Club Sadowsky!!!

[phillipkregg]

Just walked into my favorite local shop today and got myself in trouble:

The best Sadowsky I’ve ever laid hands on - and quite possibly the best bass I’ve ever played.

And she’s in good company:

Serial is 007

 

[JoshS]

These are so amazing.
I just picked up 007

Nice!! Yeah, so far I'm blown away, other than the hum.
Do you mind checking yours to see if that is just an issue I'm having?
In other words, are you dead silent as expected with tone all the way on and active?

Edit: My local shop did note they'd check in with Warwick next week, too.

 

[phillipkregg]

Nice!! Yeah, so far I'm blown away, other than the hum.
Do you mind checking yours to see if that is just an issue I'm having?
In other words, are you dead silent as expected with tone all the way on and active?

Edit: My local shop did note they'd check in with Warwick next week, too.

Hey man, yeah I've been playing it for a couple hours now, but just to be sure I also plugged it into my Darkglass headphones amp and tried it there.

Dead silent. Super quiet bass.

 

[Tim1]

New Bass Day. This is #19 / 100.
When I love something, I usually love two of them with slightly different flavor. Sold my 4003W to help with this purchase.

View attachment 4299932

View attachment 4299933

View attachment 4299934

View attachment 4299935

Sounds amazing, the craftsmanship is what you'd expect, I like the ebony more than I expected, love the walnut top and finish...but it is really humming in active mode. The VTC turns the hum up and down (or completely off, passive), so I need the shop to look at it. I don't really know electronics at all. I'm hoping it is a simple ground or something, because I really like this!

View attachment 4299931
Oh, and obligatory family shot.

Lovely bass but it raises red flags about quality control that it was allowed to leave the workshop with a major hum issue.

 

[phillipkregg]

Lovely bass but it raises red flags about quality control that it was allowed to leave the workshop with a major hum issue.

Possibly... but mine is pretty much perfect. And everybody has occasional QC blips. Dingwall is well known for its fantastic QC, but every once in a while I see a youtube clip or a comment about someone getting a Dingwall that had a problem.

I've owned several Sadowsky Modern basses, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest as far as I'm concerned. The main thing for me is neck feel, and I've played several German Sadowskys at this point, and they've all had significantly thinner necks than previous Sadowskys I've owned. The feel of the roasted maple and the fretwork on the ebony board are impeccable. A major improvement over the previous Japanese metros I've had (and I thought those were great at the time - just my opinion of course).

It could possibly be just a ground wire that came loose during shipping.

There is one thing I was a little disappointed in I must add - the bag that they come with is a tremendous downgrade from what I've normally had with the Japanese Metros, or the NYC Satin models. It's super cheap and doesn't really offer much protection at all. Which is kinda ridiculous considering this bass costs over 4 grand. I would not want to drop any bass I owned while it was in this bag.

And since I mentioned Dingwall earlier, I should also say that Dingwall's bag is absolutely amazing. I've had a lot of high-end basses, but the gig bag I got with my Dingwall Super J is the best-in-class. It's got wonderful, fancy stitching, ridged rubber enforcements on the sides, tons of padding, molded neck support, and plush cushioning on the inside. Sadowsky Germany should make this their gold standard for bags.

It's very possible that during the shipping process, that the bass may have been handled not-so-gently and a wire could have come loose.

I won't be using this bag to take my bass to gigs, and will be upgrading it ASAP. But the bass itself is pure freakin magic.

 

[JLY]

I've posted this photo elsewhere on the web as the culmination of a tonequest with regard to the rig, but the more that I think about it, the more that I realize that the Sadowsky tone is an elemental part of it.



When I first bought the bass last winter, I must admit that I wasn't crazy about the tone. At the time I thought that I was looking for a more ergo-friendly version of the Ken Smith burp-and-bark; come to find out that the Modern series isn't that. But the playability of the instrument, and its uncanny evenness across the lowest registers, drew me in, and the more that I spent time with it, the more I found that it just "works" pretty much everywhere -- especially after I started using the VTC, which I had originally been pretty sure that I would never use. Also, the "mildly-aggressive-but-still-clear-and smooth" nature of the tone allows it to work well in settings that don't really flatter the burpy tone that I thought I needed to cut through in a busy mix. Turns out that THIS is what I need after all.

