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Club Sadowsky!!!

#41,661
Speaking of pickups. I wanted to share a couple links here I found of Will Lee playing Shoppin' 'round Again, one with his Sadowsky JJ bass and the other with his Sadowsky Soapbar bass in 60's locations. Both videos at the same club with the same rig. There's slap and fingerstyle going on. On the Soapbar video, he even does tapping and harmonics. Best A/B videos I've seen yet.

Thought this might be interesting. What do you guys think? Which do you prefer?

JJs


Soapbars (Shoppin' starts at 3:05 here)
 
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#41,664
jonathanhughes said:
If you're able to listen through decent speakers, the difference is (to me at least) very distinct. They both sound great, but the JJ definitely gives the classic slap tone 9as I'd expect).
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agreed. I put on a set of studio headphone monitors and A/B'd for a couple hours (I've got purchasing decisions to make ;)). Both are cool. I loved the fatness of the soapbars but preferred the extended highs and the more aggressive attack of the JJs. Overall, I'm leaning toward the JJs at this point.
 
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#41,665
Scott McArron said:
agreed. I put on a set of studio headphone monitors and A/B'd for a couple hours (I've got purchasing decisions to make ;)). Both are cool. I loved the fatness of the soapbars but preferred the extended highs and the more aggressive attack of the JJs. Overall, I'm leaning toward the JJs at this point.
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Agreed. It got me thinking about what a P-type soapbar would do!

Viel spass beim einkaufen!
 
#41,666
Gab124 said:
Not the best recording though to be sure of a distinct difference.
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Good point. Sure, Will's playing the same song with the same band in the same venue with what appears to be the same backline, but we have no idea whether he's using the same settings on his bass and rig, and in FOH for that matter (might even be a different sound man), etc. I'm not saying the video comparison isn't useful; only that it's far from a perfect A/B.

I enjoyed both videos because Will is so amazing.
 
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#41,668
From a post I made Jan 15. Hope it helps a bit---

Luckydog said:
Based on your original question, yes the P pup on a Sadowsky PJ is in the typical fender P position. My Sadowsky PJ with the P pup soloed does not sound precisely like my fender P's....but each of those P's sound different from each other as well! They all (fender P's, as well as Sadowsky PJ with P pup soloed) sound like....P-basses!

You can get into the minutia about the pickup winding differences to accomodate the added jazz pup on a Sadowsky PJ, you can also get into the aspect of the electronics unique to a PJ and whether or not they adversely impact the P pup (I defy you to discern any such impact on a Sadowsky PJ). Bottom line, a Sadowsky PJ with P pup soloed sounds like a fender P.
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#41,669
barginkov said:
Question for anyone that owns both , a fender precision and a sadowsky pj. ..
I own a sadowsky pj, with the P pickup
Soloed and passive mode. .. it sounds great to my ears but how close to a precision is it , I don't own one so I can't a/b it.
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I have a Sad PJ 5 and a MIM Classic 50's Precision (great instrument for the price I must say). They are obviously related when I run the P full on in passive mode on the Sadowsky - however, the Fender is more raw and has more complex mids than the sad in this mode. I really look at the two as different instruments completely, if I need a full on P sound I use the Fender and I run the PJ mostly in mixed pickup mode, typically favoring the bridge a slight bit.
 
#41,670
Scott McArron said:
Speaking of pickups. I wanted to share a couple links here I found of Will Lee playing Shoppin' 'round Again, one with his Sadowsky JJ bass and the other with his Sadowsky Soapbar bass in 60's locations. Both videos at the same club with the same rig. There's slap and fingerstyle going on. On the Soapbar video, he even does tapping and harmonics. Best A/B videos I've seen yet.

Thought this might be interesting. What do you guys think? Which do you prefer?
Click to expand...
Those were fun. Thanks!

Yup, I hear the difference between the basses pretty clearly. The soaps are a good bit fatter, but the J's have way more focus. Really depends what you would use on your gigs. My pref is for the J's; but, the soaps sound great.

WAY different mixes. The recording with the J's had the bass much further back in the mix. To get a better comparison, one would need the mix reset to make them more similar.

I still like the J's. BTW, that black bass is absolutely the booty. Pretty much exactly what I would spec, if buying a WL.
 
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#41,671
Gab124 said:
I have a Sad PJ 5 and a MIM Classic 50's Precision (great instrument for the price I must say). They are obviously related when I run the P full on in passive mode on the Sadowsky - however, the Fender is more raw and has more complex mids than the sad in this mode. I really look at the two as different instruments completely, if I need a full on P sound I use the Fender and I run the PJ mostly in mixed pickup mode, typically favoring the bridge a slight bit.
Click to expand...

I know you guys a are having a conversation about P-ing :facepalm: but the bold part of your post is something I wanted to comment on. 99% of the time I play with the blend centered and my hand anchors over the bridge pup on my JJ - I wasn't real happy doing that same thing on my PJ5. The tone seemed to lose a little bit, even following Roger's setup specs to a T. That P pickup just dominates. This past week I tried just ever so slightly moving the blend to the bridge and boom- some mids were more present, a slight bass boost and volume bump just made the bass come alive. Much more useful for my playing style where I do favor the bridge pup anyway. I can't wait to try it with the band tonight.

