So, I'll admit to having a bit of a fascination with the new German-made Sadowsky MJ basses when I saw them debut. I've always loved the combo of a MM pickup with a J (Laklands were nice, but didn't dig the 35", also had a killer Roscoe MM/J that the 35" scale and wide nut got it sent off to another owner), and I like the narrower nut option the Sadowsky MJ basses come with, as well as their 18mm string spacing at the bridge. I wasn't - and still am not - a fan of the MM-style "egg" pickguard, but they're growing on me.
With that said, I had decided to patiently wait until some of the special editions of the MJ basses rolled out, but then I came across this transparent black with tort pickguard version and scooped it up to see what these basses were all about.
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Put my choice of strings on it, got it set up pretty close to my liking (still tinkering), then sat down to go through some tunes with it this morning. I have to admit, I hit that first note and my ears were like, "***...no!" That wasn't the sound I had in my head from a MM/J setup, nor was it the sound I had heard in the videos Lars did on YouTube. I put it in passive mode - there we go, that's the ticket. Put it back in active mode - very nasally and middy. I'm thinking there's definitely something wrong with this bass, out of all the Sadowsky basses I've ever had, engaging the preamp has never impacted the tone like this. <head scratch>
I rewatch some of Lars' videos to try and get a handle on which position of the switches is single, parallel, and series (no documentation on it and it's up toward the bridge = parallel, middle = single coil, and down = series if anyone is wondering). Man, listening to those videos the bass sounds full, rich, and what I'd expect an MM/J to sound like.
Pick the bass back up, tinker a bit with varying switch combos, EQ and VTC settings. Nope. This thing sounds killer passive, and just totally honky when the pre is engaged. I'm thinking maybe this one is going to be like a PJ to me, whereas I prefer those, and really anything with a P pickup, passive 99% of the time. Or is the preamp wonky? Dang, I hate to lose the controls of the preamp (though I'm typically not much of a knob turner) - is this a quick tryout and return?
I recalled a thread here on TB, where someone had posted a photo of the circuit from a German-made bass, maybe an MJ, but I don't remember, but it had "Will Lee" printed on the board. Hmmm. Popped the back cover off...yep, it says Will Lee. There's also two trim pots. Hmm x 2.
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After a quick tweak of each, I find that the top one seems to control output and the bottom one is the honk (read: mids) control. Fantastic! Dialed that bottom switch down and there it was - those sweet preamp-engaged tones of an MM/J setup that I was expecting at the first note. Whew, praise baby Jesus that got figured out!
The only other thing I noticed is that while I love the 18mm string spacing and slimmer neck profile, it's considerably more chunky front to back than my current NYC Will Lee 5, and even way more chunk than the NYC UV5 with soaps that I just sold. Not uncomfortable by any means, but definitely noticeable, especially having one to compare it to sitting two feet away.
I typically put basses through a month or so of gigs before making a final decision on their keeper status. This one will get the call tonight and tomorrow, while my NYC Will Lee 5 sits lonely (and cold). I'm excited to see what this MJ 5 can do out there now that I got honk dialed back!
And just for S&G's, here's a pic of the MJ and my workhorse NYC WL-5 (wearing some brand spanking new black hardware) hanging out together this mornin'...
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