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Sterling S.U.B. Ray 5 questions

Michael rogers

Michael rogers

Jul 17, 2014
52
23
60
Rockford, IL
#1
i just bought once of those Sterling SUB Ray5 Walnut basses and its on its way as I write.

I bought it for a second gigging bass for drop tuning (1/2 step) tunes we play in the working band I am in. I played one at Guitar Center and I thought it was great for the money to be a nice bar battle axe.

I do play live with a USA Musicman Stingray 5 (along with a couple of jazz basses) - my questions are about the preamp and pickups for anyone who owns one (and is using it in a live situation).

I did ask some questions on the Musicman worship/fanboy site known as the Ernie Ball Forum, but all I expect from those questions is groveling chatter for Sterling Ball to read on how perfect his basses are Unmodified. This site to me is greatly respected, as we are real bass players here not trying to shine our nice toys for Sterling to see..

I am wondering if anyone out there using the SUBs for gigging had to make a bunch of changes to make them work. I would have turned my nose up some years ago to Squier and lower end basses, but something has happened to the low end bass market in the last 5 years or so where the quality of many of the 'entry level' basses has been surprisingly great.

Examples of this are the Classic Vibe series Squiers, and many of the Schectors I have picked up. For something to play in the nightlife environment with staggering drunks all around you, playing a $500 bass seems like a winner to bringing the $2000 basses out. I do have a couple of number 1s in the $1000-$1700 range I rely on playing live, but the thought of bringing a small fortune in gear out each night is something I am reconsidering.

So, what good SUB Ray info do you have for me?
 
#2
I have the 4 string version. Same pickups and preamp. I had to ditch the stock electronics and installed a full active EMG setup which I found for sale here for a really great price. Huge difference in sound. Way more articulate and clear sounding as I found the stock sound seemed like it was behind a closed door. Oh, and make sure to lower the pickup. This is just my experience and opinion.
 
#3
I do have my eye on the Seymour Duncan alnico 5 standard MM pickup: I actually am using the three coil AlNiCo version on my Stingray5 with the quick preamp mod SD recommends. The bass went from this nasally oinky tone to a bass sound covering many styles and cutting thru the mix.

If the stock PUP and preamp work reasonably well, I won't be in a huge hurry to change it. But I am sure I'll drop the 90 bucks for a SD MM pup for it.
 
#5
Anyone know any particulars about the pickup? I am sure it's ceramic, but is it worth keeping or is the $90 for a SD 5 pickup worth it?

I have seen where people replace a great or good (Good enough) stock pickup with an OEM one that is the same or marginally better.

Is there also a mod floating around about the volume on these basses?

Playing with it live tonight as one of three I am using: wish me luck!
 
#6
SBMM posted a mod but it really does nothing. Just gives you better overall control of the volume. Smoother from soft to loud. You have to lower the pickup. The stock electronics will work but I personally did not like the tone. Sounded like I was behind a closed door. Was no clarity, at least to my ears. But as I said, I did gig it before modding it and it did the job. In the context of a live mix, the tone is subjective at best. Even after modding mine, it was still loud. I lowered the pickup close to flush to the body and it did the trick.
 
#7
I did lower it: probably it's a little over 1/8 inch off being flush on treble side and 1/16 inch from pickguard on bass strings side.
The pickup was not bad for me and I was able to punch enough high and low to cut thru rather well. It is different that my SR5 preamp without the mid boost. I am thinking the biggest bang for the buck is to upgrade the preamp to a SD STS3m3 to get the missing mid.

The bass did great live: the cheapie tuners did make dropping the E to D on and off more of a chore than the SR5. I actually have a set of MM replacement Hipshot tuners on the way to fix that. The core of the bass is actually quite close to my SR5 in dimensions and feel. I did not find myself searching for the knob combo furiously between songs to make the bass poke out of the mix appropriately. This is a big deal, as my jazz basses make it tough to be heard sometimes without my BBE booster pedal - and then the lack of cut and boost on low/mid/high can make what comes out wash into the mix poorly.

As a gigging bass, I would think tuners are the only requirement for replacement on these basses for bar playing. The tuners are not bad, but I have seen much worse on lower ended Squiers. These tuners are not the quality of tuners found on the Classic Vibe Squier basses, but they are not total garbage. I do wish the bridge was as good as a Classic Vibe Jazz, as it is rather cheap compared to a SR5 bridge. The lack of mid is minor for me, as being able to increase the high when needed and punch the low is much more important for me.