Hijack done. Back to your P's and Q's, about the P's. :whistle:
 
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#41,672
gustobassman said:
I know you guys a are having a conversation about P-ing :facepalm: but the bold part of your post is something I wanted to comment on. 99% of the time I play with the blend centered and my hand anchors over the bridge pup on my JJ - I wasn't real happy doing that same thing on my PJ5. The tone seemed to lose a little bit, even following Roger's setup specs to a T. That P pickup just dominates. This past week I tried just ever so slightly moving the blend to the bridge and boom- some mids were more present, a slight bass boost and volume bump just made the bass come alive. Much more useful for my playing style where I do favor the bridge pup anyway. I can't wait to try it with the band tonight.

Hijack done. Back to your P's and Q's, about the P's. :whistle:
Click to expand...

You are not the only one to notice this, I think Chef actually mentioned this once some time long ago. I recently had to change my tone some for a new project and like you felt the P dominated the blend. In addition to panning slightly towards the bridge pup I also lowered the bass side on the p pup and raised it on the treble side and did just the opposite with the J pup. This helped to fatten up the treble strings and bring the mids and punch to the bass side - Sad pre with VTC I can really sculpt it. It will not be everyone's tone but I have just been loving it. I also added the TC Electronic Spark with just to breaking up gain level and steel rounds, both helped to produce a good growl and upper grind. Such a versatile instrument.
 
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#41,673
Gab124 said:
You are not the only one to notice this, I think Chef actually mentioned this once some time long ago. I recently had to change my tone some for a new project and like you felt the P dominated the blend. In addition to panning slightly towards the bridge pup I also lowered the bass side on the p pup and raised it on the treble side and did just the opposite with the J pup. This helped to fatten up the treble strings and bring the mids and punch to the bass side - Sad pre with VTC I can really sculpt it. It will not be everyone's tone but I have just been loving it. I also added the TC Electronic Spark with just to breaking up gain level and steel rounds, both helped to produce a good growl and upper grind. Such a versatile instrument.
Click to expand...

oh wow... I like where you are going with this. Did you go from spec height when you lowered/raised the pickups? Maybe 1/32 in either direction or what? I'm going to have to give this a try..
 
#41,674
gustobassman said:
oh wow... I like where you are going with this. Did you go from spec height when you lowered/raised the pickups? Maybe 1/32 in either direction or what? I'm going to have to give this a try..
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To be honest, many moons ago I used to go with specs, but over time I have just reverted to going with my ears instead. What I did went over the course of a few days with small adjustments until I got to what I wanted - you can always measure things beforehand and if you get way out of whack just set everything back. Even played a venue afterwards where the sound guys thought it was DJ night with way too many subs and watts and I still came through clearly from reports of fellow musicians in the venue. Though, it helps I also run a Fdeck for just those types of rooms and sound guys.
 
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#41,675
deepestend said:
Matt,
PM me your info and I'll make sure he gets it. Not sure what happened to your email. If it's not getting to Peter, that's something we'd want to figure out!
JR
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Update: Peter talked to Matt on Friday. Note, if you ever email Peter and don't get a response, please feel free to email him again or give him a call.
 
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#41,676
zeb_bass said:
I have no experience with the older SC. Anyone know what's the difference? I have a set SC5 with round edges that were absolutely terrible! No highend whatsoever. Also in active mode I could not dial in any sparkle just grind no sparkle. The Bass band became also very boomy. I found them a terrible match to the Sadowsky Pre because it became really unusable. They were usable in passive mode. However I could not get any highend sparkle and there were just too dark for slap or any articulation.
Hence swapped back to the HC. But I kept disliking those for slight chorousy sound, artificial compression and poor string to string balance..... So i went back to the SC. They recorded nicely in passive mode. Excellent string to string balance but just too dark. If they just did not screw with the Eq points of the Pre. Then it dawned on me that you cannot boost what its not there in the first place. I concluded that these SC must be seriously overwound. I took them apart and knocked off a considerable amount of windings like maybe 20%. E Voila the neck PU turned out excellent. The Bridge PU is still a little dark but that is not necessarily a bad thing. (Sounds kinda like a regular Jazz Bass with 50%tone). At least I am now much happier then with the HCs. But still room to be improved.....
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100% same experience here with the replacement SCs. First I changed volume pot from 250 to 500... better with SC (round edges) and HC. Than changed to Vol/Vol/Tone- again much better. Than I got me SC from Harry Häussel (German PU maker), that worked out great (articulation, mids, bass & highs). Love the bass!!! Still would like to try the newer HCs (my MV5 is an earlier model) but I am really happy for some years now!! Vol/Vol/Tone/Pre and Dunlop Marcus Miller strings.
cheers, h
 
#41,680
Metro UV60

Metro UV60


New to me Metro UV60, can anyone tell me what pickups these are? Single coil, should be Nordstrand? Yellow/black and white/black cloth wiring. Or is that not how you tell? I've searched around, but am still not clear. Just curious mostly, I'm still getting used to them and the preamp.

Loving this bass!
 

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