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Do you need a Sadowsky bass ?
- Thread starter Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati
- Start date
I could do everything I need to do playing bass on a Precision - and often do these days. I don't need a Sadowsky, but I've been playing one longer than many TB members have been alive and they're sure nice to have.
Any properly set up Jazz bass with a preamp is going to sound at least a little like the classic Sadowsky tone. You can play a MIM Jazz into a Sadowsky outboard pre and get pretty close. Tone is a big player in the Sadowsky game, but many Sadowsky users buy the instruments for the build quality, feature set, and customer service as well.
All this said, a terrible player playing a Sadowsky isn't a pleasant experience to hear. The bass broadcasts every error in execution very clearly. On the other side, a Sadowsky in the right hands is an amazing sonic experience. Pretty much like every other bass. So, it's the player's touch, approach, and experience that makes the difference.
Speaking frankly, most of the active posters on TB from 10 years ago quit music because they simply weren't lifers or didn't ascend to being mentioned in the same breath as Nathan East or Les Claypool like they thought they would. For all you guys that hate hearing the "it's in your hands" trope, revisit it in 20 years, if you're still even playing. It's the only way you'll understand where the guys that say it's in your hands are coming from.
Any properly set up Jazz bass with a preamp is going to sound at least a little like the classic Sadowsky tone. You can play a MIM Jazz into a Sadowsky outboard pre and get pretty close. Tone is a big player in the Sadowsky game, but many Sadowsky users buy the instruments for the build quality, feature set, and customer service as well.
All this said, a terrible player playing a Sadowsky isn't a pleasant experience to hear. The bass broadcasts every error in execution very clearly. On the other side, a Sadowsky in the right hands is an amazing sonic experience. Pretty much like every other bass. So, it's the player's touch, approach, and experience that makes the difference.
Speaking frankly, most of the active posters on TB from 10 years ago quit music because they simply weren't lifers or didn't ascend to being mentioned in the same breath as Nathan East or Les Claypool like they thought they would. For all you guys that hate hearing the "it's in your hands" trope, revisit it in 20 years, if you're still even playing. It's the only way you'll understand where the guys that say it's in your hands are coming from.
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I don't need a Sadowsky bass at present. I actually don't need any more basses (I already have 8 in hand and a ninth in the works). And as much as I seriously like the styling of his Singlecut, until Roger deigns to build one in medium scale, I would have no use for it even if I was bassless.
As for all the comments of "it's in the player, not the instrument" - that conjecture has been proven 1000% true, IME
As for all the comments of "it's in the player, not the instrument" - that conjecture has been proven 1000% true, IME
This.
I play a Sadowsky on live gigs mainly because of the build quality, the stability of the neck and the resulting playability. The neck on my NYC basically doesn’t move, and we have some wild temperature swings here. The sound of the VTC is what it is. It surely isn’t the sound of my Pre, which is needed sometimes, mainly in the studio. But it works for jobbing gigs where I sometimes need more ‘modern’ sounds.
Play a Sadowsky without plugging it in, then do the same with the average US Fender. It should be instructive.
And sorry...tone is in the hands as well as the guitar.
To begin with, that’s a very fine player and band. I stumbled on some of their vids about a year ago, and immediately liked what I heard. Great stuff. Bravo.
But, I’m kind of confused about your OP. Are you asking whether a Fender is good enough? If so, it is. BUT, IME, you can greatly improve a Fender by adding the Sadowsky preamp to it. I just got back from a great gig with my parts Jazz Bass that has the Sadowsky preamp in it. Killer. And not going to break the bank.
And, if you can afford the Sadowsky and know what to ask for, that can be worth every penny. BUT, at the end of the day the player is so much more important than the instrument, that... well, the player is actually everything. The instrument is nice to have. Sadowsky’s are great; but, no substitute for playing well. Never has been. Never will be. Two separate topics. Don’t get them confused.
Think that s is pretty straightforwardIMO, that bass sounds like a really good Fender bass.
Fender is the original, so if anything Tal's Sadowsky sounds like a good
Fender bass!
That's also like saying Michael Jordan plays like Kobe Bryant!
gregbackstrom
These aren't stock curves--things move around!
No, I don’t need a Sadowsky. (I have one already!)
Thanks for your valuable contribution to the discussion Bucephylus
Well I think the real question is do I need a Tal? Lol and I say yes!!! She's really great to watch because its like I can see her thinking, shes expressive with how she feels the rhythm! And yes, cute looking, cute voice too. But anyway, like others keep mentioning, sadowsky is basically an overglorified fender. Not putting it down though. Cool basses but too expensive. I can take a fender jazz and modify it and get more sadowsky sounds than the real sadowsky can. All in the electronics guys and gals.
I wasn’t trying either ... ehm ... just liked to listen to different opinions/points of viewI don't need one, it doesn't mean NOBODY needs one. But then I don't try to tell other people what they do and do not need.
I also suspect that there’s a good and tested EQing work behind the overall tone emerging from the recording .. thanks for your observation
Good point ... Kinga, the bass player, is Polish... I came to work in Poland in May last year ... I couldn’t believe that locally there was such an interest in the restoration of old guitars and basses ... aside from Marusczyk and Mayones, there are small good shops in every town (see Mateusz Piotrowski’s youtube videos for instance) ... hence I believe Kinga surely benefited from what the local musical scene has to offer
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Marusczyk lives in Germany but Public Peace manufactures in Poland through Mensinger Custom Guitars close to Zakopane ... can go skiing and buying a bass there !
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