Mike Lull and Sadowsky

I believe JR Brown has recently owned both and can help you out.
You can probably expect some great pictures to be posted as well

 

Hi!

I have 3 Sadowsky's and I used to have an artist deal with Lull. The Lull I had was a modern 5 string. It was nicely put together. Quilt top, maple neck and board, jj pickups. I found the neck a bit round for my liking, almost chunky. The pickups and preamp worked and sounded fine but nothing on the market compares to the Sadowsky pickups and preamp, IMO! Nothing! Smooth, punchy, real tight bottom. I think the Lull had 24 frets. Nice cutaway. Nice finish. I prefer the Sadowsky's wide, flat neck(5 string). Both were light, balanced well. I think the preamp is the key. You'll get a better new price on the Lull. A few hundred cheaper, if I remember well. Overall, I'd go Sadowsky. If you go for the Lull, get the passive preamp option and order a pre/DI from Sadowsky!! It kills

Rob

 

sadowsky-more modern hi tech jazz bass sound.deep bottom,sparkling high end,somewhat subdued(sp?) mids

lull-barky mids,treble voiced lower than the sad,less deep bass set flat. a little thin maybe?

bottom line-two very different sounding basses. both that i owned were ash/maple board. the sad had roger's pre and the humcancelling pup's and the lull had duncan singles with a bart ntmb.

my preference (after reflection and now not owning either bass) is the sad. at one time(for around an hour) i preffered the lull but i think i was going through some weird phase.

 

well,

both are incredible beasts of the Fender stylie, and as far up that pole, as you can possibly go. and i think Mike's stuff is horribly underrated for the killer instruments they are.

BUT,

if the Lull shop is local to you, I more than emphasize you should go with Mr. Lull.

if there's anything i've learned, is that having the guy who built your bass nearby is a godsend! besides killer setups, you can foster a great working relationship with somebody who knows your bass inside out.

i not only love my Sadowsky's tone and build, but also love the fact that Roger, Frank, (the other) Mike, Trevor, etc. are all a short 3 station stops away in DUMBO, ready to help me out if i'm ever in trouble, or finally help me try out that reverse P style in my PJ bass.

not that Roger wouldnt offer that same great service to a guy on the frozen tundra, but the fact that he's local really makes it a win-win situation for everybody!

and not just Roger & Co., but i do this with all my other gear as well.

its the coolest, being able to walk literally 5 blocks to Alex Aguilar's shop, and have his shop check out my "accidently-dropped-on-the-front-steps" DB680, 3 hours before a gig. luckily with their fine toothed comb, it came out all good.

of course, i wouldnt have been able to chill with Nick, Brett, (and yet another) Mike at Epifani, and get the lowdown on why his ultralites are ultra freakin' cool.

moral of the story, you not only support the great artisans in your area, but you get unparallelled support from a the peeps who know your gear best!

 

I dig what everybody is saying about the tonal differences between the Lull and Sadowsky. I have a Mike Lull vintage 4 with the Lindy Frailin pickups. If I sent that through the Sadowsky preamp would that offer me the Sadowsky tone as well, or would I need the Sadowsky pickups as well? Has anybody tried this?

 

i agree with everything that's been said about sadowsky's & lull's basses - except for what joker (sorry man) said about being close to the man who built your bass. i haven't had the best experience, and have heard some other bad things about the work in lull's shop. That said, he did a great job refretting my MTD (4 years ago), but recently he seems to be getting too busy for us little guys. However, Roger Sadowsky treats everyone like they're Will Lee. Seriously. I'd personally rather pay $75 to send a bass to Roger for work than drive 10 minutes to Lull's shop (i drove by his shop this morning).

My $0.02

Oh, and you can check out sound clips of the outboard Sadowsky Preamp at http://www.basstasters.com Just posted!

 

I dig my Lull P5 a lot, workmanship is top-notch. But I would much rather have a Sadowsky for one reason: string spacing. Lulls are 17mm at the bridge, whereas the Sadowskys are Fender-standard 19mm (3/4"), which is more comfortable for me. YMMV.

 

nope, in my experience that doesnt work. i tried running my old lull in passive mode and using my fodera stompbox pre. didnt really do anything. it still sounded like the lull. problem is, with every bass ive tried that has a passive mode, when you use it,it doesnt sound like what the bass would sound like wired passive. my current fodera, my former lull, and lakland all sound like butt when in passive mode. the only bass that still sounded pretty darn good passive was the sad.

 

That's funny because I normally think basses sound WAAAAY better in passive mode - including my fodera and sadowsky. One note: set the gain control level the same on passive and active modes on the fodera for a more accurate comparison, if you haven't already.

 

bassnw has a sad v5 in stock right now... if its not gone already...

 

kinda OT, but i like the vol/blend setup better. that way, if you wanna be dead quite, you just need to turn down one knob, instead of fumbling with two. then again, that's just my clumsing fingers.

 

Oooooo, i played that sucker at the shop. very very sweet bass.