Sadowsky Metro Express BARGAINS at Thomann!

[King Tut]

Anyone know what the string to string distance is on the fivers?

[dub_junkie]

52 minutes ago, King Tut said:

Anyone know what the string to string distance is on the fivers?

19mm at the bridge on the 5 strings

Edited March 23, 2024 by dub_junkie

[martthebass]

2 hours ago, velvetkevorkian said:

I upgraded my pj5 fretless with the higher spec pickups and frankly I might as well not have bothered, the difference in noise was almost imperceptible to my ear. (Fortunately I didn't pay £250 for them 😅)

I think the stock pups are pretty good, I gather the stock pre is a bit meh which is why people stick in a proper Sadowsky one or the East.

[Raslee]

Very chuffed with my second 1st Gen ME recently purchased from Thomann, can't believe it at only £349. It is also much lighter than a Sire in the same price range and the quality on this one is truly excellent, quiet electrics, a nice set up will low buzz free action, great fret work and a beautiful neck. Really happy with my decal job too

[bcbass]

I'm happy with mine as well.Hesitated a lot while there is a lot negative comments about this basses, but tried my luck and on the end good result.Nothing bad on her, electronics,neck fretwork,even action is really good from factory,weight is 3756gr, only needed tuning and plug and play.I think nothing is cheap on this guitar except the price i paid.

[carlsim]

Received my CAR 5 string a few weeks ago and only just had the chance to do the decal change and also put a carbon vinyl wrap on the scratchplate as the plain white was booooring!

Edited April 25, 2024 by carlsim

[mattpbass]

Looks great but please pop the E string back into the bridge saddle, that extra wide gap is making my OCD hurt. 😅

[Raslee]

17 hours ago, carlsim said:

Received my CAR 5 string a few weeks ago and only just had the chance to do the decal change and also put a carbon vinyl wrap on the scratchplate as the plain white was booooring!

Looks stunning, love the wrap too. What’s the weight like on the 5’s ? 

[Baloney Balderdash]

19 hours ago, carlsim said:

Received my CAR 5 string a few weeks ago and only just had the chance to do the decal change and also put a carbon vinyl wrap on the scratchplate as the plain white was booooring!

Looks great.

 

The string spacing at the bridge is pretty wack though.

 

To me it looks something like 15mm - 18mm - 17mm - 16mm, from low B to high G string.

 

Edited April 26, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[King Tut]

5 hours ago, mattpbass said:

Looks great but please pop the E string back into the bridge saddle, that extra wide gap is making my OCD hurt. 😅

Glad it’s not just me!

[carlsim]

6 hours ago, mattpbass said:

Looks great but please pop the E string back into the bridge saddle, that extra wide gap is making my OCD hurt. 😅

Yep, spotted this about 2 seconds after I posted the images! All sorted now...

 

4 hours ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

Looks great.

 

The string spacing at the bridge is pretty wack though.

 

To me it looks something like 15mm - 18mm - 17mm - 16mm, from low B to high G string.

 

It's not at all, the E string wasn't in the saddle correctly - all fixed now. It's a great bass for the cash - would be hard pressed to find something this good for £350 new.

[martthebass]

For those of you who’ve changed the decal, how easy was it? Can someone give me the lowdown on how they did it before I attack mine? Maybe PM to avoid thread derailment.

[carlsim]

3 minutes ago, martthebass said:

For those of you who’ve changed the decal, how easy was it? Can someone give me the lowdown on how they did it before I attack mine? Maybe PM to avoid thread derailment.

 

I made a thread about this - it isn't totally detailed about the process but should cover most of what you need:

 

Basically,

sand the headstock (make sure the sanding is nice and even)

apply a few dust coats of your chosen finish (I used a matt finish poly which I buffed to a satin finish...)

wet sand a little and apply the decal

lay on some dust coats to seal the decal and then you can apply a few more heavier coats to level out.

I then wet sanded with 1200 W&D and buffed to a sheen. reassemble.

 

i couldn't get around not having a very fine outline of the decal showing (you can see it in certain light and angles) but I can live with that.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Carl

 

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

How does one get a Sadowsky decal? Sorry if I'm being stupid. 

Thanks. 

 

I'm  really tempted by one of the green MO 4 string PJs.

Reviews are mixed though? I've seen it said that they don't 'stay' set up for long and need frequent tweaks? Any truth to this? 

 

 

1 hour ago, carlsim said:

 

I made a thread about this - it isn't totally detailed about the process but should cover most of what you need:

 

Basically,

sand the headstock (make sure the sanding is nice and even)

apply a few dust coats of your chosen finish (I used a matt finish poly which I buffed to a satin finish...)

wet sand a little and apply the decal

lay on some dust coats to seal the decal and then you can apply a few more heavier coats to level out.

I then wet sanded with 1200 W&D and buffed to a sheen. reassemble.

 

i couldn't get around not having a very fine outline of the decal showing (you can see it in certain light and angles) but I can live with that.

 

Hope this helps.

 

Carl

 

 

Edited April 26, 2024 by ProjeKtWEREWOLF

[carlsim]

https://www.guitardecals.co.uk

 

all the information is on the other thread...

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

2 minutes ago, carlsim said:

https://www.guitardecals.co.uk

 

all the information is on the other thread...

