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Club Sadowsky!!!

#41,841
What the heck... just got video of a band I play with a few times a year. They never rehearse (as you can tell) and the drummer varies from gig to gig (not a Spinal Tap thing), but it's a great hang and I always enjoy the gigs so I don't mind traveling all the way around the Beltway from MD to VA to perform with them. Audio quality from the ambient mics is good enough. I'm getting a smidge of FOH support, I think. Posting here to give props to Red, my go-to classic rock/R&B bass.



Details:
2010 Sadowsky P5, alder/Brazilian, CAR/mint, T-I flatwounds (well broken in)
Reiner Amplification Studio 1200 head
Origin Cali76 G-P compressor, set 50% wet/dry, 4:1 ratio, subtle germanium boost
Bergantino HG310 cab
 
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#41,843
Holdsg said:
what's with that bass that looks like it's just parked in the middle of the dance floor?
Click to expand...

Ha. Weird perspective from the fisheye lens, maybe? My backup bass (not a Sadowsky) is just in front of the keyboard, kinda behind a monitor. If I'd put it next to my bass rig, it would have either blocked the drummer or the keyboardist. Typical gig for me: cramped stage!
 
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#41,845
Barks4 said:
Since I started playing a Sadowsky I never felt the need to take a back-up bass :cool:
Click to expand...

I always bring a back up. But, that's a Sadowsky too! :thumbsup:
b7f3e64b73dd670343df7f33d23f2cf1_zps0zcx4w1m.jpg
 
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#41,848
Fuzzbass said:
What the heck... just got video of a band I play with a few times a year. They never rehearse (as you can tell) and the drummer varies from gig to gig (not a Spinal Tap thing), but it's a great hang and I always enjoy the gigs so I don't mind traveling all the way around the Beltway from MD to VA to perform with them. Audio quality from the ambient mics is good enough. I'm getting a smidge of FOH support, I think. Posting here to give props to Red, my go-to classic rock/R&B bass.



Details:
2010 Sadowsky P5, alder/Brazilian, CAR/mint, T-I flatwounds (well broken in)
Reiner Amplification Studio 1200 head
Origin Cali76 G-P compressor, set 50% wet/dry, 4:1 ratio, subtle germanium boost
Bergantino HG310 cab
Click to expand...

That was great, Ken! Stellar vocals; that keys player is an excellent musician, all around. I can see why you do the commute.

Bass sounded superb. But, I have to say that you are starting to look rather sophisticated up there. LOL.
 
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#41,849
Barks4 said:
Since I started playing a Sadowsky I never felt the need to take a back-up bass :cool:
Click to expand...

I thought that once, but probably never again.

I was subbing for one night in a pit orchestra at a university, and wanted to travel light. So I only took my Sadowsky MV5 PJ and a small amp. About five songs into the first act, I turn my volume back up to begin playing the next tune, and I had no signal. I immediately broke into a cold sweat and began checking cables, amp, connections, etc. I figured the only thing left to blame was a dead battery, so I switched into passive mode thinking I would get around that. But still nothing! (BTW, I had put a new battery in it that weekend as a precaution.)

So now I am dying - sitting there looking stupid and not being able to play anything. When we got to the intermission, the music director went upstairs to a professors office and borrowed a passive P bass for me to use for the second act.

Long story short, the wire connecting the output jack to the volume pot had been slowly fraying and had just one strand of wire making the connection. The last time I turned up the volume, it twisted the pot slightly and broke the connection by less than a millimeter.

(I had purchased the bass used on TB about a year before that, so I'm not sure what did or didn't happen to it before I got it.) And I certainly don't blame Sadowsky materials or workmanship for the problem. But regardless of the cause, I always bring a back up bass to every gig now! :-)

Oh, and I also bought a tightening tool from Stew-Mac to tighten all my pots and output jack nuts, as an added precaution .
 
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#41,850
Sadowsky said:
I am sure we have Blue Label 5 string flats!!! I will check with my guys on why the webstore does not show them!
Roger
Click to expand...

We have these in stock and they are available again on the website.

We do our best to update the store, but give us a call if you ever need anything that is out of stock. We may have whatever you want in the back or we may be able to tell you when we will have it again.
 
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#41,851
jondiener said:
I thought that once, but probably never again.

