Sandberg Basses TT4 Lake Placid Blue High Gloss

TT4 Lake Placid Blue High Gloss

Sandberg’s Jazz bass

This is the California TT4 from Sandberg, out of Braunschweig, Germany. Basically, the California TT is the model where they stop improving on the Jazz Bass and simply build a very good one.

The outline, the two single coils and the four-knob control plate are all familiar. However, the standard of the work underneath is something else. For example, you can run your hand over the fret ends without noticing them. In addition, there’s no gap in the neck pocket, and the finish has been levelled rather than just sprayed.

Lake Placid Blue and tortoise

This one is in Lake Placid Blue High Gloss, with a tortoise pickguard and chrome hardware. The metallic blue goes almost silver where the light catches the upper bout. At the same time, it drops to a deep petrol in the shadow of the horns.

For me personally, it’s the classic combination for a reason. The warm browns and ambers in the guard stop the blue from looking cold, and the chrome ties the two together, right?

High Gloss is Sandberg’s clean tier. Therefore there’s no ageing, no checking and no wear here. It’s a brand new instrument that somebody took their time over.

Body, Neck & Woods

Alder body

The body is alder, and I would say it’s the right choice for a bass built around two single coils. In fact, alder is the most even-handed wood in this family.

You get a firm, quick low end that doesn’t bloom or wander. Moreover, the midrange sits far enough forward to hold a line in a loud band, and the top end stays open without going brittle.

Ash scoops the sound and mahogany thickens it, whereas alder doesn’t stamp its own character on it. In other words, it gets out of the way, which means that you hear the pickups and the neck rather than the wood. That’s why an alder Jazz bass works in almost any style you throw at it.

High Gloss and tortoise guard

Sandberg’s gloss work is properly thin for a poly finish. In addition, the metallic flake is laid down evenly, so the colour shifts smoothly across the curve of the body instead of clouding in the corners.

The tortoise guard is a celluloid-look pattern with real depth. For example, you get mottled reds and dark browns rather than a flat printed sheet. In my opinion, it’s the detail that makes this bass look considered rather than catalogue-standard.

Six-bolt maple neck

The neck is Canadian hard rock maple, bolted on with six screws instead of the usual four. That extra pair isn’t decoration, because it spreads the clamping load across the heel. As a result, the joint doesn’t work loose over years of seasonal movement.

It also couples the neck tighter to the body, which means a little more sustain and a firmer fundamental. The profile is a C shape. Basically, it’s full enough to fill your hand, but not so deep that it slows you down. Furthermore, the back of the neck stays fast when the room gets hot.

Pau Ferro board, 14″ radius

The fingerboard is Pau Ferro with dot inlays. Pau Ferro sits between rosewood and ebony in both density and sound. Specifically, it’s harder and tighter-grained than rosewood, so the attack has more definition and the note speaks a little faster. However, you don’t get the glassy top end that ebony can bring.

On a bass that can run passive that matters, because there’s no preamp to add the clarity back in. Therefore the board has to supply it.

There are 22 frets in 2.7 mm wire over a 14″ radius. That’s flatter than a vintage Jazz board, and it stays flat all the way up. Consequently, you can set the action really low without the high notes choking out on bends. Finally, the 34″ scale and 39.5 mm nut keep everything in familiar territory.

Electronics, Sound & Feel

Delano JMVC single coils

The pickups are Delano JMVC single coils in both positions, made in Germany. Delano wind tighter and more consistently than most. Moreover, the JMVC is their take on the classic Jazz single coil, not a modern reinvention of it.

For example, you get even output across all four strings and a vocal midrange with real growl in it. In addition, the top end has air rather than hiss.

Solo the neck pickup and you get a round, fat sound, almost P-bass-y. In contrast, the bridge pickup gives you that nasal, mid-forward bark that cuts through a horn section without any EQ. With both wide open, the two coils cancel the hum. As a result, you get the scooped, springy both-pickups sound you’ve heard on more records than anyone can count.

Active or fully passive

Where the TT4 pulls away from a straight vintage copy is the circuit. The four knobs are Volume, Balance, Treble and Bass, running a Sandberg 2-band EQ. Above all, the whole preamp switches out, so the bass goes fully passive with a passive tone control.

Active, you get boost and cut on both ends. For instance, there’s enough treble to make a fresh set of rounds sing for slap. Likewise, there’s enough bass to fill out a sparse trio without leaning on the amp.

In passive, however, the battery leaves the signal path entirely and the output softens. Consequently, the bass gets that slightly compressed, springy response that only a passive Jazz bass has. In short, it’s two different instruments and one switch. Besides, if the battery dies mid-set, it costs you a knob-pull and not the gig.

Chrome hardware

Meanwhile, the hardware is chrome throughout. Sandberg’s own bridge has enough mass under the saddles to feed sustain and low-end definition back into the body. Furthermore, the string spacing adjusts between 19 and 20.5 mm. Therefore you can set the strings where your right hand wants them, not where the factory left them.

The lightweight tuners keep weight off the headstock. As a result, on a 34″ four-string, that means it hangs level on a strap over a two-hour set instead of pulling for the floor.

What’s not to like?

In my opinion, this is the bass for the player who wants one Jazz bass to be the only bass they bring. Indeed, it covers passive vintage and modern active from the same body without compromising either.

Moreover, it’s built to a standard that will still be holding up in twenty years. Lake Placid Blue with tortoise also stands out on the rack, that’s for sure. In addition, it comes in the Sandberg gigbag. Finally, this exact spec, High Gloss, alder, Pau Ferro and tortoise, is a one-off on our floor. So, what’s not to like?