Club Sadowsky!!!

[G-MonRV5]

+1! I have also been thinking about a P/J build with a super J upgrade. Would love to hear from anyone with experience on this configuration.

I know you posted this a while back, but I was wondering - would you be able to post some sound clips of that beast in action? I've been contemplating a similar build - specifically putting the Super J in on a P/J config - and wondered what that would sound like. A/B'ing the different J positions combined with the P.

Looking to get a bass that can handle my secular bandleader's wide variety of taste in his songwriting - I need something that can go from gnarly-crunchy impolite to pop sweet to disco booty. I'm thinking this config MIGHT get me there, or at least close enough?

 

[bucephylus]

My experience with PJ setups has been kind of mixed. For my purposes, I concluded that those two pickups offer some options, but don’t yin yang with each other so much. I mean they work fine; but, they are kind of like two sports superstars on one team who don’t dish off to each other.

Really kind of a fine point; and just my $0.019. For a lot of players, they will be great. I’ve just chosen to go in the direction of J pickups, where the neck pickup is capable of producing a legit P tone. No one way to slay the dragon. YMMV

 

[roccobasstorius]

Recently realized my dream for owning a Sadowsky....for over 20 years....

May I join the club ?

at 7.5 lbs....I never want to put it down...

Cheers!

 

[Mr_O'B]

Recently realized my dream for owning a Sadowsky....for over 20 years....

May I join the club ?

at 7.5 lbs....I never want to put it down...

Cheers!

Nice and congrats!

 

[Mr_O'B]

My experience with PJ setups has been kind of mixed. For my purposes, I concluded that those two pickups offer some options, but don’t yin yang with each other so much. I mean they work fine; but, they are kind of like two sports superstars on one team who don’t dish off to each other.

Really kind of a fine point; and just my $0.019. For a lot of players, they will be great. I’ve just chosen to go in the direction of J pickups, where the neck pickup is capable of producing a legit P tone. No one way to slay the dragon. YMMV

Great p/j and star sport players analogy!

 

[Fran Diaz]

Recently realized my dream for owning a Sadowsky....for over 20 years....

May I join the club ?

at 7.5 lbs....I never want to put it down...

Cheers!

Sure thing. You are #526. Welcome to the club!

 

[black.rose1402]

nice tour of Sadowsky shop, the video starts (the intro) in italian but then it's in english

 

[Sadowsky]

Howdy Sadowskiers, thought this might be the right place to ask about this.

I know that Roger's basses usually have 19mm string spacing on them, but he offers 18mm as an option.

Do any of you know if the pickup poles are spaced differently for the 18mm versions?

If not, would it be a bad idea to take a Sadowsky that is currently 19mm and have an 18mm bridge installed on it? I'm assuming new holes would have to be drilled, which could affect the resale value, but would the new holes be too close to the old holes? Meaning the bridge would have to be moved back?

I love the Sadowsky sound, just not the 19mm thing.

Our standard pickups work fine with both 19mm and 18mm string spacing.

Roger

 

[Sadowsky]

I used to use the lightest gauge strings I could find, but in the last few years I've gone back to medium or even heavier gauges because I really like the feel of the strings under the greater tension. And it really makes a difference if you have a low B string - a 135 sounds killer. Had an Ibanez 6 string that always seemed to have a flabby B until I put that 135 on there, now it feels and sounds consistent and well defined across all the strings.

As far as setup goes, I've only had to adjust the bridge string height when switching from light to medium or vice versa.

You might want to try our newly redesigned Black Label strings which have a bit more tension than our Blue Labels. 45-130.

 

[phillipkregg]

Okay guys, I'd like to join the club because I am now an official Sadowsky convert.

Received this beauty of the weekend and fell in love after the first band rehearsal:

I've put off purchasing a Sadowsky for years because I thought they "must" be over priced and I just couldn't justify the cost.

Over the past year I have gone through over a dozen basses looking for the best tone I can find but I always end up selling them or trading for something else.

When I saw this one on the classifieds I thought, "You know, I've spent a lot of money on random basses this year, why not just go ahead and take a chance and see what this is all about?" So I pulled the trigger on it. When I got it out of the FedEx box, the case was so light weight that I thought maybe the seller forgot to put the bass in it . The listing had the bass at 8 lbs 12 oz, but the lightest instrument I've ever owned is a 4 string Music Man Bongo that was 8.5 lbs and this Sadowsky really feels lighter than that. And the balance is just perfect when it's strapped on.

