phagor

I have a UV-70 5 string natural with maple board. I absolutely love it. Before I ordered mine, I played a lot of basses looking for something that felt and sounded right. I was sceptical about the hype around Sadowskys and thought they were over-priced. I wasn't even looking for a jazz-style bass. Then I tried a 4 string UV-70 in the Bass Gallery and fell in love with it instantly. For me, it just had the right sound, neck feel, look etc. I expected it to be a one-trick pony, but it's now my main gigging and recording bass. The pickup blend control gives a really wide range of tones - normally I would swing the control all the way to the back pickup for fingerstyle playing, but on the Sadowsky I find myself only moving it a little off centre to get a tight sound that's still quite meaty. I added the VTC option - basically a passive tone control after the active bass and treble knobs - it's very versatile. The sound is very consistent and clean, although it can growl if you set it up that way. To answer your questions... not sure how glossy you mean when you say glossed. I think the Metros are more of a satin feel than glossy. Suits me - I don't really like sticky necks(?!) The Metros are not strung through the body. I've played a fair number of recent Fenders, and never tried one that felt as nice as my Sadowsky. The necks always feel clumsy, the basses sound ordinary or often just bad. Maybe I needed to try more to find a good one, but didn't want to after the Metro. I haven't played many old Jazzes. I sometimes think the Sad is a little bit polite, and wonder about getting an old battered Fender as a 'character' bass. But I don't think I would need character all the time - for general purpose gigging and recording, the Sadowsky is my workhorse. It's going to be a personal thing - either the Sadowsky will grab you and then the extra dosh won't matter, or it won't and you'll be perfectly happy with a Fender. You should definitely try one before deciding - I think the Bass Gallery has one in at the moment. One consideration is that if you can't find one you like in stock somewhere, the waiting period is 6 months plus. Will that fit in with your project?

I'd recommend you try out some 10s and 12s to see which you prefer the sound of generally. When I was shopping for cabs, I noticed that all the 10s had a similar high mid bump in the frequency response. The 12s have a bump too, but it's at a lower mid frequency which was more pleasing to my ears. You may prefer the 10" sound - many people describe them as punchy. Very happy with my setup of 2 x Epifani UL 112 - chosen after trying EBS, Aguilar, MarkBass etc. Haven't heard Schroeder cabs yet, though.

Maybe you could get a clean amp, like the Markbass, then use a pedal for the dirtier sounds. I've got an Epifani rig which sounds fantastic, full bodied but clean, then I use a Tech21 VT Bass for a pretty convincing range of SVT tones.

Some threads on Talkbass about this: [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=385283&highlight=bms+expression"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.p...=bms+expression[/url] [url="http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=387910&highlight=bms+expression"]http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.p...=bms+expression[/url] I can see the value of having an expression pedal input for the BMS. For me, I'd just like the Start and/or Stop levels to be affected by the bass input level, so that the filter works more like a normal envelope filter. Native Instruments' Guitar Rig has a BMS 'clone' and you can tweak it in this way - really like the results, although I'm not ready to start gigging with a laptop

I have Dominants on my double bass. They have a nice dry airy sound and are a bit more organic than Spirocores... on that bass. On my NS electric upright, the Spiros work better. Also, whatever strings you try, I suggest you give them chance to settle in. Some, like the Spiros, seem to take at least a couple of weeks to stop sounding twangy.

I have a UV70 5 string. It's not a short scale length bass, it's 34" - normal for a jazz style bass. The body is a little bit bigger than other Sadowskys - maybe that's why you thought it was short scale? The B string is fantastic. I'm quite fussy about Bs, have gone through quite a few basses to find a good one. When I first got the Metro, the B didn't sound great, but that was because of the Sadowsky strings on it. I put on some DR Hi Beams, and haven't looked back. Not saying Sadowsky strings are bad, maybe it was just this B string that was dead on arrival. If you're going to buy one of these, definitely consider the VTC option. It's a passive tone control that works alongside the active bass and treble controls. The active treble control is great, but doesn't roll off to give you an old skool tone. The VTC does that - worth the little bit extra. Overall this is a great bass, my main workhorse instrument at the moment. If you want a Marcus Miller sound, this nails it. But it's very versatile - just a small turn of the pickup blend gives you a huge range of sounds.

