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Distortion circuit not working properly on sterling darkray

Apr 10, 2021
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I’m new to the whole darkray thing. When I switch it to distortion mode, there is a huge increase in volume but I can’t really hear any distortion unless I go way further down the neck. This happens in both alpha and omega mode. I’ve got the gain all the way on. Could the treble and bass knob be affecting the distortion? The bass is all the way up. I got a little bit of distortion yesterday. It’s almost like it comes and goes. Clean mode sounds awesome and powerful.
 
Isn’t this like the 4th or so thread you’ve posted on this bass regarding possible issues? Do you need to return it or maybe move on to something else. It just seems like it’s causing you a lot of grief ?
Not necessarily grief. I’ve never really played with much distortion, so I’m new to the whole darkglass thing. The darkrays in general are fairly new, so there’s not a whole lot of stuff about trouble shooting on them. If it’s the stock batteries causing an issue, I wouldn’t be completely sure. I am 100 percent happy with the clean tone. The neck is straight and the bass is solidly built. I’m just trying to make sure I’m not overthinking. I’m sure you have had the experience of hearing demos on YouTube and wondering how they got their gear to sound like that because it doesn’t out of the box. I tried out the USA version and this one actually sounds way better in clean mode to me. And I love the stingray specials.
 
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Not necessarily grief. I’ve never really played with much distortion, so I’m new to the whole darkglass thing. The darkrays in general are fairly new, so there’s not a whole lot of stuff about trouble shooting on them. If it’s the stock batteries causing an issue, I wouldn’t be completely sure. I am 100 percent happy with the clean tone. The neck is straight and the bass is solidly built. I’m just trying to make sure I’m not overthinking. I’m sure you have had the experience of hearing demos on YouTube and wondering how they got their gear to sound like that because it doesn’t out of the box. I tried out the USA version and this one actually sounds way better in clean mode to me. And I love the stingray specials.
And my wife and my friends all say I overthink things way too much so……….my apologies
 
No. I will try that. Could my amp settings be reacting against the overdrive not letting it reach its full potential?
You're not going to be taking gain away from the signal with amp settings, unless you've somehow EQ'd everything to effectively be low-passed to like, 120Hz.

Did it not come with any kind of instruction sheet? Was your first instinct not to try twisting the knobs until you found what you liked? Genuinely confused as to how you've dropped about 1500 on a bass and apparently have no inclination to turn the knobs?
 
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You're not going to be taking gain away from the signal with amp settings, unless you've somehow EQ'd everything to effectively be low-passed to like, 120Hz.

Did it not come with any kind of instruction sheet? Was your first instinct not to try twisting the knobs until you found what you liked? Genuinely confused as to how you've dropped about 1500 on a bass and apparently have no inclination to turn the knobs?
Didn’t come with instructions
 
You're not going to be taking gain away from the signal with amp settings, unless you've somehow EQ'd everything to effectively be low-passed to like, 120Hz.

Did it not come with any kind of instruction sheet? Was your first instinct not to try twisting the knobs until you found what you liked? Genuinely confused as to how you've dropped about 1500 on a bass and apparently have no inclination to turn the knobs?
I found what I liked the other day and now it’s not there. Don’t have a whole lot of time to fiddle with knobs when practicing with the band. I just need to sit down with it by myself and here lately that has been easier said than done
 
To be honest I’m sure I was overthinking it. The bass sounds as good as my stingray specials in clean mode. I’m sure I just need to play with the knobs. The neck is straight like it’s supposed to be. I was paranoid because of some of the horror stories I’ve read with the sterling line. Other brands have horror stories too. Fender, ampeg’s pf series of amps, etc.
 
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So today I finally got to sit down and play with my darkray. The distortion worked fine in both modes. It worked perfect in this room in the house the last time I played in it. It worked perfect this time in the same room. I was playing by myself the last time it seemed to be working perfect just like I was this time. Maybe playing with my guitarist messes with what I hear for distortion. He uses a 212 fender twin reverb. So I’m definitely thinking I was over thinking it.
 
And admittedly I know I’m dealing with a brand that has had nightmares with quality control, so that isn’t helping with the questions
I was kinda interested in the outcome of this situation until I read this utterly ridiculous statement. “Nightmares with quality control” is a phrase I’ve never ever seen associated with Music Man. So…..

Yer on yer own….🤨
 
I was kinda interested in the outcome of this situation until I read this utterly ridiculous statement. “Nightmares with quality control” is a phrase I’ve never ever seen associated with Music Man. So…..

Yer on yer own….🤨
Well to be honest folks were complaining about the tuners and some truss rods. Mine is fine though. This is sterling by music man. With Ernie ball music man the only complaints I have heard about are some of the battery compartments but that could honestly be more user error than anything.
 
I was kinda interested in the outcome of this situation until I read this utterly ridiculous statement. “Nightmares with quality control” is a phrase I’ve never ever seen associated with Music Man. So…..

Yer on yer own….🤨
He has a SBMM Darkray not EBMM😀

SBMM had a batch of Bad Tuners on New Sparkle Finish (mainly black ones) and some have had problem with truss rod but no more than any other Basses in there Range: it's a Talkbass thing