I believe that the Sadowsky shop can route the neck pickup space to fit either a P or J pickup. So, you can have some variety when playing. Personally, I love the tone of the Sadowsky PJ, and if I want to remove some of the P pickup boom, I simply pan to the bridge J pickup a bit.
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I believe that the Sadowsky shop can route the neck pickup space to fit either a P or J pickup. So, you can have some variety when playing. Personally, I love the tone of the Sadowsky PJ, and if I want to remove some of the P pickup boom, I simply pan to the bridge J pickup a bit.
I love the PJ tone on the E and A strings, but the D and G sound thinner (scooped, plinky, whatever) because the treble coil of the P pickup is closer to the bridge. That said... I've known some players who get great PJ tone across all four (or five) strings. Not sure why... maybe it's EQ, or how they set the pan pot, or something else.
Yeah, a lot of people owns and loves PJ style basses (Sadowskys or not). Admittedly I've never tried a Sadowsky PJ, sure heard audio samples of them though...I owned a passive Fender style PJ for a couple of months and it wasn't my cup of tea.
I very much enjoyed Sadowsky blue flats on my J. Some samples with the bass in passive mode (had a small battery issue that night where it didn't seat correctly):
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As I said before, I recently sold the MV5 pictured in my avatar
This instrument had some weak spots (open D string and D note @ 5th fret of the A string) and particularly a dead spot on the 7th fret of the G string. I was not satisfied with having to fiddle with a FatFinger or such.
Also, I felt that the presence of the fifth string by itself affected the way I was grooving, to the point that sometimes I thought it was kind of in the way.
Around a month ago, I randomly stumbled across an used (but as new condition) RS4 in a local shop. I tried it without expecting anything special, but it really struck me.
That bass seemed to have it all: it was very lightweight, it sustained like a mofo, had no dead spots (a very minor loss of sustain @ the 8th fret of the G string and that's it), it even seemed to sound much better than my MV5, even though it was difficult to compare since strings and setup were completely different. Very quick attack, the notes were jumping out of the fretboard, and that was strange to me because on paper my MV5 should have had those qualities, instead of an alder/pau ferro instrument.
After some stalling, the owner of the shop refused to do a trade for mine. That was too bad, because I couldn't get that bass out of my head.
Thinking that maybe I was mythicizing a random bass tried in a random shop, I put my bass for sale but promised myself to try as many instruments as possible in the process.
To be more specific, that's what I personally tried in the last 30 days (and, mind you, that's not an attempt of bashing any maker, they were all high range instruments):
2 Mike Lulls (V4 and PT4)
2 Fender Custom Shop (Closet Classic J '64 and Journeyman Relic Jazz)
3 other Sadowskys (1 Metro UV '60, 1 Metro UV '70, an early '90s NYC Jazz)
3 Mid-to-late seventies Fenders P ('75 with A neck, a '77 and a '79)
...And still, that RS 4 was clearly above any of them (that CS '64 had just a perfect tone though, tbh). It just had "THAT thing" going on. When I tried it again 3 days ago, after selling my MV5, I immediately understood that I just had to buy it and call it a day.
So, here I am with this bass now and an 80€ loss, but I think was worth it.
The moral of this long story: choosing based on brand and on-paper specs may get you the best bass for your needs, OR NOT.
It was interesting to realize that, even when speaking of basses with a consistently good QC such as Sadowskys (fit and finish was top notch on all of them), EACH of them had a different and unique soul. I'm now a believer of TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.
Even more interesting, out of the 5 Sads I've owned and/or tried in total, the NYC would not even made it to the Top 3, but I'm sure it was just a coincidence. This on the other hand confirms that Metros are fantastic value for the money, especially used.
Pics will follow tomorrow, you can hear it here with fresh Thomastik Flats though:
This instrument had some weak spots (open D string and D note @ 5th fret of the A string) and particularly a dead spot on the 7th fret of the G string. I was not satisfied with having to fiddle with a FatFinger or such.
