I met a friend yesterday and he had an interesting bass.
He likes boutique basses and has owned several Sadowskys (as well as Smith, Fodera and F-Basses) in the past. He wanted to see if he can get close to a Sadowsky for a fraction of the price.
So he bought a $499 Sire V7 - that's the 4-string J variant with a bound rosewood board and block inlays - and replaced the stock pickups and preamp with Sadowsky units. He had about $850 into the bass in total.
The result, I'd say 90% Sadowsky. The sound is unmistakably Sadowsky. The bass itself is nice and lightweight, plays very well and is getting soon a new nut and bridge to make it almost perfect. I liked the glossy neck but he doesn't and is going to have the back of the neck de-glossed.
Really not bad for $850.
We were lucky to try it out with an awesome vintage SVT with its two cabinets.
Sorry no pics because I'm stupid and didn't take any. But imagine a stock Sire V7 in sunburst with 4 knobs instead of 5.