Well who'd have thought 🤔 😁

Cheers. 

[Burns-bass]

If you start swapping decals it’s a good idea to mark it somehow to avoid future potential purchasers mistaking it for a real one!

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

How does this bass compare to a Squier or Sire? I know we have to co suffer that this is normally a bit more expensive than Thomann is selling but...

[Supernaut]

20 hours ago, Burns-bass said:

If you start swapping decals it’s a good idea to mark it somehow to avoid future potential purchasers mistaking it for a real one!

Yup, like most Fender's on eBay... 

[carlsim]

The sadowsky metro express basses have a SME or SMX serial on the rear of the headstock… metrolines and other sadowsky basses have simpler serials on the rear… would be quite obvious from the serial on the rear… plus it isn’t just printed, it seems to be embedded into the wood… I don’t have a picture at hand but can post one.

[ProjeKtWEREWOLF]

So are these things worth the money? Should I just buy a Cort C4/B4 or a Sire V5? 

I need a cheap backup bass for a covers band I'm playing in. Current using a Westone Thunder 1A (with Aguilar preamp). It's comfy but a bit nasal 😂.  I don't usually play 4 strings. 

[martthebass]

3 hours ago, ProjeKtWEREWOLF said:

So are these things worth the money? Should I just buy a Cort C4/B4 or a Sire V5? 

I need a cheap backup bass for a covers band I'm playing in. Current using a Westone Thunder 1A (with Aguilar preamp). It's comfy but a bit nasal 😂.  I don't usually play 4 strings. 

Can’t comment on the Cort/Sire but I’d put the quality of my late gen1 up with Mex Fender player. However I don’t have the stock pre in mine so I don’t know how good/bad this is. But, build wise at <£400 it’s a bargain.

[asingardenof]

On 27/04/2024 at 20:06, carlsim said:

The sadowsky metro express basses have a SME or SMX serial on the rear of the headstock… metrolines and other sadowsky basses have simpler serials on the rear… would be quite obvious from the serial on the rear… plus it isn’t just printed, it seems to be embedded into the wood… I don’t have a picture at hand but can post one.

Yep, the first gen Chinese MetroExpress basses have serial numbers starting SME, the newer ones with the roasted necks, etc. start SMX.

[Josh]

Just a quick review if anyone is tempted to pick up one of the older SME’s from Thomann that are currently going for a crazy £345.

 

This is now my second SME. My first one was a 5 string hybrid PJ which was listed as B stock, which aside from a couple of uneven frets it was very well made bass and the hardware and preamp were solid. 
 

The same can be said for this one. Straight out of the case (which is also very good!) it looks amazing, I’m of the few that really don’t like the look of the newer roasted maple necks (aside from the proper Sadowsky logo) so the maple on this one really works well visually and feels lovely. It did have a few high frets towards the dusty end of the neck, a little bit of filing has remedied that and now has my preferred low action that I can dig in with. 
 

The stock preamp is very hit and miss with some people, but having had Spectors before I’m used to boost-only preamps. It’s a powerful pre and there would never be a situation you’d need to have either the bass or treble above 40%. I opted to change for the VTC drop-in replacement on my first SME, and it was a good upgrade but it wasn’t utterly world shattering as some make it out to be. If you were to upgrade the pick ups to the Sadowsky humcancelling I’m sure that would make a more noticeable difference, but with this one I’m actually really happy with how it sounds.

 

So, if you’re on the fence for the price you can’t go wrong, they are fantastic platforms if you are wishing to mod it but even then it punches weigh above its price point as it comes.

 

Heres a cover I did with it to see how it handles a bit of distortion:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6hou_VPhFJ/?igsh=eTU3cnBrOWxsMDBm

[martthebass]

37 minutes ago, Josh said:

Just a quick review if anyone is tempted to pick up one of the older SME’s from Thomann that are currently going for a crazy £345.

 

This is now my second SME. My first one was a 5 string hybrid PJ which was listed as B stock, which aside from a couple of uneven frets it was very well made bass and the hardware and preamp were solid. 
 

The same can be said for this one. Straight out of the case (which is also very good!) it looks amazing, I’m of the few that really don’t like the look of the newer roasted maple necks (aside from the proper Sadowsky logo) so the maple on this one really works well visually and feels lovely. It did have a few high frets towards the dusty end of the neck, a little bit of filing has remedied that and now has my preferred low action that I can dig in with. 
 

The stock preamp is very hit and miss with some people, but having had Spectors before I’m used to boost-only preamps. It’s a powerful pre and there would never be a situation you’d need to have either the bass or treble above 40%. I opted to change for the VTC drop-in replacement on my first SME, and it was a good upgrade but it wasn’t utterly world shattering as some make it out to be. If you were to upgrade the pick ups to the Sadowsky humcancelling I’m sure that would make a more noticeable difference, but with this one I’m actually really happy with how it sounds.

 

So, if you’re on the fence for the price you can’t go wrong, they are fantastic platforms if you are wishing to mod it but even then it punches weigh above its price point as it comes.

 

Heres a cover I did with it to see how it handles a bit of distortion:

 

https://www.instagram.com/reel/C6hou_VPhFJ/?igsh=eTU3cnBrOWxsMDBm

I think if you factor in a £70 set up/fret level into this you can't lose!