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Just pimped my Sterling Ray34.

#22
i_got_a_mohawk said:
How are you with a soldering iron?

If you want a preamp to match your original 2-band, have a look here:

http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?t=614382


UncleFluffy, being most awesome, had a bunch of PCBs etched for this very purpose :)
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Thanks for that, I'll have a good read through later. I tried to buy a pre-assembled one on eBay.com once, but the seller wouldn't ship outside the '48 contiguous' (as is so often the case :().

Anyway, I'm starting to really find my way around the 3-band EQ now and although the sound is different to my old '77 'Ray (and always will be), I quite like it now :).
 
#23
The thread started off talking about a preamp on ebay, but the quality was pretty poor.

A member of TB then went and etched up a pile of boards, so you'd need to buy the components and do all the soldering yourself, but having the PCB is easier and neater than going from scratch on a matrix board or whatnot.

I've got one, so I don't think there is any problem getting them across the pond (I'm in Scotland).

Fair enough if you are getting used to the 3 band tho. The 2 band clone is for another bass I have with a MM pup (eventually I'll be adding a nordy MM4.2 to it) :)
 
#24
Look at this one. i found it on Ishibashi's website. Wish these were available in the UK

2.jpg
 
#26
Fender32 said:
+1

White looks great on 'Rays, IMHO :). I especially like white with a black p/g and a maple neck, although that's not everyone's cup o' tea :smug:.

Thanks for sharing, Dave :)!
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Very Nice...If that had a maple it would be even hotter.;)
 
#27
Fender32 said:
This is the fifth StingRay I've owned - it's the first one that's not American and, in many ways, it's the best one that I've had so far :eek:....
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From a practical standpoint the difference between a good bass and a great bass isn't necessarily the pedigree or origin of manufacturer, rather its based on the abilities of the person sorting it out.

I'm glad that you found something that speaks to you and has your voice. That's something that can be difficult to find.
 
#28
I like this bass and don't think it needs to be upgraded unless you wanna experiment with new pups. Tuners are good. don't know why you say they are poor quality
Although this bass is really heavy, but there isn't much you can do about that.
 
#34
Diogenes said:
From a practical standpoint the difference between a good bass and a great bass isn't necessarily the pedigree or origin of manufacturer, rather its based on the abilities of the person sorting it out.

I'm glad that you found something that speaks to you and has your voice. That's something that can be difficult to find.
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:p Well, it's taken me a very long time to realize the universal truth in what you're saying there, Diogenes ;), but there's no getting away from it - this bass just feels, plays and sounds 'right'! Maybe it's partly due to my starting off with low expectations :hmm:, but it doesn't really matter now. I've finally got a StingRay which ticks all of the boxes (even if it doesn't have the wonderful vintage tone of the '77 'Ray that it replaces :smug:).

crow01 said:
I like this bass and don't think it needs to be upgraded unless you wanna experiment with new pups. Tuners are good. don't know why you say they are poor quality
Although this bass is really heavy, but there isn't much you can do about that.
Click to expand...

I think that I implied that the tuners were not good quality in an earlier post :hmm:, but I should clarify that a bit. The tuners are a different shape to the 'standard' MM ones, which immediately identifies the instrument as a 'copy'. They are also bright chrome instead of the more subtle nickel plating on the MM ones. Apart from that, they are perfectly serviceable units and any roughness to the finish is purely cosmetic.

I only changed mine because I already had an original MM set sitting collecting dust and wanted to make my Sterling look a little more authentic (the MM ones are also a little heavier and feel a bit stronger, but that may just be a pyscholigical side-effect of the weight ;)).

To be clear - there's really nothing 'wrong' with any aspect of these Sterling Ray34s, IMO - even the strings feel like proper Ernie Ball Slinkys :smug:.

As for the weight - mine is 9.8lbs in total. That actually makes it the lightest StingRay I've ever owned. My '77 was 9.9lbs, my 2004 EBMM was 10.5lbs and my '88 fretless was well over 10.5lbs :hmm:. I think that the bottom-heavy shape of the body, the brass inserts for the (chunky) bridge mount, the huge pickup magnets (not to mention the slab body on the pre-EBs and modern 'Classics') all add to the reasons why StingRays are traditionally heavier than Ps or Js.

Still, as ash bodied basses go, a nice two-piece swamp ash body like this is normally the kind of thing that you find on higher priced instruments.

AJH_9140.jpg


DSC_1073_01.jpg


In case you hadn't guessed ... I like this bass :D!

(P.S. The Ernie Ball neck plate that you see here is another left-over from a 'project bass' that I took apart and sold. It adds nothing of any value whatsoever to the Sterling bass, so I guess that I'm just being a bass snob by putting it on :hmm:. Guilty as charged :p!)
 
#36
Infidelity said:
http://www.bestbassgear.com/mmsr-v-b-t-preamp.htm

That will complete your 70's MM vibe..
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:smug: Mmmmm, very, very, very tempting indeed!

To be honest though, I don't know if this would be the right thing to do to this particular bass :hmm:!? My '77 StingRay had a 'softer' sounding acoustic tone (maybe because the frets had worn away to almost nothing :D) and coupled with the more (IMO) aggressive pickup/preamp, it had a very unique tone.

I have a suspicion that the acoustically more 'clean and clinical' sounding Ray34 might actually sound too harsh with this preamp :hmm:. Anway, thanks for the link, Infidelity. If I get bored and find a couple of hundred spare dollars, I might just try it anyway :D.
 
#37
Papersen said:
Wow, I knew they were good basses for the money but couldn`t imagine they were THAT good.
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It's no doubt Music Man hit it out of the ballpark with these Sterlings.

I've played about 8 of them now and they were all top notch - great tone and great playability.

The SB14 is my favorite because of the jazz profile neck and smaller body. If MM decides to make a SB15 (5-string model) I won't hesitate to purchase one.

I hope they are listening. :)
 
#39
Hippos Melas said:
That's fantastic! I was sitting in GC yesterday and someone had sold a pimped out Ray34 with a Tort pick guard and different knobs (it was ugly as sin and I can't figure out why anyone would chose those knobs...the PG looked great though). Any chance I could ask you to post a sound clip? I've been eying one of these for a long time and was thinking about throwing in a Nordstrand when I got it.
Click to expand...

I'm sure that it's waaaaay too late for this to be of any use, but I have just created my first ever You Tube video, featuring this bass playing over the top of a Sade track.

It's not much to look at :hmm: (and the playing won't win me any awards either :p), but the real point of it is to give a feel for how this bass sounds in the mix (or slightly above the mix, to be more accurate). It was just recorded directly into the PC, so no amp or effects.

I'd really recommend listening to this through earphones, instead of PC speakers, if at all possible ;). Enjoy ....

YouTube - ‪'Smooth Operator' - A Tribute to Paul S. Denman (played on a Sterling Ray34 bass).‬‏

Andy
 
#40
+1 on the tort pickguard.

I had a Sterling by Musicman SB14 for a while with a Nordstrand in it. Sweet upgrade. Sounded really, really nice. Alas, it was a 4 banger and I'm mostly on 5's these days... or I'd probably still have it. Actually I'm missing it quite a bit now after reading this thread.
 

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