I am playing thru a Carvin BX1500 running with EQ active into a GK 4x12 Neo and lined out into the board. I did not really find the bass was too dark that the cut of bass and high could not reasonably fix it. The pickup is not voiced as the Musicman usa pickups from what I can tell: more of a generic bass tone which is what I prefer with the wide range of stuff we play, so it might be ok to leave it and not replace it. I found the stock MM pickup on my USA SR5 was too nasally and oinky sounding (and notched) to get more than a couple nice tones, so I replaced with with a SD AlNiCo 5 pickup and changed two caps on the preamp as they recommend. It opened the bass up to be more than a one trick poney (for me). The stock SUB pup seems to be pretty close to it and actually sounds nice...

Can't belive a bass I paid $287 bucks (brand new) for kept up with my $1700 SR5 on the front line. We play with upto 16,000 watts of PA power live, mic nearly everything. For an out of the box sub-$300 bass for a working bass player, I cannot believe there is anything better as is.
 
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#8
I thought about changing the tuners and I just might but they work good. I have no experience with US Stingrays so I can't compare the sound. I do feel the bass is punchy and will cut through a live mix with ease. I like the sound of the EMG setup in mine. I do desire a 5 string version but I think if I do get one it will be the real thing.
 
#9
I got the real thing and I just picked up a SUB that was black with maple neck - just like my USA SR5. Neck feels pretty close to me. The dimensions of the SUB Ray5 are identical from what I can tell to the real thing. If you put a compensating nut, better bridge, tuners, preamp, pickup I think the differences between them would be hard to justify not getting the lower end one. I do prefer the real thing, but for regular playing out the SUBs seem a killer deal.
 
#11
Michael rogers said:
Anyone know anything about the 25k pot mod for these basses? Is it something that still needs to be done? I cannot find anything anywhere on this mod..
Click to expand...

I just bought a SBMM SUB ray5 black/maple and the output was pretty high without the amps pad switch.
The only thing I had to do to the bass out of the box was intonation tweaking and lowered the pickup height.

I've bought heat shrink tubing and the 25k pot. I'm planning to do the mod after next weekend due to a gig coming up. I rather see how it does in a live situation before I do the mod.

EDIT: I'm also hearing very little noise when not playing. So I will be shielding the bass, only in the pickup cavity.

My bass, you can see the ears are almost flush with the pickguard.
Last week I had the whole pickup flush with PG.
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Here is the Mod that SBMM TBer sent out.
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#12
^. that's a good post. I've got a 4 string and I love the sound out of the box. Took the foam and springs from under the pickup, put the foam back, screwed the pickup back down as far as I could. Lost the "hot" signal. Sounds great. Was never into the Stingray/MusicMan sound-OK, they do sound great-but being more of a Ric/Jazz guy I play with a lot of crack with the treble (?). But the SUB with the pup lowered sound great to me. Only at band rehearsal but it sounds good.
 
#14
Funny, I just stopped by GC this afternoon and played a few cheaper basses, SUB 4 being one of them. I found the output extremely hot compared to other basses, and the tone was pretty bland. Fit and finish was fine and playability excellent.

The bass I liked the most though was a Squier Vintage modified Jazz. Except for minor setup issues I really liked it. The tone was 100% jazz bass, feel was very nice, but then again it's a jazz, isn't everyone right at home with a jazz.

I really like the lower end instruments available today. At the risk of starting a flame war, offshore build quality is as good as I've ever seen in US made stuff. Before everyone gets all upset about that statement, Reverend guitars for one, moved to offshore builds and actually increased the number of US employees, plus the people added were at a higher salary because they are marketing and distribution, not assembly line. Offshoring is not always bad.
 
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#15
Agreed on the off shore observation: it seems like in the last 5 years the quality of low end gear is crazy good. While I like the feel and quality of a $1700 bass, the crowd you end up playing to does not know or care you are using a $300 bass that sounds the same.

And thanx for the 25k mod info!
 
#18
I did the 25k volume pot mod and, while it really doesn't make the output less "hot", it did make the volume control much more linear instead of the "on or off" taper that I had before. It is well worth doing, especially for the price. By the way, while the bass was apart, just for fun I wired the pickup directly to the jack, bypassing all of the other electronics and making the bass totally passive - it was still LOUD! This is a very hot pickup and twice as loud as the pickups in my other passive basses.
 
#19
oddeotek said:
I did the 25k volume pot mod and, while it really doesn't make the output less "hot", it did make the volume control much more linear instead of the "on or off" taper that I had before. It is well worth doing, especially for the price. By the way, while the bass was apart, just for fun I wired the pickup directly to the jack, bypassing all of the other electronics and making the bass totally passive - it was still LOUD! This is a very hot pickup and twice as loud as the pickups in my other passive basses.
Click to expand...
Lower your pickup.
 
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#20
Sending back SD MM5 replacement pickup: it is a ractanglular pickup with no screw ears on the sides and the Sterling SUB Ray5 cavity and pickguard will not allow the drop in replacement for a 5 string to work without changes to cavity routing and pickguard.

So it goes back and I use it with stock pickup (actually not a bad pickup).
 

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