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Next gen Sadowsky Metro Express

asingardenof

By asingardenof,
in Bass Guitars

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Lw. Proficient

Lw.

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Posted
3 hours ago, asingardenof said:

There are sites in the States now taking pre-orders for August, e.g. https://www.fretnation.com/sadowsky-metro-express-basses. At just north of $1k that would imply c. £800 if the exchange rate is anything to go by, which would make these an absolute bargain.

It's a shame musical instrument companies don't seem able to follow basic FX rules, they seem to forget so it'll either be £1k or they'll get it backwards and it'll be £1.2k! 

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Paddy777 Proficient

Paddy777

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2 hours ago, Lw. said:

It's a shame musical instrument companies don't seem able to follow basic FX rules, they seem to forget so it'll either be £1k or they'll get it backwards and it'll be £1.2k! 

This! 👆 I feel like it’s basically whatever they are in dollars tend to be what they are in pounds as well (i.e. $599 = £599 give or take) even tho it’s generally $1.3 or more to the pound, and thanks to Brexit 😭🤬we won’t benefit at all from them being distributed by Warwick in Germany


The 5 string Jazz is $1,115 (maple f/board) and $1,140 (morado) so I expect maybe £995? If they are that much I’d rather wait for a cheap used MetroLine to pop up around the £1500 mark, which I have seen before, as at £1k they’re creeping out of the  bracket they’re meant to be in & £1k gets you a LOT of used bass and I have no real care for buying new. Compared to Fender at £1k they’re good, but compared to what you could get in the classifieds here for example they’d maybe be too much, you might pick a good one up second hand in 6 months tho 


 

If they’re priced roughly similarly to the first MetroExpress line then I’ll be in for one come In a couple of months but I have spent the money I had for this now on another bass, I couldn’t wait any longer!

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martthebass Grand Master

martthebass

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To be honest, as the differences to the original Chinese ME ain’t huge, if you can live with the headstock decal (the band I play in have never heard of Sadowsky anyhow so they assume it’s a cheap Fender clone) then saving a huge wad of cash on a used generation 1 makes sense. My used gen 1 fretless with an East pre came in at less than half the new price of one of these.

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asingardenof Grand Master

asingardenof

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39 minutes ago, martthebass said:

To be honest, as the differences to the original Chinese ME ain’t huge, if you can live with the headstock decal (the band I play in have never heard of Sadowsky anyhow so they assume it’s a cheap Fender clone) then saving a huge wad of cash on a used generation 1 makes sense. My used gen 1 fretless with an East pre came in at less than half the new price of one of these.

I suspect that most of the changes will be add up to the basses being a little bit better at everything, and if this is going to end up being the most expensive bass I ever buy I'd rather it be the best it could be at the time I buy it. Knowing that there's a better version I could have gotten if I hadn't been stingy (no, the MetroLine range isn't even an option so doesn't count) would just irk me every time I look at it. 

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martthebass Grand Master

martthebass

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17 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

I suspect that most of the changes will be add up to the basses being a little bit better at everything, and if this is going to end up being the most expensive bass I ever buy I'd rather it be the best it could be at the time I buy it. Knowing that there's a better version I could have gotten if I hadn't been stingy (no, the MetroLine range isn't even an option so doesn't count) would just irk me every time I look at it. 

I don’t disagree entirely but the price difference is likely to be significant. The bones of the two generations are essentially the same and I don’t think the differences equate to the price differential. In my case the ME is mainly a ‘bedroom’ bass, if I was looking at a £1k gigging bass I’d be looking elsewhere than a Chinese ME.

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Soledad Proficient

Soledad

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On 30/05/2023 at 09:53, martthebass said:

Can anyone advise where I could get one of these made up, I don’t have a printer setup anymore?

These guys in Portugal are excellent > Loja custom < - not sure if they have the Sadowsky logo as a stock item (they may have) but I have used them before (old Hofner logo). They produce fab quality micro-thin rub-downs, easy to apply but take very great care to get position bang on, you get one go at it. Then seal with a matt / semi-matt / gloss superthin coat, applied almost dry.

They have some odd stuff - Guyatone (!); and more common Peavey, Ibanez, Fender of course,  etc etc

I think they'll make what you need up given a decent vector reference.

