Sandberg California VM-4 Oliver Riedel Signature Hardcore Aged Bass, Black

Description

Player's Perspective

Made over in Europe, with the finest German engineering, this Sandberg Oliver Riedel VM-4 will slap a smile on your face that you just can't shake. And this one really stands out from the bunch being the signature bass for the Rammstein bassist. It's got a beautiful hardcore age treatment that looks worn in but not overly beat up. The all-black look is only broken up by the natural wood peaking through in select spots.

The playability is just simply off the charts. The neck is extremely comfortable and it seems like everybody that picks one up instantly reaches the same consensus. 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 fretwork is perfect and it's very easy to achieve extremely low action without worrying about fret buzzing. The string spacing at the bridge can also be adjusted to fit your playing style and the overall feel from top to bottom is absolutely superb. 

As well as being effortless to play, this Sandberg VM-4 comes loaded with some potent electronics. The pickups are their new Black Label reverse split-coil and humbuckers. We are huge fans of these as they allow you to get a modern and hi-fi tone but also still retain some vintage characteristics. They're powerful and can really cut through a dense mix very easily. They have a certain grunt to them that really sounds awesome and they have a character to them that really gives them life. They're nice and growly, punchy, and defined while still having some of that openness that vintage pickups used to have. Some hi-fi and modern-sounding pickups can be a bit sterile, but definitely not these. They're a really great combo of vintage inspiration and modern tone-shaping.

You might also notice that the split-coil pickup is placed in an opposite orientation that you might traditionally find it. This is a brilliant adaptation of a tried and true design. By placing the E, and A string pole pieces closer to the bridge you end up with a tighter, punchier, and more focused tone on the bass strings while having a slightly fuller and rounder sound out of the D and G treble strings. The difference is quite subtle, though certainly present... We definitely dig it.

Rest assured, you can still achieve some fairly traditional P-bass tones with this as well. The orientation of the P pickup will always give it a bit extra tightness and growl, but it's pretty easily tameable and you can also run it in passive mode, too. Located directly behind that reverse-P is a big MM-style humbucker to add bite, growl, and attack to your notes. The ability to run this in active or passive mode only further adds to the immense versatility found here and the treble EQ knob doubles as a passive tone knob when you disengage the preamp. This is another "under the hood" feature that we just love from Sandberg.

We are all huge fans of Sandberg basses here at the shop and everyone that picks one up seems to immediately fall in love with them.

Details

Sandberg Guitars was founded back in 1986 by Holger Stonjek and Gerd Gorzelke. Since then, they have been producing hand-made instruments at the highest quality. This bass features Sandberg's newest version of the California body shape along with Sandberg pickups and preamp that Glockenklang helped them develop. The reverse-P pickup and MM-style bridge humbucker combine to provide anything from familiar vintage tones to uniquely modern and hi-fi sounds. This is an extraordinarily versatile bass. This bass is made with an alder body, Canadian hard maple, and an ebony fretboard.

Specifications

Body

• Model: California II VM-4 Oliver Reidel
• Color: Black
• Relic: Hardcore Age
• Body: Alder
  
  

Neck

• Construction: Bolt-On
• Fretboard: Ebony
• Radius: 14"
• Frets: 22 + Zero Fret
• Fretboard Inlays: None
• Neck Wood: Canadian Hard Rock Maple
• Finish: Satin
• Neck Profile: C-Shape
• Nut: 1.56" (39.5mm) Graphite
• Neck Depth @ 1st Fret: 0.79" (20mm)
• Scale: 34"
• Headstock: Black
  
  

Electronics

• Pickups: Sandberg Black Label Reverse Split-Coil + MM Humbucker
• Preamp: Custom 9v 2-Band EQ (designed by Glockenklang)
• Controls: Volume (push/pull for active/passive), Blend, Treble (and passive Tone), Bass
  
  

Hardware

• Bridge: Sandberg Custom 18.5mm - 20mm Adjustable String Spacing
• Tuners: Sandberg Ultra Light
• Hardware Finish: Black

Miscellaneous

• Case: Sandberg Gig Bag
• Made In Germany
• Instrument Weight: 8.2 lbs.