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Ernie Balls

#3
floridagatorfan said:
I tried to do a search on this because I'm sure it's been brought up before, but I didn't have any luck.

Can you guys please explain to me what the differences between the Stingray, Sterling, and SUB models.
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This has been talked about many times. but in a nutshell:

The original US made Musicman and Ernie Ball musicman models: StingRay, Sabre, StingRay 5, Sterling, Sterling 5, Big Al, Bongo, Reflex.
At one time, EBMM made an inexpensive line called the SUB series. These had basic satin finishes and black painted necks.

For a short while EBMM licensed the design out to a company called OLP to make offshore copies of the Ray and SR5.

At present day, the designs is again licensed to an outside company making better offshore copies: The Sterling By Musicman. They're nice instruments, but they aren't from Ernie Ball.
 
#4
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#5
An EBMM SUB is basically a Stingray with a less expensive finish on the neck and body, so they could sell it for cheaper.

An EBMM Sterling has a different body shape than a Stingray. And it has ceramic magnet pickups, where the Stingray has alnico magnets. The preamp is the same.

The exception to this last is, from 1991 through 2007, the Stingray 5 (but not the 4) had ceramic pickups. Before that and after that, they have had alnico pickups. The EBMM Sterling basses have always had ceramic. The Stingray 4 has always had alnico.

For Stingrays, the "Classic" models have 2-band EQs. The others have 3-band EQs.

That's it in a very generalized nutshell.
 
#11
Regarding the SUB basses it goes like this...
If comparing to Fender and Squier and the hierarchy of things. Ernie Ball Music Man being Fender. Sterling being Squier.
The SUB basses are what you would get if Squier decided to create a budget line of their instruments. A budget line of a budget brand.
SUB basses are 2 band EQ basses and are actually pretty darn good for the price, I have two of them.

Ernie Ball Musicman basses (including their previous budget line SUBs) are made in the USA. Sterling and it's budget line SUBs are made overseas - in Indonesia.
 
#12
Maxdusty said:
Regarding the SUB basses it goes like this...
If comparing to Fender and Squier and the hierarchy of things. Ernie Ball Music Man being Fender. Sterling being Squier.
The SUB basses are what you would get if Squier decided to create a budget line of their instruments. A budget line of a budget brand.
SUB basses are 2 band EQ basses and are actually pretty darn good for the price, I have two of them.

Ernie Ball Musicman basses (including their previous budget line SUBs) are made in the USA. Sterling and it's budget line SUBs are made overseas - in Indonesia.
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For clarification sake (damn you EB and GC), you're talking about Sterling by MusicMan.
 
#14
bassgod0dmw said:
For clarification sake (damn you EB and GC), you're talking about Sterling by MusicMan.
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lol... yeah, I forgot about that EBMM and SBMM (Ernie Ball by Music Man, Sterling by Music Man) ... took me a while to get it all straight myself.
The Two SUBs - SUB by EBMM (US made and discontinued) and SUB by SBMM (current).
Once in a great while, if you're lucky you can buy a used SUB by EBMM, the US made one for the price of the cheaper offshore made one thanks to the confusing description.
 
#15
Selta said:
Amazing how much that pops up. I wonder how much EBMM regrets that decision, if at all.
I played a couple at Guitar Center last night. Was impressed for the money, but there's no way the SBMMs will replace my EBMMs. One was marked down to $180 and I couldn't bring myself to buy it.
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According to someone here, on the EB forum Sterling Ball got pretty annoyed when it was brought up. I've also read that GC wanted it named like that. No clue why EB would allow GC to essentially make their business decisions like that.

They could have name it "ANYTHING by MusicMan" and it would have been better ;)
 
#16
bassgod0dmw said:
According to someone here, on the EB forum Sterling Ball got pretty annoyed when it was brought up. I've also read that GC wanted it named like that. No clue why EB would allow GC to essentially make their business decisions like that.

They could have name it "ANYTHING by MusicMan" and it would have been better ;)
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Yeah, I saw that first hand (on the EB forums). If I had more time I'd look it up and post it here.
I'm sure that it involved a hefty sum of money from GC/SBMM which helped soften the blow. I guess I'm not enough of a headstock reader to really care, and I don't sell gear often at all, so I don't get impacted there either. If I did either, I'd be more annoyed I think.
 

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