My sadowsky: too bright, need mids

It might just be the wood combo. I just got my first ash/maple bass -- the LowEnd jazz in my avatar -- and the brightness does take a little getting used to. However, a Boss 10 band EQ pedal ($70) might give you some EQ to help you smooth things out to your liking. I sometimes use an Aguilar DB924 pedal which seems to make everything a little darker, thicker and punchier.

If you want to modify, an OBP-3 or U-retro might do the job.

Tone
You've read my posts on Sads being inherently bright (IMO) and the VTC help a lot if you have one. I do on both my PJ and MV4. The Maple/ash is brighter than the alder/rosewood too. If you have gigged with it I'm sure you noticed that this brightness helps to cut through the mix though. I solved my brightness issues with my PJ by putting flatwounds on it and I love it. My MV4 is for sale because I'm not a fan of maple on Sads in paticular ( I had to find out though) but I do fancy maple boards on other makes. I think the Sad preamp is excellent myself and that's one of the reason I have a Sad. I find there electronics to be very good and versitile. The first thing I would do is find some different strings as I've found that makes a huge difference. That's the cheapest way to get happy. Good luck.

I'll back up what big string said. I don't own a sadowsky, but have owned bright basses with boost only preamps.
Favoring bridge pickup should give you more mid emphasis. The vintage tone control will roll off your high end nicely. I think Sadowsky are doing retrofits of this to existing basses now

davidmwilson said:

I'll back up what big string said. I don't own a sadowsky, but have owned bright basses with boost only preamps.
Favoring bridge pickup should give you more mid emphasis. The vintage tone control will roll off your high end nicely. I think Sadowsky are doing retrofits of this to existing basses now

Click to expand...

I also agree with the above posts. The upcharge for the VTC is $150 and should help. Are the strings you are using stainless steel or nickel? If the are SS, try some nickel strings, they will tone down the brightness quite a bit.

I must admit after sampling a few Metros I chose the Alder/Rosewood beacause of the brightness. And I still added the VTC which I love, Try the VTC , also I use my preamp very little and relly on my pickup blend for a tone control, WORKS GREAT! My next Metro will be Maple/Ash, I want one bass that will do the Marcus Sizzle.

Burk, you probably noticed I have an MV4 for sale if your ready to buy. Got an add on this site. #334

If it's not ash/maple, I don't want it.

If you need alittle more mids, why not adjust the preamp on your amplifier alittle?

Big-Sting, I am "jonesin" for that MV4 unfortunently I'm unemployed right now and kinda watchin the funds.

It sounds like the tone just isn't happening for you, which doesn't mean the tone is bad...it's just not what you're looking for. I know it's kind of hard to admit defeat, but it would be easy to flip a Sadowsky and try something else. IMO if you've got to work the EQ that hard to get a sound you can deal with, it isn't right for you.

I think it's a function of the woods *and* the pre, as well as all those other x-factors like nut material, pickup placement, etc. I personally wouldn't start knackering the resale value of a popular-selling instrument by modifying it, but that's up to you. Good luck.

to bright? Hope this helps:

- My first Sad was an alder/rosewood VJ-4. It had no VTC and didn't need it; the tone was "Sadowsky" perfect. I used flatwound and nickel strings on it. Sometimes I adjusted the treble control to 50% (this is equal to 100% on other basses). Adjusting the treble beyond 50% resulted it a tone bright enough to shatter glass. I sold it to get an ash/maple Sadowsky.

- My second Sadowsky was ash/maple with a maple top and no VTC. I received it with steels strings on it. And yes, it was too bright. I didn't change the strings or make any modifcations. The fact that it didn't have a pickguard was enough to not keep it.

- My third Sadowsky is an ash/maple with VTC [and pickguard ]. I have nickel strings on it and the tone is "Sadowsky" perfect. I never use the VTC. Bass and treble adjustments produce the same results as my first Sadowsky.