I was subbing for one night in a pit orchestra at a university, and wanted to travel light. So I only took my Sadowsky MV5 PJ and a small amp. About five songs into the first act, I turn my volume back up to begin playing the next tune, and I had no signal. I immediately broke into a cold sweat and began checking cables, amp, connections, etc. I figured the only thing left to blame was a dead battery, so I switched into passive mode thinking I would get around that. But still nothing! (BTW, I had put a new battery in it that weekend as a precaution.)

So now I am dying - sitting there looking stupid and not being able to play anything. When we got to the intermission, the music director went upstairs to a professors office and borrowed a passive P bass for me to use for the second act.

Long story short, the wire connecting the output jack to the volume pot had been slowly fraying and had just one strand of wire making the connection. The last time I turned up the volume, it twisted the pot slightly and broke the connection by less than a millimeter.

(I had purchased the bass used on TB about a year before that, so I'm not sure what did or didn't happen to it before I got it.) And I certainly don't blame Sadowsky materials or workmanship for the problem. But regardless of the cause, I always bring a back up bass to every gig now! :)

Oh, and I also bought a tightening tool from Stew-Mac to tighten all my pots and output jack nuts, as an added precaution .
Click to expand...
Hate those tight sphincter moments on the gig; and they do tend to stay with you. The problem is that after you get the bass lined out, it will never do that again. So, you bring the spare all the time, but never need it. Next time it will be an intermittent speakon connector that is hard to isolate or whatever.

Not saying you shouldn't bring the spare; but, there is always something unexpected causing an issue. Sounds to me like you got everything right.
 
#41,852
bucephylus said:
That was great, Ken! Stellar vocals; that keys player is an excellent musician, all around. I can see why you do the commute.

Bass sounded superb. But, I have to say that you are starting to look rather sophisticated up there. LOL.
Click to expand...

Thank you!! I'm not normally a flats guy, but they work very well on this bass with this band. The T-I flats are low tension and flexible, which forces me to play with a lighter touch... and that's a good thing, because I'm getting old and wanna keep playing as long as I'm still breathing. I also plan on trying the Sadowsky Blue Label flats.

"Sophisticated".... oh right, I wasn't wearing my usual "rock star shades". :cool: TBH I wish I could crank up a charming/enthusiastic smile like the drummer did, but sadly I can't seem to do that when I have a camera (or multiple cameras) in my face. :snaphappy::snaphappy::snaphappy: (For the record, just one dude did the video shoot: he set up fixed cameras and held one in each hand!)
 
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#41,853
Barks4 said:
Since I started playing a Sadowsky I never felt the need to take a back-up bass :cool:
Click to expand...
To me that's a big mistake. IF one day something wrong happens you will kick your ass for days for not having any backup.
Yes Sadowsky basses are great basses, but you never now what might happen. If you don't have any spare you simply screw the show. And it's all on you shoulders.
Any serious player has a backup.
 
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#41,855
inazone said:
I'm in the camp of always bring a backup.
Click to expand...

Using top quality gear does not eliminate the risk of failure, it merely reduces it. Therefore, if I'm getting paid, I'm bringing backup. Peace of mind.

Personal experience: in 4 decades of gigging I have had to use my backup bass close to a dozen times. A number of those failures were not field-repairable -- usually electronic in nature, but the most interesting was the debut gig of my 1983 Music Man Cutlass: the nut broke, causing the E string to go flopping off the side of the neck. I've never had a problem with a Sadowsky (knock wood), but I have had two other boutiques in that price range let me down.

I rarely break strings, but it's happened to me a few times in 40+ years. Easily repairable, but even so, the professional thing to do was to grab backup rather than finishing the set with too few strings or forcing the band to take a break while I replaced the string.

I try for redundancy with my amp rig, as well. Modern micro heads make excellent backups (and primaries) because they take up so little room! A pair of 2x10 cabs has built-in redundancy, but no, I don't bring a second cab when I'm gigging my NV610. :D
 
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#41,856
related issue. I had a sympathetic vibration rattle at a recent gig. I could never find the source, but it sounded like it came from my cab, which I have yet to be able to re-create. So it was something in the space/room where we were playing. drove me nuts the whole gig, and I could never get it to go completely away using available eq on my amp head. Nothing you can really do there other than grin and bear it.
 
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