Sadowsky MetroExpress - new line impressions

[eude]

23 minutes ago, Sibob said:

Nothing to do with Sadowsky from what I can quickly ascertain from Google, 'Roger' basses appear to be "...guitars & basses were made in Germany by Wenzel Rossmeisl, who named his instrument line after his son Roger..."

Si

I think it's actually by Ray Rogers, R Basses.
Here's another one, quite different though >> https://reverb.com/item/563441-ray-rogers-r-bass-5-string-zebra-over-alder-w-lane-poor-pickups

[eude]

Here's a demo of one >>

 

[Machines]

Looks like they shipped with that cheap-a** logo... 

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/200129355015008--sadowsky-metroexpress-hybrid-pj-4-string-tobacco-burst-maple-fi

 

All I can see is 

 

 

Edited November 25, 2020 by Machines

[4000]

On 15/11/2020 at 18:58, OliverBlackman said:

Jesus, set the goddam guitar up before demoing and there might be a nice tone in there. CLANK CLANK CLANK

You really don’t want to hear my basses then.😂

[CameronJ]

31 minutes ago, Machines said:

Looks like they shipped with that cheap-a** logo... 

https://www.guitarguitar.co.uk/product/200129355015008--sadowsky-metroexpress-hybrid-pj-4-string-tobacco-burst-maple-fi

 

All I can see is 

 

 

I can never unsee that. Thanks 

[CameronJ]

In all seriousness, I can’t understand how Roger Sadowsky has approved that mismatched combination of logos and said to himself, “yep, that totally represents Sadowsky quality in an import series of instruments.”

What the hell 

[Machines]

35 minutes ago, CameronJ said:

I can never unsee that. Thanks 

It's the same bloody font as well 😫

[chris_b]

If Warwick can get anywhere close to the business plan they will be producing very high quality basses at a very reasonable price. These have the potential to be very good value for money. . . . . and all you lot can whitter on about is the logo?!?

Apparently Warwick sends someone over to the Chinese factory every couple of weeks to keep an eye on production and QC, but since Covid-19 haven't been able to. This might be having a knock on effect in the QC dept.

Personally I'd rather not be supporting China's economic world domination, so I'll be sticking with my Japanese Metro.

[Machines]

1 hour ago, chris_b said:

If Warwick can get anywhere close to the business plan they will be producing very high quality basses at a very reasonable price. These have the potential to be very good value for money. . . . . and all you lot can whitter on about is the logo?!?

This is nothing that Lakland, Musicman, and Dingwall haven't managed already in the Far East.

Sadowsky do however seem to have cosmetically at least, undermined the brand by making it the logo look like it was ink stamped on from a children's art kit from The Works for £3.99.

[CameronJ]

Have to agree with @Machines on this one. Brand identity is everything, and a logo is a huge part of that. 

Not many people here are suspecting the basses themselves will be poor.

There are a ton of people who are put off Sire basses - in spite of their generally positive reputation - because of the look of the headstock.

[jezzaboy]

Here is Lowend lobsters recent review, the qc seems a bit suspect on this one.

 

[CookPassBabtridge]

3 hours ago, jezzaboy said:

Here is Lowend lobsters recent review, the qc seems a bit suspect on this one.

 

The overall tone is actually pretty nice. Biggest concern is those noisy electronics - hopefully that was an isolated QC issue but who knows! 

[Musicman20]

Definitely not for me. I think the Sire basses look much nicer.

Disappointing. 

[ezbass]

That earth noise is dreadful! Not impressed.

[Acebassmusic]

I quite like the general sound of the bass but as others have said the hiss and gain control needs sorting. Other than that it's probably a good bass for the price. I'd need to play one to confirm that though. 😁

The logo isn't the worst I've seen but could be better. I wonder what the actual legal standpoint is of building the bass in China and then finishing it off (eg: add the original logo) in another country where you can use the trademark? After all the bass came in a Sadowsky branded gig bag and branded box? 🤔

Edited November 26, 2020 by Acebassmusic

[thodrik]

16 hours ago, CookPassBabtridge said:

The overall tone is actually pretty nice. Biggest concern is those noisy electronics - hopefully that was an isolated QC issue but who knows! 

I would agree. Honestly, though, that bass should not pass QC with noise levels like that. Hopefully it is an isolated incident. However, if the Metro Express basses are generally noisy, then that is a real shame as 'noisy electronics' really are the antithesis of what Roger Sadowsky built his reputation on. 

Also, I think I will have to check out the Lobster guy's other reviews. It is actually nice to hear an actual review rather than a glorified sponsored advert.

[jezzaboy]

To be fair Lobster is getting another bass in as a replacement and I think Roger S was saying that it was hard to get people over there to get a handle on the qc due to covid. 

Lobsters reviews are quite entertaining...

[warwickhunt]

Like the review... LOATH that noise!  

