+ One Meellion!!
Totally my experience too! I love my Big Singles, and my Nordy fits my hand. It's the right tool for 'me.'
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Nordy or Sadowsky???
- Thread starter CTC564
- Start date
+ One Meellion!!
Totally my experience too! I love my Big Singles, and my Nordy fits my hand. It's the right tool for 'me.'
Get in your car and drive over to Bass Specialties north of Philly, and try them both.
You can check out Xotic, Elrick, and Roscoes too while you're there.
My theory of why Sadowskys sit so well in the mix:
Mids become quite pronounced the louder you turn up your bass and amp in a large room (small rooms reverberate and exaggerate the bass, so you don't notice the pronounced mids as much). Sadowskys don't have pronounced mids to begin with, heck, they don't even have a mid knob, besides the Will Lee models. So when you reach gigging volumes, the mids hit a sweet spot.
Nordys, especially with Big Singles, have really pronounced mids to begin with, so by the time you crank it up to gigging volumes, the mids could become overbearing.
Mids become quite pronounced the louder you turn up your bass and amp in a large room (small rooms reverberate and exaggerate the bass, so you don't notice the pronounced mids as much). Sadowskys don't have pronounced mids to begin with, heck, they don't even have a mid knob, besides the Will Lee models. So when you reach gigging volumes, the mids hit a sweet spot.
Nordys, especially with Big Singles, have really pronounced mids to begin with, so by the time you crank it up to gigging volumes, the mids could become overbearing.
That's why I love my Nordy active preamp with 'cut'. I got a preamp with Mid/bass boost and cut since my bass also has a VTC. I never boost treble. Doens't need it. So I use the VTC to dial down the treble. and in active mode, I can 'cut' the mids. ..Yes, I have Big Singles. I have the single most versatile Jazz bass I could ever have hoped for.
Any time man
You won't believe the basses in this place, there's more high end basses than all of 47th St put together by a very large amount. If you haven't been there, you haven't seen anything like it.
the "sits well in the mix" discussion is kind of lame, IMO.
with all of the advances in amp technology, if your bass isn't "mixing" well, swallow your pride and let someone else adjust your settings. i have never purchased an instrument that didn't sit well in the mix. if it didn't, i blame human error. YMMV
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with all of the advances in amp technology, if your bass isn't "mixing" well, swallow your pride and let someone else adjust your settings. i have never purchased an instrument that didn't sit well in the mix. if it didn't, i blame human error. YMMV
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Been reading through this thread and noticed a lot of post saying the Sadowsky's are "mid scooped". I've owned both basses and it seems to me that the vintage Nordy's have a slightly more prominent midrange than the Sadowsky's, but I never thought my Sadowsky sounded "scooped". Put the preamp into passive mode and take a good listen and you will find it very even across the spectrum.
The major difference I see, beside the slight tonal variations in the preamps, are the totally different neck profiles. I can see some players preferring one over the other, but I found both these instruments to just play wonderfully. There's no bad decision here. Pick either one and you own one of the very best basses available!
The major difference I see, beside the slight tonal variations in the preamps, are the totally different neck profiles. I can see some players preferring one over the other, but I found both these instruments to just play wonderfully. There's no bad decision here. Pick either one and you own one of the very best basses available!
- Jun 5, 2008
- 541
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- Disclosures
- MTD Bass (USA & Kingston) & Strings, R.Cocco Strings, Gruvgear, Noll Preamp, Nordstrands
This is interesting, coz a friend of mine has a Nordy VJ5, and he totally like my Modern 5, but on the other hand, I don't like his Nordy or any other I've tried that much, because of the thicker neck profile compared to the Modern 5 (which is also thinner compared to the non Modern necks). Just my personal taste.
One thing I like about both builder (and company) is that they not only 'perfected' Leo Fender's design (as a lot of people said), but more than that, they have innovations. I think Roger's application of the 2-Band boost only FET preamp changed the course and sound of the whole universe of bass sound, the long list of players using them and countless tracks it can be heard on proves this statement of mine. And o yeah, the 'Marcus Miller sound'.
Carey's unique slanted pole design on the Big Singles, Fat Stacks and Big Splits is also amazing... It's not your regular 'custom wound' Pickups, it's the re-invention of the wheel. Not kidding.
A friend of mine has a Sadowsky NYC Will Lee with Big Singles, suppose to be best of both worlds combined, but again, sound is subjective, I've played it and bought a set of Big Singles shortly after that. But I still haven't put the Big Singles in my Modern 5 because these days of playing and recording I have, the stock Sadowsky Soapbars works perfectly.
As for the 'lack of mid' stated above, that's really subjective and a lot of things contribute to this, when I switch between different brand of strings, the mid, low, highs, they ALL changed from one brand to another. And I wonder why many people forgot that this is an electric instrument, that will only sounds when you plugged it into an amp or an Audio system.
