what does Sadowsky VTC (Vintage Tone Control)

[DERECOLA]

what does the Sadowsky VTC (Vintage Tone Control) do,what does it give you? in both passive and active modes?

 

[Fuzzbass]

It is a passive tone control (treble roll-off) that works in both active and passive modes. And on most Sadowsky basses it's a push-pull pot that puts the bass in passive mode when pulled out.

 

[Sadowsky]

what does the Sadowsky VTC (Vintage Tone Control) do,what does it give you? in both passive and active modes?

It works just like a standard Fender tone control. It is a passive control in which 10 is flat and as you roll it down it knocks off a broad swath of high end to give you a warmer tone. A little rolled off knocks off a lot of string noise. All the way rolled off, it gives you a lot of that "motown/flatwound" sound.

Although the control is passive, it functions with the bass in either active or passive mode.

I find it much more useful and musical than an active treble roll off on the preamp. And because it operates so differently than active controls, you can actually boost treble on the preamp and cut highs with the VTC at the same time.

Roger

 

[Fuzzbass]

BTW, I think the passive tone control is an awesome feature. The active treble and VTC do *not* cancel each other out... each affects treble differently. Often I will boost treble with the active EQ, but soften the harshness by rolling the VTC back a bit.

Doh... Roger beat me to it.

 

[pedulla-2007]

I certainly did not expect "The Master" to answer that question! Thanks Mr. Sadowsky

 

[mas502arc]

Haha, Roger Sadowsky just blew your mind.

 

[Chef]

I agree, and I use it this way, a lot!

I find it much more useful and musical than an active treble roll off on the preamp. And because it operates so differently than active controls, you can actually boost treble on the preamp and cut highs with the VTC at the same time.

Roger

 

[DERECOLA]

Thanks roger...

 

[Jaycephas]

All the way rolled off, it gives you a lot of that "motown/flatwound" sound.

+++1

Love the VTC! Thanks Roger for making such a great bass.

 

[nostatic]

VTC is all that and a bag of chips imho. I pretty much just use the pup pan and VTC on my PJ5 to move tones around - never bother to touch the bass or treble boost (though nice to have that option too).

 

[DERECOLA]

VTC is all that and a bag of chips imho. I pretty much just use the pup pan and VTC on my PJ5 to move tones around - never bother to touch the bass or treble boost (though nice to have that option too).

I may try that out...

 

[Chef]

Pretty well what I do with both of mine as well...

VTC is all that and a bag of chips imho. I pretty much just use the pup pan and VTC on my PJ5 to move tones around - never bother to touch the bass or treble boost (though nice to have that option too).

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Roger, resuming this super-zombie thread ...
I’ve got a Fender Marcus Miller jazz bass ...
I’d like to replace the stock preamp with your Sadowsky with VTC and four knobs ... where can I find the specs. concerning the depth of the control cavity (constant or maximum depth) that preamp requires?

 

[bucephylus]

Roger, resuming this super-zombie thread ...
I’ve got a Fender Marcus Miller jazz bass ...
I’d like to replace the stock preamp with your Sadowsky with VTC and four knobs ... where can I find the specs. concerning the depth of the control cavity (constant or maximum depth) that preamp requires?

Don’t see anyone answering your Q; so, I’ll take a shot. In short, I’m pretty sure that the Sadowsky preamp will fit right in there, though you will obviously need to take the pots off of the metal standard plate and remount them on the MM guard / plate.

I played an MM V for a couple of years, and honestly wish I had it back. I sold it because at the time Roger &Co were not offering the Onboard Preamp for sale. The Fender preamp drove me crazy. Otherwise, that MM V had far away my favorite 5 string neck profile I have ever wrapped my fingers around. Fender is really missing something by not using that profile elsewhere in their 5 string product base. Really unfortunate.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Don’t see anyone answering your Q; so, I’ll take a shot. In short, I’m pretty sure that the Sadowsky preamp will fit right in there, though you will obviously need to take the pots off of the metal standard plate and remount them on the MM guard / plate.

I played an MM V for a couple of years, and honestly wish I had it back. I sold it because at the time Roger &Co were not offering the Onboard Preamp for sale. The Fender preamp drove me crazy. Otherwise, that MM V had far away my favorite 5 string neck profile I have ever wrapped my fingers around. Fender is really missing something by not using that profile elsewhere in their 5 string product base. Really unfortunate.

Thank you for your reply however the 4 strings MIJ body I have is provided with a small wooden plate on the bottom of the control cavity which, on an area of 60x60mm, reduces the available cavity depth by roughly 4/5mm ... that’s why I’d like to know what’s the minimum, uniform depth required by the preamp for its installation inside the control cavity ... I’ve recently bought a EMG BQC for nothing in this regard as the main boards encroaches the wooden plate and in no way it can thus be placed inside the cavity

 

[bucephylus]

Thank you for your reply however the 4 strings MIJ body I have is provided with a small wooden plate on the bottom of the control cavity which, on an area of 60x60mm, reduces the available cavity depth by roughly 4/5mm ... that’s why I’d like to know what’s the minimum, uniform depth required by the preamp for its installation inside the control cavity ... I’ve recently bought a EMG BQC for nothing in this regard as the main boards encroaches the wooden plate and in no way it can thus be placed inside the cavity

Apologies. I’m not familiar with the MIJ 4 string. Is that plate removable, or is it just less depth in the cavity?

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Apologies. I’m not familiar with the MIJ 4 string. Is that plate removable, or is it just less depth in the cavity.

No it is just a piece of wood that could stay allowing the installation of the stock preamp, which likely made the zealous Japanese CNC programmers to tell the router to avoid that area saving some minutes of work ...

 

[bucephylus]

No it is just a piece of wood that could stay allowing the installation of the stock preamp, which likely made the zealous Japanese CNC programmers to tell the router to avoid that area saving some minutes of work ...

Gotcha. You may need to have a luthier do some additional routing for you.

 

[Gianni "Orlandez" Orlati]

Gotcha. You may need to have a luthier do some additional routing for you.

Yes ... ahahah ... in Italy they asked 450€ for this job that will only take about 1 hour ... ahahah ... What a country ... I’ll give it to my friend who owns a router and assembles guitars as his hobby ... he’ll do it for free

 

[bucephylus]

Yes ... ahahah ... in Italy they asked 450€ for this job that will only take about 1 hour ... ahahah ... What a country ... I’ll give it to my friend who owns a router and assembles guitars as his hobby ... he’ll do it for free

Right. Infrastructure.

Over here, we have folks like Pat Wilkins, who are much more reasonable. Pat has a Jazz V body of mine right now for some router work to extend the neck pocket for the previous gen J neck.