Am I the only one who doesn't get on with the sadowsky on board preamp

[mingsta]

I've got a metro RVHPJ. Fantastic bass, but I find the sadowsky preamp rather unusable. It's got a bass and treble which are boost only, no mid pot. The problem is, they are so powerful, particularly the bass, that anything more a quarter turn summons Thor, God of thunder, and whatever you were trying to do tonally gets hit out of the park with his giant hammer. I find the vintage tone control the only usable knob.

I'm considering putting in an East three band, which is more like the MM preamp on my 4HH ray, that I get along much better with.

Anyone had similar experiences or am I just doing it wrong?

[three]

Interesting, 'other way around for me - I was very impressed with the Sadowsky on-board in a NY bass - I found it fairly subtle but very useable and easy to find great tones (I used it with a U5 too) and had some excellent results. I've never really hit it off with East pres (U-retro in particular) though I know that some players love them: too subtle and rather flat/un-coloured for my tastes. The pick-up and pre pairing really matters in my experience and I'm surprised to hear that you're not enjoying the Sadowsky (all a matter of personal taste really)

Edited June 6, 2016 by three

[BigRedX]

I spent a whole morning at the Sadowsky workshop when it was in Brooklyn trying out their basses and came to the conclusion that they all sounded better with the built-in pre-amp turned off.

[Stox]

As with most boost only pre amps, a little goes a long way. I think it's a fantastic pre amp, I never boost more than 20%% - 30% for bass and even less for the treble. It sits in most mixes beautifully and if I need to add mids, I EQ my amp to do the work...

Edited June 6, 2016 by Stox

[mingsta]

Interesting, three. If you found the sadowsky just right and the east too flat, it seems that the east might be perfect for me!

[dave_bass5]

Never played a Sadowsky but i did have the outboard preamp. After reading so many good things about it i felt really let down. It just didn't seem to make the magic happen like people had been posting about.

[BassBod]

I had the same bass, and loved the preamp. I've also got the DI pedal, and use it a lot (mostly with Fenders). For me the way to get the best was to use it minimally...maybe 40% on the bass boost and 30% treble. That way you keep the midrange sounding natural and don't have a lot of low end boom. Also remember that your amp settings are being added to this, so keep it fairly "flat" if possible.

I've done a few sessions with just the pedal, and it sounded better (to me) than some very pricey DI units. Good job we all hear things differently.....

[EBS_freak]

I don't like the Sadowsky preamp at all. Yet in a band situation, they always seem to sound amazing (mostly with other people playing them!).

I'm the same with a P bass. Played solo, I find that they sound utterly miserable. In a band... they are always thunderous.

[molan]

[quote name='EBS_freak' timestamp='1465317151' post='3067085']
I don't like the Sadowsky preamp at all. Yet in a band situation, they always seem to sound amazing (mostly with other people playing them!).

I'm the same with a P bass. Played solo, I find that they sound utterly miserable. In a band... they are always thunderous.
[/quote]

I concur - on both points

Well, to a degree anyway, lol.

I don't use my Sadowsky pre very much playing at home and often just go passive. Live I will always boost both lows and highs by the same amount.

Equally, I rarely find P basses that nice played solo but stick one in a live band with loads of volume and they can sound great.

[bassjim]

I have the pre amp pedal and I also once had a Sadowsky Metro.
Sadowsky Pedal:
I love this .Using it with a passive jazz bass.I never set the volume, bass or treble above 50% when playing at band volumes. Usually start with bass and treble at about 30% and see what I need to add/take away from there. At really low volumes I can get away with more of everything but its all to get the same effect not a difference in tone. Its great for recording as well.
Sometimes you cant get that really good deep but clear sound cause the acoustics of the room say no and that just life.
Boosting anything when at high volume/band levels results in boom n bust. Terrible sound so I avoid. I think of it like a car that can do 200 mph at full pelt. It will do 70 without even trying and its got enough to go to 100 when required, but doing 70-200 in a 30 zone is not gonna end well.
Metro Bass: Same in general as above but... it was more sensitive to the slightest adjustment so I would end up "Twiddling With My Knobs" instead of playing. It wasnt as good a bass as the actual Fender so the pedal gives me best of both worlds. I would like to try the more expensive NYC some day but they will have to be something out of this world to convince me they are a better option rather than a luxury.