- Sadowsky basses sound good, but do not sound like Fenders. By comparison, in passive mode, the Sadowsky sounds scooped with added emphasis in the low end. Add the pre and effect is doubled. If I were to add a preamp to a Fender jazz bass, 60% of the time, I would tweak it to sound like a Sadowsky. However, 40% of the time, I'd be in Fender heaven.

-- Seeing as how Fender quality is inconsistent, yesterday, I installed some Fralin single coil pups in my Sadowsky. This was not an attempt to improve the Sadowsky; but to see if I could "build a better Fender" using Sadowsky parts. I A/B'd the modified bass against three different fender basses: ash/rosewood, alder/maple, alder/rosewood. All four basses had stainless steel strings installed.

--- The Sadowsky sounded 90% Fender (in passive mode) with the Fralin pup installed. The tone was midrangy compared to the original pups. The highend was not as bright and sparkling as the Fenders.

--- I switched the Sadowsky to active mode with no boost in bass or treble. Now I have the openess, rawness and grind of a good Fender J-bass. I was 95% there, but something was still missing; the Fenders had a deeper, punchier low end.

-- I adjusted the bass control up little and though the bass sounded deeper, it was not more Fendery. The bass center frequency was not where I needed it to emulate the Fender low end; it was tuned much lower.

-- 95% ain't bad but it still isn't Fender. The bass sounded very good and could easily pass for a Fender if there were no real Fenders in the room. I think the near miss was due to the Fralin pickups. I removed the Fralins and will mail them back to the loaner tomorrow (Thanks!) I will order a set of Fender 60s CS pups later today (unless someone wants to loan me a set).

- If you're looking for the Fender tone, get a Fender. If you're looking for the Fender tone in a high quality, small body bass, try changing the pups in your Sadowsky if you decide to keep it. Start with the Fender CS 60s.

- IMO, the Sadowsky brightness starts in the pickup and is futher exaggerated by the preamp. If yours is too bright, try changing the strings or add the VTC. I prefer nickel strings and my Sadowsky sounds great with them.

JR
Excellent post. Thanks. I do have Nickel Sads on my MV4 and they sound the best out of 4-5 sets of different brands I've tried since I received the bass about 10 weeks ago. I think a lot of my prefernce towards my NYC PJ is the finger board being rosewood and the fact that I'm kinda hooked on Flats on that bass. I should put them on the MV4 and see what they sound like. The MV4 sounds very good to me but when in the mix of my band it was not that pleasing to me and I had a hard time hearing. It's seems to my ears that the "piano" type sustain/ring/vibe runs the notes together and are not defined as I find Flatwounds to be. With the flasts I still get plenty of smooth articulate high and suprising cutting mids with a 'different' bottom that thumps very unlike a kick-drum thump that you might think... I can usually hear myself very good in the mix while using the PJ with flats (Sadowsky Flats). I just tried some D'Adario Chromes on my Lakland USA Joe and they are all right but I like the Joe Osborn Flats better on that bass and would probably like the Sad Flats better too.

I did want to use a active bass with rounds that is why I bought the MV4 but alas...

HI!

I agree with JR mostly. Sadowsky's sound like Sadowsky's. Kinda like a Fender but with unique qualities. I read quite a bit on Talkbass about brightness issues. My 3 Sad's are ash/maple, ash/maple top/maple, ash/maple top/rosewood. I prefer the maple boards. The key is to take it easy on the preamp, both on the bass and especially on your amplifier. I discovered this a long time ago when I purchased my first ash/maple 24 fret. I was playing a blues gig and the top end was cutting my head off! I had used a Roscoe 5 the night before and had set my amplifier controls according to this bass. The Roscoe was warm and dark. I simply rearranged the treble and presence and ecstasy was restored!!!

I urge you to try this. Easy on the treble both amp and bass. Maybe a bit of mids on the amp depending on the gig. The bass boost on the bass should be ample for any room. Try these things before returning the bass

Rob

Hi!

Also, I play mostly finger style. I always use stainless strings and replace them as soon as they start to lose their zing

Rob