Hellzero

Urm, urm. The MusicMan Stingray was introduced in 1976 with only one pickup and a 2 bands EQ. The MusicMan Sabre was introduced in 1978 with two pickups and had also a 2 bands EQ. None had this bright green colour. Super fake ! Go away !

According to this photo, your PSU comes from Germany and the plug is a typical EU one (Italian and Swiss ones are different). It doesn't help for your quest, but it might help you locating where you bought it, but certainly not the USA if it's the PSU that came with. 😉

I guess it's not the active Mec pickups... So it's a 3 holes or knobs configuration. I would recommend a Glockenklang or even the most transparent preamp to date, the Richter BassXX. The problem is the 3 holes/knobs configuration as, very often, the blend is on a separate pot... You can check Best Bass Gear to see what's available and see if you can get it in the U.K. : https://www.bestbassgear.com/bass-preamps.htm?dir=asc&limit=all&order=price

Try the logo on the upper horn... Is that conductive paint made of dark matter ? Looks like it's capturing all the light around ! 😱

What pickups does this one have and how many holes does the preamp have ?

That's him @SpondonBassed :

Looks like a Brazilian rosewood fingerboard. Can you confirm that @Andyjr1515 ? Was there a smell of cocoa (or chocolate) when sanding it ?

Hush @Teebs 🤫 or @inthefields will feel very sad. 😬

Great job ! 👌

The loop is looped. 😉

Hallo @inthefields und herzlichen Willkommen. For your fretless, with the active preamp if it's a 3 bands model, choose the bridge pickup, put the mids almost to the max, add a bit of bass (just after the center click) and remove a bit more of highs thanyou did with the bass. You'll start to have that mwah growling, slightly adjust to your taste all 3 bands. If you can choose between full humbucker or single coil, opt for single coil. If your preamp is a 2 bands, slightly boost the bass and roll back the highs. That said a mid control is almost mandatory on a fretless as it's the mwah control. Roundwounds also sound à la Jaco, when flatwounds have a great tendency to kill that mwah. Other tricks next time. 😉 By the way, I'll turn 56 this year, so you're not old.

EMG X are active pickups, so there's a battery somewhere. Nice catch. I saw it on the Bass Gallery website too, but being in Belgium is now a nightmare to buy in the U.K. I wouldn't change a thing on this bass, but that's my opinion, not yours.

Funny as those isolated tracks always sound quite awful. This song has always been my favourite Bowie track and listening to Tony Visconti explaining the genesis behind it makes you understand what kind of geniuses they all were. Coming from scratch progressively to a true masterpiece.

Not that easy to play with all the correct slides and the correct passion to it. Don't forget your chorus pedal... That's this video that showed me some time ago I was doing almost everything wrong.

Looks like that @Reggaebass...

They all are making what they are supposed to do. Excellent stuff. The Crimson Red is also amazing, really phaaaat with that slight pleasing distortion in the low end. You'll want to buy them all.

Try a set of ToneRider, dirt cheap and excellent sounding. https://tonerider.com/product/jazz-plus/?v=d3dcf429c679

Indeed, there are 3 factors to consider : price, space and power consumption. And even if a full transistor preamp will sound way better than anything, all parameters will be on the far right indicator. That said, I've tried almost every onboard preamp and, to date, the best one and most transparent is the Richter BassXX which is a ... filter-based cleverly designed preamp with surface mount components. http://www.richter-ee.de/preamps1.html

Try a pure transistor approach, it takes much room, but sounds way better than any opamp...

If you want THAT Acoustic 360 sound, dial the mids full on, the bass around 2 o'clock and the highs around 10 o'clock, and just the volume needed to start very very slightly distorting : you'll be amazed. Use the tone knob on your bass too to adjust the mids projection (the more you cut it, the more it does, until a certain point).

Told ya. 😉

That said, the bass strapped much higher will avoid her a huge double tendinitis (elbow and shoulder). 😉

Skunk stripe is for maple fingerboard by Fender, not rosewood, that here looks like ebony... The Fender plate is not correctly positioned, clearly a DIY thing. To me it's an assembly with a non Fender neck and certainly a non Fender body. The knobs are simply metal ones. A common change by Fender users to make it à la Jaco Pastorius.