very helpful in finding a good tone, be it for modern or more vintagey sound. 

The volume/pushpull knob needs a bit of tightening, otherwise it's great. 

If anyone can help me with the specifics of this bass (especially by telling me if it tryly is special or jsut standard for the time...). 

Thanks. 

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timbo1978 Explorer

timbo1978

Posted
Posted (edited)

Fell in love with an electra that @ots was selling, but I missed out. 

 

tracked a new one down (specific older model with maple fingerboard) at bass direct and it arrived yesterday. 

 

Had to fiddle around to sort out a buzzing 10th fret on E string, but sounding superb. 👌 👌 👌 

20220820_164830.jpg

Edited by timbo1978
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chyc Experienced

chyc

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59 minutes ago, Biggsy2 said:

Just testing the water… I have a TM5 that’s seems to be my main go to bass now… So this TT4 hard core aged with a beautiful bound neck is not getting used as much as it should. Thing is m not really sure how much to ask for it?

 

You're asking the wrong crowd! Everyone here will massively undervalue it in the hope you do actually post it at that price, then snap it up.

 

Not me though, you can trust me. I think £150 is a fair asking price.

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Biggsy2 Enthusiast

Biggsy2

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1 hour ago, robiredale said:

sorry to hijack the thread briefly, but i'm wondering about buying a Sandberg. A five string Darkhawk. 

 

anyone got an experience with them? there's not a lot of feedback online about them. cheers!

 

1 hour ago, robiredale said:

sorry to hijack the thread briefly, but i'm wondering about buying a Sandberg. A five string Darkhawk. 

 

anyone got an experience with them? there's not a lot of feedback online about them. cheers!

Not that particular guitar but a quick look and it looks like a VM with two humbuckers. I’ve got a TM5 aged and it is fantastic, so playable with a really slick neck. 

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ead Grand Master

ead

Posted
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On 28/08/2022 at 19:19, robiredale said:

sorry to hijack the thread briefly, but i'm wondering about buying a Sandberg. A five string Darkhawk. 

 

anyone got an experience with them? there's not a lot of feedback online about them. cheers!

 

I used to have a 4-string Darkhawk (it's the one for sale at BassBros at the moment.  https://bassbros.co.uk/product/sandberg-california-ii-vm2-dark-hawk-4/

 

These are my thoughts and hopefully address your question!

 

The bass is a really nice thing to play, I think Sandbergs have some of the best necks out there.  The Darkglass EQ is unusual in that it has bass/lo mids/high mids and no treble control this gives it a more 'powerful' feel for want of a better word.  The pickups are the Sandberg Black Label items that have a higher output than the standard items, think Quarter Pounders, so plenty of mids there to be tweaked and this seems to align well with the Darkglass preamp.

 

This is a very powerful instrument with a lot of character.  Flexibility wise the blend control is useful and the switch essentially transforms it into a Jazz bass.  I think it's the two outer coils but not 100% certain.  Plus the EQ can do really good deep lows to being actually quite bright even without the treble control.

 

The Darkhawk was dreamed up by German retailer Musik Produktiv who married the Darkglass preamp to the existing Nighthawk model.  Here's what MP say about it:

 

We present a meeting of the giants exclusively at Musik Produktiv.  Yes, it was our idea to bring together two of today's most interesting bass companies. We had a modern bass concept in mind with an extraordinary sound concept. After many, many prototypes with different woods, bodies, pickups and their position, after several trips and meetings, we are more than proud to present our result.

 

The Darkhawk is - as the name suggests - based on a Sandberg Nighthawk, but is equipped with special pickup positioning, black label pickups and the Darkglass preamp. Together with the choice of wood, a steam hammer of tone was created that leaves no further questions unanswered. The prototypes have already been taken as a new reference tone both at Darkglass headquarters in Helsinki and at Sandberg Guitars in Braunschweig.  There couldn't be a better accolade for us!

 

I bought the bass new from Germany and used it for quite a while (never got to do a gig with it sadly).  It was bought on the back of me joining a metal band and needing something appropriate!  Sadly the project collapsed after some months.  At that point I realised that I had way to much gear and decided to shift a good number of basses, and whilst I have two other Sandbergs this was the one that was likely to be used least.  I do still miss tbh and have the BassBros page with the listing on my favourites list just in case.

 

 

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robiredale Rising Star

robiredale

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the reply - that's really helpful.

 

I've got the DG tone capsule in a couple of other basses, which is what initially caught my eye with this one. I really like it, especially good for metal but actually it works for a wider range of music than you'd expect. The hi-mid knob is a shelved boost, so as you say, the pre can do trebley tones even without a "treble" pot.

 

It sounds as though the Darkhawk has had a few mods from the Nighthawk to make it even more characterful. I do wonder if this is a little bit at the expense of its versatility though. Maybe a Nighthawk would be a better fit here, since I've already got the two DG-equipped basses. Or something else entirely!

 

Decisions decisions.

 

Thanks again!

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Quilly Experienced

Quilly

Posted
Posted
On 16/05/2018 at 12:42, dannybuoy said:

I've not been a fan of any of the VM/TM series based purely on demos I've heard, I always felt the MM pickup was too far south from its natural habitat and it didn't blend well with the P. I'd have to try one out for myself though!

I was always interested in the single pickup Basic model though as a slim necked Stingray alternative:

I picked up a Sandberg Basic from here for an absolute bargain and it's the best sounding bass I've ever had. Just plugged straight into any amp it sounds great even in passive mode, whereas with other basses, I've had I've always been trying different pedals and preamps to make them sound good!

20180516_120932.jpg

I’ve this bass in natural finish, I think it’s a great bass , I’ve owned an MM stingray and I still think this is a better sounding and playing bass as they placed the pick-up slightly closer to the neck . 

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