Also, I felt that the presence of the fifth string by itself affected the way I was grooving, to the point that sometimes I thought it was kind of in the way.
Around a month ago, I randomly stumbled across an used (but as new condition) RS4 in a local shop. I tried it without expecting anything special, but it really struck me.
That bass seemed to have it all: it was very lightweight, it sustained like a mofo, had no dead spots (a very minor loss of sustain @ the 8th fret of the G string and that's it), it even seemed to sound much better than my MV5, even though it was difficult to compare since strings and setup were completely different. Very quick attack, the notes were jumping out of the fretboard, and that was strange to me because on paper my MV5 should have had those qualities, instead of an alder/pau ferro instrument.
After some stalling, the owner of the shop refused to do a trade for mine. That was too bad, because I couldn't get that bass out of my head.
Thinking that maybe I was mythicizing a random bass tried in a random shop, I put my bass for sale but promised myself to try as many instruments as possible in the process.
To be more specific, that's what I personally tried in the last 30 days (and, mind you, that's not an attempt of bashing any maker, they were all high range instruments):
2 Mike Lulls (V4 and PT4)
2 Fender Custom Shop (Closet Classic J '64 and Journeyman Relic Jazz)
3 other Sadowskys (1 Metro UV '60, 1 Metro UV '70, an early '90s NYC Jazz)
3 Mid-to-late seventies Fenders P ('75 with A neck, a '77 and a '79)
...And still, that RS 4 was clearly above any of them (that CS '64 had just a perfect tone though, tbh). It just had "THAT thing" going on. When I tried it again 3 days ago, after selling my MV5, I immediately understood that I just had to buy it and call it a day.
So, here I am with this bass now and an 80€ loss, but I think was worth it.
The moral of this long story: choosing based on brand and on-paper specs may get you the best bass for your needs, OR NOT.
It was interesting to realize that, even when speaking of basses with a consistently good QC such as Sadowskys (fit and finish was top notch on all of them), EACH of them had a different and unique soul. I'm now a believer of TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.
Even more interesting, out of the 5 Sads I've owned and/or tried in total, the NYC would not even made it to the Top 3, but I'm sure it was just a coincidence. This on the other hand confirms that Metros are fantastic value for the money, especially used.
Pics will follow tomorrow, you can hear it here with fresh Thomastik Flats though:
I own a JJ5 with singles and a PJ5. Both are Metros, RV5's. For me as a finger player, the JJ5 with singles is better for faster runs, much sweeter up top, cleaner for chordal work and anything articulate. I find the PJ5 better suited for reggae, slower rock, ballads - anything where the foundation needs to be thick and solid. Again, this is with fingers but I'm sure the PJ5 would just crush with a pick. I've never owned a P-Bass so I can't really compare the PJ5 to one of those.
For slap I prefer the JJ5 but the PJ5 has a uniqueness all its own. They are definitely 2 different animals. I'm a newer Sadowsky owner (I got my JJ5 last May, the PJ5 a couple months ago) so I'm still dialing my perfect tone. One thing I realized, I've pretty much got everything I need covered with both of these basses.
For slap I prefer the JJ5 but the PJ5 has a uniqueness all its own. They are definitely 2 different animals. I'm a newer Sadowsky owner (I got my JJ5 last May, the PJ5 a couple months ago) so I'm still dialing my perfect tone. One thing I realized, I've pretty much got everything I need covered with both of these basses.
As I said before, I recently sold the MV5 pictured in my avatar
This instrument had some weak spots (open D string and D note @ 5th fret of the A string) and particularly a dead spot on the 7th fret of the G string. I was not satisfied with having to fiddle with a FatFinger or such.
Also, I felt that the presence of the fifth string by itself affected the way I was grooving, to the point that sometimes I thought it was kind of in the way.
Around a month ago, I randomly stumbled across an used (but as new condition) RS4 in a local shop. I tried it without expecting anything special, but it really struck me.
