new family member since early 2012
- sadowsky nyc p5 (bolt-on neck)
- 5 string
- alder body
- olympic white
- maple neck w/ thin matte nitro finish
- madagascar rosewood fretboard, 21 frets
- sadowsky soapbars
- vintage tone control
- 2 band boost only eq (hi & lo)
- vol. / pu selector / vtc / stacked eq
- 8.65lbs
built in circa june 2011, and purchased used in march 2012 from local classified. it was totally a coincidence by seeing a nyc sadowsky on craigslist one day which they don't show up that often, so ended up i went to the person's house to give it a try after work.
first impression, the bass was light, real light. 8.65lbs is not the lightest instrument they make, and the number looked alright, just 1.xlbs less than my other basses. but by the moment i picked it up, it was unbelievable, if feels like ... umm .. a heavier electric guitar, and just a tidy bit heavier than my 32" basswood amb-1. now i'm really curious how their under 8lbs basses would feel like.
the finish and craftsmanship of this instrument is top notch as expected, the matte nitro finish neck feels good, and the full size pbass body was what i had been gas-ing for. the only flaw was that the back of the body had quiet a few buckle rashes. well, i'm not a collector ..
sound wise, to be honest, it doesn't sound or feel like a pbass at all. it's more like the modern model (m5-24, with 21frets tho). the bass sounds very mid focused to me, and has alot of different variations of mids. can have a lot of big fat punchy notes growling from the 2 soapbar pickups. Unlike some of the metro models I tried, the low B string is tight and solid, a lot of definitions are there in the open B, thanks for the mid focus characteristic it has.
the vtc(vintage tone control), adds alot of flavour, from thunder like bright(full on) to the dark warm vintage sound(all the way off), i would say alot of the sounds in between are useful. and the 2 band eq comes in handy at all time. i think a big part of sadowsky's sound comes from its active preamp and the vtc.
so after the 30mins try out, i thought this is not the most versatile bass out there, i might need to find ways mid scoop the sound sometimes to do this and that ..... i later spent the rest of the night with the bn5 at home, and damn, they sound totally different, maybe i do need another instrument to complete my tone locker. the gas then lasted for 2 days and finally i came home with a new bass ......
had a gig with it, 1.5hrs of non-stop playing + a couple of random short sets. loaded with the comfort strap, and my neck was hurt and stiff as expected after the long hours, then then pain was gone on the next day. the same gig last year took me 3 days to get recovered. although it's the money i shouldn't spend, but it ended up the happy purchased. + the experience of being to the seller's basement and got blown away twice. on my 2nd visit, i played his fodera, alleva capollo, and dingwall bass. it was the bass heaven.