I recently purchased a brand new 62 Jazz Reissue. I can honestly say it's the most perfect bass I've owned.
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If Only One Bass, Fender or Sadowsky?
- Thread starter jnammy
- Start date
my experience was the exact opposite...
@leegreenman
agree 100%
it was my 62RI that just killed the Sadowsky's! i was shopping for a five string and the Sads were not as remarkable as advertised. i was happier with my MIM for some reason. proably the set-up of the MIM. the most pleasing 5'er i've ever played was a Roscoe, IMHO!
Jim Carr
Dr. Jim
- Jan 21, 2006
- 16,223
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- Disclosures
- fEARful Kool-Aid dispensing liberal academic card-carrying union member Musicians Local 72-147
I have both a 1988 Sadowsky Standard 4 and a 1972 Fender Jazz. If I could only keep one, it probably would be the Fender. I love the Sadowsky, but the Fender really speaks to me and is like wearing a nice old and worn in pair of jeans!
Two cents:
Sadowsky: consistent, true boutique, small company with personal service and focused integrity. Less is more!
Fender: inconsistent, corporate dilution and impersonal, too many chefs, too many factors, too much. Custom, Master Built, MIM, American, what?? I just want to get the best and not have to spend a week wading through deliberate marketing designed confusion to get it!! Fender had the mother of all great designs, but it fell prey to corporate and marketing overgrowth and now that great design and consistent build takes too much time and effort to get to!! More is too much!
Sadowsky: consistent, true boutique, small company with personal service and focused integrity. Less is more!
Fender: inconsistent, corporate dilution and impersonal, too many chefs, too many factors, too much. Custom, Master Built, MIM, American, what?? I just want to get the best and not have to spend a week wading through deliberate marketing designed confusion to get it!! Fender had the mother of all great designs, but it fell prey to corporate and marketing overgrowth and now that great design and consistent build takes too much time and effort to get to!! More is too much!
It's a very different question than the Fodera vs. Fender debate.
To put it in biologic taxonomic terms, Foderas and Fenders are like two different genera, while Sadowskys and Fenders are like two different species within the same genus.
Continuing that allegory, I'd say the Sadowsky is the more evolved of the two, and the clear choice.
To put it in biologic taxonomic terms, Foderas and Fenders are like two different genera, while Sadowskys and Fenders are like two different species within the same genus.
Continuing that allegory, I'd say the Sadowsky is the more evolved of the two, and the clear choice.
I'd say Fender. Never touched a custom shop level Fender or Sadowsky. I don't really think the price tag makes much of a difference if you're getting it for free.
If I'm allowed to try a whole bunch of Fender P's, and pick the one I like best, I'll take that. Else I'll take the Sadowsky. I'd be happy either way.
Between Fender and Sadowsky this would be my answer also.
I'd still like a fretted and a fretless though
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I gigged a couple of 1997 Fender jazz Deluxe 5's with excellent results. Since neither brand makes a six I want, that would limit me to four or five strings and since I made this actual choice several years ago I'll stick with it.
If it was my only bass it´ll be the Sadowsky because I play 5 string lately. Though I played a Sadowsky PJ5 Metro along with an Adamovic Saturn 5 (jazz model). The Adamovic bleu the Sadowksy in terms of everything.
Actually the 2010 Fender Jazz V had a better B string response than the Sadowsky....maybe it was a not so good Sadowsky....who knows. This doesn´t mean that Sadowsky are bad or something like that, we´re talking very high level basses here.
As if it was a 4 string, my 09 MIA Jazz is simply awsome. Plays amazing, sounds amazing, sits in the mix amazing. If I don´t know what kind of sound I want in a song I simply pull out the Jazz and works wonders.
I always thought if it only was a 5 stringer, than you think more about it and the Fender bass is a 4 string beast. For a fiver it´d be a Sadowsky, Adamovic or any other bass build as a fiver in mind.
all IMHO!
Actually the 2010 Fender Jazz V had a better B string response than the Sadowsky....maybe it was a not so good Sadowsky....who knows. This doesn´t mean that Sadowsky are bad or something like that, we´re talking very high level basses here.
As if it was a 4 string, my 09 MIA Jazz is simply awsome. Plays amazing, sounds amazing, sits in the mix amazing. If I don´t know what kind of sound I want in a song I simply pull out the Jazz and works wonders.
I always thought if it only was a 5 stringer, than you think more about it and the Fender bass is a 4 string beast. For a fiver it´d be a Sadowsky, Adamovic or any other bass build as a fiver in mind.
all IMHO!
I just love how people who haven't owned or even tried a brand of bass will come in and knock it.
I've played and owned both. The Sadowsky was the best "live" i.e. gigging basses I ever played. The build quality was outstanding and the preamp gave me enough control to EQ for almost any situation. I gigged one exclusively through the mid 1990's and it never let me down. If I were still making a living performing music, I would choose Sadowsky - hands down. (And Roger is one hell of a great guy).
But now, at age 47, I only gig a few times a year. I play more sessions than live gigs. For those, I do not need a great on-board eq. The studio has that covered. I just need a bass that resonates well and feels right to me. That being said, the three best "feeling" basses I ever owned were all Fenders: a 1960 Precision - a 1961 Stack Knob Jazz - and, believe it or not - my current 2008 Fender American Standard Jazz.
With all praise and respect to Roger Sadowsky and the excellent basses he makes, at this stage of my life I would probably choose Fender.
But now, at age 47, I only gig a few times a year. I play more sessions than live gigs. For those, I do not need a great on-board eq. The studio has that covered. I just need a bass that resonates well and feels right to me. That being said, the three best "feeling" basses I ever owned were all Fenders: a 1960 Precision - a 1961 Stack Knob Jazz - and, believe it or not - my current 2008 Fender American Standard Jazz.
With all praise and respect to Roger Sadowsky and the excellent basses he makes, at this stage of my life I would probably choose Fender.
