My sadowskys, spector ns-2 (haz), and musicman sterling and SR5 are all 9v, and I've never heard anything from any of them that made me think "this preamp needs more headroom".
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My 5 string is an early Hollywood Tobias. Great bass; but, the Bart TCT is kind of just adequate. The way I get what I want from that bass is to run it into the Sadowsky Outboard. Sauce.
Cause Jaco only needed four and Sadowsky only needs nine!
I did something even more blasphemous… I took all the guts out of my MTD 634 And put in a Sadowski preamp and Aguilar single coil pickups.
I'm working on getting some things posted to showcase it but let's just say… It's absolutely awesome. I wouldn't dare post about it on any of the MTD fanboy threads. You guys are scary
That's awesome. Did you have any issues with the through holes and pot thread length? I asked the shop about that install some time back for a Zon. They told me the pots would likely not install correctly on the 1/4" thick top. Which surprised me a bit. I ended up putting an East preamp in that bass, which has been also kind of adequate.
My MTD doesn't have a top wood on it so that might affect it but it actually dropped in fairly easily. I had a confident tech do the job for me and he did have to widen out the pick up cavity a little bit for the Aguilar pick ups. So now I have a base that is like a supercharged six string jazz bass With that signature Sadowsky sound and a little bit of a Warwick flavor with the walnut body and wenge neck
I was hoping a tech would chime in with specifics, but in the meantime: I think we're all aware of devices that can run on 9 or 18V and perform better with 18V (such as my Cali76 compressor pedal), but I believe that's because they draw more power and/or deliver more output. My layman understanding is that a properly designed 9v preamp will have as much headroom as a properly designed 18v preamp, though the former might not be capable of delivering as much output as the latter.
Again, I am not a tech, nor have I slept at a Holiday Inn Express, so I hope I'm not spreading urban myth. Consider this as bait for someone who has real expertise.
- Feb 3, 2005
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- Endorsing artist: Bergantino Audio Systems and GHS Strings
I spoke with Peter at Sadowsky today to start the order on my custom NYC. Here the specs:
-Will Lee 5
-Pearl Black body with black pearloid pickguard
-Master Grade birdseye maple fret board
-Pickups???
I just recently brought this up and got some good feedback, but Peter also threw this into the mix: Why not go for the new Super J???
Now, I'm REALLY stuck. I know what to expect from the standard JJ HCs and that's my comfort zone but I'm interested in something that may be even more versatile that isn't the typical Sadowsky tone everyone else has. I've got an idea about the soapbars but still uncomfortable with the idea without first hearing them accurately, and then there's the Super J that is probably the Swiss army knife of tone but honestly I'm on the fence with the looks. Looking for versatility from Jazz to motown to classic rock and even speed metal on the odd occasion (true, not joking! Lol).
Any last words of advice before I pull the trigger on a $6k bass? Flip a coin? Lol...
-Will Lee 5
-Pearl Black body with black pearloid pickguard
-Master Grade birdseye maple fret board
-Pickups???
I just recently brought this up and got some good feedback, but Peter also threw this into the mix: Why not go for the new Super J???
Now, I'm REALLY stuck. I know what to expect from the standard JJ HCs and that's my comfort zone but I'm interested in something that may be even more versatile that isn't the typical Sadowsky tone everyone else has. I've got an idea about the soapbars but still uncomfortable with the idea without first hearing them accurately, and then there's the Super J that is probably the Swiss army knife of tone but honestly I'm on the fence with the looks. Looking for versatility from Jazz to motown to classic rock and even speed metal on the odd occasion (true, not joking! Lol).
Any last words of advice before I pull the trigger on a $6k bass? Flip a coin? Lol...
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fwiw, I've got a wl5 build in the works. it's J/super J...
I'm assuming the Super J is the 60/70 pickup? I don't much like the look but it is a very cool idea.
I'm thinking you are putting the cart before the horse on this one. Right now you've spec'd out a black bass with a fancy fingerboard for 6k. What body wood are you going with, can you reference one of their standard models but a little more of something and a little less of something else? Do you have a preference of 60s or 70s spacing and have you compared single coils to the HCs? The tonal difference between single coils and the soaps are pretty obvious, I think you can develop an idea of what those differences are and if you want to move in either direction.
yeah. i'm a singles fanboi, and having both the '60s and '70s voice on tap was attractive. and i'm intrigued by the capability to use both coils in the bridge pup at once...
Good questions! Sorry, some of this was talked about recently a few pages back, so I didn't go into too much detail in the last post.
Bass woods = Ash/Maple
Standard model reference = ash maple with HC JJs in 60's location. I'm terrible with putting into words the tone I'm thinking for. Looking for something with a wee bit less upper mid grind while still retaining a good degree of potential "aggressiveness" that has a defined and bottom that doesn't get lost in the mix, like somewhere between the JJs and the Modern in terms of the low end, but more towards the JJs.
Pickup location preference = standard 60's location
HCs vs SCs = Yes, I've owned both, although on different basses, and the SCs add more of what I'm trying to get less of, so not considering those at the moment
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Super J's are growing on me somethin' fierce! I'm 95% I'm going that route. It will still get me the tone I know I like a lot (HC JJ's) so I can't regret it based on tone I find I don't like, it will take an already incredibly versatile bass to a new level of versatility, and it looks different enough to add an air of uniqueness, and I won't feel as silly dropping an extra $2k+ over simply grabbing a similar Metro model sans birdseye board. 
