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Lakland vs Sadowsky

#121
Sundogue said:
A good player will not make cheap gear sound good, a good player will just sound better through cheap gear than a lousy player would.

A talented race car driver is never going to win a NASCAR race driving an old LTD station wagon from my past. Will he drive it better than I did? Definitely. Does his driving make my old LTD a better car? Nope...ain't gonna happen.

I agree that most of your tone is in your hands and a excellent player can make do with some pretty awful crap gear. But let's not kid ourselves into thinking that it's ALL in your hands.

I seriously doubt Stanley Clark would still sound like Stanley Clark playing on an old, beat up bass with lousy pickups, and a twisted neck, playing through an old Crate head and a beat up old 18", half blown speaker. Would he still play it better than most of us? Yup. Will it sound as good as the gear he normally uses? Nope.

We buy the best gear we can find that suits us best as players. Nothing wrong with that. But if it were ALL in your hands, there wouldn't even be a reason to have as many choices for gear as we do. Some are tangibly better than others. Otherwise we'd all settle for crappy gear and just practice more.
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Well put. Thank you. :bassist:
 
#122
I'm sure a lot of you know how Stanley Clarke got his first Alembic. He was playing a show, using a Gibson EB3. Rick Turner came in and approached him after the show. He said, paraphrasing, "You are a great player but your sound is horrible. Try this". That says something for it being the player AND the bass.
 
#123
Getting back to the original question, I have been auditioning many basses any chance I get as I travel the country on business.

I have A/B'ed the Sadowsky Metro M5 and Lakland 55-02. Both great basses and owning/playing either would be a joy. However, given a choice between those two, I'd choose the Sadowsky. I just loved the sound, feel and build quality of the Sad.

For what its worth.....
 
#125
cheezewiz said:
I'm sure a lot of you know how Stanley Clarke got his first Alembic. He was playing a show, using a Gibson EB3. Rick Turner came in and approached him after the show. He said, paraphrasing, "You are a great player but your sound is horrible. Try this". That says something for it being the player AND the bass.
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Wow. That's interesting!

O.T.: going to see Marcus Miller and Stanley Clarke tonight!!:hyper:
 
#129
Not a bad show at all...LOTS of non-melodic wanking that kinda bored me...but a cool show non the less. FANTASTIC crowd, but i'd expect nothing less from a philly crowd cheering on a hometown boy :D

and just so i'm not totally off topic with this post, i went to the concert with a former TB'er (no time to post anymore) and he said that he much prefers US Sad's over laklands soundwise, and only slightly for feel, and that is because of the Sadowsky 5-string neck profile.
 
#132
wujuu said:
off-topic but quick question:

sadowskies are rear-routed, correct? so can you take the pickguard off and have just the tone/volume knobs on the little metal "thingy"
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Basically, yes. You can remove the pickguard so that you only have the control plate by itself. The cavities on the vintage models are front and rear-routed to accomodate the traditional chrome control plate and its attached electronics. Sadowsky models with pickguards don't have additional routing that shows underneath the pickguard like some other jazz basses do.
 
#134
Surprise. My vote's for Sadowsky.

I have had the good fortune of playing many a Lakland since moving back to NY. So far I haven't found one that really spoke to me. Almost all of the Laklands, both US and Skyline models, that I've played were from Rudy's Music. They all had proper setups and fresh strings but none of them grabbed me. I recently bought a used Metro MV5 (ash/maple) sight unseen and I'm totally impressed. It has quickly become my main instrument. The guys at the shop made me feel at home and I had tons of fun in the showroom, finally getting the chance to play several Sadowsky's. For me, they're a great fit and they sound unreal.

I'm picking up a new NYC model on Monday and I can't wait! It's a 24-fret P/J 5-string (ash/maple) and tonally, it goes head-to-head with my Fodera 6 (mahog body, maple neck, ebony fb). It's so sweet in the upper register and down low it's tight and focused but still warm. I'd always GAS'ed for a Modern 24 model with soapbars but after playing the P/J, a NYC 24/5 and a Metro 24/5, I preferred the P/J.
Special mention for the P pickup in the neck position. The soundstage is very refined. I haven't found very many P pickups that I like but these Sads are very nice. No honky P sound but a very beautiful, wide presentation that fits somewhere between J's and soapbars.

It'll also be the lightest bass I've ever owned at 7.5 lbs. In comparison, the Fodera's somewhere up around 12+ lbs.! I used to just put up with the weight of a bass if it had good tone but it's just ridiculous if you can barely finish a three-hour gig. For me, that's another reason why the Sads win out over the Laklands (or any other bass FTM) because on top of their great tone and playability, they're consistently light.
 
#136
JayAmel said:
I'm new to this topic but personally, yes I do think Sadowsky or Lakland US basses are much better made than MM's.

But can a mass produced bass be as close to perfection as a hand made one ? Probably not. And there are some bothering details on MM's, such as random body woods or battery compartment whose door is hard to open and may break quickly.

Though, except in Europe where an SR5 is now at the same price as a Metro, MM's are very good basses at a reasonable price.
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Well, I'll say this. I presently own a Metro MS5,and I use to own a SR5 and the build quality in the SR5 was every bit as good as the Metro,and to be honest with you I really not that impressed with the Metro, because if the SR5 had more Ideal voicings (for me) then I doubt very seriously I would have the Metro,but the build quality is dead-on on the SR5, not that the Metro is shabby by any means
 
#137
I own a Sadowsky NYC P bass and love it. I pitched it against a US Bob Glaub and the Sadowsky felt a lot better and sounded much more versatile for me. The BG was a good bass but very much old school, whereas the Sadowsky can cover both old school but also sound modern with minor tweaking of the eq. Although simple, the two band eq on the Sadowsky is the most effective for finding great tones that I have ever used
 
#138
Kurisu said:
Yep, that's pretty much how I see it. I agree a lot of the tone comes from the bass and gear, and I've upgraded (although technically my Sadowsky is in OH right now, en route, so I don't even know how much my overall tone will improve). But the bass is certainly not all the tone, as the starter of the discussion stated.
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I have a Sadowsky and I still play my MIM Active V,because it's a fun bass to play,and I got it cheap too....$350.00 ! oh btw the finish ain't that bad,the tuners are pretty tight,has a BadAss II bridge (not really a fan of those,but it came with it) and Lindy Fralin pickups. It Ain't a Sadowsky or a Lakland but she sounds pretty damn good.
 
#139
wujuu said:
let us know how that p/j turns out Bt6
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Well after another revealing auditioning session at the Sadowsky shop, I decided to put my MV5 on consignment and get not one but two new NYC's! One is the 24-5 P/J that I mentioned and the other is a 24-5 with soapbars. When I arrive in KC in a little over a week, they'll be waiting for me in their undisturbed shipping containers, straight from Nino! :hyper: :D
I thought this Monday would work initially but Roger ended up being out of town all this week. That kind of put a hamper on my plan of buying the basses and taking them home with me on the subway. I forgot about the tax. :rollno: Now that they'll be shipped to KC ahead of me, I won't have to worry about that pesky 8.375% and I won't have to worry about taking them on the plane! (one way at least)

Don't worry, I'll spew plenty about these basses. I've already started a draft for that thread! I'll be including my initial, in shop, impressions and then I'll follow up with my findings once I play them in a few rehearsal and performance settings. :bassist:
[/hjack]
 

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