Hi, any chance you'd be willing to sell and send me 5 of these if you still have some laying around ?
I'm in EU but I'll pay for shipping of course
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I'm in EU but I'll pay for shipping of course
Sure, just PM me with your full name and shipping address. I will let you know what the cost will be once I have your info. Shipping will run around $20. Always glad to help other players... - BudHi, any chance you'd be willing to sell and send me 5 of these if you still have some laying around ?
I'm in EU but I'll pay for shipping of course
Thanks Boscoe, I finally got around to this today and it's sooo much better. Went from OK, but a little annoyed at the E-string sometimes to just completely great all the time.There's a great thread here on TB on how to rewire the HH StingRays to parallel. It worked great for me.
I recently modified my SBMM Ray4 HH with series/parallel switches, and because there didn't seem to be any wiring charts for this model or this modification, I thought that I'd make some for the benefit of others who might want to do the same thing.
Here is the stock pickup wiring diagram for reference:
And here is the modification wiring I decided to use, in order to disturb the existing wiring the least. In parallel mode for both pickups, the volume level is consistent across all 5 switch positions, which is great. Also, a bonus feature is that you can get a few lone...
Hello all. I'm looking for tips and support from you all.
I've just soldered my first version of the 2 band pré amp.
But i need guidance in how I should do the soldering on the potentiometer.
The volume potentiometer I soldered the ground with the CW and I let the ground wire to connect with the IN.
The bass potentiometer is soldered whiteout ground and I would like to confirm if I should ground it and how it should be done.
The treble potentiometer I know that should have a ground, but I would like to understand if I should take the GRND from the circuit board and solder it where on the por?
I'm also looking for support with how I can install the preamp on my Harley Benton MB-4. I wonder if someone could support me because the HB MB-4 has a ceramic humbucker with 2 volumes and 1 tone, like the OLPs.
I don't know how to transform this ceramic humbucker into a parallel and also how to solder it on the circuit board.
Thanks everyone for the support. I'm really new on all of this so I'm sorry if are dumb questions.
I've just soldered my first version of the 2 band pré amp.
But i need guidance in how I should do the soldering on the potentiometer.
The volume potentiometer I soldered the ground with the CW and I let the ground wire to connect with the IN.
The bass potentiometer is soldered whiteout ground and I would like to confirm if I should ground it and how it should be done.
The treble potentiometer I know that should have a ground, but I would like to understand if I should take the GRND from the circuit board and solder it where on the por?
I'm also looking for support with how I can install the preamp on my Harley Benton MB-4. I wonder if someone could support me because the HB MB-4 has a ceramic humbucker with 2 volumes and 1 tone, like the OLPs.
I don't know how to transform this ceramic humbucker into a parallel and also how to solder it on the circuit board.
Thanks everyone for the support. I'm really new on all of this so I'm sorry if are dumb questions.
Hi! I think I can help you.
You can ground all of the potentiometers to each other if you like, but keep in mind that they will all ground to each other anyway through the control plate. The sleeve on the output jack will also ground it the plate. I like to use toothed lock washers between the potentiometers and the control plate to ensure a solid connection. The teeth will also cut through any coating on the plate and give a nice connection. Confirm that things are grounded with a multimeter.
Noise is normally not a problem (because it’s a humbucker) so you probably don’t need to do anything else. If you do get some hum, use grounding tape on the cavity and run a soldered wire to connect all of the pots directly. Doubt you’ll need it.
As far as the pickup goes, connect the red and yellow wires that currently go to the two volume pots to the pickup input connection on the mnats PCB. Those should be your two inputs from the two coils. The two black wires from the pickup should go to ground. I would try to make a point of grounding as much as you can at a single point. Don’t forget to include the bridge ground.
Good luck!
You can ground all of the potentiometers to each other if you like, but keep in mind that they will all ground to each other anyway through the control plate. The sleeve on the output jack will also ground it the plate. I like to use toothed lock washers between the potentiometers and the control plate to ensure a solid connection. The teeth will also cut through any coating on the plate and give a nice connection. Confirm that things are grounded with a multimeter.
Noise is normally not a problem (because it’s a humbucker) so you probably don’t need to do anything else. If you do get some hum, use grounding tape on the cavity and run a soldered wire to connect all of the pots directly. Doubt you’ll need it.
As far as the pickup goes, connect the red and yellow wires that currently go to the two volume pots to the pickup input connection on the mnats PCB. Those should be your two inputs from the two coils. The two black wires from the pickup should go to ground. I would try to make a point of grounding as much as you can at a single point. Don’t forget to include the bridge ground.