That bass seemed to have it all: it was very lightweight, it sustained like a mofo, had no dead spots (a very minor loss of sustain @ the 8th fret of the G string and that's it), it even seemed to sound much better than my MV5, even though it was difficult to compare since strings and setup were completely different. Very quick attack, the notes were jumping out of the fretboard, and that was strange to me because on paper my MV5 should have had those qualities, instead of an alder/pau ferro instrument.
After some stalling, the owner of the shop refused to do a trade for mine. That was too bad, because I couldn't get that bass out of my head.
Thinking that maybe I was mythicizing a random bass tried in a random shop, I put my bass for sale but promised myself to try as many instruments as possible in the process.
To be more specific, that's what I personally tried in the last 30 days (and, mind you, that's not an attempt of bashing any maker, they were all high range instruments):
2 Mike Lulls (V4 and PT4)
2 Fender Custom Shop (Closet Classic J '64 and Journeyman Relic Jazz)
3 other Sadowskys (1 Metro UV '60, 1 Metro UV '70, an early '90s NYC Jazz)
3 Mid-to-late seventies Fenders P ('75 with A neck, a '77 and a '79)
...And still, that RS 4 was clearly above any of them (that CS '64 had just a perfect tone though, tbh). It just had "THAT thing" going on. When I tried it again 3 days ago, after selling my MV5, I immediately understood that I just had to buy it and call it a day.
So, here I am with this bass now and an 80€ loss, but I think was worth it.
The moral of this long story: choosing based on brand and on-paper specs may get you the best bass for your needs, OR NOT.
It was interesting to realize that, even when speaking of basses with a consistently good QC such as Sadowskys (fit and finish was top notch on all of them), EACH of them had a different and unique soul. I'm now a believer of TRY BEFORE YOU BUY.
Even more interesting, out of the 5 Sads I've owned and/or tried in total, the NYC would not even made it to the Top 3, but I'm sure it was just a coincidence. This on the other hand confirms that Metros are fantastic value for the money, especially used.
Pics will follow tomorrow, you can hear it here with fresh Thomastik Flats though:
I'm on the same page as you. One thing I've learned over the past ten years of buying (and special ordering) basses is that you can never be sure of how a bass will sound based on specs and theory. You will only know if a bass is going to work out for you once you have actually tried it. Most of my special orders have ended in disappointment - not through any fault of the builder, just because wood is wood and you can never be sure (actually, graphite is also graphite, as I learned when I received my Status a few years ago). I always wince a bit when I hear people make statements such as "you can't go wrong with ..." or "every ... sounds amazing". No, such generalizations simply don't hold water - regardless of who is building the basses.
A couple of years ago I received a special order Sadowsky and, upon receiving it, found I just didn't like it (I'd owned a few Sadowskys prior to this one). There was nothing "wrong" with the bass - it just wasn't doing it for me. I decided to take it back to the shop and choose a new one in person. Before leaving for NYC I checked out the In Stock page and zeroed in on a couple of Jazzes that I figured I would like. Once at the shop, I tried a whole bunch of basses and, sure enough, none of the ones I thought would be contenders made the cut. In the end I narrowed it down to two basses: a vintage Jazz with a maple board (I tend to gravitate towards rosewood but this bass was just as "warm" sounding as any of the rosewood boarded basses I tried that day) and a Modern (I'd previously never had any interest in the Moderns and only tried a couple at the shop that day on a whim). To my surprise, I walked away with the Modern. That day changed my perspective on bass buying and I no longer get the kind of GAS I used to when I see a gorgeous looking bass.
unfortunately, I haven't learned that last lesson, yet.
