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music man 5 replacement pickups?

D

DangerFlow_Nate

Oct 8, 2009
24
0
MIAMI!!!
#1
I have a MM 5 string that I bought new about 16 years ago and I am noticing a couple of problems with the sound.

When the pickup switch is positioned forward towards the neck I get some distortion...when it is in the center I hear distortion just faintly and pointed backwards towards it sounds clean. I tried replacing the battery, but that did not help.

Also, I notice that my g string is quieter than the other strings. It sounds slighty quieter when playing alone but with the full band I feel like I disappear when playing that string. I even adjusted the pickup dramatically so that the part underneath the g string would be really close but it still sounds quiet. I just had my bass set up as well... so i dont believe the set up is a problem.

I took the bass to a tech and he suggested that i may need to replace the pickups. If I do this would it be best for me to put music man pickups or is there some other pickup that would sound good with my MM? I have no knowledge of pickups at all. Also, price is an issue for me...but, I don't want to sacrifice my sound at all.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated....Thanks
 
#2
Contact EBMM's customer service through the EBMM website and tell them what you're issues are. If you really want your bass fixed properly, arrange to send it to them and they'll bring it back to sounding like it's new again.

TD
 
#5
DangerFlow_Nate said:
Also, price is an issue for me...but, I don't want to sacrifice my sound at all.
Click to expand...

If you don't want to sacrifice your sound at all (on a 16 year old bass I'd imagine you know your sound pretty well) then contacting EBMM is the best advice. If you're going to spend some money on fixing the issue you may as well do it right. There are several good MM-style replacement pickups out there if you don't like what they tell you.
 
#6
I would say contacting MM would be a waste of time as far as the weak G goes.
This is a known problem than some MM owners suffer from (myself included with both my old Sub and SBMM Ray34) but MM dont consider this to be a problem, and im pretty sure they don't even acknowledge it.
It seems like it could be to do with EQ. I find lowering the mids, boosting the lows too much or cutting the highs CAN lead to notes on the G string getting lost. I find playing with a pick helps so i dont think its a volume issue. The OP could try a slightly heavier string as well.

I will also recommend a Nordy as a great replacement pup. I have one in my Ray34 and it seems to help with the G string.
 
#7
The weak G and D string issue was addressed by Sterling ball a long time ago at the EB forums. I have owned a few Sterlings that had it,my current ones don't. My fix was an SD Basslines pickup. The Nordstrand is an exellent choice too. Swap out the pickup,but keep the original for resale purposes.
 
#8
If it is the pickups and you go through EBMM be prepared to be without your bass for a while. They will sell you new pickups directly (did for my sterling 5) but you have to send them the old pickups first. Or at least I did with my sterling 5. Maybe it's different with a 15 year old stingray 5 where there are already replacements made, but they told me it was an old Leo policy that they've kept in place that any replacement parts going out they had to take the old parts back in first.

Thinking about it though, that may have just been a BS story from their customer service people. I checked out my pickup when it came back, it looked like they just replaced the dead coil and sent me back the repaired pickup and charged me $95.

Either way, I had to decide between being pickupless for a few weeks or pay to ship the whole bass to them and then back to me, plus for the repair.
 
#10
Keep in mind... there's posts here every month by people who have at one point replaced their stock MM pickups with replacement ones, and now are trying to find originals once again. The biggest problem is that the change in tone is entirely personal preference and when you may at some point try to sell the bass you WILL take a hit money wise on it. Typically people want to buy used MM basses with true MM pickups in it.


.
 
#12
OK. I contacted ebmm with the problem. They said that they are not convinced that it is just a problem with the pickup because in the one position the bass sounds clean. They said, also, that the problem is rare and recommended that i send the bass to them or take it to a tech i trust.

I am just imagining that sending the bass to them, with shipping plus whatever the cost to repair the thing would cost me a lot. Who knows what they might tell me the problem is... I might be in this for hundreds of dollars :(

I am somewhat concerned that it might not just be the pickup however. The tech I took my bass to (a guy thats been a tech for years and years) seemed puzzled by the problem and said I could TRY replacing the pick up, but he didnt seem 100 percent convinced.

What would be the approximate shipping cost of sending my bass to EBMM? Also, are they trustworthy? I dont want 2 be in the position of them having my bass and they are telling me it is going to be some really high price to fix it.

I am also considering taking my bass to a different local tech. Perhaps guitar center because they deal with MM basses, although I don't know the tech there and if he is good/honest.

Any additional input/insight would be greatly appreciated.... Thanks
 

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