Music Man sound and pickups

[TonyP-]

Actually, it gets rid of the clanking for those of us with low action and heavy right hands...

Bingo...Thats where that little modification comes from.

 

[Johnius]

I found a great setting for the 3-band -

With NEW strings (I usually keep mine fresh), I boost the bass and mids all the way, and cut the treble all the way back. As strings go dull, just roll some treble back in.

Give it a try.

Hey, Meatwad, because my H is a bit sizzly I almost never open the treble beyond, say, 2. But dime the lows and mids? That's a lot of push. Where do you set your amp's eq? Flat?

 

[Darkstrike]

Bingo...Thats where that little modification comes from.

It also helps with tapewound strings, if you touch the poles while playing, you get a loud hum as the stings aren't grounding anymore.

 

[meatwad]

Hey, Meatwad, because my H is a bit sizzly I almost never open the treble beyond, say, 2. But dime the lows and mids? That's a lot of push. Where do you set your amp's eq? Flat?

Yes, eq is flat at the amp, and I have a Boss EQ-20 for sound shaping for different songs/styles. The output of a StingRay isn't much, if any, hotter than a typical passive Fender, and with these onboard eq settings, I just backed the gain down a little on my SVT-CL.

BTW, "flat" on an SVT is somewhat like a smiley face eq setting, as it seems that Ampeg has an inherent "scooped-mids" tone.

 

[Darkstrike]

BTW, "flat" on an SVT is somewhat like a smiley face eq setting, as it seems that Ampeg has an inherent "scooped-mids" tone.

That's what they call a Baxandall tone circut, IIRC, Bass is flat at 2, Mids are flat at 10, and Treble is flat at 2 or there abouts.

 

[CapnSev]

Kinda off topic, but I checked out a few of those louis johnson vids, what the heck kinda bass is this? MM pickup in neck position, and a single coil jazz pick up at the bridge?



They used to have a Louis Johnson model, but I don't see it there anymore.

 

[BassLife77]

That was his Trekker (or Bunker) bass.
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They used to have a Louis Johnson model, but I don't see it there anymore.

compared to his Music Man basses the tone of his Trekker was just meh. the bridge pickup was too far back. I guess he was trying to get Trekkers catch like wildfire like the Stingrays did.

 

[Rano Bass]

compared to his Music Man basses the tone of his Trekker was just meh.

+1 I never liked the sound of that bass.

Good thing he went back to playing a Musicman Sabre http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=echg0Gek9QA&feature=related

Sounds much better IMO.

 

[meatwad]

That's what they call a Baxandall tone circut, IIRC, Bass is flat at 2, Mids are flat at 10, and Treble is flat at 2 or there abouts.

I knew this to be true about old Fender Bassman amps, but didn't know this applies to Ampeg.

 

[Darkstrike]

I knew this to be true about old Fender Bassman amps, but didn't know this applies to Ampeg.

Oh yeah, lotsa amp brands use that tone stack, Marshall too, IIRC.

 

[TonyP-]

I just picked up my Ray35 after putting the SD basslines pre and Nordstrand 5.2 installed, I'm pretty happy with the results, very crisp when recorded direct.

Looking forward to my John East 2-bands that should be here today.

 

[Darkstrike]

Niiice!

 

[JIO]

Could someone who owns a MM Stingray w/the 3 knob (V/T/B), 4 hole curved plate configuration please post a couple of detail pics of the control cavity and backside of the chrome control plate showing how it all goes together? I'm building a custom teardrop (ala VOX) bass w/1 MM style humbucker and a MM plate & electronics setup and need to view a real Stingray before I route out the control cavity. It looks very tight, especially w/battery and preamp, and I'm not even certain if it's all front loaded. Your pics to help clear this up will be much appreciated.

 

[lowfreqfreak]

I just picked up a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz bass. I saw a member on TB posting his mod job which consisted of routing out the bridge pickup area and installing a dual humbucker Fender P bass bridge pickup. I am going to use this bass as a project bass and intend on installing a Musicman type pickup... Does anyone see any problems I might run into using different pickups? Should I forget about the passive pickups in this style? I'd like to keep it all passive, but I'd be open to making the instrument active if that EBMM preamp is a large part of the sound. I'm just hoping to save myself some time in the process.

 

[JIO]

I just picked up a Squier Vintage Modified Jazz bass. I saw a member on TB posting his mod job which consisted of routing out the bridge pickup area and installing a dual humbucker Fender P bass bridge pickup. I am going to use this bass as a project bass and intend on installing a Musicman type pickup... Does anyone see any problems I might run into using different pickups? Should I forget about the passive pickups in this style? I'd like to keep it all passive, but I'd be open to making the instrument active if that EBMM preamp is a large part of the sound. I'm just hoping to save myself some time in the process.

I built a passive P-bass like set-up (P pu / MM-style humbucker) w/only V and 1 tone pot and it works/sounds great! I installed the Tonestyler notched tone knob which helps for a defined variation of tones in this stripped down format. The P pu has less output than the bucker, but the mix of both (via toggle switch) sounds great. Hope that helps. (sorry if this is a bit off-thread)

 

[lowfreqfreak]

That is awesome! Did you build the blank too? How did the MM style pickup change the sound?

 

[JIO]

The body is a (Warmouth?) maple tele guitar body from sometime in the 90's a guitarist friend had in his 'future projects' box in his garage. I did all the needed filling and routing mods and made it a string thru. I gave it some radical ergo shaping and I removed the lower horn and cut the custom pg. The neck is a tele bass style I converted to fretless. I've always been a fan of humbuckers, but the blend of P/bucker is a tone I don't have on my other basses, and works very well for this all maple fretless. Nasally but with rounded umph. I used 500K pots so it sits in the (recording) mix w/real depth and presence. I've never played a MM Stingray, so I'm not sure how it would compare tonally.

 

[Darkstrike]

Could someone who owns a MM Stingray w/the 3 knob (V/T/B), 4 hole curved plate configuration please post a couple of detail pics of the control cavity and backside of the chrome control plate showing how it all goes together? I'm building a custom teardrop (ala VOX) bass w/1 MM style humbucker and a MM plate & electronics setup and need to view a real Stingray before I route out the control cavity. It looks very tight, especially w/battery and preamp, and I'm not even certain if it's all front loaded. Your pics to help clear this up will be much appreciated.

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You should find all you need here, but the main answer, Stingrays have seperate battery compartments on the back.

 

[JIO]

Thanks darkstrike, that's just what I needed. The piggy-back mounting of the preamp was the key (ala deep cavity) Also, will route for a rear mounted battery compartment. cheers

 

[Darkstrike]

Glad to be of service bro,