This bass has become my clear #1, and I feel as if I can stop looking. Thanks again, Roger -- I continue to appreciate your craftsmanship, your approach towards the manufacture of serious tools for working musicians, and your operation in general. It's obvious that you care.

Obligatory ridiculous pic of live rig from last weekend. Man, did it sound good.
View attachment 4298327

she’s an amazing bass but I preferred my SD J5

glad she went to a good home!

 

[31HZ]

she’s an amazing bass but I preferred my SD J5

glad she went to a good home!

I'm grateful that it made its way to me when I wasn't even looking.

 

[JoshS]

Possibly... but mine is pretty much perfect. And everybody has occasional QC blips. Dingwall is well known for its fantastic QC, but every once in a while I see a youtube clip or a comment about someone getting a Dingwall that had a problem.

I've owned several Sadowsky Modern basses, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest as far as I'm concerned. The main thing for me is neck feel, and I've played several German Sadowskys at this point, and they've all had significantly thinner necks than previous Sadowskys I've owned. The feel of the roasted maple and the fretwork on the ebony board are impeccable. A major improvement over the previous Japanese metros I've had (and I thought those were great at the time - just my opinion of course).

It could possibly be just a ground wire that came loose during shipping.

There is one thing I was a little disappointed in I must add - the bag that they come with is a tremendous downgrade from what I've normally had with the Japanese Metros, or the NYC Satin models. It's super cheap and doesn't really offer much protection at all. Which is kinda ridiculous considering this bass costs over 4 grand. I would not want to drop any bass I owned while it was in this bag.

And since I mentioned Dingwall earlier, I should also say that Dingwall's bag is absolutely amazing. I've had a lot of high-end basses, but the gig bag I got with my Dingwall Super J is the best-in-class. It's got wonderful, fancy stitching, ridged rubber enforcements on the sides, tons of padding, molded neck support, and plush cushioning on the inside. Sadowsky Germany should make this their gold standard for bags.

It's very possible that during the shipping process, that the bass may have been handled not-so-gently and a wire could have come loose.

I won't be using this bag to take my bass to gigs, and will be upgrading it ASAP. But the bass itself is pure freakin magic.

Yep, that's my thought too and it was my first one last night. I didn't see anything obvious, but I don't know electronics.

I don't want to blame Warwick at all for that. These came a long, long way from Germany to Colorado on boat, on truck, etc. It very easily could have shaken a wire loose when hitting the wrong wave, the wrong speedbump or pothole or whatever. And, even though I do have this hum, I could play it today. 85-95% of my Sunday mornings do have the tone at only 10-20%.

However, I do want to credit Warwick for the craftsmanship. Everything beyond the electrical gremlin looks and feels top notch. Thus far (caveat: 2 days), everything I've heard playing it is a perfect complement to my other M5-24. Same shop also still has one of last year's limited models in stock and I was extremely impressed with it, hence the purchase. I actually kind of still want that one too. I love my Japanese metro, but I am in the camp that the work in Germany is as good.

Thanks for checking yours, @phillipkregg! What are you thinking for a gig bag / case?

 

[Tim1]

Possibly... but mine is pretty much perfect. And everybody has occasional QC blips. Dingwall is well known for its fantastic QC, but every once in a while I see a youtube clip or a comment about someone getting a Dingwall that had a problem.

I've owned several Sadowsky Modern basses, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest as far as I'm concerned. The main thing for me is neck feel, and I've played several German Sadowskys at this point, and they've all had significantly thinner necks than previous Sadowskys I've owned. The feel of the roasted maple and the fretwork on the ebony board are impeccable. A major improvement over the previous Japanese metros I've had (and I thought those were great at the time - just my opinion of course).


It could possibly be just a ground wire that came loose during shipping.

There is one thing I was a little disappointed in I must add - the bag that they come with is a tremendous downgrade from what I've normally had with the Japanese Metros, or the NYC Satin models. It's super cheap and doesn't really offer much protection at all. Which is kinda ridiculous considering this bass costs over 4 grand. I would not want to drop any bass I owned while it was in this bag.

And since I mentioned Dingwall earlier, I should also say that Dingwall's bag is absolutely amazing. I've had a lot of high-end basses, but the gig bag I got with my Dingwall Super J is the best-in-class. It's got wonderful, fancy stitching, ridged rubber enforcements on the sides, tons of padding, molded neck support, and plush cushioning on the inside. Sadowsky Germany should make this their gold standard for bags.