[thodrik]

I absolutely love the Sadowsky pre-amp on the two Sadowskys I have. Usually I just add a tiny bit of the bass, nowhere near a quarter of a turn. I generally leave the treble boost off.

I don't need the ability to 'cut', as the preamp on with no EQ boost is pretty much the sound of the bass run passive. If I didn't like the passive sound of the bass I wouldn't have bought them in the first place.

I can understand why some people don't like the Sadowsky pre-amp. I don't think that it is overly flexible compared to a cut-boost three band EQ you will find on lots of other basses where you can sculpt any number of different tones. The Sadowsky pre-amp does 'that Sadowsky sound' and not much else. Much more than minimal boost leads to a fairly unbalanced sound and takes away from the natural tone of the bass you are playing rather than adding to it.

I personally have no need for three band EQs on a bass as it can be really tricky to get them right (what mid frequencies are going to be boosted? Is it going to be a narrow or wide boost?). If I need a mids boost I prefer using the EQ on the amp.

[Twanger]

I hope its OK to revive zombie threads, but this is where I want to post...

I have been using a Sadowsky for many years - I use one of the old belt clip preamps rather than the DI version, because that's what there was when I bought it. I don't think it's "better" in any way.

Now, when you plug in and hit a note, it just sounds like your bass. It doesn't "magic up" the sound until you are in a mix. I used it because when I did, my bass could finally be heard at a lower volume setting. I don't use it for EQ at all - at the moment for that I am using a Boss GE7. Yup, not a GEB7, but the one for guitars. Only because I have one, and don't have a GEB7.

Now, I have been trying to work out what the colouring that allows that is. In theory, the Boss also buffers the signal, bit for some reason it doesn't add the tightness the Sadowsky does. The Sadowsky boosts at 40 and 4000, and over a wide band. But I get the effect with no boost at all. I don't get that effect if I just use the Boss.

Why? Is there some kind of built in sub bass cut? Does anyone know?

[Chris2112]

I'm one of those who loves a midrange control so I can gently push the upper mids when I need to. I very rarely, if ever, boost the bass control over flat on anything, unless the room is extremely poor.

Regarding the response of the Sadowsky preamp, I haven't tried it, but there are few if any active systems that come to mind that would soubd good with the bass boost at more than a quarter turn. Modern bass amps will easily amplify those excessive low frequencies into an unpleasant boom. The secret is midrange, always midrange.

[ead]

I've had a few different preamps (but to be fair not a Sadowsky).  One of my favourites is the ACG SEQ which is in a J type bass I have.  It's a volume/blend stack and a separate 'tone' control for each p/up.  These are essentially mini filters and have a couple of trim pots that can be set up and the knobs work like two really good two controls.

[chris_b]

A little goes a long way with Sadowsky pre amp adjustments.

Last year I had 6 basses and I was able to compare 2 Lulls, 1 Fender, 2 Laklands and a Sadowsky. The Sadowsky sound came out on top for me.

[therealting]

I love the Sadowsky preamp, enough that I have it in three basses and have the preamp/DI on my board. I replaced the J-Retro in my Dingwall Super J with the Sadowsky and it is just perfect now. As others have said, only minimal amounts of adjustment are needed.

I’m about to experiment with trying the Noble DI in place of the Sadowsky pedal...

[Twanger]

Yea, agreeing with most people here. But in terms of frequencies altered, what actually is the "tightening up"?

[Bagman]

Fender Jazz with Sadowsky Pre-Amp is all good.

I had the belt-clip one, maybe 10 years ago got the 'pedal/DI' version. 

[EliasMooseblaster]

Perhaps I'm too used to passive basses. I tried a couple of Sadowsky Jazz-type basses at the Gallery a few months ago, and I also found the onboard EQ a bit challenging to work with. In the end I decided I liked them best in passive mode - no denying that the guitar itself was a delight to play, to be fair. Perhaps the preamp is a bit of an acquired taste!

For balance, I also tried a couple of Sandbergs, and similarly found myself wondering whether I'd ever use the active EQ if I bought one, though I did find their slightly more subtle cut/boost controls easier to get used to.

(I say all this having only owned one active bass previously, and the EQ knobs hardly ever left the detente when I was playing that one...)

[therealting]

You have to try them with a band rather than solo, then they really make sense. 

[afterimage]

Great thread guys