An amp and the Audio System contributes a LOT to our sound. I never got my Bass to sound the same everytime though I use the same Bass (and strings), with my own amp just because I always have different people working with me.
That includes different band members and how THEIR instruments sounds like. Also different sound engineers.
My point is there's more beyond electronics, design, exotic woods, brand image, etc that I see people always debate here that contributes to 'your sound'. IME and IMHO there will never be a 'last buy'. My Modern 5 is a keeper, but when in the future I need (or want
) a different sound and feel, there'll be another one I guess 
One thing I like about both builder (and company) is that they not only 'perfected' Leo Fender's design (as a lot of people said), but more than that, they have innovations. I think Roger's application of the 2-Band boost only FET preamp changed the course and sound of the whole universe of bass sound, the long list of players using them and countless tracks it can be heard on proves this statement of mine. And o yeah, the 'Marcus Miller sound'.
Carey's unique slanted pole design on the Big Singles, Fat Stacks and Big Splits is also amazing... It's not your regular 'custom wound' Pickups, it's the re-invention of the wheel. Not kidding.
A friend of mine has a Sadowsky NYC Will Lee with Big Singles, suppose to be best of both worlds combined, but again, sound is subjective, I've played it and bought a set of Big Singles shortly after that. But I still haven't put the Big Singles in my Modern 5 because these days of playing and recording I have, the stock Sadowsky Soapbars works perfectly.
As for the 'lack of mid' stated above, that's really subjective and a lot of things contribute to this, when I switch between different brand of strings, the mid, low, highs, they ALL changed from one brand to another. And I wonder why many people forgot that this is an electric instrument, that will only sounds when you plugged it into an amp or an Audio system.
An amp and the Audio System contributes a LOT to our sound. I never got my Bass to sound the same everytime though I use the same Bass (and strings), with my own amp just because I always have different people working with me.
That includes different band members and how THEIR instruments sounds like. Also different sound engineers.
My point is there's more beyond electronics, design, exotic woods, brand image, etc that I see people always debate here that contributes to 'your sound'. IME and IMHO there will never be a 'last buy'. My Modern 5 is a keeper, but when in the future I need (or want
) a different sound and feel, there'll be another one I guess 
Sooooooooo, much truth right here. Any gig worthy rig and a properly setup bass will be able to be heard in a mix with enough tweaks (tweaks that usually aren't much anyway). Whether or not it has the tone you want is up to the player though, of course.
Right. Which is why the comment is not "lame" imo.
I was an early adopter of the SWR SM-400; late 80's. I had to eq the snot out of that amp to get it to sit right in the mix for me. And even then I wasn't really happy; I could get it to work but the tone was for me still not quite happening.
Fast forward a dozen years later, and my first Tfunk TFB-420 (another early adopter). Right out of the box, and flat, the tone killed. Sat where I wanted in the mix, and I had plenty of room to tweak to taste.
Yeah, you can get anything to "work". Some things work better, and make you happier in the process.
/rick
I don't get why people label it negative that some Sadowsky basses may have a scooped tone. I love scooped tone and use it for most styles.
I don't think it's negative, I just don't get where these comment come from. I've owned a Sadowsky and played a few others and never found any of them to sound "scooped". Maybe it's because with the very powerful EQ, a little bass boost and a little treble boost, naturally leads to a smiley face eq curve.
I've yet to try a Nordy, but my Sadowsky has Nordstrand Big Splits. Preamp wise, I think the John East stuff has everything else beat. I've had several of them, but I have one in my Kinal and one in my Modulus at the moment.
What's the moral of the story? Both basses are excellent. Sadowsky NYC models are lighter because they're chambered, which is a back saver for a long standing up gig. I'm sure the Nordys are great too. My Sadowsky is a killing bass, but I think it's my second fave compared to my Kinal SK5. That being said, the Sadowsky was about perfect out of the box, but the Kinal needed some work from my local tech to get it there. No matter which way you go, you'll be happy because they're both great!
What's the moral of the story? Both basses are excellent. Sadowsky NYC models are lighter because they're chambered, which is a back saver for a long standing up gig. I'm sure the Nordys are great too. My Sadowsky is a killing bass, but I think it's my second fave compared to my Kinal SK5. That being said, the Sadowsky was about perfect out of the box, but the Kinal needed some work from my local tech to get it there. No matter which way you go, you'll be happy because they're both great!
I've had Nordy VJ5,friend of mine had Sad Metro,they're sure fantastic world class basses,but we switch to FBass VF5 and I think this basses are absolutely killing...so just another take for great 5string Jazzbass clone from great mr.Furlanetto as are mr.Nordstrand and mr.Sadowsky...another to each his own rule...
Between these two brands hands down its Nordy. They are fuller across the frequency range - especially in the mids. Very few basses set up as well and have as good a neck profile as Nordies from my experience, and you can get their US made model for around the same $ as a Japanese Metro.
