Al Krow

Just need to find a 5er version of that white one you're currently looking at or a PJ version of Dave Swift's NYC in white (now that would be a find!). But they don't seem to be that common, so may need to wait a while for one to crawl out the woodwork as I did for the "horribly gold clad" Yammy (to quote a recent convert to the Sad brand). And maybe it's my Yammy BB affliction, but there's just something decidedly reassuring about a PJ: you just know you have a "best of both worlds" set up at your finger tips. Tbf I've recently acquired a very capable Sad clone of the white NYC PJ 5er I'm GASing for and for < £500! In the state of inebriation that most pub audiences are going to be in after the lockdown none of them will notice the difference. and my band mates certainly won't - lol! I;m just gonna have to commiserate with that until the real thing pops up...

Dammit the OP is not helping my Sad GAS by managing to sell a bass and thereby putting himself in funds to get one and then asking my opinion on which one to get. Just plain rude, if you ask me. 😁

Mine's going spare (new condition, never ended up needing). You're welcome to have it for free - PM me if you want it and I'll pop it it the post.

Yeah...there was a reason for my caption before the pic! @therealting you could really hear that Sad sing in that clip you posted. A really (unhelpfully!) good tone. Starting to get a sense of what all the fuss @AndyTravis (another Yammy lover) is making about his Sad...

Dammit, that's TWO of my basses that have been given that accolade on this thread! Gotta be a conspiracy!! This is (i) gonna go to my head (ii) make me realise pretty damn quick that it's not my basses that are the cause of what my bass playing sounds like (must be the rest of my rig, right?), and (iii) make it really hard to justify ever getting that Sad NYC PJ5...

*cough* let's hope this never comes up in the FS...

I really do think it helps having an extra string to your bow. They make for really good thumb rests, as you know. I've got myself blood*y scouring the web for white Sad PJ5s now...

Another sucker for white basses, and with bassfan in taking a shine to that PJ4... I've got two white Yammys...but that just doesn't have the same cache as two Sadowskys does it?! Fortunately I've not seen a white Sad PJ5 posted on this thread yet!

*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? 😁

Phew! 😊

Speaking of Royal Blood, or at least the commoners' version of said fluid, I went with my Digitech Mosaic instead of the Red Ripper on my mini board and having it dialled in at just 3/10 provides a really nice octave up thickening without dominating the bass line. SMR400 amp setting on the B1X-4 plus clean blend via the LS2 and that's just the ticket for a bit of Billie Eilesh Bad Guy! (Which is such a fun bass line to be play btw). So @Old fart if you're trying to get a decent octave up / down combination I don't think you're going to get there with a B1X-4 by itself, something more like this will get you closer:

It obviously is all in the fingers. Few bass players manage to get a great tone without using their fingers 😉 But more seriously...there is a broader point if there are one or two features of a bass that primarily give it its tone. I'm with you in saying it's going to be hard to pin that on any one thing, but it's going to be a combination of: - pups and placement - strings and age - EQ type and settings - woods and construction

They did and still do. But apparently not called Findus anymore. No doubt their rebranding will result in a completely different taste (although not something your average audience would notice)... 😄

Actually showing my age. Apparently the Findus brand was pulled by its owner in 2016! Captain Birds Eye will have it covered.

If you're after fingers you'd better try Findus.

Struggling with that statement a bit, must admit! Thinking it through, I guess it boils down to what you're meaning by the "Sadowsky sound" i.e. if changing the pups didn't change the "sound" what was the point of doing it? I guess what I'm understanding from you is that the Sad sound is a particular EQ setting which has effectively been "bottled" in the preamp (either the on-board or in pedal form) and can be replicated, from what @molan and others were saying, pretty easily e.g. on the Helix once you know what the relevant EQ freqs are...I think I need to make a bee line for my Helix then!

Oh dear, I had better hold on to and look after that KS after such high praise!! It kinda now feels like I am temporarily holding it on trust for you for after your wedding - good job, I've managed to resist a couple of unsolicited offers so far...😊 (It is, no question, a wonderful instrument and I am very fortunate to have got my hands on it).

So here's the thing. What defines for any of us, what a great bass is? And why were the Sads lacking in that regard?

@FDC484950 really good post, thanks. It's interesting that the personal tuition that you had in your teenage years were the most influential / productive lessons you received. I similarly had regular lessons on classical guitar from 12 through to 17 and I was equally passionate about that instrument as I now am about bass playing. Just wonder if there are some general themes here? - Formal one to one lessons seem to me to be particularly beneficial when starting out, in terms of getting technique and "good habits" embedded and knowledge of some basic music theory; once we have this baseline (excuse the pun!) tool-kit, we're much more able to progress under own steam and bit of structure / guidance is perhaps all that we need. As you say, the quality of online tuition is streets ahead of what we had in our formative years and for many of us who have progressed beyond 'beginner' that could well be more than sufficient to focus our practice time? - Some instruments / styles seem to lend themselves more to personal tuition e.g. pretty much all classical musicians will have had lessons throughout their 'grades'. I wonder how much personal tuition bass players and rhythm / lead guitarists, both amateur and professional, have had and how many of the successful touring musicians are actually self-taught?

Does the Sadowsky preamp pedal really get that close Chris? I really thought that the Sadowsky pups would make an equally big, if not bigger, difference just on general principles.

@krispn what was the actual course name you took? I've currently got a [ ] in my OP for that one!

I get where you're coming from as you are someone who is giving lessons, but it's a question of value for money and the guarantee of consistent high quality from widely recognized and appreciated online tutors e.g. Mark's lessons work out at around £1 a lesson and I can take them in bite sized chunks depending on how quickly I master them and what else I have going on at the time, which is perfect for me. Consequently I've found every one of his lessons better than the (few) £30 / hr in person lessons I've had from a couple of capable tutors.

Actually that's the very one I've just signed up for (was meaning to take anyway!), which I look forward to getting onto once I've completed his excellent slap bass course which I am half way through.

Mark at Talking Bass is currently offering 30% off all his courses for one week.

Well she doesn't go by that name to me 😉