Amen. I often get involved in the "does wood matter?" threads not because I think it doesn't, but because in my decades of experience it can be so unpredictable. I've learned first-hand that there can be dramatic audible differences from so-called "identical" basses. Just one example is a pair of Fender Roscoe Beck fivers I owned, both built in 1997. I gave them identical setups using identical brand new strings and still heard surprising differences whether plugged in or not. If I didn't know better I'd have thought one had an ash body instead of alder. I've heard differences in other "identical twins" I've owned... but more to the point boutique builders have done similar experiments, sometimes using counterparts cut from the same planks of wood, and also found differences.
Anyway, a Fender-style bass with an ash body and maple neck will probably have a certain tonal vibe, but there are never any guarantees. I've done the special order thing and have also been surprised (sometimes disappointed) because the result was far from what I expected.
maybe moral of this story is this: you find a bass that "sings" for you, no matter what it looks like, or what brand it has on the headstock, etc. You obtain it, you treasure it, and you NEVER let it go.
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I had one of those... Burglaries are a PITA. Had I not lost all my stuff a couple years back I would have probably not found my way to a Sadowsky. I'd still be playing that '97 Fender AM Std 5. The burglary kind of forced me to step out of the box and try new things, one of them being active electronics. Ive found the Sadowsky tone was what I've been searching for.
Just the same way a fretted note can... as in, reduced sustain of the fundamental compared to the other notes, leaving only the upper harmonics. You can find them even unplugged, just by feeling how the neck vibrates and resonates when you reach those spots.
I haven't found a bass without weaker notes so far (and I have played my share of expensive instruments), but most of the time it is a minimal or tolerable issue and not so severe to deserve the term of "DEAD" spot. That's what actually happens 99% of the time when people say that their bass has not dead or weak spots whatsoever (they just haven't looked hard enough, but that's just my humble opinion)
I haven't found a bass without weaker notes so far (and I have played my share of expensive instruments), but most of the time it is a minimal or tolerable issue and not so severe to deserve the term of "DEAD" spot. That's what actually happens 99% of the time when people say that their bass has not dead or weak spots whatsoever (they just haven't looked hard enough, but that's just my humble opinion)
Guys and girls, I'm sorry if this is the wrong place to ask this but could someone describe the neck profile on a Will Lee 4 Metro for me?
I've had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands so I am very picky about the size of a neck. I also have relatively small hands. I also suck as a player so thinking of a bass as this price point is hard for me to imagine but I really want to be able to continue using my hands in the future, LOL.
The smaller nut width caught my attention which then made me wonder about the profile in general.
Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.
I've had carpal tunnel surgery on both hands so I am very picky about the size of a neck. I also have relatively small hands. I also suck as a player so thinking of a bass as this price point is hard for me to imagine but I really want to be able to continue using my hands in the future, LOL.
The smaller nut width caught my attention which then made me wonder about the profile in general.
Thanks for your time, I appreciate it.
I'm considering an NYC build of a MV5-24 with soapbars in the 60's location. I've inquired and it's possible, but I'm worried about the available space for slapping between the neck pickup and the neck. I haven't seen this config on this model before and my searches for pictures haven't rendered any useful images to get a clear idea on this. Anyone have any advice here? Good idea, bad idea?
I've got arthritis in the basal (thumb) joint of my hands--which are relatively small. The narrower nut width on the WL is far more comfortable for me in the money frets.
My good 'ol RV-5 is up for sale, and my WL-5 is my gig bass. Never noticed much difference in the neck profile, itself, other than the width--but that was the deal-maker.
Note: I'm a five-string player talking about the fivers.
The smaller neck (to match the smaller nut width) feels chunkier to me front-to-back than the standard necks (on the 5s). That might just be an impression produced by the neck being narrower but that's how I feel it. I could see the smaller necks/nuts working well for someone with smaller hands. I like both nut sizes but prefer the wider option by a hair (I have long fingers though).
That actually helps quite a bit! It's pretty clear that it there's probably not enough space for the kind of playing I like to do. I may have to forego the 24 frets and pick up that Black Will Lee 5 with birdseye maple fret board they got up on the site right now...
