Sandberg California VM4 Bass with Matt Blueburst Finish

Only the best is good enough for Sandberg, so when it comes to their guitars and basses you know that you're not paying for "just another instrument", you're actually making a sound financial investment in something that has been painstakingly handcrafted and so exclusively unique that you will likely never see anyone else play the same one.

Classic looks with a modern twist

The general shape of the California VM4 bass is instantly recognisable to anyone who's ever caught even the slightest glimpse of a bass guitar at some point in their life. However, whilst it's shaped like a classic P-Bass, upon closer inspection it's obvious that the similarities are only superficial.

To begin with there's an additional pickup to contend with: a bridge positioned humbucker to compliment the mid-position Split Coil pickup. Secondly, the poles on each pickup are much wider than on a traditional P-Bass. Then there's the specially designed Sandberg bridge and the 2-band Active/Passive EQ... this is before we've even plugged it in and heard it in action!

The Pickups

As stated earlier, whilst the California II VM4 features a familiar looking split coil pickup, it also houses a nice, beefy Sandberg Powerhumbucker. Both pickups house larger-than-usual poles to accurately grab and process all string movements with zero loss. Just imagine: a meaty P-Bass style tone with an in-your-face Stingray type attack and you'll get an idea of just how awesome the Split coil pickup is.

Then there's the awesome M series bridge humbucker. This humbucker is based heavily around the popular Stingray style humbucker pickup shape, with a fat and grinding tone.

Use both pickups together, or individually, to produce a wide array of excellent tones, and explore their sonic possibilities further with the onboard Preamp system.

Sandberg 2-band Preamp

The preamp circuitry on the California VM4 is just as crafty as the pickups. 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

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 tones supplied by the solid wood body and awesome electronics system, and you will fast be running out of reasons NOT to buy it.

Contact our sales team directly to discuss the availability and delivery options available for any of our Sandberg products - they're always more than happy to help!

Technical Specifications

• Neck: 6 x Bolted, Canadian Hardrock Maple
• Fretboard: 22 Frets, Rosewood Fingerboard, Abalone Dots
• Scale: 34"
• Body: European Ash
• Finish: Matt, Blueburst, Whitepearl Pickguard
• Hardware: Sandberg, Chrome
• Pickups: 1 x Sandberg Split Coil, 1 x Sandberg Powerhumbucker
• Preamp: Sandberg 2-Band, Active/Passive, Passive Tone Control