NBD: Sadowsky Metroexpress Modern 24 5 String

[Josh]

Hey guys,

 

I had been hoping ever since the inception of the ME range that they would eventually offer the Modern, as the German/Japanese models have always been rather expensive. 
 

So, I’d been keeping an eye on them to show up in stock on Thomann and pulled the trigger last week. Annoyingly they don’t help themselves by only having rendered images on the website, in fact it’s nearly impossible to find a decent photo or video (aside from the official release video) of them currently. I might even be in the very small amount of bassists here who even have one😂

 

First impressions so far have been great, loving the almost Spector-like tone with both pick ups. The only little niggle has been a high fret up in the dusty end which will be dealt with soon, otherwise it’s been a very easy bass to set up with a lovely low action.

I’m thinking black hardware is the next step😏

[dub_junkie]

Lovely looking bass!

 

I had a 2008 Japanese Metro M5-24 for a bit. Hindsight is a wonderful thing for I know now I should have kept it. Build quality was impeccable. 

[Lozz196]

Looks really nice, like that a lot

[velvetkevorkian]

I think this might be my favourite Fender-adjacent design. Glad to hear the Metro Express version holds up.

[Terry M.]

Sadowsky is easily my favourite fso bass. Would love to snag an older Japanese 5 string variant at some point in time. Congratulations on your purchase 👏 

[Josh]

I’ve just uploaded a quick snippet of the tone of this thing🤟🏻

 

 

[Bigwan]

Saw this on you IG earlier. Sounds top notch! Got me interested but need to make room... have WAY too many basses laying around!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

6 hours ago, Josh said:

I’ve just uploaded a quick snippet of the tone of this thing🤟🏻

 

 

Great song choice! These basses always make me think of Jason.

[Owen]

On 10/02/2025 at 15:29, Bigwan said:

 have WAY too many basses laying around!

That's not possi...... yes, yes it is. 

[Terry M.]

On 04/02/2025 at 11:39, Josh said:

Hey guys,

 

I had been hoping ever since the inception of the ME range that they would eventually offer the Modern, as the German/Japanese models have always been rather expensive. 
 

So, I’d been keeping an eye on them to show up in stock on Thomann and pulled the trigger last week. Annoyingly they don’t help themselves by only having rendered images on the website, in fact it’s nearly impossible to find a decent photo or video (aside from the official release video) of them currently. I might even be in the very small amount of bassists here who even have one😂

 

First impressions so far have been great, loving the almost Spector-like tone with both pick ups. The only little niggle has been a high fret up in the dusty end which will be dealt with soon, otherwise it’s been a very easy bass to set up with a lovely low action.

I’m thinking black hardware is the next step😏

What's the bridge string spacing on this? I always thought Sadowsky 5 strings were 19mm by default but I'm seeing 18mm recently on some specs. 

[Josh]

8 hours ago, Terry M. said:

What's the bridge string spacing on this? I always thought Sadowsky 5 strings were 19mm by default but I'm seeing 18mm recently on some specs. 

The string spacing on Modern 24 models is 18mm from what I can gather. It’s a very comfortable spacing! 

[Terry M.]

Will you leave the preamp as is or add the VTC?

[Josh]

1 hour ago, Terry M. said:

Will you leave the preamp as is or add the VTC?

I’m actually really happy with the standard preamp, I’ve got the same in my older RSD 4 string and have never had a problem with it. 
 

I did upgrade my previous ME P/J 5 string with the VTC drop in replacement, and honestly the difference wasn’t that great. Maybe in the future, I might put a full EMG DC set in it, but until then I have no reason to. 

[Terry M.]

45 minutes ago, Josh said:

I’m actually really happy with the standard preamp, I’ve got the same in my older RSD 4 string and have never had a problem with it. 
 

I did upgrade my previous ME P/J 5 string with the VTC drop in replacement, and honestly the difference wasn’t that great. Maybe in the future, I might put a full EMG DC set in it, but until then I have no reason to. 

Makes sense 👍