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Club Sadowsky!!!

#57,861
rmayer said:
I agree, if it's on a Sadowsky, it's the best hardware you can find, and their setup is tops. The transposing of notes always drove me nuts.
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I sing and play bass. Just recently started to do them simultaneously. So with all respect to singers, why transpose a classic tune by a half step? Just makes it confusing and difficult for the band. Any singer worth the money should have a reasonable range. Two or three steps, OK. Half step or whole step, suck it up buttercup! :D

My Sadowsky TYO Teppei model has a D tuner. Have not ventured there. But probably should. :eek:
 
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#57,862
tombowlus said:
I went from playing nothing but 5-string basses to mostly 4's with a D-tuner. I just love 'em!
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I went the opposite way: had Xtenders on all my fours before switching to five, which made Xtenders irrelevant for me. Granted, songs in drop D are easier to play with open low D, but after a bit of practice I could do a passable version of "Slither" by Velvet Revolver using fretted D on the B string.

Tip to get used to transposing the lowest string: start with one really easy song, maybe something like "Dead or Alive" by Bon Jovi. Once you wrap your fingers brain around that, you can try other tunes. It was definitely a gradual learning process for me, but it gets easier.
 
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#57,865
R&B said:
I sing and play bass. Just recently started to do them simultaneously. So with all respect to singers, why transpose a classic tune by a half step? Just makes it confusing and difficult for the band. Any singer worth the money should have a reasonable range. Two or three steps, OK. Half step or whole step, suck it up buttercup! :D
Click to expand...

My vocals suck, I never sing lead, but one of my bands encourages me to do backups just to fatten up the vocal mix (they keep me down in the mix but I'm still audible). When doing higher vocal "harmonies" (quotes because my intonation ain't great), I am absolutely grateful for that extra half step down. With my bands that tune to standard, I can't hit some of those notes.
 
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#57,866
Spidey2112 said:
We detune a half step for our former singer... no transposition, we just play the songs the way they're normally played.

Am I missing something, or maybe more coffee?
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If all songs are played half-step down and everyone tunes that way, then it's a piece of cake. Everyone detunes, so fingerings remain the same. Communication is no problem because everyone refers to the keys/notes as what they would be if not detuned.

Here's the problem: when a band transposes some songs but not others! One band I subbed with detuned half their tunes, played the rest in standard. I hate having to switch basses at the gig, but I did with that band (to their credit they grouped the standard and detuned songs into large blocks). Then there's my "mini big band" that does classic rock/R&B. They play most tunes in standard, but the Aretha songs are all a full step down (really common; there are few Arethas out there). I just had to learn them that way (and was really grateful for five string bass).



Logistical note: half my bands play in standard, the others play half-step down. So I keep half my basses tuned to standard, and the rest half-step down: I'm not fussy about super-low action; it merely saves me the trouble of detuning/retuning, and there's no worry about shifts as the neck settles in to the new tuning.
 
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#57,869
SteveC said:
The Sadowsky Blue SS strings sound very nice. I think I’ll leave them on for a while and see. I also have some DR Hi Beams I could try. I also have some D’Addario Nickels that I use on my Roscoe.

I’m surprised at how much I notice the scale and spacing difference from my Roscoe 5.
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I can really feel the difference too and much prefer the ergonomics of Sadowsky basses.

As for strings, hi beams and Sadowsky Blue SS for the win. Hi Beams are my go to but on my Sadowsky’s I’m good with either.
 
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#57,870
scubaduba said:
I can really feel the difference too and much prefer the ergonomics of Sadowsky basses.
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My Roscoe 5 is the most comfortable 5 string neck I have played. Too soon to tell as I’ve only had the Sadowsky a day. I’m gonna play it for a couple months and see. Not that it has to be one or the other. I can keep both. But it’ll be interesting to see how it goes. It’ll be interesting to have both basses be the same scale length and string spacing.
 
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#57,871
R&B said:
I sing and play bass. Just recently started to do them simultaneously. So with all respect to singers, why transpose a classic tune by a half step? Just makes it confusing and difficult for the band. Any singer worth the money should have a reasonable range. Two or three steps, OK. Half step or whole step, suck it up buttercup! :D

My Sadowsky TYO Teppei model has a D tuner. Have not ventured there. But probably should. :eek:
Click to expand...

the way I see it is I’m the sideman. Whoever is singing at any given gig is
probably also the person that hired me, and gets to call the shots on song selection and key. One night I’ll play a song in G and the next night I’ll play it in Eb. No ones coming just to see me anyway.

I like the detuner pretty well but if I know there will be a lot of transposing I always bring the 5
 
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#57,872
monkeyland said:
the way I see it is I’m the sideman. Whoever is singing at any given gig gets to call the shots on song selection and key. One night I’ll play a song in G and the next night I’ll play it in Eb. No ones coming just to see me anyway.

I like the detuner pretty well but if I know there will be a lot of transposing I always bring the 5
Click to expand...

Before my five string adventure in the mid 90's I used to use a D tuner or just tune down my E string to Eb, D, Db, etc.

The problem was remembering to tune back up for the next song! Ouch!!
Kind of like not turning off your muted tuner before the next song...still, stuff still happens.

I mostly play fives, because the female artist I work for has songs in B, Ab, Eb, E, A, C and the original recordings all used 5 string. Lots of low notes.But I will play songs where I never touch the B.

I grew up on 4 and would gladly still play them ( I still own a P, J and Epi EA260) but they are closet queens unfortunately.
 
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#57,873
Tim1 said:
Thought my wl4 was just missing a little focus, for want of a better word. Battery was reading 8.8 volts which I assumed should be fine, but since I had the back plate screws off I replaced it anyway. New battery read 9,57 volts. Anyway, might be my imagination but the magic returned. Supposing it wasn't all in my head (and it could be), does anyone know how low a battery can go before it makes a noticeable difference to the preamp.
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When I noticed a little distortion in the signal the battery had about 6 V!! I think this preamp works effortless and fine higher than 7,5 V so I couldn't believe that can be heard any difference at 8,8 or 9,5 V.
Well, it's good time for me to check it, my battery have been replaced for a one and half year, I'll test it, and make some comparison.
 
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#57,874
Well, I've changed the battery, I can partially agree - the old battery is at 8.1 V, the new one 9.67V. I tested them with approx. 25 % bass&treble boost, and approx. 50% boost (which I don't usually use, only sometimes).
I cannot hear any significant difference at the low boost, but the higher boost produce bigger signal at newer battery, than the older one. However it can be tweaked easily at a lower voltage level battery so I don't think that this would be a serious sound problem. Especially for those players who like to use the VTC to cutting the treble, and like darker tone.
 
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#57,875
Trying the new bass at church today. So far everyone is very impressed.
B0AC2CCA-4F27-43F4-ABE1-05BF3555C629.jpeg
 
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#57,879
Good day
i enjoy following your reports every day and have a question for you from tb sadowsky onwer club.

I own a sadowsky nyc p 4 in alder - brazil rosewood and someone who lives further away than me so I can not meet him has a sadowsky pj in ash india roswood for sale does anyone have experience with such a similar configuration so ash-palisander pj and would you recommend me the bass
thank you for an answer and have a nice sunday from switzerland
Claudio

below for you a picture of my sadowsky alder/palisander with nitro body finish
and body and neck roasted - Vintiquity -

WP_20180705_13_37_41_Pro.jpg
 
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