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Club Sadowsky!!!

#8,381
specs said:
It seems most of the members of this club play with there fingers and play in jazz bands or for there own inenjoyment.
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I use my Sadowsky basses to play mostly cover tunes, everything from classic blues, to country, hard rock, classic rock, disco, and funk. While I do enjoy it, hopefully so do a lot of other folks. At least they keep paying me to do it again and again. :)
 
#8,383
Chef said:
Yessir, I did that. Raising the action took away some of that grind that seems to be a nice, positive part of the bass's personality.

In this case, I'm willing to let the bass be what it wants, and try to adapt my style to it. I'll have to concentrate on being lighter with my right hand with this one. I can live with that.
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That's cool, but I'm still really confused as to why simply adding a little distance between the strings and the frets had that effect on the tone. Strange. :confused: Oh well. :)
 
#8,384
Chef said:
Yessir, I did that. Raising the action took away some of that grind that seems to be a nice, positive part of the bass's personality.

In this case, I'm willing to let the bass be what it wants, and try to adapt my style to it. I'll have to concentrate on being lighter with my right hand with this one. I can live with that.
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When I first started playing my Sadowsky, I wasn't crazy about it (playing wise not tone) but I stuck with it and now 10 yrs later I couldn't live without it.
 
#8,385
Action was just under 1/8 b/t bottom of strings and top of f/b. That's really low for me, I typically run more like 9/32: that's a lot of diff!
So, I raised to to that, and moved the pups up the same amount.

Tone didn't change so much as grind. I'm just gonna have to play lighter. No biggie.
 
#8,386
Chef said:
Action was just under 1/8 b/t bottom of strings and top of f/b. That's really low for me, I typically run more like 9/32: that's a lot of diff!
So, I raised to to that, and moved the pups up the same amount.

Tone didn't change so much as grind. I'm just gonna have to play lighter. No biggie.
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Yeah, I know it's no biggie, and I'm not trying to make it one, just a curiosity is all. So do you think the "grind" you're talking about is coming from maybe some extra interaction of the frets with the lower action that goes away when you raise the strings a bit?
 
#8,387
Mr. Lovejoy said:
To increase the effectiveness of your sarcasm, you need to make it less obvious.

The preamp is very nice, I will admit that... but due to how much I rely on mids, it is a deal-breaker for me. It is a pity, I really wanted to love Sadowskys.


I know you lot would probably die for your Sads, but you have to understand that they are not the be-all and end-all.
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Well, unless they come up with a sarcasm emoticon, I'll have to stick with being obvious about it, as are you in your last sentence of this quote.

Scott McArron said:
I just got a Sadowsky and was unsure about it until I used it on a gig. Coming from a bass with a 18-volt Bart preamp with boost and cut selectable mids, I was quite skeptical. I always ended up boosting the mids quite a bit to be heard in the mix.

On my first gig with the Sadowsky this past weekend, I found I didn't need to add any mids at all. I got comments from the other guys in the band about how I cut through like never before and how the mids sounded so natural while still maintaining a very balanced and supportive tone.

But if it doesn't work for you, it doesn't work. There are a few things I would change on my Sadowsky as well if I had complete control, like lessening the distance between the body and strings.

There are a lot of great basses out there to choose from, and finding one that you like is half the fun, IMO!
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Exactly. Plenty of mids as is.

Mr. Lovejoy said:
I'm on the violent tone side of the fence these days, so "balanced" and "supportive" is not really what I'm looking for.

A Sad would definitely be my choice Bass for a cover band gig or something softer than what I normally like.
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If you're after a grindy punk tone, or just an extreme tone in general, the Sad pre will DEFINITELY get that done. If you boost the bass and treble almost all the way up and favor the bridge pickup while using a pick, it sounds great through a little distortion and a tube rig. There's a wide range of tones, maybe just not the be-all, end-all. Although I'd like to play THAT bass.
 
#8,389
ElMon said:
Well, unless they come up with a sarcasm emoticon, I'll have to stick with being obvious about it, as are you in your last sentence of this quote.
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I wasn't being sarcastic :confused:

ElMon said:
If you're after a grindy punk tone, or just an extreme tone in general, the Sad pre will DEFINITELY get that done. If you boost the bass and treble almost all the way up and favor the bridge pickup while using a pick, it sounds great through a little distortion and a tube rig. There's a wide range of tones, maybe just not the be-all, end-all. Although I'd like to play THAT bass.
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I boost mids, not scoop them.
 
