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Sterling Ray 34 vs SUB Ray4


Barking Spiders
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As far as bass playing goes, funk is by far my fave genre - and Louis Johnson my fave player - and if I had dosh to fritter I'd shell out the £1.5k or so or so you'd expect to pay for an EBMM Stingray.

So, as I haven't I'm weighing up the Sterling Ray 34 vs the S.U.B Ray4, the 34 being more than twice what you' d pay for the Ray 4.

So, where does the 34 score so much more highly than the Ray 4?

And while on the topic how much better is the real deal than the 34?

cheers

Edited by Barking Spiders
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[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1470151773' post='3103642']
As far as bass playing goes, funk is by far my fave genre - and Louis Johnson my fave player - and if I had dosh to fritter I'd shell out the two grand or so you'd expect to pay for an EBMM Stingray.

So, as I haven't I'm weighing up the Sterling Ray 34 vs the S.U.B Ray4, the 34 being more than twice what you' d pay for the Ray 4.

So, where does the 34 score so much more highly than the Ray 4?

And while on the topic how much better is the real deal than the 34?

cheers
[/quote]

The deal breaker for me with my Sub was the lack of contouring. Depending on how you play this may be issue. It was for me.

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I think with the Sub you'd know where you stand in terms of parts & build quality, not saying that the 34 is a bad choice (I've never seen/heard/played one).
Full sugar Stingrays in the used market are a bargain in my opinion, if you could save a few extra pennies I'd definitely recommend looking.

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I've had a full on EBMM, a USA SUB, a Ray34 and I've played the SBMM SUBs too. For my money, the nicest one was the USA SUB, it played really nicely and had a really rich 'Ray tone. The SBMM SUB Ray4s that I've played were very nice for the money with reasonable tone but a little lacking in the build quality, however, that was to be expected and realistically I was very impressed at that price point (plus they're light by comparison). In terms of tone, I found the 'Ray34 and EBMM 'Ray to be almost identical, both giving what I consider to be the trademark 3 band tone (plenty of clank and presence). The difference between the two, for me, was the attention to detail in build, where there was nothing to fault the US version on at all, there were a couple of small niggles on the Indonesian build (which were very easily remedied). Both were a similar weight, i.e. heavy. If I was needing to pick between the SUB Ray4 and the Ray34 then, if I had the extra money, I'd go for the Ray34 as it is a better built product and really sounds like a full on Stingray to my ears. However, in a perfect world, I'd try to pick up a second-hand US SUB.

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[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1470154243' post='3103672']
The OP has put S.U.B so it will be the new entry level one, I'd never buy a new 34 over a used USA Ray myself.
[/quote]

I agree with that. I have owned all 3 below.

A MM Stingray, 3 band eq with matching headstock, cracking bass but a bit heavy, bought s/h on here for £700. Good price.

Sterling Ray 34, 2 band eq, Jazz neck, bought new for £650. Cracking bass but not worth the money new. Better to spend the extra on a s/h MM.

Sterling Sub, 2 band eq, jazz style neck, black n maple, bought new for £309. This is the only one of the 3 I have left. I have spent approx £130 (pickup, wiring, tuners, labour costs) on upgrades due to the well known pre amp issue and wanting it to look cool. It is a decent bass without the upgrades but I bought it to modify.

I would either get a MM Stingray s/h or the cheap Sterling Sub. The Sterling is too much money for what it is.

Edited by jezzaboy
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Cheers for your comments folks. At the weekend I went into a guitar shop and in looking for something with a beefy slap tone I played around with a few basses including an Indonesian made S.U.B with basswood body in natural finish. When slapped it packed one hell of a mighty thump and I was sold. Very nicely crafted and a high quality grain to the maple neck. Considering the low £319 price tag it's a steal. I'll still hold out for a decent used Stingray below £1k but they're hard to find.

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[quote name='Barking Spiders' timestamp='1470299488' post='3104818']
Cheers for your comments folks. At the weekend I went into a guitar shop and in looking for something with a beefy slap tone I played around with a few basses including an Indonesian made S.U.B with basswood body in natural finish. When slapped it packed one hell of a mighty thump and I was sold. Very nicely crafted and a high quality grain to the maple neck. Considering the low £319 price tag it's a steal. I'll still hold out for a decent used Stingray below £1k but they're hard to find.
[/quote]There's nowt like actually playing the thing. At that price, if you like the way it plays, you can always upgrade the electronics, if you're looking for something 'extra' and still be £s in. Congrats, but now to the serious business :useless: :D :D :D

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[quote name='Hobbayne' timestamp='1470299777' post='3104821']
I have the Indonesian SUB. A beautiful well made black and maple jobby. The pre amp is very hot and sends my Markbass into a digital distorted frenzy. I,m gonna get round to rectifying that.
[/quote]

Here is my solution to the pre amp issue. Rip it out and replace it with a passive circuit. A bit extreme but it works.

Wilkinson pickup, volume, tone and a series/parallel switch.


[attachment=224911:20160804_180756.jpg]

Edited by jezzaboy
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  • 2 weeks later...

Anyone else had issues with the preamp being too 'hot'? Can you not access the circuit and turn the preamp down? The ATK I had had a little crosshead plastic dial-type thing which is used to set the output... Might get one of these in black/maple, or the mint green/maple... :)

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There is pages on Talkbass about the hot pre amp. There is/was a guy from the company on there and he showed a way how to change the wiring to sort out the issue. I don`t think you can simply adjust something in the pre amp to easily rectify it.

Crazily enough, the company knows about the issue but says it wouldn`t be cost effective for them to solve it, which I find bizarre :huh:

Edited by jezzaboy
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As I've said before, it's completely unacceptable that they know about the issue and still put them out with this problem. It's the type of problem which every owner should have fixed free of charge, company pick up the tab. It's also the type of issue - more the fact that Sterling don't deal with it - that would put me off giving the company another penny of my money. However......I love my Sub Ray4 so much that I want another one, and a Ray5. Laugh at me, but it's the most comfortable neck I've ever played, and yes, I haven't played a lot of basses but I have a USA Fender Jazz and the Ray4 whips it for playability IMO. It's simply perfect for ME.

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[quote name='jezzaboy' timestamp='1471457662' post='3113217']


Crazily enough, the company knows about the issue but says it wouldn`t be cost effective for them to solve it, which I find bizarre :huh:
[/quote]

If it were my company, I would take the hit in order to preserve my reputation as a manufacturer of quality instruments. I can only assume the hit would be massive.

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  • 2 weeks later...

[quote name='dannybuoy' timestamp='1471480472' post='3113396']
I put a Stinger in mine but then put it back to stock as it sounded too dull. If you like that treble bite, mod the stock pre or go for something else.
[/quote]

That's disappointing because from what I've read and comments from others, the Stinger is the way to go for something closer to the classic Stingray sound. I notice his (Retrovibe) info states you must use the new pots supplied with the Stinger otherwise it doesn't work properly - I wonder if one of these was out of spec somehow?

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