The Ric has a cap, not a resistor on the bridge pup. It's intended to reduce the low end of it's output.
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NBD: Sire Z7-5
- Thread starter GreyBeard
- Start date
Yeah, I don't want it to affect things too much. It works great on the Ray35 'though. I'll think about it once I'm back home (been away visiting family) and see if I can formulate a plan. I'll report any results.
I spent a while this morning messing with the Z7’s pickups, I dropped the MM pickup as far as it would go and raised the J pickup, the J is usable now and in fact I found I had to raise the MM pickup back up slightly to match the volume on both pickups.
At the centre detente the MM is still slightly louder for some reason so a fraction of blend control adjustment into the neck pickup gives a nice balance.
The pickups look a bit weird at different heights but at least the bass is more usable now. If you slightly favour the neck pickup using the blend control it gives a really nice tone using both pickups. The Jazz pickup now raised sounds very nice on its own as well.
I’m happier with it now but it will only be a short term solution until I do change the neck pickup for a better and more powerful pickup for the long term solution.
At the centre detente the MM is still slightly louder for some reason so a fraction of blend control adjustment into the neck pickup gives a nice balance.
The pickups look a bit weird at different heights but at least the bass is more usable now. If you slightly favour the neck pickup using the blend control it gives a really nice tone using both pickups. The Jazz pickup now raised sounds very nice on its own as well.
I’m happier with it now but it will only be a short term solution until I do change the neck pickup for a better and more powerful pickup for the long term solution.
As threatened: I found some 7mm x 1.5mm stainless steel discs on Amazon (hadda buy 120 of 'em but that was only 7 bucks). Pulled a top knob, set a disc onto the top of the stem inner cap, and pressed the outer cap back on. SUCCESS on the tone stack! The volume stack needed a little piece of file folder on top of the stainless disc, but now all knobs are rotating without dragging each other around.
So now I have 118 discs just lying around. Anyone wants two of 'em, PM me your street address and I'll snail mail you 3 in case you lose one in the shag carpet.
So now I have 118 discs just lying around. Anyone wants two of 'em, PM me your street address and I'll snail mail you 3 in case you lose one in the shag carpet.
I know you didn't ask me, but both pickups are DEAD silent, even with the treble tuned all the way up.
Talking about pickups, how do you guys rate the Z7’s MM bridge pickup? Why I ask is that I have a Nordstrand MM5.2 pickup which is currently installed on a Sterling SUB Ray 5 which I could possibly utilise. Subject it to being the correct size (body and string spacing), would the Nordy be noticeably different/better? On all the reviews I’ve seen most people seem happy with the stock Sire MM pickup.
It might be ok, soundwise. The Z3-5 uses a narrower spacing pickup despite having the same spacing at the bridge as the Z7-5... and it sounds great (I've been playing the Z3 more than the Z7 these days)
I know the Z3 uses a ceramic pickup as opposed to Alnico on the Z7 which is probably why it sounds slightly different but on photos the Z3 and Z7 seem to have the same pole spacing to me?
I do like the sound of the Z7’s bridge pickup but I know the Nordstrand sounds superb on my Sterling SUB Ray 5. I can’t decide whether to try it on the Z7 or not as it’s a lot of work.
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They don't have the same spacing, that much I'm certain
The spacing on the Z3-5 pickup is the spacing you get on 16mm bridge spacing Stingray style basses.I had a Nordstrand MM4.2 on an old OLP. That bass had the original pickup, then a GFS alnico, then a Seymour Duncan SMB4A and finally the Nordstrand. The MM4.2 was the closest to the MusicMan original on my 2002 EBMM Stingray. I think the MM5.2 is probably a good choice if you want to get more "stingrayesque", but I do like the stock pickup anyway.
I still haven't installed the John East preamp on the Z7-5 (it's got independently adjustable level trim pots for each pickup, so the bridge and neck pickups would be balanced at last).
I gave up looking for the 5-knob Uni-Pre DeLuxe that I'm still pretty sure I have... somewhere. I moved nearly 2 years ago and there are things I still haven't found. I did find the 4-knob version, so I will probably end up using that one. I just have to decide what to do with the extra hole... do I leave a dummy control there? Do I split one of the stacked controls into 2 individual controls? Or do I put a series/parallel switch? The series/parallel switch can be cool, but everytime I have done that I've ended up using just one of the options, usually the parallel one.
They don't have the same spacing, that much I'm certain
I had a Nordstrand MM4.2 on an old OLP. That bass had the original pickup, then a GFS alnico, then a Seymour Duncan SMB4A and finally the Nordstrand. The MM4.2 was the closest to the MusicMan original on my 2002 EBMM Stingray. I think the MM5.2 is probably a good choice if you want to get more "stingrayesque", but I do like the stock pickup anyway.
I still haven't installed the John East preamp on the Z7-5 (it's got independently adjustable level trim pots for each pickup, so the bridge and neck pickups would be balanced at last).
I gave up looking for the 5-knob Uni-Pre DeLuxe that I'm still pretty sure I have... somewhere. I moved nearly 2 years ago and there are things I still haven't found. I did find the 4-knob version, so I will probably end up using that one. I just have to decide what to do with the extra hole... do I leave a dummy control there? Do I split one of the stacked controls into 2 individual controls? Or do I put a series/parallel switch? The series/parallel switch can be cool, but everytime I have done that I've ended up using just one of the options, usually the parallel one.
Perhaps the neck is slightly narrower on the Z3’s as if you look at the photos the strings line through with the pole centres on both the Z3 and the Z7.
Yes, I have the Nordstrand MM5.2 on my Sterling SUB Ray 5 (which I’m currently selling), it’s a brilliant sound, I did have a John East MM pre on there as well but I’ve sold that now. The combination of the MM5.2 and the East Pre was outstanding! I also fitted a 3 position blade switch to give Parallel/SC/Series, like yourself I ended up using the Parallel setting most of the time and Single Coil mode very occasionally.
That 5th hole is a bit of a problem, you could re-locate the jack socket there I suppose? Maybe fit a kill switch?
I’m waiting for Sire to send me one of the new upgraded neck pickups, it should arrive sometime this month hopefully.
Ah, that's interesting — have you asked for a "replacement", or does Sire sell those frankly to anyone asking? From what I've heard so far, Sire seems to provide spare parts but not generally "additional" parts...
Note, I don't own a Z model (yet), it's just out of curiosity...
No, the neck is pretty much the same, and the strings do not line up centered on the Z3-5. I've got both the Z7 and the Z3 right in front of me!
They have the same bridge, 17.5mm spacing, and 45mm at the nut, but for some reason they chose a pickup with narrower spacing for the Z3 
Curious about those new neck pickups, let us know how you like them!
As I said earlier, the Z7 pickups are Alnico and the Z3’s are Ceramic. It seems like Sire were able to source a 17mm pole-spaced Alnico pickup but not a Ceramic one and instead have utilised the nearest size Ceramic pickup they could source for the Z3, which is a slightly narrower spaced one.
