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My Sterling Stingray Stopped working

#22
SchareyBass said:
I got a sterling by music man ray4 stingray for $349 and a couple weeks ago it stopped working and at first i thought it was the amp that was bad. just to make sure i tried the amp with my squier jaguar bass, which also has a humbucker pickup in it and it worked just fine. i don't know if i need to get a new pickup for it or just a new bass in general.
Click to expand...


Like the others have said - an active bass quits working/has problems? ALWAYS check/swap battery first.

If you don't leave the bass plugged in when not in use, a good battery should last months or longer, depending on how often it's used.



:)
 
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#23
SchareyBass said:
I got a sterling by music man ray4 stingray for $349 and a couple weeks ago it stopped working and at first i thought it was the amp that was bad. just to make sure i tried the amp with my squier jaguar bass, which also has a humbucker pickup in it and it worked just fine. i don't know if i need to get a new pickup for it or just a new bass in general.
Click to expand...

new? should be under warranty. contact the store you bought it from.
 
#24
upload_2022-11-19_9-57-55.png


Perhaps this is irrelevant. The jack has a built-in on/off switch.
Be sure to disconnect the cable when you put your bass away, otherwise the circuit will remain active, and your batteries won't last long.
 
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#26
SchareyBass said:
I got a sterling by music man ray4 stingray for $349 and a couple weeks ago it stopped working and at first i thought it was the amp that was bad. just to make sure i tried the amp with my squier jaguar bass, which also has a humbucker pickup in it and it worked just fine. i don't know if i need to get a new pickup for it or just a new bass in general.
Click to expand...
Battery
 
#27
Egg250 said:
Mine did the same thing. If I inserted the TRS to one click I would have sound. If I fully inserted it...no sound. I took it to guitar center (where I bought it) for warranty work. The tech couldn't find anything wrong but it hasn't acted up since.
Click to expand...
Use a TS cable instead, and you wouldn't have that problem.
 
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#28
JeezyMcNuggles said:
Use a TS cable instead, and you wouldn't have that problem.
Click to expand...
swink said:
View attachment 4878566

Perhaps this is irrelevant. The jack has a built-in on/off switch.
Be sure to disconnect the cable when you put your bass away, otherwise the circuit will remain active, and your batteries won't last long.
Click to expand...

A TRS jack can be used on an active instrument to also switch the battery on and off. But yes, counter-intuitively, you need to use a TS instrument cable.

We often think in terms of turning battery powered gear on and off by switching the Battery Positive on and off.
However, that requires using a separate set of isolated contacts. Hard to do on a 1/4" jack and still use it for the instrument's signal as we normally do. But you can easily switch the Battery's Negative side on and off with a simple TRS jack that has no additional switching.

On the TRS jack, the Tip and Shield are Signal and return (ground) as is normal for any instrument. The Ring contact on the jack is connected to the Battery's Negative side. With no cable inserted the Battery Neg. is not connected, no current flows, the active circuits are turned off. With the TS plug inserted, the Batt. Neg. is now connected to ground, (shared with the Signal Return ground) the battery is now in circuit and the active circuitry is on. It's a clever way to employ switching without having to use an additional set of switching contacts in the jack.
Normally, a TRS cable does not have the Ring connected to ground, and this is why it doesn't work.

DA577A6E-7F9F-4C2A-8192-7AB95CBF5991.jpeg
 
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#29
I have a 5-string Sterling I bought a few years ago that just up an died. ... I'm guessing it's the preamp but I haven't got around to narrowing it down. ... At that price they must of cheaped out somewhere.
 
#30
Old Garage-Bander said:
A TRS jack can be used on an active instrument to also switch the battery on and off. But yes, counter-intuitively, you need to use a TS instrument cable.

We often think in terms of turning battery powered gear on and off by switching the Battery Positive on and off.
However, that requires using a separate set of isolated contacts. Hard to do on a 1/4" jack and still use it for the instrument's signal as we normally do. But you can easily switch the Battery's Negative side on and off with a simple TRS jack that has no additional switching.

On the TRS jack, the Tip and Shield are Signal and return (ground) as is normal for any instrument. The Ring contact on the jack is connected to the Battery's Negative side. With no cable inserted the Battery Neg. is not connected, no current flows, the active circuits are turned off. With the TS plug inserted, the Batt. Neg. is now connected to ground, (shared with the Signal Return ground) the battery is now in circuit and the active circuitry is on. It's a clever way to employ switching without having to use an additional set of switching contacts in the jack.
Normally, a TRS cable does not have the Ring connected to ground, and this is why it doesn't work.

View attachment 4878754
Click to expand...
Yeah.

All active basses use a stereo jack. If they didn't, the battery would alway be on. But, you defeat the circuit if you use a trs cable.
 
#32
BassNugget said:
Not sure if it's true with the SBMM line, but with an EBMM bass, if you remove the battery, you still get sound. It just sounds flat and lifeless. When my preamp op-amp died, I got NO sound. Not at home, so cannot test if a SBMM produces sound without battery.
Click to expand...
I just tested it on my SBMM Ray34, you can hear a very slight reproduction of the sound.
 
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