Sandberg California TM4 Bass Guitar Ash Body Natural Finish Maple Neck

Ever since the company's conception in 1986, Sandberg has been a by-word for quality and class. Now, more than thirty years later, that continues to be the case with them going from strength to strength in the construction of high-quality, hand-crafted, customisable guitars and bass guitars. Whether it's their most affordable model, or a 100% custom build, you just know that the instrument will be worth every penny you pay for it and more.

The same, but different...

The offset waisted body of the California TM4 is instantly recognisable to bass players the world over, being an homage to arguably the most popular bass guitar in modern history: the Jazz Bass. However, whilst being shaped the same as its famous counterpart, the California TM4 differs in many respects.

For a start there's the pickups, where we have here a Single Coil & Humbucker combination, instead of the standard two single coils. Both pickups also noticeably have much wider poles than a standard pickup, meaning that all of the string movements are captured and no vibrations or frequencies are lost.

Did I mention that the humbucker was also on a split coil circuit, meaning it can be utilised as a second single coil pickup at the flick of a switch?

You also have the specially designed Sandberg hardware to contend with, an incredible 2-band preamp system, a European Ash body with a Matt Natural wood finish... I could go on forever, but first let's have a look at those pickups.

The Pickups

The T series neck single coil is a classic reconstruction of the vintage Jazz Bass pickups from the 1960's and 1970's, and grants you a nice blend of woody low-mid growls and warm articulate midrange as well as that trademark funky "twang" that the pickups became famous for.

Then there's the powerful M series bridge humbucker. This humbucker is based heavily around the popular Stingray style humbucker pickup shape, with a very wide string sensing area to pick up as much tonal colour as possible. This gives you fat and grinding tone when in humbucker mode, but at the flick of a switch can be converted into a bright and clear sounding single-coil instead. With a warm bass and low-mid response, and extra voice on the mids and bright percussive top end, this pickup is as versatile as you could want or need it to be.

Sandberg 2-band Preamp

The preamp circuitry on the California TM4 is simply perfect for the modern bassplayer. What initially looks like a standard setup has a clever little surprise in store, in the shape of a push/pull Volume control knob that allows you to set the preamp to Active or Passive.

Next to the Volume control you have the Balance control, which acts as a nice pickup selector "Blend" option, where you can determine the level of each pickup in the mix (centre position has both pickups running at 100%, or turn the control in the direction of the pickup you want to be at the forefront to make it so). The Treble control allows you to either boost the Treble or cut the tone, which works even in passive mode! And finally there's the Bass control, which works in the same way as the Treble control (without the passive cut) but for your low-end frequencies. Exciting stuff!

Made to be Played

Sandberg bass guitars are renowned the world over for being high-quality and extremely versatile, and the California TM4 is just one of many prime examples that this reputation is well deserved. With the ergonomic and solidly constructed chassis, this guitar is most certainly one that you could grace a stage with. The curvature of this relatively lightweight body rests comfortably against you as you play, making even the longest of shows and studio sessions pass by that bit quicker. Add that to the perfect sounding tonal spectrum supplied by the solid wood body and awesome electronics system, and you will fast be running out of reasons NOT to buy it.

To discuss the availability of this, or any of our Sandberg products, contact our sales team directly.

Technical Specs

• Neck: 6 x Bolted, Canadian Hardrock Maple
• Fretboard: 22 Frets, Rosewood
• Orientation: Right-Handed
• Scale: 34"
• Body: European Ash
• Finish: Matt, Natural
• Hardware: Sandberg
• Pickups: 1 x Delano T-Style Single Coil, 1 x Delano M-Style Humbucker (Coil Split option)
• Preamp: Sandberg 2-Band EQ, Active/Passive, Passive Tone Control