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I had Sadowsky GAS 😳 (formerly “I’ve got...”)


bassfan

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The better test would be sticking some fender pickups and passive loom in a Sadowsky - and then Sadowsky pickups in a fender... but even then there’s so many variables that it would be a slightly pointless exercise. 
 
ive played Sadowsky I’ve loved and ones I haven’t. Ones that sound pants if you turn off the preamp, and ones that still sound great. 
ive found an even bigger range of good to great in Fenders too. 


If I were building a bitsa jazz and wanted it to sound like a fender I would be getting a BBOT bridge and warm sounding pickups. If I wanted to get closer to Sadowsky sound I would be using inset bolts to get a really tight neck joint and a heavy bridge. I would get some clean clear pickups like nordstrands that have a well defined high mid. 

I recorded all my basses on the thread I made last night - can you tell which is the Sadowsky?

 

Edited by LukeFRC
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17 minutes ago, LukeFRC said:

 

I recorded all my basses on the thread I made last night - can you tell which is the Sadowsky?

 

I don't know which one the Sadowsky was, but I like the grey one best (I think).

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I’ve been watching a couple of interviews with Roger recently and he said that he started building basses that sounded like ‘Fenders on steroids’ and he reckoned that the big difference was the original Sadowsky preamp. Remember that he first made his name modding Fenders and that at this time, you couldn’t get booked for a session in New York unless you turned up to the studio with a bass that looked and sounded like a Fender. The same is possibly true to an extent today; a Fender jazz or P still seems to be the reference sound for many producers.

Also, the QC at Fender was very hit and miss in that period. The higher production standards and innovations that Sadowsky introduced must have made a big difference.

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19 minutes ago, peteb said:

I’ve been watching a couple of interviews with Roger recently and he said that he started building basses that sounded like ‘Fenders on steroids’ and he reckoned that the big difference was the original Sadowsky preamp. Remember that he first made his name modding Fenders and that at this time, you couldn’t get booked for a session in New York unless you turned up to the studio with a bass that looked and sounded like a Fender. The same is possibly true to an extent today; a Fender jazz or P still seems to be the reference sound for many producers.

Also, the QC at Fender was very hit and miss in that period. The higher production standards and innovations that Sadowsky introduced must have made a big difference.

Surely the big change was when Bill Shultz bought Fender from CBS and went back to basics with the American vintage reissue series. Getting rid of bullet trusses, sloppy three bolt necks, three screw bridges and heavy unseasoned woods

Those Fullerton 1982 to 1986 reissues were equivalent in quality to later issue custom shop basses

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16 minutes ago, gareth said:

Surely the big change was when Bill Shultz bought Fender from CBS and went back to basics with the American vintage reissue series. Getting rid of bullet trusses, sloppy three bolt necks, three screw bridges and heavy unseasoned woods

Those Fullerton 1982 to 1986 reissues were equivalent in quality to later issue custom shop basses

I don’t know enough about Fenders of that period to comment. However, I can say that a friend of mine has an 83 jazz, which is an awful bass. I’ve never played a Fullerton model (to the best of my knowledge), but I’ve heard other people say that and I’m sure that you’re right.  

However, there was obviously a demand in the late 70s for Roger to improve stock Fenders and then to produce his own ‘Fenders on steroids’ basses. He seems to have created a market for high quality Fender type basses (Lakland, etc) that continues to this day. 

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46 minutes ago, peteb said:

I don’t know enough about Fenders of that period to comment. However, I can say that a friend of mine has an 83 jazz, which is an awful bass. I’ve never played a Fullerton model (to the best of my knowledge), but I’ve heard other people say that and I’m sure that you’re right.  

However, there was obviously a demand in the late 70s for Roger to improve stock Fenders and then to produce his own ‘Fenders on steroids’ basses. He seems to have created a market for high quality Fender type basses (Lakland, etc) that continues to this day. 

In 1983 there was a world of difference in QC and weight between the standard basses and the vintage reissues both USA made

Chalk and cheese

Here is an 80’s catalogue 

The good guys are the vintage reissues and the Japanese basses 

It was the quality of the latter that embarrassed fender USA about the quality lacking in much of its late 70’s basses

 

A2F2212F-D8D8-4D6C-B076-8CC3A1F1D761.jpeg

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7 minutes ago, AndyTravis said:

*cough*

43E4F756-485C-4EDA-9B27-7FB20B7C6F0C.jpeg

😍 I thought we were meant to be staying calm, my pulse rate and blood pressure just went up!

I played this a while back https://thebassgallery.com/collections/bass/products/sadowsky-metroline-ms5 and had hoped it would be, "Meh!" suffice to say it was not. Extended lockdown may lead to uncontrollable GAS, which will lead to domestic discomfort I would imagine and I can't get out to escape. 😬😂

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1 minute ago, Al Krow said:

*cough*

Is it just me - or is it fair to say that Sad PJ a great looking bass, whereas the J bass' bottom end does look bloated in that particular outfit? 😁

I think it’s some shadows in the pic - optical illusion. 
 

Lovely basses- put me down for the HPJ @AndyTravis when you are done with it. 👍🏻😃

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25 minutes ago, RichValentine said:

IMG_20200330_140127.thumb.jpg.4fbacf618245e71d68c48f539d8fe1fc.jpg

Also cough. 

The only 4 string I'll ever need. NYC Will Lee. The longer I've had it the more I love it. The Will Lee switch adds a lot of extra mid punch and tonal options to the bass. 

What settings do you use on it? I need to fiddle with mine as it makes it a bit hissy

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I haven't changed the mid freq option since I got it so don't actually know what it is set on at the moment. I'd assume its at default which is WIll Lee's preferred setting of 500Hz, broad Q (source: https://www.bassgearmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/issue4.pdf)

Made a quick video of the difference the switch makes:

 

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4 hours ago, RichValentine said:

I haven't changed the mid freq option since I got it so don't actually know what it is set on at the moment. I'd assume its at default which is WIll Lee's preferred setting of 500Hz, broad Q (source: https://www.bassgearmag.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/07/issue4.pdf)

Made a quick video of the difference the switch makes:

 

That switch makes a huge difference! Can imagine it being very useful if you wanted to quickly dial in a slap section

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On 29/03/2020 at 13:25, gareth said:

Surely the big change was when Bill Shultz bought Fender from CBS and went back to basics with the American vintage reissue series. Getting rid of bullet trusses, sloppy three bolt necks, three screw bridges and heavy unseasoned woods

Those Fullerton 1982 to 1986 reissues were equivalent in quality to later issue custom shop basses

Nothing wrong with bullet truss rods and three bolt neck joints at all. After all, Fender himself used them at MM and G&L and made wonderful instruments which were well made and, as a result, have absolutely stood the test of time. Design wasn’t the issue with Fender in the 70’s and early 80’s. The problem was execution. They were simply cheaply and sloppily made with no QC. That’s the problem which carried on through a lot of US Fender models until they shut the old plant. A lot of the hallowed early 80’s are nothing special. They’re just not crap like that which had previously been shipped out the door and carry a good reputation as a result.

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