 

[thodrik]

22 minutes ago, jezzaboy said:

To be fair Lobster is getting another bass in as a replacement and I think Roger S was saying that it was hard to get people over there to get a handle on the qc due to covid. 

Lobsters reviews are quite entertaining...

At least it has been sorted out. I think I would been sending the bass back with that kind of noise and hiss.

Edited November 26, 2020 by thodrik

[ezbass]

It worries me that QC might slip just because ‘the cat’s away’. If that is the case, I wouldn’t feel confident buying one, just in case you ended up with one of the under the radar ones. I’m aware of the supposition and equivocation in this post, but it’s hardly a great start for Warwick, especially as these basses aren’t dirt cheap.

Edited November 26, 2020 by ezbass

[Russ]

I'm sure Roger is noting that people don't like the headstock logo and will do something about it.

Warwick also have form for this - people hated the huge Rockbass headstock logo when they first used it, and it's now been relegated to the truss rod cover. G&L did the same with their Tribute instruments, replacing the ugly, single-colour Tribute logo with the proper G&L one. 

It wouldn't be half as bad if the Metro Express logo actually lined up with the line of the bottom of the headstock!

[CookPassBabtridge]

6 hours ago, thodrik said:

I would agree. Honestly, though, that bass should not pass QC with noise levels like that. Hopefully it is an isolated incident. However, if the Metro Express basses are generally noisy, then that is a real shame as 'noisy electronics' really are the antithesis of what Roger Sadowsky built his reputation on. 

Also, I think I will have to check out the Lobster guy's other reviews. It is actually nice to hear an actual review rather than a glorified sponsored advert.

Yeah it would definitely put me off. Assuming it’s a QC issue, surely it’s such an obvious fault it should have been picked up when tested in the factory as you say. Which begs the question as to how many more might slip the net owing to questionable QC.

9 hours ago, Acebassmusic said:

The logo isn't the worst I've seen but could be better. I wonder what the actual legal standpoint is of building the bass in China and then finishing it off (eg: add the original logo) in another country where you can use the trademark? After all the bass came in a Sadowsky branded gig bag and branded box? 🤔

This is a really good point, it would make sense to just put the ‘proper’ logo on the headstock when they ship out of China. Though perhaps it would increase production costs too much for them. 

[CameronJ]

13 hours ago, ezbass said:

It worries me that QC might slip just because ‘the cat’s away’. If that is the case, I wouldn’t feel confident buying one, just in case you ended up with one of the under the radar ones. I’m aware of the supposition and equivocation in this post, but it’s hardly a great start for Warwick, especially as these basses aren’t dirt cheap.

Agree 100%. There’s no excuse these days with the likes of Sandberg Electra, MTD Kingston, Xotic ProVintage, Dingwall Combustion/NG all coming out of Far Eastern factories without any of these issues. Not to mention more affordable brands such as the likes of Ibanez and Cort, who consistently churn out astonishingly good instruments for the money. 

Granted, Sandbergs and Dingwall Combustions/NGs are sent back to their German/Canadian shops for final setup and inspection. One would think Roger Sadowsky might go down the same route considering how synonymous his brand is with quality. This becomes especially true if he’s unable to visit the factory in person at present! Instead we have a product which might do more harm to the brand than good if there are indeed several early run instruments with QC issues. If one YouTube reviewer has managed to get a dodgy one you can bet there are others out there, ready to be snapped up by other unsuspecting players of the Lemon Lottery.

 

[jazzmanb]

Doing no harm to the value of my 2006 Metro 

Don't think i'd ever sell it but i paid well under current value 

[CameronJ]

Reading my posts back it potentially looks like I have an axe to grind with Sadowsky - I really don’t. I haven’t ever owned one of their basses but definitely would in future, most likely a Japanese MetroExpress! It just seems like they’ve seriously missed the ball here. Granted, COVID hasn’t made things easy for anyone but one would think that would be all the more reason to be meticulous before releasing a new product to market.

In Roger Sadowsky’s partial defence, he’s been active on Talkbass and seems to be taking measures to adjust and improve these basses. For example, below is a photo of the control cavity, taken by LowEndLobster:

Bit of a bird’s nest. One of the components appears to not even be fastened down (3M adhesive on the back) and look at that battery. but Roger has implemented some changes already so the cavities will now look more like this going forward:

 

Much neater. And the battery doesn’t look quite as crusty as before.

Also, the Vintage Tone Control unit will soon be available separately as an upgrade part, along with a humcancelling J pickup. Nice that these will become available but the VTC should have been a standard feature in my opinion, especially on a bass with a boost only preamp! Seem a bit mental not to have any means of rolling off treble whatsoever as standard - a tone control costs bloody pennies!

This way, people will have to spend additional money on upgrade parts, plus they’ll have to find their own luthier to do the installation. A sub-£1k bass can tip over the £1k Mark at the end of all this.

Can anyone tell I won’t be buying one of these??