I'm using a bass mods preamp from Al's Music source on Ebay. The sound of the pre is like a cross between anAudere classic and a Aguilar OBP. I've owned both. There is a thread and a youtube video from a TB'er about the preamps. I wanted something unique also, and this fit the bill. The sound clips on ebay that Al's music source provides don't do it justice.
My caution about the hot pickups is for a reason. Your probably going to have to adjust the output levels a little lower on your on board preamp once you do a Sadowsky pickup swap. If you don't, you might run the risk of sending your rig into protection like I did this morning. The signal is just that strong on the Sadowsky pickups. My tech should have lowered the output but its just a few turns of a screwdriver. I prefer to do it myself anyway to get it running through my rig just how I want it.
This is very important when it comes to preamps because pickups, on board preamps and amps input tolerances vary drastically. Matching up the gain of the preamp and amp is extremely vital to the sound. For instance, those that run GK amps, these pickups will get the amp grinding at lower levels because the signal is so strong. Just a heads up, Sadowsky pickups are great, no worries, just an FYI.
