I can't believe I spent the morning reading this entire thread. But other than the pointless bashing of EBMM, its fans and Sterling Ball, I learned a few things. Now, if I may, I'd like to share what I've learned after 40+ years of playing, during which I've owned eight EBMM basses of various stripes and vintages. But first, a few thoughts on the Stingray pre-amp.
The best advice I've seen over the years on getting good tone came from a long-ago Jeff Berlin column in BP. He suggested running the amp fairly hot and using a lighter touch on the bass. I adopted this method years ago and have found it particularly useful when playing my EBMM basses. I always used to run the volume full out on 'Rays with the bass and highs boosted as much as I could. This gave me the signature 'Ray tone but didn't leave any room for adjustment and usually resulted in the weak G issue. In time, I found that if I kicked up the amp and ran the volume on the bass around half, it allowed far more range of tone from the preamp. For example, if I wanted more of a burpy Jaco-esque tone, I'd turn the instrument's bass and treble controls almost completely off then crank the volume on the bass to full to make up for the loss of low and high end. When I wanted to go back to more of a typical 'Ray tone, I'd turn the bass and treble back up, but drop the volume back to around half to compensate for the apparent increase in volume with the EQ boosted. I think that too often players crank everything full on their 'Rays and can't figure out why the G is often out of whack with the rest of the strings (these are usually the same people who call Stingrays a one-trick pony, IMO).
Now, other than making sure the bass is set up properly with decent strings, I found different work-arounds to compensate for any weak G (which, frankly, all my Rays had, 4 string or 5, vintage or modern). The easiest was to put on a set of fairly bright flats. That solved the G problem every time but, to me at least, effectively neutered the 'Ray and took away from its best characteristics (zingy top end, punchy but not overly fat lows). On my 3-band models strung with rounds, I always ran the bass and treble slightly boosted, the mids slightly cut. Loved the tone until I had to use the G, which was simply not there in most band situations. Simple solution was to reach down and crank the mids slightly (or a lot). Back came the G string, but I didn't care for the tone on the other strings, nor did I like having to constantly re-EQ the bass, sometimes in the middle of a tune.
In the end, of the eight EBMMS I've owned the only one left is a 94 fretless SR5 which I love a lot. However, I usually run it in single coil mode with the mids boosted full, the bass flat and the treble almost completely off. There's no weak G, but this particular bass has a nasty dead zone (not a spot, a zone) on the G between the B and the C sharp. I do my own setups, but am contemplating having a good tech set it up with some different strings than the D'Addario nickel rounds that are currently on there.
As for the EBMM forum, I lurked there for a couple of years but rarely posted and haven't looked at it in a couple of years. I certainly understand the company's reluctance to allow discussions of non-EBMM replacement parts, but I don't understand why you can't discuss different string brands. To me, Ernie Ball strings are okay but nothing special. I think it would be valuable to hear what strings EBMM users like best on their 'Rays, Bongos etc. After all, good strings are the cheapest initial way to address any bass's issues, whether it's a weak G or a dead spot/zone.
