Sandberg California VM-5 5-String Bass, Soft Aged Orange Metallic, Aguilar

Music Store Live is proud to be an official Sandberg dealer! We're offering up this beautiful VM-5 35" scale bass with Aguilar electronics and Sandberg's lowest level of relic, the soft age.

Sandberg now offers Aguilar pickups and electronics for some of their builds. This is perfect for the player that wants the Sandberg feel and build quality (which is simply out of this world) but also wants that crystal clear and immensely versatile Aguilar tone that has become so immensely popular in the bass world. Really, this is a beautiful marriage between an amazing bass guitar manufacturer and one of the best bass pickup manufacturers in the world to provide a bit of a more old school sonic option.

Sandberg basses are already very well known over in Europe and are now gaining popularity here in the U.S. for being some of the finest hand-made boutique basses available. The playability is just simply off the charts. Whether you're a 4-string player or used to 5-strings, you'll feel right at home on this one. The flat 14" fretboard radius is a joy to maneuver on and the neck is thin enough to maximize comfort without feeling like you're playing a toothpick. The B and E-strings is incredibly tight and punchy thanks to the 35" scale length.

As well as being effortless to play, this Sandberg VM-5 comes loaded up with an Aguilar 5P 60's and an AG-5M in the bridge. The mids are nice and pronounced in the bridge while the neck pickup feels warm, round, and wooly. The Aguilar preamp provides a fairly transparent option but definitely does have a little bit of its own color to add some oomph to the signal. The sound is thick and thumpy with some serious punch down low and snap and sizzle up top. It can sound modern with a mid-scoop, vintage if you solo the neck pickup, or really anything in between. The reverse-P orientation gives some tightness to the bass strings and extra fullness to the treble strings (we're big fans!) but that pickup is very much voiced off of a 60's p-bass tone. By adding that humbucker into the mix, you can achieve super growly and barky tones that compliment the P-pickup or solo the bridge for that growly and barky type of modern jazz tone.

A great thing (Sandberg basses) just got even better (with Aguilar electronics) and we're pretty darn happy about it!