NBD Sterling Musicman Sub Ray 4

[BassAdder60]

One of these on its way to me as a backup bass 

Edited January 31, 2022 by BassAdder27

[dub_junkie]

Nice! You can’t go wrong with either that bass or the colour/fingerboard combo imo🙂

[BassAdder60]

2 minutes ago, dub_junkie said:

Nice! You can’t go wrong with either that bass or the colour/fingerboard combo imo🙂

Cheers … it states ( 2019 ) so I’m hoping it’s not been sitting around in the store being abused !

Edited January 19, 2022 by BassAdder27

[BassAdder60]

Bass arrived  and it’s more vintage cream than the white as shown in the site image. 

Out of the box it plays nicely but I’ve worked on it setting it up and making a few adjustments to truss rod and action / intonation. 
A lot of rock grind can be squeezed out of this but it does have the Stingray quiet D and G strings compared to the E and A 

I have lowered the pick-up on the bass side and this has helped. 
All in all it’s a decent bass for the money £349 and will mostly be my spare / house practice bass. Will try at next band rehearsal to see how it sounds full tilt 

Edited January 20, 2022 by BassAdder27

[Cosmo Valdemar]

33 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said:

Bass arrived  and it’s more vintage cream than the white as shown in the site image. 

Out of the box it plays nicely but I’ve worked on it setting it up and making a few adjustments to truss rod and action / intonation. 
A lot of rock grind can be squeezed out of this but it does have the Stingray quiet D and G strings compared to the E and A 

I have lowered the pick-up on the bass side and this has helped. 
All in all it’s a decent bass for the money £349 and will mostly be my spare / house practice bass. Will try at next band rehearsal to see how it sounds full tilt 

That's really beautiful, and better than the pic on the website.

 

[BassAdder60]

Ok update … stock strings removed and put some Dunlop lemon oil on the fretboard and polished the frets.

New strings fitted, Intonation adjusted and tried with amp.

All strings now sound balanced and it’s a nice bass. I like it 👍

[songofthewind]

I’ve got one of these. Brilliant bass, you will enjoy, I hope.

[BassAdder60]

Ok had rehearsal and used the Stingray ( thankfully into a compressor to keep the boosted signal in check ) 

Its an ok bass, plays nicely with reasonable tone BUT .. it’s not anything as clear and punchy as my PBass. 
It was purchased as a spare back up bass so I’m happy it does the job. 

[Bunion]

44 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said:

it’s not anything as clear and punchy as my PBass. 
It was purchased as a spare back up bass so I’m happy it does the job. 

I love musicman I won’t lie but that aside.
Not as punchy as a P bass? There’s something wrong somewhere. 
They are naturally scooped so you probably need to cut the bass and treble a bit then boost the mids. 
it’s a different beast completely and will need different EQ.

Give it awhile and I’m sure you will dial it in. 

 

[BassAdder60]

6 hours ago, Bunion said:

I love musicman I won’t lie but that aside.
Not as punchy as a P bass? There’s something wrong somewhere. 
They are naturally scooped so you probably need to cut the bass and treble a bit then boost the mids. 
it’s a different beast completely and will need different EQ.

Give it awhile and I’m sure you will dial it in. 

 

It’s the 2 band EQ Sub Ray and low cost pickup ( ceramic ) and budget pre amp. 
Still decent sounding but happy it’s only my backup bass

[drTStingray]

17 hours ago, BassAdder27 said:

It’s the 2 band EQ Sub Ray and low cost pickup ( ceramic ) and budget pre amp. 
Still decent sounding but happy it’s only my backup bass

The 2 band scoops if you put both tone controls on full - bring them back towards the centre of their travel and you’ll get more mid range if you want to cut through more. You may also improve matters by not having the volume on full (up the amp a little to compensate). 
 

It has to be remembered that the original Stingray was designed to be an upgrade of the Precision and to combine some of the characteristics of a Thunderbird and a Jazz, sound wise. 
 

