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Dissapointed in Sadowskys

#45
It B string's high, than so am I. Tried a few Metros (MV5, RV4) and found the sound to be too bass heavy for my taste, even in passive mode. Didn't sound to my ears like it would be able to cut through the dense, guitar-dominated mixes I usually play in.

My warmoth with Nordstrand singlecoils and a Sadowsky preamp cuts through pretty nicely, so I'd love to try a Sadowsky with single coils at some point in the future.

(..anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Sadowsky police.. Attica! Attica! Attica! :D )
 
#46
BenF said:
..anxiously awaiting the arrival of the Sadowsky police.. Attica! Attica! Attica! :D
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9-1-1
 

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#49
I've said it a billion times now, trust your ears not the headstock logo. A little objective homework goes a LLLOOONNNGGG way when shopping for a bass. Price and pretty are attractive selling points, however they're very seldom the final answer - trust me, I know! There are a few guys here on TB who continually try and catch the elusive tone phantom by buying high $$$$ basses only to sell them a month or two later like I used to do. By reading every review and hanging onto every hip catch phrase (what is "Growl" anyway??) I fell into that trap, I mean how many ways can you spin the words "Ash body, Maple neck, tone woods, blah -blah". Honestly, given its outstanding construction and materials, my $6700 Ken Smith is not my favorate bass. Believe it or not, I like the feel of my Ibanez Roadstar II and the tone of my very inexpensive passive SX '75 copy (with pickup upgrade) much better. It took some time and growth on my part to develop my point of view but it's working for me. Yea, I FEEL good about owning a $6700 Smith, but the reputation, legend and history, etc. of it speaks louder than its realities I'm afraid.
You did the right thing to "try before you buy". It's a lesson I wish I would have learned sooner instead of later.

KT

B String said:
After reading opinions and talking with the Sadowsky shop,
(the Sadowsky guys are as nice as humans can be)
I was very excited when a local store received a number of
Metro's. Even after setting them up, I was very dissapointed.
In the passive mode, the tone was not as usable as the
Lakland JO, or stock Fender jazz. With the preamp on, it was
god like, wonderfull tone for days. Still, the basses were
heavy and clunky feeling. I guess I expected more from a
$2,200. bass. The only new Fender am dlx V I've found felt
much more "elegant". More of a players bass at almost half
the cost. I had my heart set on a Metro. AARGH!!!!
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#50
bikeplate said:
Hi!

Its all good. I just dont like threads that bash specific gear. Gear is subjective. I'm disappointed with pretty much everything I pick up at a store but I'd never start a thread to bash it.

Rob
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Where does he bash Sadowskys? :confused: Maybe try and be a bit less defensive of the instruments. All he said was, "After everything I've read here, I went in really hoping to like them, but they didn't do it for me."

If you are only allowed to start threads praising stuff, this place would get pretty boring pretty fast. And, it wouldn't be the internet, would it? :D
 
#51
bassmonkeee said:
Where does he bash Sadowskys? :confused: Maybe try and be a bit less defensive of the instruments. All he said was, "After everything I've read here, I went in really hoping to like them, but they didn't do it for me."

If you are only allowed to start threads praising stuff, this place would get pretty boring pretty fast. And, it wouldn't be the internet, would it? :D
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People get touchy when it comes to their children.
 
#52
KenToby said:
There are a few guys here on TB who continually try and catch the elusive tone phantom by buying high $$$$ basses only to sell them a month or two later like I used to do...KT
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What's up KT?

How's life?

- The "try before you buy" option is best-case scenario. Many of us don't live within arms reach of most basses we'd like to try. Consequently, we either buy first or limit our experiences to the few locally or regionally available brands.

- Seeing as how your $6700 Smith is not your favorite bass, send it to me, I'll make it mine. ;)

- Are you planning a "Samick vs Hondo" thread?


JB
 
#55
No my brotha, no Hondo/Samick thread. Like you, I'm just trying to share some facts that might help someone somewhere.

Aside from the unfortunate P/J thing, I haven't seen you doing much business in a while; sounds like you have your arsonal sorted out.

JB, you do a lot of research so you are aware of what I'm talking about. With CNC machineing being the norm, the days of having to go with a high dollar instrument to get good part fit-up are just about gone. The biggest differences these days isn't wood type or even hardware, it's the electronics - preamps and pickups.
This is why I keep telling folks to find a nice Musicman, Fender, etc. knockoff and upgrade the electronics. As with the Chinese SX's and OLP's they've been so well reverse engineered that there really is a pretty small margin between the original and these copies. Yes, the finish work and details are nicer on the original stuff but the material fundementals are so close that we can't brush them off as being junk anymore unless we choose to bury our heads in the sand.

My Smith? It's still THE absolutly best built, most attractive bass I have. I'm simply into a couple of my other basses right now. You know how it is, give me a month or two and I'll tell you that the Smith is the best thing since sliced bread again; We're funny like that.

KT


JRBrown said:
What's up KT?

How's life?

- The "try before you buy" option is best-case scenario. Many of us don't live within arms reach of most basses we'd like to try. Consequently, we either buy first or limit our experiences to the few locally or regionally available brands.

- Seeing as how your $6700 Smith is not your favorite bass, send it to me, I'll make it mine. ;)

- Are you planning a "Samick vs Hondo" thread?


JB
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#56
There *is* a lot of Sadowsky hype on this board... and with good reason, IMO. But there's no such thing as a best bass, and no bass regardless of quality will please everyone. Sadowsky & Co. understand this perfectly: witness their extremely liberal return policy.

I'm on the Sadowsky waiting list myself. I expect to be pleased, but there's no guarantee. If I'm not pleased, then I will say so and explain why as objectively as I can. That's not bashing by any stretch. If Fred likes Bass XYZ but James doesn't like Bass XYZ, who's right and who's wrong? Answer: both are right, neither are wrong.
 
#57
Not every bass by even your favorite luthier will blow you away. I'm a huge fan of Vinnie Fodera's work and I've had at least a few Foderas that just didn't do it for me.

I hated my first Sadowsky 5 and swore that it was all hype. I recently picked up a PJ5 that I'll never part with. Sometimes it is the luthier's style that doesn't work for you, other times it's just a case of a wood combo that produces something markedly different that what you're used to hearing in your head.
 
#58
KenToby said:
With CNC machineing being the norm, the days of having to go with a high dollar instrument to get good part fit-up are just about gone. The biggest differences these days isn't wood type or even hardware, it's the electronics - preamps and pickups.
This is why I keep telling folks to find a nice Musicman, Fender, etc. knockoff and upgrade the electronics. As with the Chinese SX's and OLP's they've been so well reverse engineered that there really is a pretty small margin between the original and these copies. Yes, the finish work and details are nicer on the original stuff but the material fundementals are so close that we can't brush them off as being junk anymore unless we choose to bury our heads in the sand.
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This is true to a certain extent, but there is something to be said for carefully chosen and properly cured wood. I've seen many budget line guitars and basses constructed with poor quality or "green" wood.
 
#59
narud said:
then where are you in the anti warwick/spector/fender etc. threads? i doubt most of us here took this thread as bashing sadowsky.
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I didn't. I took it as someone not being blown away with something he experienced directly. Wasn't even close to bashing. In fact he seemed to want to be blown away.

Now if it were Brubakers he was talking about he'd have to be high... everyone loves them.


Right :rolleyes: ;)

All jokes aside, I don't get the defensive thing. Like what you like... and let others have the same freedom.
 

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