Sadowsky vs Eshenbaugh

I had to do it! We A/B'd my Sadowsky and Eshenbaugh basses. Again, no suprises here.

Eshenbaugh: THUNDER
- Alder body, Walnut top and back
- Maple neck, Rosewood board
- Dimarzio Ultra Jazz pups
- Aguilar OBP-3 preamp (9 volts)
- SR2000 strings
- Deep, deep low end
- Smooth highs
- Scooped sounding (mid freq adjustable)
- Sounds more like Marcus Miller's tone than his MM Fender signature bass does.
- Fact: If you want to know what this bass sounds like, listen to Marcus Miller's latest album, "Ozell Tapes: The Official Bootleg"
- The Eshenbaugh body/design contributes to a low end roar that I have yet to find on any other bass.

Sadowsky:LIGHTNING
- Alder body
- Maple neck, Morado board
- Sadowsky (Dimarzio) pups
- Sadowsky preamp
- Slowound strings
- Big fat bottom
- Nice mid-bass punch
- Smooth, defined mids
- Razor-sharp clean highs
- The Sadowsky preamp...WOW!


Summary:

No clear winner here; it all depends on what you like. But if I could take only one bass, it would probably be the Sadowsky because of it's flexibility in the upper frequencies.

 

The Eshenbaugh IS sweet!

Other facts:

- Both were operating at 9 volts. The Eshenbaugh has an 18 volt option.

- The Sadowsky has no mid control, so I left the mid control on the Eshenbaugh at flat. However, I was able to dial in all kids if mids centered at 400hz or 800hz--but not my objective.

- In passive mode, the two basses sound very similar. But the Sadowsky had a slightly higher output.

- The highlights are:
-- The Eshenbaugh body/design contributed to a low end that I have yet to find on any other bass.
-- The Sadowsky preamp...WOW!

 

I took both basses to class today (just for fun). Everybody liked the Eshenbaugh better.

UPDATE: Ooops! Played around with the Sadowsky some more tonight 7-5-03. The disparity in bass response is not as drastic as first thought. I forgot that the Sadowsky has the pickup balance control wired opposite of other bass brands. During the initial session, I had the balance control on both basses turned 75% clockwise: Front pickup on the Eshenbaugh, rear pickup on the Sadowsky. (However, the low end response on the Eshenbaugh is still the deeper of the two.)

 

Yes. It has more low end than anything I have ever owned. BTW, I'm not talking about a louder low end. I'm talking about an extended low end. This bass produces the sounds done in the low Hertz range.

I pulled the Ken Smith-5 out just to see how the low ends compare. The low end on the Smith is no joke. But the Eshenbaugh still was the deeper of the two. I turned the bass to max on both basses. The Smith got a little muddy with the bass at full volume [I can't rememnber if it's 9 or 18 volts]. The Eshenbugh remained clear and it's running on 9 of the possible 18 volts.

 

UPDATE: Ooops! Played around with the Sadowsky some more tonight 7-5-03. The disparity in bass response is not as drastic as first thought. I forgot that the Sadowsky has the pickup balance control wired opposite of other bass brands. During the initial session, I had the balance control on both basses turned 75% clockwise: Front pickup on the Eshenbaugh, rear pickup on the Sadowsky. (However, the low end response on the Eshenbaugh is still the deeper of the two.)

I made edits accordingly.