Effectively a bass for the mid 70s onwards but equally at home on ‘vintage’ (I.e 60s) material. Those using P and J basses in studios were often using them through Alembic pre amps at that time (even Jamerson was using a bespoke ‘interface’ in the studio in the 60s) - the Stingray placed the pre amp on the instrument, in the hands of the musician.
 

However you need the mutes to get the best level of thump out of a Stingray. 

 

The ceramic pick ups, in my experience, can add warmth or bite, dependent on how you play (my favourite Stingray 5 has a ceramic pick up). 

Edited January 27, 2022 by drTStingray

[BassAdder60]

I was running treble control on full and bass control either at centre or slight boost 

Good idea about backing volume slightly I can try that 

Don’t forget this is the low cost Sterling Sub Ray4  so I suspect it’s a low value preamp or pickup perhaps ? 
I did have the pickup raised more on the treble side but I’ve put it back to being parallel now. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by BassAdder27

[BassAdder60]

Update … I tried the volume control around 80% and it did sound better and clearer 

I think this newer generation Sub4 doesn’t suffer as bad the earlier that had very hot pickups fitted and could distort the signal out of the bass. 

Edited January 27, 2022 by BassAdder27

[songofthewind]

These basses have loads of bite. It takes a while to get used to the possibilities via the tone controls. Mine has more wallop than anything other bass I own, and it is completely standard. Personally, I cut the treble and boost the bass on this guitar. Try adjusting the pickup height, by the way, that can make a big difference.

[BassAdder60]

1 hour ago, songofthewind said:

These basses have loads of bite. It takes a while to get used to the possibilities via the tone controls. Mine has more wallop than anything other bass I own, and it is completely standard. Personally, I cut the treble and boost the bass on this guitar. Try adjusting the pickup height, by the way, that can make a big difference.

I did wind the pickup down slightly but made zero difference so returned it to how it was approx 6mm away from open strings I recall 

Interesting you run your treble turned down, I tried that and it was very a muffled sound so not for me as like a brighter tone. 
Still happy as it makes a decent sound 

Edited January 27, 2022 by BassAdder27

[BassAdder60]

Great as this bass is I think I really prefer the larger PBass neck. 
As I’ve removed the plastic off the pickguard etc instead of returning to the store I’ve put it on EBay for a quick sale.

Opportunity for someone to pick one up with a small saving on new cost 

 

[horrorshowbass]

On 30/01/2022 at 15:56, BassAdder27 said:

Great as this bass is I think I really prefer the larger PBass neck. 
As I’ve removed the plastic off the pickguard etc instead of returning to the store I’ve put it on EBay for a quick sale.

Opportunity for someone to pick one up with a small saving on new cost 

 

Get a Ray34, the preamp is pure US Musicman at a fraction of the price. I'm considering selling mine if you're interested

[BassAdder60]

I need to sell my Sub Ray first !

[horrorshowbass]

8 minutes ago, BassAdder27 said:

I need to sell my Sub Ray first !

 

[BassAdder60]

On 31/01/2022 at 18:04, horrorshowbass said:

Get a Ray34, the preamp is pure US Musicman at a fraction of the price. I'm considering selling mine if you're interested

Just ordered a Ray34 in black 👍

[BillyBass]

I took a Ray34 off the wall at Guitarguitar Newcastle, it was bloody heavy!

[gafbass02]

Funnily enough, I had one of these before and was very impressed. I missed it, so I just bought a newer one like this and it only lasted a couple of weeks before I also moved it on. 
I found it very lifeless and the eq was weird. It needed the treble on full and even then still lacked bite. Any bass boost just made it muffled and the fit and finish was very shoddy. I’ve owned several stingrays and a sub ray 4 and a ray24ca. And this one was just ‘off’. 

[horrorshowbass]

The 34 is class.

Only thing I didn't like is the ski slope style pickup shape. I prefer the traditional nipples 🤣

[ezbass]

34 minutes ago, horrorshowbass said:

The 34 is class.

Only thing I didn't like is the ski slope style pickup shape. I prefer the traditional nipples 🤣

[horrorshowbass]

1 hour ago, ezbass said:

🤣