Good luck!
Forgot to mention that this is what makes it parallel. Both hot leads from the pickup connecting at the same place, both grounds grounding. Serial would be the first coil’s hot wire from the pickup taped to the second coil’s ground, the second coil’s hot wire connected to the preamp, and the first coil’s ground connected to ground.
Thanks a lot @-Boscoe-!
Just to keep it clear to me. Should I ground the bass clock wise pin and the treble clock wise pin?
No don’t do that. If you decide you want to do additional grounding (they are already grounded via the control plate) only ground the back of the pot.
Thanks again!
I'll do the rest of the implementation and will come back to let you know if it worked or not! I hope it works!
No problem! I’ll be here if you need help. There is at least one other guy on here that also manufacture these preamps that can also help if you get stuck.
It's alive!
I've just finished everything and it is sounding really cool. Thank you to the forum and @-Boscoe- for all the support. It was my first experience ever with all the eltronics, circuit, soldering and bass mods. I would call it V1 since I'm still have components to build 2 more pre amps, and I'll take the bass to a luthier routing the 9v battery slot. In the meantime I'll let the 9v battery connector as it is on the picture, since I use the bass just for study in my home.
I forgotten to say that since I'm still using the 9v connector as an workaround, haven't installed the TRS output Jack, I'm still using the original mono jack that came with the Harley Benton MB-4. So I'm still looking for how to wire correctly the TRS to work as the on/off switch. And my plant to the future is also add a Volume pull-push pot to make it active/passive mode.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,153
- 256,473
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
I follow this and similar threads because I'm the original owner of an early '79 StingRay. EBMM replaced the preamp after my luthier shipped them the failed preamp. I worried greatly about the replacement. Finally opened it up for the first time to see what EBMM sent and find this. @Passinwind agrees it's the real deal (I do trust him). In any event, the bass stays with me as long as there's still a /me to play it, so I take a pass on a museum-quality bass.
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Battery negative to the ring connector on the TRS jack (lower contact). Output (OUT on the mnats PCB) to the tip connector on the TRS jack (top contact). Ground to the sleeve on the TRS connector (base). Note that the sleeve connection will also ground the control plate and the other potentiometers. I recommend roughing the contact point on the inside slightly with sandpaper to ensure you have a good metal to metal connection. Sometimes these import control plates have a slight coating on them.
Thanks. I'll do it.
I was playing it a lot today and at least to me, comparing by ears it sounds like a Music Man. The Harley Benton MB-4 came with a ceramic MM style pickup, I'm looking to replace it by an alnico 5 MM style pickup. The budget options I can find easily in Europe are the Wilkinson, Rockinger, and Retrovibe the Seymour Duncan is expensive compared to the previous mentioned but is also an option.
I haven't worked with any of those so your mileage may vary. However I will say that 80% of the Music Man tone is going to be the preamp and parallel wiring, assuming the pickup maker made at least some attempt at a MM style pickup. It's amazing how much better a standard SBMM Ray4 sounds by making just those two changes. Add in a AlNiCo vintage style pickup and you're all the way there. It sounds just like a "real" StingRay because it is a real StingRay at that point.
Gwen, I will say that the wiring looks legit for that era and the circuit at first glance looks correct. Note that if it ever fails you can get replacements online. I don't believe EBMM stocks vintage style preamps any more (just the PCB based classics), but I could be wrong.
- Oct 22, 2015
- 21,153
- 256,473
- Disclosures
- I am an affiliate for Ari Cap.
Thank you.
The bass was rehabbed in 2021 with EBMM replacements. While I hadn't looked inside to verify, my ears told me the bass works as I remembered. Kind of let the matter ride until it was time to see for myself. I'm kind of attached to this bass
It felt important enough to ask @Passinwind, seeing as he's been dabbling a bit with the 4250.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
- 23,054
- 45,950
- Disclosures
- Designer/Toaster Tech @ Passinwind Electronics
Dabbling = trying out and analyzing two units from a TB'er friend who sells aftermarket replacement boards. Kind of a full circle moment since some of my earliest PCB layout experiments were based on the ubiquitous Uncle Fluffy clone boards, which I never actually got around to using an LM4250 chip with, oddly enough. This is congruent with my mostly tongue in cheek "Leo never actually got it right" troll, of course!Thank you.
The bass was rehabbed in 2021 with EBMM replacements. While I hadn't looked inside to verify, my ears told me the bass works as I remembered. Kind of let the matter ride until it was time to see for myself. I'm kind of attached to this bass