Mine just arrived today, so I thought I'd post an early-days review. I bought mine from Digital Village. They matched the Thomann price. Neither are showing them in stock on their websites. This is not a true bypass pedal. The switch is the short travel momentary contact type, not a DPDT switch. On the plus side, the pedal is very quiet in bypass mode. No pops or clicks when switching. Also, for people doing the amp-less thing and sending the output to a mixer, the pedal will drive long cables well even when in bypass mode. No balanced output and no XLR though. With the Character and Drive knobs down, you get a clean sound with a bit of extra thickness and a slight boost at the top end. The character knob is supposed to be a speaker simulator emulating the Ampeg SVT and B15 flip top. To my ears, this knob controls the level of a filter set around the high-mids. It may be doing something cleverer than that however. With the knob all the way down, the EQ sounds scooped, with a round bottom end and some presence that enhances the 'click' of notes. As you turn the knob up, the high mids are introduced, making the sound more chunky. At the top, the sound is quite aggressive and clangy. The Drive knob introduces distortion ranging from a little extra warmth, through fluffiness, grittiness all the way to huge fuzz. As you would expect, the Drive affects the overall volume, so you tend to use this in combination with the Level control. With loads of Drive, the Character knob brings out the snarly tone of the bass and prevents it being lost in a wash of fuzz. The three EQ bands are very musical and well voiced. In particular, the Mid and High controls don't seem to fight with the Character control at all. The High frequency is maybe a little bit high for my liking, but is still usable. There's no Blend control to mix your dry bass signal with the effect, however the Drive knob is pretty flexible. It sounds as though the EQ comes after the gain stage so you can pile on the Bass knob to warm up even the dirtiest settings. I'll probably use this in a loop with a blend control anyway. Soundwise, this is a very versatile pedal. I have never owned an Ampeg amp, but have used SVTs in the past, and this does indeed sound reminiscent of them. More importantly, the sound is organic and warm, not tinny and thin. I mostly play using a clean tone, but often need to dirty things up for rock gigs etc. This will do the trick nicely. I can see using it for a bread and butter rock tone, a full-on overdrive, for a clean boost or just as an EQ and DI for gigs without an amp. Will also be handy recording direct into a computer sound card.

Thanks to Gwil, I'm now the proud owner of his (and previously Zonnick's) Zon fretless. Can't recommend Gwil enough. Very helpful and generous with his time, but he did make me jealous of his other tasty basses!

Don't be fooled by the number of watts your rig is rated at. There is not a linear relationship between power and perceived loudness. The rule of thumb is that a 1000 watt amp is only twice as loud as a 100 watt amp. That's based on the logarithmic sound pressure level measured in decibels. In the real world, the perceived loudness is probably affected by lots of variables - the frequency range of your instrument, the other musicians, the acoustics of the room etc. As with most things in music, the best way seems to be: trust your ears.

I agree with Endorka and Lfalex. I try to avoid learning songs using open strings, because I can guarantee that when I get to the gig or rehearsal, the singer will change the key, and I'll be in trouble! I use lots of open string on the double bass as Endorka describes - it actually makes your walking bass lines more interesting, and it's good to study those lines on the electric bass to get the right feel. But I mostly avoid open strings on the electric to try for a consistent clean sound. For some songs, however, open strings just sound right... especially the open E string for slapping.

Afraid I'm going to differ... I haven't found that I like the sound of my Bass Xciter much at all. I feel that it makes the bottom end "plasticky" and unnatural. The only time I've found it useful was when I didn't have an amp and was playing through a monitor wedge - then it added some useful bottom end without making the sound break up like it would have if I had piled on the bass frequencies on my bass. It's probably good for getting the most out of cabs that don't have good low frequency response. On the plus side, it makes a pretty good DI box, which I still use it for occasionally. On the down side, my footswitch is broken too!

I think it depends on the type of music and playing style you are going for. Old school DB sound relies on having a high action. As Chris says, you get a much meatier, thumpier tone. If you're after a boppy Jimmy Blanton - Paul Chambers - Ray Brown sound, go high. The later more virtuosic players like Scott LaFaro, Eddie Gomez and Stanley Clarke all have a much lower action which lets them fly around the instrument. Or maybe you're not playing jazz at all. For bluegrass, rockabilly etc, action is high. Maybe for folk and pop a lower action would suit you better. I've never tried the Warwick EUB, but my NS Designs came with a very low action. The sound was a bit like a big fretless - lots of mwah, not much thump. Jacking up the action and putting on some proper DB strings helped a lot. I think that having a higher action doesn't help with playability, but it does make you work within the limits of the instrument more. I found it easier to play 'authentic' sounding DB lines with a higher action because it forces me to pay more attention to each note, use open strings creatively etc. Enjoy those aching hands, David!

Oops sorry for the unintentional bump!

The other thing with going to the double bass cold is that unless you play it very softly, your fingers will probably blister up a treat. I did exactly the same thing about 10 years ago. Was merrily twanging away when suddenly the strings felt wet. I looked down to see blood all over the bass! Couldn't play electric for a week after that. Now I play double bass every week and I can stick pins into the calluses on my fingers!

I'm thinking of buying some strings from the US and did some quick research on UK import duty. Officially the maximum value before duty is payable is £18 on purchased items, or £36 on gifts. This doesn't include the postage cost. The duty charge seems to be 3.5% up to £290, then VAT is also charged on top. [url="http://tinyurl.com/2f5x7l"]http://tinyurl.com/2f5x7l [/url] (link to HM Revenue & Customs website) Like Gwilym says, I've heard that this is not always applied consistently.