#8,390
ElMon said:
If you're after a grindy punk tone, or just an extreme tone in general, the Sad pre will DEFINITELY get that done. If you boost the bass and treble almost all the way up and favor the bridge pickup while using a pick, it sounds great through a little distortion and a tube rig.
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:eek: Wow, I can't even imagine diming the EQ, but FWIW what I've done to get a super grindy punk/metal tone is similar. In my case, I just need to boost the bass some (though not extremely at all) and like you said, favor the bridge fairly significantly. Man, I get TONS of angry ticked off growl that works great with a fuzz box (or not, for that matter). Sounds amazing with a pick too. I don't play much of that kind of music these days, but that tone is definitely there.

At least for my tastes, and I know that doesn't count for everyone, so FWIW. :)
 
#8,391
Mr. Lovejoy said:
I boost mids, not scoop them.
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That's what I favor the bridge pickup for... to get those burpy mids real strong in the tone, but then you typically have to add bass to fatten it back up because favoring the bridge also kinda' thins the sound out a bit. I'm guessing that was his point as well.
 
#8,392
Vic said:
That's what I favor the bridge pickup for... to get those burpy mids real strong in the tone, but then you typically have to add bass to fatten it back up because favoring the bridge also kinda' thins the sound out a bit. I'm guessing that was his point as well.
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Good point.

Maybe I should try out a Modern. The only ones I picked up were the 5-string P's and J's.
 
#8,393
Mr. Lovejoy said:
I'm on the violent tone side of the fence these days, so "balanced" and "supportive" is not really what I'm looking for.

A Sad would definitely be my choice Bass for a cover band gig or something softer than what I normally like.
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"balanced"
"supportive"

He's just saying that the package comes together well in a band setting, which ultimately translates to you sitting in the mix well and being heard. I've noticed a number of bassists lately that I would have swore would use a Stingray, Ripper, Fender P or something more aggressive like that. And then I saw them sporting Sadowsky MV5s. So, in their case "supportive" meant "facial disfigurement".

I've been playing a lot of rock gigs lately and my MV5 absolutely shines in that arena. I also happen to use an Aguilar DB750 and DB410 (known for being rather strong in the mids) or a VT Bass.
 
#8,395
Mr. Lovejoy said:
I wasn't being sarcastic :confused:


I boost mids, not scoop them.
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The mids are always present, even with extreme boosting. And I was only pointing out that you were being extreme about your opinion, not that you were being sarcastic. No worries though. I think I get where you're coming from. I was certainly one who didn't get what all the fuss was about until I got my old MV5 out to a few gigs.



Vic said:
:eek: Wow, I can't even imagine diming the EQ, but FWIW what I've done to get a super grindy punk/metal tone is similar. In my case, I just need to boost the bass some (though not extremely at all) and like you said, favor the bridge fairly significantly. Man, I get TONS of angry ticked off growl that works great with a fuzz box (or not, for that matter). Sounds amazing with a pick too. I don't play much of that kind of music these days, but that tone is definitely there.

At least for my tastes, and I know that doesn't count for everyone, so FWIW. :)
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Yeah, its a REALLY extreme sound. I also used to boost the bass quite a bit on the neck pickup of my PJ5, and with some thumb muting technique could get a great keyboard bass sound. 90% of the time was spent with a smidge of bass boost, treble flat, pups centered, and varying the VTC on and off.
 
#8,397
Mr. Lovejoy said:
Good point.

Maybe I should try out a Modern. The only ones I picked up were the 5-string P's and J's.
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Yeah, that's an even better idea if you're all about mids and aggression... holy cow. Regardless, if a Sadowsky doesn't fit you, it ain't no big thing. Just find what fits you and rock on. The only thing I'd say is, and this is true of any instrument... don't be too quick to form a "final" opinion. Spend a few gigs, ask a few questions, and if it still doesn't fit, then at least you'll know for sure.
 
#8,398
Mr. Lovejoy said:
Hybrid amps tend to make people die regardless of the Bass used.
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Wow, not only is this comment confusing as to what you mean (by "make people die"), but it's also amazingly sweeping... especially noting how vastly different all the hybrid amps currently on the market are from each other.
 
#8,400
Mr. Lovejoy said:
Can't you figure it out yourself?
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I've learned it's best not to try and interpret or assume what someone else might mean, especially when you know very little about that person, and rather, ask them directly, and hope they'd respect that with a clear and polite answer.
 

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