I've owned the Sandberg Basic Ken Taylor 5 for about a month now, I'm loving the instrument more every day.
Looks/Finish:
The RW BKB model has a beautiful matte black finish that shows the grain of the wood in a nice way. The lighter neck with the dark fret board also gives a great look. The neck is very well sanded and feels very soft when sliding up and down.
A little downside is that there is a small spot on the fretboard below the 12th fret, but since wood is a product of nature, this can be forgiven.
The setup was almost perfect out of the box. Minimal fret buzz, great string height.
Sound:
This bass sounds absolutely insane. The sound in the default settings (pre-amp enabled, coil-split disabled, EQ flat, pickup blend centered) is perfect for most uses. It cuts through any mix because of great high end, and it cuts right through the mix in a live setting. If it doesn't, you can always adjust the pre-amp eq settings.
You can however tweak the sound to anything you can imagine. Pbass tone? Disable the preamp and boost the mids. Jbass tone? Enable the coilsplit and blend in the neck pickup.
This bass is so incredibly versatile, making it a perfect bass for anyone playing multiple genres or any studio bassist.
