I will be in the minority here but I love everything about the Sadowsky basses but the preamp. I know I'm odd for that lol, but always felt if it had a mid control it would be a perfect jazz bass.
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I'm on the other side of the fence from you as I love everything about it, BUT, it's your instrument! No rule says you can't slam some other preamp of your choice in your instrument and make it perfect for you. I would just recommend you carefully preserve the original in case you ever flip it... because the next owner will most likely want the original preamp to put back in at some point.
I'm not sure if it's the "Sadowsky sound" as much as it's the universal "jazz bass tone" where two pickups in the traditional 60's position are blended equally.
There are exceptions, of course - but I would not typically describe a traditional jazz bass tone as mid-heavy or "barky" ... every one I've played has naturally sounded pretty scooped - again, with both pickups blended equally.
You had to look at the links below the video to see the availability.
Nothing wrong with that - to each their own.
I definitely like that I have it available, but I almost never use it on my jazz basses, to be honest. A few times, but it's pretty rare. Mostly it's in active mode with bass and treble dialed down to zero and my VTC at 10.
When I ordered my recent custom, I almost asked for a passive bass with no electronics, but I ended up going the complete opposite direction with the full Will Lee preamp and single/dual coil option.
I do, however, use the pre much more on my M5-24. Those pickups are very buttery in the mid and can use a little love in the highs and a small bump in the lows.
If I could make any complaint about the preamp at all, it would be that I don't find anything useful on the bass control past 25% and maybe 50% on the treble control - it'd be interesting to know how many people go past those numbers when using a modern amp. I would prefer a much more gradual sweep where a maxed out bass or treble control is still usable, similar to George Furlanetto's preamp.
With that said - my Sadowsky basses are my number one go to - and it's for good reason.
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Summer gig season is full speed ahead!
This past weekend, we played Friday night, Saturday during the day and again on Saturday night - each gig was 4 hours of high energy rock.
I can still barely walk
but we debuted TWO new vocalists and and I heard nothing but glowing reviews on my tone from the crew, sound guys and other band.
Great weekend for sure!!!
This past weekend, we played Friday night, Saturday during the day and again on Saturday night - each gig was 4 hours of high energy rock.
I can still barely walk
but we debuted TWO new vocalists and and I heard nothing but glowing reviews on my tone from the crew, sound guys and other band. Great weekend for sure!!!
I have occasionally used less-than-gentle boosts on the Sadowsky pre. Context: my Sadowskys are single-pickup (two P, one MM) which are mid-forward, and the extra scoop is for playing hard rock through amps that are close to FRFR.
Outside of that, I run close to flat. The way I look at the Sadowsky pre: better to have that extra boost and not need it....
Although I presently have no Sadowsky bass in the stable, I'll always love that pre-amp...and also found the Will Lee circuit to be useful, particularly if trying to mimic a Stingray kind of vibe.
The Sadowsky preamp is a little bit odd, in that the volume control is Cut Only, and the Bass and Treble controls are Boost Only. I have the preamp in my NYC, 3 Fender Jazz Basses; and also use the outboard version with 3 passive Fenders - 2 J’s and a P.
I generally agree with @Addison that the most useful Boost ranges are within about the first 35% of the pot position for the Onboard, and about 40% to 45% for the Outboard with the passive instruments. I mainly use those settings to adjust for stage mix eccentricities, where I find it most useful.
But, as @Vic accurately stated, every player has different sounds going on and different prefs, particular for mids. There are a variety of high quality 3 band pres, aimed at mids controls. None of those has been useful for my needs. My Pope pres get after the mids control using a four band scheme, which is more useful; but, such detailed adjustments can be a distraction for fast moving cover sets requiring rapid voicing changes.
The Sadowsky pre suits my needs, easily adjusting to cover most of the classic cover sounds. It is even awesome paired with the single pickup P Bass. The P with rounds and a Sadowsky Outboard is just a whole nother discussion. Anyhow, my preferred cover gig preamp by a mile. YMMV.
I generally agree with @Addison that the most useful Boost ranges are within about the first 35% of the pot position for the Onboard, and about 40% to 45% for the Outboard with the passive instruments. I mainly use those settings to adjust for stage mix eccentricities, where I find it most useful.
But, as @Vic accurately stated, every player has different sounds going on and different prefs, particular for mids. There are a variety of high quality 3 band pres, aimed at mids controls. None of those has been useful for my needs. My Pope pres get after the mids control using a four band scheme, which is more useful; but, such detailed adjustments can be a distraction for fast moving cover sets requiring rapid voicing changes.
The Sadowsky pre suits my needs, easily adjusting to cover most of the classic cover sounds. It is even awesome paired with the single pickup P Bass. The P with rounds and a Sadowsky Outboard is just a whole nother discussion. Anyhow, my preferred cover gig preamp by a mile. YMMV.
Yeah, and honestly, I very rarely use any of the bass/treble boost anyway. I have managed to find the magic combo of woods and pickups to go with the natural influence of that transistor design, that I just don't need to adjust anything except blend 90% of the time. The other 10% is adding a touch of bass... just a touch... when favoring or soloing the bridge pickup... and also working with the VTC.
I don't think I've ever used the treble control at all, even though I've seen lots of people have good results by doing things like boosting the treble, but cutting the VTC... with a net result of almost a simulated mid-boost.
Anyway... point is, IMHO the key to happiness is finding the magic combo of woods and pickups such that the preamp is only needed for mild color adjustments. Otherwise the bass should sound "perfect" to you with everything "flat". (i put flat in quotes because that's a very loaded word, and can mean a lot of things, but I think my context makes my meaning clear... at least I hope so).
Where’s the pink one?Summer gig season is full speed ahead!
View attachment 5476136
This past weekend, we played Friday night, Saturday during the day and again on Saturday night - each gig was 4 hours of high energy rock.
I can still barely walk
Great weekend for sure!!!
The thing that hooked me on Roger's basses/preamps, many years ago, is the clarity of tone. Just seems that no matter where you land on highs-mid-lows the clarity is still there. The Sadowsky is not a bass for sloppy technique.
I now have 2 metrolines and they have become my main basses. I find these basses perfect for me. After years of chasing fancy basses with exotic woods I find that what works best in a band is a jazz or P and sadowsky does these better than anyone.
I recently bought an NYC PJ5 with Nordstrand pickups. Really nice bass, plays and sounds wonderful. At home the Sadowsky pre is great. With a band, I missed being able to cut frequencies and having a mid control. So I replaced the pre with a Nordstrand 3-band, and I’m very happy with the result.
It still sounds like a Sadowsky, in both active and passive modes. But now I can roll off the bass or bump the mids when needed. I was worried about losing the signature sound, but I didn’t need to worry. Now it’s even better (for me anyway).
It still sounds like a Sadowsky, in both active and passive modes. But now I can roll off the bass or bump the mids when needed. I was worried about losing the signature sound, but I didn’t need to worry. Now it’s even better (for me anyway).
Have the Blue one myself and it comes out above all others for Blues and rock. Amazing how good it sounds as is
Couldn't agree more. I still love my Fender but something about the Sadowsky is just special. Also the fact that it's so light just helps me move around so much better.
