SBMM SB14 electronics

[pattington]

Hi All,

 

I have an SBMM SB14, the original active one, not the new passive one.

 

I am considering either upgrading to a USA Sterling or upgrading the pickup and preamp in the SB14.

 

Questions I have are:

 

1. How close are the electronics in the SB14 to the USA Sterling and is the upgrade worth it in sound terms? I have heard the SB14 is pretty close to USA spec in this regard

 

2. If I was to upgrade the electronics in the SB14 instead, does anyone have any suggestions?

 

Thanks 😁

[neepheid]

I briefly owned an OG SB14 many years ago, but never played a USA Sterling.

 

My question would be - what do you think you're missing out on by not having a EBMM Sterling?

[Mudpup]

11 hours ago, pattington said:

Questions I have are:

 

1. How close are the electronics in the SB14 to the USA Sterling and is the upgrade worth it in sound terms? I have heard the SB14 is pretty close to USA spec in this regard

 

2. If I was to upgrade the electronics in the SB14 instead, does anyone have any suggestions?

I've had both the USA and the SB14. The SB14 gets you 90% of the way there in terms of both sound and feel. The finish of the neck isn't quite so premium but the dimensions are pretty much the same. It has cheaper tuners. The USA sounded a touch fatter and just a bit more 'grown up' I would say. The top end was sweeter and it had a bit more booty. All the non USA Sterling stuff I've had was a good approximation but when you play them next to the USA ones they come up a tiny bit lacking sonically (I've had a few 2 and 3 band USA Stingrays along with a USA Sterling and also a USA S.U.B, SB14 and Ray34 - The USA S.U.B was miles better than any Far Eastern ones)

 

If you're thinking of upgrading the pickups and preamp you're going to take it further away from the classic Sterling sound unless you find a genuine USA set of electrics somewhere. I think most people would stick a Nordstrand pickup in there.

 

Bearing in mind an SB14 is probably about half the price of a USA Sterling on the used market (£600ish against £1200ish?) and is so close I would probably just leave it alone and stick with it. A £600 extra spend doesnt stack up to a 10% improvement in my books.

 

Although having said that you'll probably always wonder what you're missing.....

[pattington]

That's really helpful, thanks 😁

[Russ]

11 hours ago, neepheid said:

I briefly owned an OG SB14 many years ago, but never played a USA Sterling.

 

My question would be - what do you think you're missing out on by not having a EBMM Sterling?

The old SB14s (the original Sterling series) were very close to the US Sterlings - all they were missing was the coil selector switch. I'm actually still looking for a CAR one! 

 

Most MM replacement pickups are made to replicate the Stingray pickup - the Sterling pickup is more like a 4-string version of the pickup in the Stingray 5, with alnico magnets and a phantom noise-cancelling coil. Delano do an alnico MM pickup that'd probably a closer match to the Sterling than the Nordstrand. As for a replacement EQ, the Retrovibe one gets very close to the original Stingray preamp and it's stupid cheap. I'd actually leave the stock circuit alone as it's close enough to the original and maybe just upgrade the pickup. 

[Mudpup]

12 minutes ago, Russ said:

The old SB14s (the original Sterling series) were very close to the US Sterlings - all they were missing was the coil selector switch.

My old SB14 had the switch

 

Edited Wednesday at 21:54 by Mudpup

[obbm]

1 minute ago, Mudpup said:

My old SB14 had the switch

 

 

I have an SB14 which has been converted to fretless. It came with and still has the switch

[Russ]

15 hours ago, Mudpup said:

My old SB14 had the switch

 

My mistake then.  I think, at some point, they did drop the switch. Might have been when they "soft-rebooted" the Sterling line a few years back. 

[Mudpup]

Yeh, I believe it may be more recent versions that don't have it. They don't help themselves with all the renaming - I'm sure someone further up the food chain thinks it's funny