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Vintage EST96 basses (Stringray copy)


Greggo
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Hi,

I recently bought a Vintage EST96 musicman bass. I wasnt necessarily looking for a Musicman copy but I wanted a new inexpensive bass to replace as my main bass, the other instrument being a 90's Yamaha RBX series (5 string)

I went in to a music shop and saw this gorgeous "honey burst" Vintage EST96 5 string bass for a mere £220 and played it for a good while. It was one of two 5 string basses (Im so used to 5 string didnt want to go for a 4) the other being a Squier precision which was slightly more expensive at around £300.

Since I got the bass I've become obsessed with the bass its based on , the Musicman Stingray and listening to clips of it on youtube and loving the sound.



For £220 the bass is gorgeous though and it plays really nicely, far better than my Yamaha. Im not going to kid myself into thinking a £200 bass is going to sound like the £1500 bass its based, but has anyone any experiences in using this bass and what did you think? How closely does it emulate the stingray sound? From what I have read, it may be worth installing a replacement pickup in , Musicman basslines or Nordstrand?

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Physicist at work here and bass player stunned by quality of Chinese Warwicks :) If the woods are of the same types and the construction is similar then some reasonable pickups could get you very near. When dealing with commodity kit (bolt on alder/ash/poplar body, maple neck) once the fit and finish are adequate it is only the electronics left to sort. Try some MM basses and see how they compare, are they x6.5 (approx) better sounding?

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I can get my Peavey T-40 to sound just like a Ray with some EQ tweaking on my amp. I think the key things are pickup type, position and EQ. If you were willing to spend a few quid on a pickup upgrade and probably new EQ I think you'd be in, but just be sure you're going to keep it as the upgrades won't do much for resale value.

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Because I got the bass so cheap ( needs must due to first baby arriving very recently!) Im definitely thinking of a pickup swap first and maybe a pre-amp swap later down the line. Reading reviews of the bass online a few people arent keen on the stock pre-amp on this bass and I get where there are coming from. The bass control is perhaps too bassy to be useful so anything past halfway is pretty boomy. Also, the treble doesnt add a great deal, it seems only the mid control seems to do the best job of cutting/boosting.

I got a convincing Rage Against The Machine (first album) bass tone using the bass totally cut and the treble up full and mids just less than halfway, and if I have all the controls set to cut, it has a nice recording tone for mellow tones and still cuts through nicely.

I see their are two types of SD Basslines pickups (alnico and ceramic). Am I right in thinking the Alnico are meant to have a more vintage sound whereas the ceramic are more modern sounding?

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The Musicman SR5 had a ceramic pickup whilst the SR4 had alnico. I think they changed that recently to all be alnico as there was a difference in sound from the ceramic. I believe the SR4 has always been alnico.

Oh here we go, thanks [url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Music_Man_StingRay_5"]Wikipedia[/url]:

"[color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3]In February 2008, Ernie Ball switched back to [/size][/font][/color][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alnico"]alnico[/url][color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] pickups for their Sting Ray 5s, after having used [/size][/font][/color][url="http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ferrite_(magnet)"]ceramic[/url][color=#000000][font=sans-serif][size=3] pickups for this model since 1991. The alnico pickups, which are also found in their four-string counterparts, give the instrument a sound more like a StingRay 4."[/size][/font][/color]

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These basses are not bad - I've played a few of them in shops in the past. My son bought one as a back up to his Stingray (he's a leftie) - it's passive and does get the underlying Stingray vibe. The 5 er predated Musicman making a 5 string Stingray with the oval pickguard and I agree with you, they look very good. However there is an adage that if you want a Ray sound, you need a Ray and this is true. I think the closest you'll get is a SBMM Ray 34.

From what I've heard the Nordstrand pick up is a good replacement - you may or may not already know that Musicman do not sell major part spares - they will sell you say a pick up or neck but only on receipt of the item to be replaced (people usually do this because it's non functional or damaged in some way). This way, they are able to minimise the amount of non factory produced instruments in circulation (you could say fakes or repros).

John East also does a good pre amp. For a SR4 sound you need Alnico poles. I have a ceramic SR5 - it does the SR4 sound in parallel setting but not exactly - it's a little more aggressive I think.

However I think the Vintage is good in its own right and you can certainly use it to get the classic types of sound - save up for a used Stingray - there are always a few on Ebay and the prices make them good value.

The SBMM Sub series basses are designed, I suspect, to compete directly with the Vintage and other basses produced in this proce range - early days but they seem very good and certainly sound like a Ray.

Edited by drTStingray
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I had an EST96A which I picked up for under £80 and found the preamp lacking in the same way - the Treble control was very subtle, the bass too boomy when boosted and the mid was the most 'controllable'. I put in a Seymour Duncan Alnico pickup and matching 3-band pre-amp with a push-pull on the volume control for a 'slap contour'.

This was a massive improvement over the stock (naturally) - all controls were very responsive and gave much better tonal shaping options. Whether it made the Vintage sound like a Ray, I doubt it, but if you're keeping the bass, it's a worthy upgrade. If you're selling, it will not add any value to the bass if you come to sell it as people can't see past the 'Vintage' logo. When it came to selling the bass, I tried with the upgrades but received nothing but low offers (they were probably after the electronics) so I restored it to stock, put the pickup in another bass and sold the preamp.

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I'm a bit of an equipment hoarder so more likely to keep so maybe the upgrade (at least the pickup) is something Ill probably do. I think either way the bass sounds great for the money (although bit gutted in hindsight seeing that same bass could have been bought for even cheaper!

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I'm nearly done with the paintjob on mine, removed the pickguard, leaving the cavity open. Mine was a pig to play before but hopefully when I'm done with setting up to my preference it will be a lot nicer.

Not played it through an amp in ages, used to sound muddy through my old Carlsbro.

I'll let ye know when I restring and test ;) and play through the Laney cab.

Edited by deefer_dog
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I have seen YouTube videos of a French guy who has one and he has fitted alnico sd bass lines (smb5a?) pickup in it and it does sound pretty good, still with original pre amp too. I love the bass but i think a pup upgrade would persuade it to have a better tone for sure.

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The guitarist in my band bought one of these for £25 for another project he was doing.

I've borrowed it a few times. I wasn't overly impressed with the pickup and electrics, but that could easily be replaced, and given the original price :)

What I was impressed with was the general feel of it. The neck in particular I found very easy to play. I'd have one.

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[quote name='mep' timestamp='1349181116' post='1822817']
What are the strings like on your Vintage? The ones on my VTBM were absolute sh*te and needed urgent replacement to get a great sound.
[/quote]

The were dead strings for a long time as it's a backup backup bass. New strings and proper set up should have it sounding good soon!

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