 

http://www.lojahmcustom.com/epages/960708206.sf/en_GB/?ObjectPath=/Shops/960708206/Categories/"Decalques/Stickers"

[email protected]

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asingardenof Grand Master

asingardenof

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26 minutes ago, Paddy777 said:

I reckon U.K. they’re gonna be £800-850 region, still looking at what I can get second hand (especially on here) with that sort of cash I’ll wait till they’re £500 2/h

You can get brand new RSD ones at GG for about £550 at the moment

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Paddy777 Proficient

Paddy777

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That’s where they need to be IMO when the new lot come out, £600-650 tops really, I know they mk1 MetroExpress are being reduced all over. The lack of VTC has started to bug me more and more too, I can just stick an £80 Sadowsky preamp pedal on a passive JB (say a Sire V5) and I’ve got the tone nailed plus passive tone control. They’ll have to be pretty impressive in the build quality stakes to make it worthwhile tbh

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Paddy777 Proficient

Paddy777

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1 hour ago, Brian18242 said:

Very much on the fence if these upgrades justify the price tag. 

Well they haven’t really gone up much, when the first lot of MetroExpress basses came out they were around this price give or take, what I think these are now Is what everyone wanted and expected from the first lot. From what I can gather by speaking to someone I know well over the pond who has one they are very good, and when an entry level MIM Fender Jazz isn’t far off a grand then these look a decent bet. I really wish they came with VTC tho, as I’ll basically have to add £150 for a new preamp for the bass I would want. Still GAS is gonna GAS, and for all my previous talk of not being that bothered……. I realllyyyy want one! 😆 🤩 

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asingardenof Grand Master

asingardenof

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33 minutes ago, Paddy777 said:

Well they haven’t really gone up much, when the first lot of MetroExpress basses came out they were around this price give or take, what I think these are now Is what everyone wanted and expected from the first lot. From what I can gather by speaking to someone I know well over the pond who has one they are very good, and when an entry level MIM Fender Jazz isn’t far off a grand then these look a decent bet. I really wish they came with VTC tho, as I’ll basically have to add £150 for a new preamp for the bass I would want. Still GAS is gonna GAS, and for all my previous talk of not being that bothered……. I realllyyyy want one! 😆 🤩 

 

You can always sell on the original preamp, it'd make a great upgrade for someone and you could make some money back.

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Paddy777 Proficient

Paddy777

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17 minutes ago, asingardenof said:

 

You can always sell on the original preamp, it'd make a great upgrade for someone and you could make some money back.

I’ve already half justified it to myself by saying I’ll stick it on a 4 string Sire V7 I’ve got haha, but yeh it’s a good point, it should still fetch half the price of a new VTC one

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Paddy777 Proficient

Paddy777

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1 hour ago, dub_junkie said:

I've been rehearsing and gigging with my two first gen MEs and they've been great so far. Possibly not so much I haven't missed the VTC that was on my

M5-24 and Valenti, as just learning to work with what I have.

Anyway no complaints at all. 

The M5-24 you had was a real thing of beauty! I think I would use VTC a lot, it makes a big difference I think. The Sadowsky preamp sound is one of my favourite bass sounds, I’ve got the preamp pedal which I use for passive basses to run straight into, and I find myself using VTC a lot there, but the best sound is with no VTC Ope /30-40% Bass & 30% Treble which is the best slap tone ever on a Jazz, and no VTC is needed I suppose. 

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dub_junkie Veteran

dub_junkie

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4 hours ago, Paddy777 said:

The M5-24 you had was a real thing of beauty! I think I would use VTC a lot, it makes a big difference I think. The Sadowsky preamp sound is one of my favourite bass sounds, I’ve got the preamp pedal which I use for passive basses to run straight into, and I find myself using VTC a lot there, but the best sound is with no VTC Ope /30-40% Bass & 30% Treble which is the best slap tone ever on a Jazz, and no VTC is needed I suppose. 

Totally agree that the core tone of the Sadowsky pre amp is one of, if not my favourite bass tones. 

And I find that I'm getting that tone off the MEs. 

I did worry about the preamp being a little bit over bright even with the treble set at zero and how the lack of VTC would mean taming it from the amp head itself but I noticed that at volume it doesn't come across that way at all. In fact I was boosting the treble a bit.

What is always noticeable though is that big lovely fat but clear bottom end. It just works!

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