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The Sadowsky/Jazz Bass hidden mids secret (?)

AngelCrusher

AngelCrusher

Sep 12, 2004
5,570
6,871
Disclosures
Mesa Boogie, Tech 21, Taylor
#1
I try and post here when I can, but I have been recording my face off with not a lot of time to read about gear and what bass is good for what genre of music ( :D ).

Anyway, my question is rather simple - who here has a jazz bass and a sadowsky pre? Doesn't really matter if onboard or the pedal.

If so, here is what I notice - If I boost treble and bass a few db on it and then roll off the tone knob on the bass about 40-50% - the mid range and punch is very very noticeable. I have been tracking in like this on about everything and mainly leave both pups dialed up.

Since the sadowsky scoops mids and the Jazz with both pups engaged does the same, this little trick gives you a best of both worlds style tone. It so good for every style of playing that you can almost just set and forget it.

Try it. Maybe I am nuts, but every producer I work with raves about the tone. I believe it is because the sadowsky boost of 5k is getting rolled back with the tone knob and the bump that results is hitting right around 800hz or so. Just a guess, as I have not analyzed it in a spectrum, but Roger Sadowsky is a genius and I will leave it at that.

Let me know what you think or if you have been doing this forever and I am just late to the party.
 
#2
Even better with Sadowsky P/J!

4633_1.jpg
 
#3
AngelCrusher said:
If so, here is what I notice - If I boost treble and bass a few db on it and then roll off the tone knob on the bass about 40-50% - the mid range and punch is very very noticeable. I have been tracking in like this on about everything and mainly leave both pups dialed up.
Click to expand...

The tone control is passive right? It's just re-tuning the resonance to a lower peak, as all passive tone controls will do the closer they get to the "wide open" setting (signal goes straight to cap, to ground).
 
#5
thiocyclist said:
The tone control is passive right? It's just re-tuning the resonance to a lower peak, as all passive tone controls will do the closer they get to the "wide open" setting (signal goes straight to cap, to ground).
Click to expand...

Yes, it is passive so this applies to a regular fender J/copy as well.


And yes it is basically a low pass filter. But the way the sadowsky pre boost is, when you adjust your tone knob back, the mid presence actually grows.


Tonally, it reacts differently than if you just did this with no sadwosky preamp in the chain.
 
#6
AngelCrusher said:
Yes, it is passive so this applies to a regular fender J/copy as well.


And yes it is basically a low pass filter. But the way the sadowsky pre boost is, when you adjust your tone knob back, the mid presence actually grows.
Click to expand...

But that's what I'm saying.

The resonant peak is the loudest frequency in the spectrum, all other things being equal, and rolling the tone pot down shifts it lower even as you are also losing highs. As you expect to lose the highs anyway, this is perceived as an increase in mids--and technically it is.

The tone pot doesn't "boost lows" (actually it is a high pass filter--passing highs to ground, that is), but it does in fact give an audible boost to some mids due to the retuning of the circuit. This only becomes apparent on most passive basses at the bottom of the control, not sure about the Sadow pre.
 
#7
thiocyclist said:
But that's what I'm saying.

The resonant peak is the loudest frequency in the spectrum, all other things being equal, and rolling the tone pot down shifts it lower even as you are also losing highs. As you expect to lose the highs anyway, this is perceived as an increase in mids--and technically it is.

The tone pot doesn't "boost lows" (actually it is a high pass filter--passing highs to ground, that is), but it does in fact give an audible boost to some mids due to the retuning of the circuit. This only becomes apparent on most passive basses at the bottom of the control, not sure about the Sadow pre.
Click to expand...

Yes I know how the tone knob works..lol. I am not sure why you quoted "boost lows", because I never said that.

It also is definitely not a high pass filter. Not at all. It is a LOW PASS filter.

The point is more about how the sadowksy pre responds to the rolloff.
 
#8
On my Sadowsky J5, I pretty much always have active treble boosted a bit, and passive tone cut a bit.
I almost always favor the neck pup a bit, but there are songs that want the treble pickup bias.
 
#12
jamminology101 said:
So once you have rolled the tone back, does the more you add the treble just keep boosting the mids instead? So if you dime the treble boost are you really diming the mids because the res peak is moved back?
Click to expand...

Hmm, no this is more subtle. I will post some completed tracks once I get approval from the producer.

But you are still diming 5k. The rolloff will definitely push more into the 8-900 region, but it is not the same reaction as if you took an EQ and directly boosted those frequencies. It is based on a producer's trick and an old EVH guitar trick called Pre-EQing, in which you basically boost some highs or lows and then roll off that frequency.

I would say I am doing it like Chef - boosting a bit. The sadowksy pre is best with the treble and bass boosted a quarter turn up or so imo. You don't want a heavy hand with this pre.

The aggression in the upper mids you get once you roll off the tone knob a bit will be pretty apparent. The resulting tone is very big and round since you have that 50hz low boost going a little, and the high mids make everything really easy to hear on small speakers.

It's basically one of the best tones I have ever gotten for my tastes. Very very versatile as well.
 
#15
Which btw I had the Q @ 1.0 which sounded better alone than the 1.7 which sounded a bit over powering but once I got in a band setting the 1.7 was the ticket to cut thru the mix as the 1.0 didn't seem to do much with all the instruments hogging certain frequencies. ..
 
#19
Thats awesome. I just kind of stumbled upon it just from spending a lot of time recording with my J. I play a Lakland Joe Osbourne 5 and go into the basic outboard sadowsky pre. So I have not messed with any frequency settings or mids. This is just the real basic Sadowsky pre with no Q adjustments or mid boost. I like it better this way as all I ever do is maybe boost the bass knob a hair for certain tracks, but besides that this is pretty much set it/forget it and let your hands control the aggression of the tone.

Also - the slap tone is so good this way. Just super balanced if you are playing fusion or something that goes between finger style and slap/pop. Nothing sticks out and gets ugly, and this is w/ no compression.
 
#20
Bebo said:
The passive tone control is the GREAT Sadowsky secret. I have been doing that for some time, and it truly works. If you favor the bridge pickup, is even more juicier.
Click to expand...

Yep!! I thought about this for a bit before posting, but the more I used it, I had to share because I knew it was too freaking good and I stumbled onto some goodness.
 

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