I've been practicing for a Monday night jazz band rehearsal with my headphones on and playing with the EQ I got some really nice tones for recording. However, last night I went to rehearsal and plugged into an old Ampeg portaflex that looks like this:

And folks, I was floored.

Of the dozen or more basses I've plugged into this thing, nothing sounding as good as the Sadowsky.

This thing is made for being on a stage and playing through lots of big speakers. I've never heard such a powerful and musical onboard EQ. I don't know how the folks at Sadowsky made this preamp but I'm pretty sure it's sprinkled with fairy dust. The most surprising thing was the bass control. Every active bass I've ever owned gets boomy the more you boost the bass. Not the Sadowsky. It actually gets warmer. They should really name the controls "concentric warmth/bright".

All the money I've spent experimenting with other basses, I could have just sunk into an excellent Sadowsky metro. At least I've learned what the difference is.

 

[phillipkregg]

Our standard pickups work fine with both 19mm and 18mm string spacing.

Roger

Thanks for that Roger!

After spending a few days with the new metro, I'm actually warming up to the 19mm spacing.

 

[Spidey2112]

A diagram representing a simple pickup...

As long as the string intersects the lines of flux, you're good to go...

... those with OCD tendencies, such as myself, twitch frequently, when our strings aren't lined up over our poles...

... I would have retrieved a pic of a complex pickup, but unfortunately, it was undergoing therapy, at the time...

 

[Sadowsky]

Okay guys, I'd like to join the club because I am now an official Sadowsky convert.

Received this beauty of the weekend and fell in love after the first band rehearsal:

View attachment 2869627


I've put off purchasing a Sadowsky for years because I thought they "must" be over priced and I just couldn't justify the cost.

Over the past year I have gone through over a dozen basses looking for the best tone I can find but I always end up selling them or trading for something else.

When I saw this one on the classifieds I thought, "You know, I've spent a lot of money on random basses this year, why not just go ahead and take a chance and see what this is all about?" So I pulled the trigger on it. When I got it out of the FedEx box, the case was so light weight that I thought maybe the seller forgot to put the bass in it . The listing had the bass at 8 lbs 12 oz, but the lightest instrument I've ever owned is a 4 string Music Man Bongo that was 8.5 lbs and this Sadowsky really feels lighter than that. And the balance is just perfect when it's strapped on.

I've been practicing for a Monday night jazz band rehearsal with my headphones on and playing with the EQ I got some really nice tones for recording. However, last night I went to rehearsal and plugged into an old Ampeg portaflex that looks like this:

View attachment 2869638

And folks, I was floored.

Of the dozen or more basses I've plugged into this thing, nothing sounding as good as the Sadowsky.

This thing is made for being on a stage and playing through lots of big speakers. I've never heard such a powerful and musical onboard EQ. I don't know how the folks at Sadowsky made this preamp but I'm pretty sure it's sprinkled with fairy dust. The most surprising thing was the bass control. Every active bass I've ever owned gets boomy the more you boost the bass. Not the Sadowsky. It actually gets warmer. They should really name the controls "concentric warmth/bright".

All the money I've spent experimenting with other basses, I could have just sunk into an excellent Sadowsky metro. At least I've learned what the difference is.

Thank you so much for your very kind words, Phillip. You totally made my day!

Roger

 

[SadowskySteve]

Thanks for that Roger!

After spending a few days with the new metro, I'm actually warming up to the 19mm spacing.

It took me a few gigs to get comfortable. I also moved from 18mm to 19mm and it WAS an adjustment. I have an left hand tendon issue but play a 5 string so I am very sensitive. I love the neck on my Sadowsky and prefer it over everything else I pick up. Definitely have a Sadowsky 4 string PJ on my GAS list.

 

[bucephylus]

Okay guys, I'd like to join the club because I am now an official Sadowsky convert.

Received this beauty of the weekend and fell in love after the first band rehearsal:

View attachment 2869627


I've put off purchasing a Sadowsky for years because I thought they "must" be over priced and I just couldn't justify the cost.

Over the past year I have gone through over a dozen basses looking for the best tone I can find but I always end up selling them or trading for something else.

