Sadowsky Metro Express 24 Fret Modern

Sadowsky Metro Express 24 Fret Modern

Roger Sadowsky has always improved bass design by making some very unique and important enhancements. Thanks to his proprietary special electronics, light-weight tuners and selected tone wood, Roger offers you the Sadowsky MetroExpress 24-Fret Modern 4-String Bass, an instrument at home both on stage and at home. Features include a light-weight solid Okoume body fitted with Soapbar pickups, a Solid Sage Green Metallic High Polish finish, a roasted maple neck and a roasted maple fingerboard. Together this makes one formidable bass that you are going to love to play! Best of all, the accessible price gives you access to that famous Sadowsky tone: Never harsh or shrill sounding, with strong, powerful but never muddy bass, with present, but not too aggressive mids, and a sweet, airy treble.

Neck & Feel

The MetroExpress features a roasted maple neck in a comfortable C-shape profile, paired with a roasted maple fingerboard. The roasting process stabilises the wood against humidity and temperature changes — a practical benefit for touring and gigging musicians — while also lending the neck a distinctive warm, aged appearance. 

Pickups

The bass is loaded with Sadowsky's own Soapbar pickups delivering modern full range responce, growl and low end definition. The result is a super punchy, articulate tone with excellent clarity across all strings.

Active Preamp

Where the MetroExpress truly distinguishes itself is the onboard Sadowsky 2-band active preamp, offering Bass and Treble boost with a push/pull bypass on the bass knob to drop into passive mode. The Sadowsky preamp is legendary in bass circles — it adds presence and punch without colouring the core tone, making it equally at home in the studio or a loud live mix.

Roger Sadowsky

Roger Sadowsky is one of the most respected figures in the bass guitar world. Starting out as a repair technician in New York City in the 1970s, he developed a reputation for making Fender Jazz and Precision basses play and sound better than they left the factory. This led him to begin building his own instruments, and by the 1980s Sadowsky guitars and basses had become the go-to choice for top-tier session musicians and touring professionals in New York. His instruments are closely associated with the sound of modern funk, R&B, and jazz bass, and his onboard preamp design became one of the most imitated circuits in the industry. Artists including Will Lee, Marcus Miller, and countless others have made Sadowsky basses central to their sound. Roger sold the Sadowsky brand to Warwick in 2020, though he remains involved as an ambassador for the brand.

• Model: Sadowsky MetroExpress 24-Fret Modern Bass
• Strings: 4-String

Body

• Shape: Sleek undersized body with two octave note range and deeper cutaways
• Wood: Okoume
• Finish: Solid Sage Green Metallic High Polish
• Pickguard: None

Neck

• Wood: Roasted Maple (C-Shape, Bolt-On)
• Fingerboard: Roasted Maple
• Scale Length: 34" (864 mm) Long Scale
• Nut: Sadowsky Just-A-Nut III
• Nut Width: 1.5" (38.5 mm)
• Frets: 24 Nickel Silver (width: 0.094" / 2.4 mm, height: 0.051" / 1.3 mm)
• Strings: Sadowsky Silver Label Stainless Steel, 045–105
• Inlays: White dot

Electronics

• Neck Pickup: Sadowsky passive Soapbar (modern position)
• Bridge Pickup: Sadowsky passive Soapbar (modern position)
• Preamp: Active Sadowsky 2-way (Bass and Treble boost)
• Controls: Volume / Balance / Treble / Bass
• Push/Pull: Bass knob for preamp bypass

Hardware

• Color: Chrome
• Bridge: Sadowsky with quick string release
• Total String Spacing: 2.24" / 57 mm
• Single String Spacing: 19 mm
• Machine Heads: Sadowsky Light Open Gear
• Security Locks: Sadowsky S-Security Locks