It's very possible that during the shipping process, that the bass may have been handled not-so-gently and a wire could have come loose.

I won't be using this bag to take my bass to gigs, and will be upgrading it ASAP. But the bass itself is pure freakin magic.

Possibly... but mine is pretty much perfect. And everybody has occasional QC blips. Dingwall is well known for its fantastic QC, but every once in a while I see a youtube clip or a comment about someone getting a Dingwall that had a problem.

I've owned several Sadowsky Modern basses, and this one is head and shoulders above the rest as far as I'm concerned. The main thing for me is neck feel, and I've played several German Sadowskys at this point, and they've all had significantly thinner necks than previous Sadowskys I've owned. The feel of the roasted maple and the fretwork on the ebony board are impeccable. A major improvement over the previous Japanese metros I've had (and I thought those were great at the time - just my opinion of course).

It could possibly be just a ground wire that came loose during shipping.

There is one thing I was a little disappointed in I must add - the bag that they come with is a tremendous downgrade from what I've normally had with the Japanese Metros, or the NYC Satin models. It's super cheap and doesn't really offer much protection at all. Which is kinda ridiculous considering this bass costs over 4 grand. I would not want to drop any bass I owned while it was in this bag.

And since I mentioned Dingwall earlier, I should also say that Dingwall's bag is absolutely amazing. I've had a lot of high-end basses, but the gig bag I got with my Dingwall Super J is the best-in-class. It's got wonderful, fancy stitching, ridged rubber enforcements on the sides, tons of padding, molded neck support, and plush cushioning on the inside. Sadowsky Germany should make this their gold standard for bags.

It's very possible that during the shipping process, that the bass may have been handled not-so-gently and a wire could have come loose.

I won't be using this bag to take my bass to gigs, and will be upgrading it ASAP. But the bass itself is pure freakin magic.

Interesting (and useful ) comment about the German necks being thinner. Obviously Roger must have specified this which is interesting. I am not a fan of necks that are overly thin but am still keen to try one. I certainly wouldn't want a thinner neck on my Japan metro but then again it is nice to have options.

 

[JoshS]

Interesting (and useful ) comment about the German necks being thinner. Obviously Roger must have specified this which is interesting. I am not a fan of necks that are overly thin but am still keen to try one. I certainly wouldn't want a thinner neck on my Japan metro but then again it is nice to have options.

FWIW, I can't really perceive any difference in neck profile between my (Japanese Metro) MV5E, my NYC Satin M5-24, and this one. I haven't measured these, but by feel, they are all really close (identical, essentially) in my mind. All are 2019-2021, if that matters. This new limited has a slightly different finish feel, but not in terms of dimension.

I know @TimothyGroovy can tell a difference, though, and I'd trust his hands over my own!

 

[Tim1]

FWIW, I can't really perceive any difference in neck profile between my (Japanese Metro) MV5E, my NYC Satin M5-24, and this one. I haven't measured these, but by feel, they are all really close (identical, essentially) in my mind. All are 2019-2021, if that matters. This new limited has a slightly different finish feel, but not in terms of dimension.

I know @TimothyGroovy can tell a difference, though, and I'd trust his hands over my own!

Thanks for that, it is what I would expect (and hope, to be honest).

 

[TimothyGroovy]

Yes, German made Sadowsky neck feel from MetroLine - Customshop is thinner compared to any Era of NYC / Metro, 5 strings is obvious thinner but not on 4 strings I could tell, at least this applied to 20+ German basses I receved so far, like my German Customshop review stated, no good and bad here, really personally perference.

For neck thickness from thinest to most thickest (5 strings as reference), come down to this, German Metro - NYC - Japanese Made Metro, NYC got right thickness, enough meat in my hands and everything is spot on, while German made got less meat around first few frets and down to the middle, comfortable as well but I think they are the thinnest neck I can accept since the tone will started to sound thin if they go further shred some more woods, so they are alright to me as of the moment, I don't mind they keep the shape like this or try to build like a NYC more. Japanese made Metro always got a "bulky" neck in my hands, slightly too U shaped, I can still play it but I get tired pretty easily for long rehearsal and shows.

 

[HeavyJazz]

Didn't Roger pull the plug on those white logo'd pups about a year ago? Surprised to see them on this series. And yeah, I've checked those Warwick gig bags and they're nothing to get excited about, that's or sure.