When I saw this one on the classifieds I thought, "You know, I've spent a lot of money on random basses this year, why not just go ahead and take a chance and see what this is all about?" So I pulled the trigger on it. When I got it out of the FedEx box, the case was so light weight that I thought maybe the seller forgot to put the bass in it . The listing had the bass at 8 lbs 12 oz, but the lightest instrument I've ever owned is a 4 string Music Man Bongo that was 8.5 lbs and this Sadowsky really feels lighter than that. And the balance is just perfect when it's strapped on.

I've been practicing for a Monday night jazz band rehearsal with my headphones on and playing with the EQ I got some really nice tones for recording. However, last night I went to rehearsal and plugged into an old Ampeg portaflex that looks like this:

View attachment 2869638

And folks, I was floored.

Of the dozen or more basses I've plugged into this thing, nothing sounding as good as the Sadowsky.

This thing is made for being on a stage and playing through lots of big speakers. I've never heard such a powerful and musical onboard EQ. I don't know how the folks at Sadowsky made this preamp but I'm pretty sure it's sprinkled with fairy dust. The most surprising thing was the bass control. Every active bass I've ever owned gets boomy the more you boost the bass. Not the Sadowsky. It actually gets warmer. They should really name the controls "concentric warmth/bright".

All the money I've spent experimenting with other basses, I could have just sunk into an excellent Sadowsky metro. At least I've learned what the difference is.

Really nice bass. Congrats.

Just wait until your FOH folks start gushing about your tone.

 

[Fran Diaz]

Okay guys, I'd like to join the club because I am now an official Sadowsky convert.

Received this beauty of the weekend and fell in love after the first band rehearsal:

View attachment 2869627


I've put off purchasing a Sadowsky for years because I thought they "must" be over priced and I just couldn't justify the cost.

Over the past year I have gone through over a dozen basses looking for the best tone I can find but I always end up selling them or trading for something else.

When I saw this one on the classifieds I thought, "You know, I've spent a lot of money on random basses this year, why not just go ahead and take a chance and see what this is all about?" So I pulled the trigger on it. When I got it out of the FedEx box, the case was so light weight that I thought maybe the seller forgot to put the bass in it . The listing had the bass at 8 lbs 12 oz, but the lightest instrument I've ever owned is a 4 string Music Man Bongo that was 8.5 lbs and this Sadowsky really feels lighter than that. And the balance is just perfect when it's strapped on.

I've been practicing for a Monday night jazz band rehearsal with my headphones on and playing with the EQ I got some really nice tones for recording. However, last night I went to rehearsal and plugged into an old Ampeg portaflex that looks like this:

View attachment 2869638

And folks, I was floored.

Of the dozen or more basses I've plugged into this thing, nothing sounding as good as the Sadowsky.

This thing is made for being on a stage and playing through lots of big speakers. I've never heard such a powerful and musical onboard EQ. I don't know how the folks at Sadowsky made this preamp but I'm pretty sure it's sprinkled with fairy dust. The most surprising thing was the bass control. Every active bass I've ever owned gets boomy the more you boost the bass. Not the Sadowsky. It actually gets warmer. They should really name the controls "concentric warmth/bright".

All the money I've spent experimenting with other basses, I could have just sunk into an excellent Sadowsky metro. At least I've learned what the difference is.

You are #527. Welcome aboard.

 

[Nightman]

Hey Roger, what ever happened to the happy customers/players posting on the Sadowsky site that you were going to start for the non-high profile players like me?

 

[Sadowsky]

Hey Roger, what ever happened to the happy customers/players posting on the Sadowsky site that you were going to start for the non-high profile players like me?

Hi Nightman.....and everyone else here.....
We have started doing Testimonial Tuesdays on Facebook. Just a send us your photo, testimonial and any other info you want included and we will post it there. Trying to keep the website as lean as possible these days.

 

[Nightman]

Cool!!!

 

[MMiller28]

Got this today and it'll be on it's way back to New York tomorrow or Monday. There's a small blemish in the finish that is either a foreign object trapped underneath the clear coat or the finish itself is just damaged. The object/damage appears to cast a small shadow onto the wood beneath it.

Say what you will about how small it is and how picky I'm being, but I've been saving up for this bass for four years, and for $5,900 it needs to be absolutely perfect. And honestly, it's so obvious that I'm shocked this left the shop.

View attachment 2748772

Welp, exactly 16 weeks to the day after being quoted 6-8 weeks on this refinish, I received the bass.

When I pan to 90% or more towards the neck pickup, the volume cuts out completely.

Two assemblies, two final inspections, two failures.

I'm not going to write what I'm truly feeling.