Happy birthday to me! Sadowksy and Lollar upgrades.

Iofflight

Iofflight

Jan 21, 2018
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#1
I bought a Fender Elite Jazz back in January. The fit and the finish are perfect and while I feel it sounds really good I wanted to try out a few things and see if I could make it even better for me. Everything arrived yesterday except for the brushes for the shielding paint. D'oh.. Looks like I'll have to hit up the hardware store because I'm feeling impatient.

I'll report back my thoughts about this combo because I've been looking for anything regarding this particular pairing and haven't found it.
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#3
Okay so today I did the final installation after 3 coats of shielding paint (and I still have a bit of hum when the preamp is engaged and either pick up is panned, dead center it's quiet) In passive mode everything is quiet unless to tone knob is at 80% or higher but it's nothing major.

Overall this was not a massive improvement over the noiseless 4 pickups which really are quite good imo. The lollars are a bit thicker with more punch which is to be expected.

I did about 12 passes of recordings of the N4 with and without the Fender pre at different settings and will do the same with the Lollar/Sadowsky combo and will further evaluate from there. However my general feeling is this was an expensive swap out on an already great bass that didn't bring massive improvements but if I had a MIM or some parts bass I wanted to upgrade this is a completely worth it combination.
 
#4
Wow - that is so cool - I was about to do almost exactly the same thing with a Nash 5 string - I love the sound of the Sadowsky Preamps that I have in other basses, the Nash Bass I have has 2 Aguilar JJ's, and I personally think it would rock with the Sadowsky preamp, so I'm going to carve out some wood in the back to make room for the battery (I want it to be more accessible than just having to take off the control plate), and then also route the 1/4" jack to the side instead of coming out the top of the plate, which would accommodate the extra pot. I probably wont use shielding paint, I've had very very good success with copper tape in the past.

Rob
 
#6
Also, I'd be curious as to your opinion about the Thomastiks, I've tried them on a few different basses, but ultimately I settle for Dunlop low tension strings. They cost less than half as much, and honestly I like them a lot. I keep going back to them, less wear and tear on my fingers, and I like the sound. Would like to get your opinion in this setup.

Rob
 
#7
I'm not sure when I'll get the Thomastiks to be honest. I just put La Bella fx flats on my PJ and I'm really liking those. I got these in hopes of picking up a fretless down the line or trying it on the PJ once I'm feeling like I want to change the La Bellas.

I think the Aguilars would be great they were honestly the top contender against the Lollars for me. And I decided on those by just a hair over the AJ60s.
And thank you for the birthday wishes!
 
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#9
Thank you!...

Another observation about the Lollar vs N4s. So on the N4s I generally liked the settings at Neck 60-65% and Bridge at 40-35% with tone around 50%. It's the exact opposite with the lollars I've got the Bridge at 60% and it gives it a bit more growl but the Neck has a thick enough sound that it keeps the bottom end.
 
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