Treb

Excellent sounding preamp, John East sure knows how to design a great EQ. Controls have a useable range. Bass boost, treble boost&cut, bright switch and a mid boost&cut with sweep. Excellent construction. What's not to like? Buy one! BTW, John is very responsive, drop him an email should you have any questions. I have the the DJ Retro preamp in my Lakland.

It is easier to ask for forgiveness than to get permission... Hope you don't get cold during your hikes. If you do, think of your bass, will make feel all warm and fuzzy.

The Aguilar obp-1 (just like the Sadowsky preamp a design by Alex Aguilar) is supposed to sound a bit warmer than the Sadowsky which is considered a bit more hi-fi-ish. Both the Sadowsky and the Aguilar are boost-only (bass @ 40Hz, treble @ 4000Hz). I still have my Aguilar DB924, great preamp (in essence an obp-1 in a box). Look into the John East preamps too! Very good sounding stuff, I have a DJ-Retro in my Lakland. That mid-sweep is sweet!

Hey nice one! Great to hear the different flavours. Well done video. Difficult to pick a clear winner, they all have something going for them...

Gold: 3b ceramic
Silver: 2b alnico
Bronze: 3b alnico

Sterling 4H owner here (vintage sunburst, rosewood fb, tort guard). After years of lusting after a MM (it's that tone), I bought a new one last year. The Sterling has a smaller body combined with a J-like neck width. Compared with a full sized Jazz bass body it's almost tiny. MM purists say there's only one MM tone, the 2 band StingRay, but this puppy barks and growls like there's no tomorrow. I love how you can use the entire 3 band EQ, even with maxed out controls it sounds great. I run mine in parallel pickup mode. It's an other take on the MM tone in a smaller and thus lighter package. I love it!

[quote name='Machines' timestamp='1452772242' post='2953261']
I think considering how easily you can pick up a used StingRay for around £800 on here, the new ones represent poor value.
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Hmmm, you have a point there. But only if you want a used Stingray. Used Sterlings are almost as rare as hen's teeth 'round here.

The price jump for a natural may have to do with body wood selection and matching. Still quite a bit more money though.

chickenjames nails it IMO, the bargain models offer eveything you could want. A black and rosewood Stingray has that workhorse aesthetic appeal you can't deny.

If you want a better/nicer spec Stingray check out Esse Music in Italy. In 2015 they had and sold a few SLO's. A recent price hike has made them less affordable though. Perhaps you can order your dream Stingray through them?
The Sterling (ebmm not sbmm) I bought there last summer was considerably cheaper than most other retailers, if they even stock the Sterling. Very few do, I got lucky with my vintage sunburst & rosewood one.

Mellow yellow... Nice one!

This does punchy quite well...

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Two NY804's, Tone Hammmer 350. A bit too loud for the living room.

[quote name='obbm' timestamp='1450450239' post='2932970']
Lakland Daryl Jones.
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+1 The reason I bought myself a DJ4: smaller body and the really comfy neck.

Warmoth has the dinky j body that is compatible with its necks, the difference in size isn't very large though. There is a graphic on their site showing the difference.

Sadowsky J's are smaller, the Will Lee appears really slender. Avoid the UV range, ultra vintage in appearance and size.

Dunno about the relative size of the Hamer Cruise basses. Anyone?

wow! nice one! does it sound as killer as it looks?

What I like about the DJ-Retro I have is that the bass is boost-only (I never saw a bass cut as useable), the pull bright pot adds sparkle yet no brittleness whatsoever, the semi-parametric mid is awesome for dialing in the mids right where I want to. Brilliant stuff!

Popular class d power amps are the 125asx2 and the 250asx2 from Icepower. Both come with a switched mode power supply, all on a single board. All you do is hook up mains power, connect to output and hook up a preamp to the input. For powering preamps there's a 24 volt aux power. I make it sound easy but that is basically what a lot bass amp brands do. Aguilar Tone Hammmer, Swr Amplite, Kustom Kxb500, GenzBenz, the GK MB stuff etc. Markbass however doesn't use these.

What is both interesting and confusing is that amps using the very same module all get a different power rating from their makers. The amps with the 250asx2 modules are rated 500, 800 and even 900 Watts @ 4 ohms... Go figure.

Love the J-retro, John East clearly knows a thing or two about equalisation. He's quite a pleasure to deal with should you feel the need to contact him. Brilliant piece of kit, can't fault it.

Back in the day when I had my black Streamer Stage 2 the preamp was one of the things I didn't like about it. Sold the bass. John makes very good preamps, it might actually benefit from it. Go for it! Report back though.

Earlier this year, april-ish, there were two Slo Specials for sale @ essemusic.it. One is still on their website, a tangerine pearl Slo Special StingRay 4 HH, it must have been sold in the mean time as it is unavailable atm.

My Sterling is also still viewable!

Nice one!

You can get a StingRay with a jazz width neck, they are StingRay Slo Special basses.

I bought a new Sterling this year, vintage sunburst rosewood fb. Took off the black pg and put a tort one on it. Looks and plays great. Not exactly like a StingRay but damn near a StingRay tone like you said. I really like the smaller body of the Sterling.

[quote name='Naetharu' timestamp='1439237491' post='2841220']



Its got a sort of Larry Graham vibe going on.
[/quote]

Yeah, either Larry Graham or Verdine White.

Gold hardware, headless, coffee table wood, single cuts look clunky to me, +1 on Fodera 4 string headstocks being too big, 5 or even more strings, LEDs, pointy heavy metal shapes, Rickenbacker and Gibson basses, weird organic shapes, light brown rosewood (it needs to be dark brown!), soft basswood bodies, huge bodies (JayDee, Alembic, regular J-bass), sunburst on a headstock looks weird cool on bodies though,

Nice Sport Utility Bass ;-)

Listen to John Scofield's "Loud Jazz", "Blue Matter" & "Pick Hits Live". Now that's old skool StingRay tone! It made me wanna have a MusicMan. Bought a USA Sterling for the smaller body and narrow neck. The Sterling is kind of a more agressive StingRay.

Good luck making a choice... Do play one before buying, that Stingray sound can be very in-you-face. If you really want that sound go for it but remember, there is no substitute for da real thang.

Candy apple red... Yummie, but do you want a warm or cold CAR? Warm is over a gold base, cold over a silver base coat... Aaargh! Choices, choices...

LPB matching headstock. Pickguard parchment, cream or white perl. White perl usually matches with the block inlays nicely....

[quote name='Conan' timestamp='1439144654' post='2840382']
A Sterling will also feel rather like a Jazz (certainly in terms of neck shape and playability) if that is what you like
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I beg to differ. Got a Sterling and a Lakland DJ here. Nut width may be the same, but feel and balance is quite different. ymmv.

There's no substitute for the real thing. Buy a StingRay, a Sterling or a Sabre for that MusicMan sound.