Music Man Stingray minus 9 volt battery

[Lichtaffen]

So my battery ran out last night and I didn't have any others in the house. I decided to take it out and try to play the bass without a battery. It worked. It sounded kinda weak, but usable for practicing. My question is if you take the battery out, does it essentially make this bass passive? If so, is this what a P bass would sound like? Believe me, I'll be buying a bunch of 9 volts tonight, but I was just curious.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

Bump for a post that I too am curious about (buying a Stingray tonight, actually). I had no idea they had active pups/preamp.

 

[king_biscuit]

I'm not sure what is going on electronically with a Stingray with no battery, but there is absolutely nothing P bass about a Stingray -- battery or not.

 

[excane]

Curious here as well.

Also curious if anyone has modified the pre to have an active/passive switch?

 

[Nakedfish]

All the Stingray's I've owned had no signal when the battery was removed.

 

[Jared92]

Yeah. No signal over here.

 

[Lichtaffen]

There was definitely a signal. The tone controls were very weak sounding. The low bass frequencies were non existent. Sounded kinda cool though.

Funkmetalbass, I highly recommend this bass to anyone. I love it and the active electronics give you so many tonal options without even touching your amp controls. My amp is usually set pretty flat and I just use the tone controls to shape the overall sound. Good luck with you purchase, worth every penny.

 

[dave64o]

Never tried it without a battery but now I'm curious. I'll have to check it out.

 

[Lichtaffen]

I should mention that it is a 2008 model.

 

[G2K]

I should mention that it is a 2008 model.

I have seen posts that say that the SR works without the 9V, having said that I cannot remember if it was the 2 band EQ or the 3 band EQ or both. The same posts also mentioned that the EQ did not work without the battery only the volume.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

If it has 4 knobs, does it have the active electronics? I'm buying it used and I can't tell from the lighting if there's a battery compartment or not.

 

[Bardley]

If it has 4 knobs, does it have the active electronics? I'm buying it used and I can't tell from the lighting if there's a battery compartment or not.

All stingray's are active. If it has 4 knobs, it has a 3-band preamp.

 

[excane]

^^ Correct. The battery compartment is on the back.

 

[FunkMetalBass]

^ Good to know.

It's a black body on a maple fretboard.

I want to install a green pearloid pickguard like this:

 

[monocase.com]

I've had this happen as well, but the battery compartment was fully unwired. The signal is pretty weak, and I am not sure if it was designed to be a passive pickup. My bass is a 96' and I have often wondered if I should go passive.

 

[PaulWarning]

My stingray works with no battery, SR4 3EQ, the output is low but if I turn up the input volume on my amp to get the same volume as with a battery it sounds the same as with the eq knobs flat, by the way they don't work with no battery but the volume does

 

[Swerve]

I tried this tonight. I also have a 2008 3EQ Ray. I pulled the battery out and it still had sound, albeit much quieter. Only the volume knob works without the battery. It still sounded like a Stingray, just set totally flat. Kinda cool in its on way.

 

[Pablo Cavallo]

RESURRECTING THREAD!

I just tried it with my 2015 Classic Stingray 4, here are my observations:

Without the battery:

• Pickup output is about 25% of the "active" output. Boosted amp gain to match.
• Bass and Treble controls still affect the signal but in a very subtle way. The preamp seems bypassed at a first listen, but then when tweaking around I noticed when both Treble/Bass were at 0% it sounded darker than both at 100% (it is a slight difference when compared to the "active" results of using the Treble/Bass controls, but it is noticeable).

The overall tone is what you would spec from a passive Ray:

• More organic but retains punch.
• Direct but with a smoother top end and attack. Not so much to get rid of the usual "clank" in the more treblier settings.
• The low end is also less dramatic, not so full and direct as the "active" lows.
• A little anaemic at times.

I am pretty sure this is not meant to be a "passive tone option", but it could save your gig with some tweaking at your amp.
It also helps predicting how a "proper passive option" would sound and I believe it would be a usable tone if done correctly (avoiding the preamp and using the right pot to start with).

Between this and the coil-tapping options available via modifications, I am starting to think Musicman is missing out on some flexibility here, they could keep a "classic" ray with no fancy stuff and then make a "super modded" version with active/passive + coil tapping.

 

[gilthethrill]

I should mention that it is a 2008 model.

I just bought a 2008 Stingray 4 and it does play without a 9vt battery. It's basically "wide open" no real tone control settings. Just true passive pickup. No frills. I actually do not have a problem with the sound of it without a battery. In some ways I prefer it. Find sometimes too much variety at the source (bass) get confusing. Turn the 3 EQ pots all the way up and make you tone settings from your amp and pedals!

 

[Maxdusty]

My US EBMM SUB Ray was designed to be played as a passive, so no volume loss and there is tone control. I also have a SBMM Ray34 active - some days I just like that passive sound a little better, it's warmer but definitely retains that punch- it kind of sounds like a mix of a P bass and a Ray.