 

[mmbass21]

Didn't Roger pull the plug on those white logo'd pups about a year ago? Surprised to see them on this series. And yeah, I've checked those Warwick gig bags and they're nothing to get excited about, that's or sure.

I thought the same thing on the logo.

 

[31HZ]

That's super helpful, @TimothyGroovy . Thanks for that. By the way, did you ever sell the sparkle 5'er with the LEDs?

 

[Dave rosener]

Hello Club Sadowsky members, any suggestions on how to get a great 60s or 70s J-Bass tone from a 4 String Will Lee?

Looking to warm it up through my Phil Jones Ultimate Briefcase.

Dave

 

[phillipkregg]

Didn't Roger pull the plug on those white logo'd pups about a year ago? Surprised to see them on this series. And yeah, I've checked those Warwick gig bags and they're nothing to get excited about, that's or sure.

They had a couple of other German models - including a Will Lee - and all of them had white logos on the pickups.

 

[cxcxcx]

Hello Club Sadowsky members, any suggestions on how to get a great 60s or 70s J-Bass tone from a 4 String Will Lee?

Looking to warm it up through my Phil Jones Ultimate Briefcase.

Dave

This is kind of and sort of what any J-style Sadowsky is supposed to do. It’s in the DNA of the bass. You won’t get exact dupes of some 70’s tones because of bridge pickup placement, but you can get close enough.

Ideally, this all should be done at the bass. If you can’t get these tones successfully from the bass itself with nothing else, something is wrong.

To get a classic J sound, simply disengage the preamp, placing in passive mode. Turn both pickups full up, or use just the neck for Joe Osborne style things. Maybe cut back on the neck pickup for more “nose” in the sound. Back off the tone on the VTC a little, and that’s it. Flatwound or roundwound strings as needed. You can also do this with the preamp on if you turn the boosts all the way down. The VTC will do the same thing either way.

To perhaps warm it up, engage preamp, put the treble and bass about 9 and adjust the bass boost to taste. Maybe a tiny bit of mid with the Will preamp set in default factory spec. The more contemporary Sadowsky sound lives in this mode so you have to dial back to project a classic tone. A little goes a long way at live playing settings.

As many Sadowsky players will attest, a lot of this won’t become very apparent in a bedroom or den at low volume. It will become very apparent at stage volumes in a mix.

 

[phillipkregg]

Thanks for checking yours, @phillipkregg! What are you thinking for a gig bag / case?

Not sure yet.

Possibly a Mono M80, but I've also had good luck with the higher end Gator bags.

If I can find out who it is that makes Dingwalls bags I'll probably buy one of thiers. I don't like branded bags anyway. Walking around with a large case that says "Sadowsky" or "MTD" on the outside might be inviting people to rob you or try to swipe it while you aren't looking.

 

[Tim1]

This is kind of and sort of what any J-style Sadowsky is supposed to do. It’s in the DNA of the bass. You won’t get exact dupes of some 70’s tones because of bridge pickup placement, but you can get close enough.

Ideally, this all should be done at the bass. If you can’t get these tones successfully from the bass itself with nothing else, something is wrong.

To get a classic J sound, simply disengage the preamp, placing in passive mode. Turn both pickups full up, or use just the neck for Joe Osborne style things. Maybe cut back on the neck pickup for more “nose” in the sound. Back off the tone on the VTC a little, and that’s it. Flatwound or roundwound strings as needed. You can also do this with the preamp on if you turn the boosts all the way down. The VTC will do the same thing either way.

To perhaps warm it up, engage preamp, put the treble and bass about 9 and adjust the bass boost to taste. Maybe a tiny bit of mid with the Will preamp set in default factory spec. The more contemporary Sadowsky sound lives in this mode so you have to dial back to project a classic tone. A little goes a long way at live playing settings.

As many Sadowsky players will attest, a lot of this won’t become very apparent in a bedroom or den at low volume. It will become very apparent at stage volumes in a mix.

This is excellent advice, I also have a Will Lee so understand where you are coming from. My .02: a Sadowsky will never sound exactly like a passive Fender jazz, Sadowsky has its own sound but it can get close. Imo the key is to use the vtc, which is useful to take away a little of the bite once you have tweaked the preamp. I tend not to use the mid boost which surprised me and favor the neck pickup as already suggested. Passive or just slight preamp boost for me also.