Been wanting a Ray. Miss my EBMM Classic. Been very impressed with intermediate instruments the past few years and thought the SUBs were a incredible value, wish they existed when I was coming up.
Originally I wanted the 4 but it was out of stock until October so decided to give the 5 a try. Figuring I could give E-C a try. Haven't read much about the Ray2xs.
Overall, pretty impressed. Love that the specs are similar to a SLO and has vintage sized frets, (fretwork is amazing btw) and the neck is satin/oiled and not gloss finished. Action was decent out of the box and tweaked it even better.
I'm trying to be more into stock configs instead of jumping to modifications. Yet, I figured the pickup and electronics would need swapped quickly since I am so used to USA EBMM. To my surprise stock electronics are good. Tone sounded weird so I wondered if the pickup was in classic parallel wiring. Wiring appeared to be Duncan color code and appeared series. Ah ha! Took out the multimeter and measured 6.51k on the black lead and 3.26k on the red/white single coil. Split the red and white and soldered the red to hot and white to ground to achieve parallel. 1.64k reading. There it is! Much more classic tone, and the controls seem to be more responsive. Might keep it as is. Interesting the body is routed for a standard thumbrest 5 style pup, while the pickguard has the classic 2+1 screw parts.
Biggest gripe, being critical, is the pickguard and control plate screws were rushed in and angled. Pretty standard at this price point. String spacing is 17.5mm but the pole pieces are 19-20mm so I wonder if that impacts the output of the B and G. Weight is 9.5 lbs. Not bad for a slab? Haven't weighed a tuner yet to see if some ultralites can help.
Can anyone confirm if this is the same preamp/pickup of the Ray 34/5?
Sorry for rushed photos and multiple posts. Mobile device was being quirky.
Originally I wanted the 4 but it was out of stock until October so decided to give the 5 a try. Figuring I could give E-C a try. Haven't read much about the Ray2xs.
Overall, pretty impressed. Love that the specs are similar to a SLO and has vintage sized frets, (fretwork is amazing btw) and the neck is satin/oiled and not gloss finished. Action was decent out of the box and tweaked it even better.
I'm trying to be more into stock configs instead of jumping to modifications. Yet, I figured the pickup and electronics would need swapped quickly since I am so used to USA EBMM. To my surprise stock electronics are good. Tone sounded weird so I wondered if the pickup was in classic parallel wiring. Wiring appeared to be Duncan color code and appeared series. Ah ha! Took out the multimeter and measured 6.51k on the black lead and 3.26k on the red/white single coil. Split the red and white and soldered the red to hot and white to ground to achieve parallel. 1.64k reading. There it is! Much more classic tone, and the controls seem to be more responsive. Might keep it as is. Interesting the body is routed for a standard thumbrest 5 style pup, while the pickguard has the classic 2+1 screw parts.
Biggest gripe, being critical, is the pickguard and control plate screws were rushed in and angled. Pretty standard at this price point. String spacing is 17.5mm but the pole pieces are 19-20mm so I wonder if that impacts the output of the B and G. Weight is 9.5 lbs. Not bad for a slab? Haven't weighed a tuner yet to see if some ultralites can help.
Can anyone confirm if this is the same preamp/pickup of the Ray 34/5?
Sorry for rushed photos and multiple posts. Mobile device was being quirky.
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