Came set up straight out of the box, feels great and the sound is really, really good. I was surprised to learn that the mini-switch on the control plate isn't for active/passive (that's done on the push-pull volume knob) but a split for the humbucker - It's listed in the specs I just missed it so that's a pleasant surprise - that means you get an impressive range of tonal possibility, including a proper sounding J-bass scoopy growl with the split humbucker and neck pickup blended 50/50 and the solo'ed humbucker which sounds more like a stingray than my EBMM stingray.
I love that there's no volume jump when switching between active/passive - this is something all brands should implement.
Also it is VERY light. I know it's in the name and Sanberg have a whole line of these but I wasn't expecting it to be this lightweight. This isn't bad at all but feels a little different, especially when switching between it and other basses.
Two things I was not amazed by but don't hurt the 5-star overall:
- the treble boost is noisy when boosted. Like you get a healthy amount of hiss without having to crank it all the way. Thankfully the source from the pickups is clear and crisp enough that I didn't find myself needing to boost the onboard highs too much, rather shaping the sound via pedals/amp EQ gave me good results.
- Passive tone control: When you switch to passive mode, the treble knob (cut only, so from the middle and down) serves as a tone rolloff - I would have appreciated a more gradual curve for that; You're already starting with half of the knob's travel range and the vast majority of the difference in tone happens in the final micro-turns near the end. Also I would have liked the maximum rolloff to go a little lower than it currently goes. To compare to my Sire P8 - when I roll off the passive tone on that one I get a very smooth and clean subby texture and the Sandberg rolled off all the way kind of sounds like a fender P with the tone knob at 25% - so if I need a super low sound like that I would involve pedals/EQ on the amp.
