Treble EQ not working?

[LITTLEWING]

Okay, maybe it's me, but my recently acquired Vintage Stingray EST 96S treble EQ control doesn't seem to do anything. The bottom and middle EQ's work fine. I've changed the battery but there's no difference. The pot just seems to very subtley change the tone a tad. My Yamaha RBX 375's treble EQ cracks windows at 10 paces and the 'fingers up the strings' grates the teeth where the Vintage doesn't do anything near it. Other than that, the tone is beautifully growly and deep.

Edited November 23, 2010 by LITTLEWING

[Ou7shined]

There's not much you can do other than put a new pre in.

[stingrayPete1977]

Where is mcnash when you want him? J-East MM pre amp sounds like a good option for this one.

Calling mcnash....

To the OP put the words "OLP's suck" in the topic title and he will appear. That man knows his Rays and his pre amps though.

[mcnach]

My spidey sense detected somebody was laughing at my OLPs... where are you???



I'm not familiar with the preamp in your bass. I did try one of them a while ago but I don't recall how much variation the controls offered. But from what you say, I don't think the preamp is faulty. It probably has a very high frequency centre for the treble and/or doesn't boost too much. Some preamps barely do anything on the treble, and they're mostly used to *cut* the very top end, to reduce finger noise etc while leaving most of teh bass sound untouched.

If you *love* your bass, apart from the preamp, then I'd consider putting a new preamp in. However, depending on what you go for, it may make more sense to sell the Vintage and buy another bass. So it depends on whether you really want to keep *that* particular bass.

I'm not an expert, I merely have tried a few preamps on various basses. There are some very cheap replacements on eBay. I bought one by "Bassmods" that came all wired with a plate and all, 3-band, 4-knob, for maybe £25-30, I can't recall. I used that for a 5-string Stingray copy. It works. It's not fantastic, but it's not bad.
However, the nicer options are more expensive. There's lots to choose from. Unfortunately (for me) the preamps I think sound better are not the cheapest ones.
I have bought the John East preamp for Stingray basses, and I can't recommend it enough. It transformed my Stingray from a very nice bass into a "you'll have to prise it off my cold dead hands" type of bass. Based on that, I bought their preamp for Jazz basses too (J-retro) and put it on a Westfield Jazz copy I had that I loved. What it did to that bass is remarkable. It already had good resonance and body... and with the preamp it sounds enormous. You can find them used for £105-150... which is a big chunk of money compared to the cost of your bass. But if you really like your bass, how it plays, etc... You can get a used JE preamp and transform it. It'll probably sound much better than pretty much anything you can get for £250-300... and when you decide to sell the bass, you can restore the original preamp back in its place, and either sell the JE or install it on another bass.
But you see, if you get to £300 total cost... you're dangerously close to the price of a used active (2-band) MusicMan SUB, and that will be a considerable step upwards from the Vintage. I still prefer the JE preamp to that on the SUB or the Stingray... but I would not have the same urge. The SUB basses are really nice.

Horror! I haven't mentioned OLP!!!

Well, I have to remedy that.
I tried the Vintage bass and I didn't find it too inspiring, and then I found OLP basses. I own three of them. I had a fourth, but that one wasn't nice so I let it go. One I turned to fretless. Another one was my number one bass for a while (until I met my Stingray, to the amusement of a few basschatters ) and the other one... it just looks pretty and I never use it now, but I'll figure something out, maybe put flats on it and a mute... but I'm keeping it too. I find OLP basses, even stock and passive, to be nicer than the Vintage.
My favourite OLP cost me around £130 I think, but I don't like the stock pickups, so I put a Seymour Duncan alnico SMB4A. Then I put a Seymour Duncan 3-band preamp too. That bass is great. It really feels very nice and sounds fantastic. I must have spent... I don't know, maybe £250 in total? It's a hell of a bass for £250.
Even passive, just with the pickup upgrade, it's a very nice bass.
So there... a few words supporting OLP.
But it doesn't help you much, does it?

Glad to help you being confused, in that case!

I wouldn't bother spending money on a cheap preamp. If I like the bass enough, I'd get a nice preamp, one that I'm confident will improve the bass substantially. Like a John East preamp (my personal favourite). Then I can always remove it if I want to sell the bass in the future.
And if I'm not in love with that particular bass... I'd just save some monet to buy a nicer one. Since you start on a Vintage, I'd skip the OLPs with the upgrades etc, and simply aim for a nice MusicMan SUB (or a Stingray if you can stretch to it. The SUB is very good, but the Stingray is... sublime )

[bubinga5]

[quote name='Ou7shined' post='1034506' date='Nov 23 2010, 10:06 PM']There's not much you can do other than put a new pre in.[/quote]
sorry dude i dont agree.... this is not a problem with the preamp .unless you really want to change the pre amp...ive seen this on other Vintage basses (ive played lots) and i feel there is an electronics prob... ask the seller to see what they think and say the high's arent up to par...ive played this bass in a local shop.. and the highs were glassy.....very trebly...

changing the batt wont do a thing... if everything else in the EQ works, you should have no probs.. IMO

erm..ok a J East would be killer with the right pups...but thats not the point!!

Edited November 24, 2010 by bubinga5

[mcnach]

more offtopic... just came across this video, using an OLP:

[url="http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbmdQ35-Jns"]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QbmdQ35-Jns[/url]

ignore the fact it's not in tune with the backing but it does sound quite Stingray-esque, eh?
I love those OLPs

Now, back on-topic...
How old/dirty are the strings on the bass?
Old strings will result in a lot of treble loss.

I said before that some preamps don't really do much on the highs (except the very high frequencies, like the Glockenklang 3-band... great preamp, but ultra high treble did nothing much except tame finger noise if you turn it down), but I have no real experience of the one on that Vintage bass. I did try one a while ago but I don't remember much regarding the treble. I just remember I liked the OLPs better, even if they were passive. (whops, tehre I go again
If you found it does have a lot of treble, but the one of the OP does not. the next thing I'd look at would be the strings, like I said.

I very much doubt there's an electronic problem with it, given the symptoms described.
If the strings are old, and therefore have lost a lot of teh brightness... that would be the next thing to try. If that's not satisfactory... then you just have to admit that preamp is not what you want.

The treble on your amp is not all the way down, is it?
Sometimes the simplest things can catch us out.

[LITTLEWING]

Thanks guys for all the replies, you certainly know your OLP's and 'real' Stingrays !
This is the first Stingray (copy) I've had and was taken by surprise by the such cool burpy growl I've been searching for. It's just I've been used to my Yammy for a while and the missing 'sizzle' was a bit of a 'huh?' moment. I don't really care if it's subtle, the tone is the bizz. I might look into another 'pre' assuming the multi-plug is common.
Cheers chaps.

Edited November 24, 2010 by LITTLEWING