Sterling SUB Bass confused

[Robperk]

Just picked up a Sterling by Musicman SUB bass at GC for $200. I'm so damn confused as to exactly what model I have and what the specs are as there seems to be several variations???

It's made in Indonesia. Has a 2-band preamp and no control plate. I have read about some models of these having issues with a Hot preamp, not sure if it includes this model? If anyone could give me some info about this model that would be great. Thanks!

 

[LowEndLobster]

You got a relatively uncommon SUB Sterling. It's a Sterling (model) body and the SUB line. This is not to be confused with the Sterling SUB which is a Stingray by Sterling.

 

[Robperk]

I did some more digging and I found a video from Earl over at the maxproud channel and apparently I have the Sterling by Musicman S.U.B. SB4
Once I started searching for the "SB4" I even located a old discontinued GC listing with some info. https://www.guitarcenter.com/Sterling-by-Music-Man/SUB-SB4-Electric-Bass-Guitar.gc

 

[Maxdusty]

Yup, that's the discontinued SB4. It's wired a little different to the SUB Ray (series as opposed to parallel on the early SUB Rays), it has a bit more of mid kind of growl in comparison to the Ray and a bit mellower but still definitely has that MM vibe to it, smaller body and I believe lighter in weight. It also has 22 frets instead of 21.

Not to confuse the matter any further but Sterling also made the Sterling model (under the name SB14 so it wouldn't have the confusing name of Sterling Sterling). That too was discontinued so the only Sterling model you can get today is the one made in the US by Ernie Ball Musicman. The EBMM Sterling.

Now in terms of the active preamp, they were on the first SUB basses made in Indonesia. Not all of them were affected, I owned 4 of these first versions, none had that issue. Production was shifted to China (but still had that big "SUB" on the headstock) and the preamp issue was addressed with those and all SUB basses from that point on.
The current SUB Ray basses are now called Ray4 (Sub series), different headstock and with some slight revisions to the pickup and preamp.
I'm not really sure if the SB4 basses were affected by the active preamp issue or if they were only on the Rays, those are really nice basses, shame they discontinued those.

 

[Robperk]

Yup, that's the discontinued SB4. It's wired a little different to the SUB Ray (series as opposed to parallel on the early SUB Rays), it has a bit more of mid kind of growl in comparison to the Ray and a bit mellower but still definitely has that MM vibe to it, smaller body and I believe lighter in weight. It also has 22 frets instead of 21.

Not to confuse the matter any further but Sterling also made the Sterling model (under the name SB14 so it wouldn't have the confusing name of Sterling Sterling). That too was discontinued so the only Sterling model you can get today is the one made in the US by Ernie Ball Musicman. The EBMM Sterling.

Now in terms of the active preamp, they were on the first SUB basses made in Indonesia. Not all of them were affected, I owned 4 of these first versions, none had that issue. Production was shifted to China (but still had that big "SUB" on the headstock) and the preamp issue was addressed with those and all SUB basses from that point on.
The current SUB Ray basses are now called Ray4 (Sub series), different headstock and with some slight revisions to the pickup and preamp.
I'm not really sure if the SB4 basses were affected by the active preamp issue or if they were only on the Rays, those are really nice basses, shame they discontinued those.

Thank you I appreciate the info. Cheers!

 

[Slater]

You have a Sterling Sterling by Music Man. Confusing?

Ever see the South Park where aliens call everything “Marklar”?

 

[beatdatthang]

Yeah, Sterling Ball is kinda like George Foreman... I think he likes everything named after him. Great instruments, but you won’t find a more confusing lineup when it comes to names.

-Sterling by Musicman SUB Ray 4/5
-Sterling by Musicman SUB SB 4 (which is a Sterling - the body style)
-Sterling by Musicman Ray 34/35 in various configurations
-Sterling by Music Man short-scale Stingray
-Sterling by Musicman SB 14
-EBMM SUB (USA made both Stingray and Sterling body shapes with slab bodies and painted necks)
EBMM Stingray 4/5 - in various configurations
EBMM short-scale Stingray
EBMM Sterling 4/5 - in various configurations

I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but so does that make it clear as mud?

 

[Tank88]

I’ve got the same bass. Picked it up used a couple years ago. Glad to finally learn some stuff about it. Does seem to be a bit less common. My preamp is pretty hot but I don’t have much to compare it to since it’s my only active bass currently. Plays great and all it needed was a bit of Deoxit on the pots.

 

[Leonid Nidis]

I need a community college class on musicman style basses,there is no other way Ill get the hang of it

 

[Holdsg]

Yeah, Sterling Ball is kinda like George Foreman... I think he likes everything named after him. Great instruments, but you won’t find a more confusing lineup when it comes to names.

-Sterling by Musicman SUB Ray 4/5
-Sterling by Musicman SUB SB 4 (which is a Sterling - the body style)
-Sterling by Musicman Ray 34/35 in various configurations
-Sterling by Music Man short-scale Stingray
-Sterling by Musicman SB 14
-EBMM SUB (USA made both Stingray and Sterling body shapes with slab bodies, covered in Linex bed liner, and painted necks)
EBMM Stingray 4/5 - in various configurations
EBMM short-scale Stingray
EBMM Sterling 4/5 - in various configurations

I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but so does that make it clear as mud?

Fixed! there were also OLP licensed stingrays (akin to SBMM)

 

[JakobT]

Yeah, Sterling Ball is kinda like George Foreman... I think he likes everything named after him. Great instruments, but you won’t find a more confusing lineup when it comes to names.

-Sterling by Musicman SUB Ray 4/5
-Sterling by Musicman SUB SB 4 (which is a Sterling - the body style)
-Sterling by Musicman Ray 34/35 in various configurations
-Sterling by Music Man short-scale Stingray
-Sterling by Musicman SB 14
-EBMM SUB (USA made both Stingray and Sterling body shapes with slab bodies and painted necks)
EBMM Stingray 4/5 - in various configurations
EBMM short-scale Stingray
EBMM Sterling 4/5 - in various configurations

I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but so does that make it clear as mud?

I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating. It’s not really that confusing when you think about it. The SB4 is not on this chart, as it was discontinued some years ago.

 

[EatS1stBassist]

Yup, that's the discontinued SB4. It's wired a little different to the SUB Ray (series as opposed to parallel on the early SUB Rays), it has a bit more of mid kind of growl in comparison to the Ray and a bit mellower but still definitely has that MM vibe to it, smaller body and I believe lighter in weight. It also has 22 frets instead of 21.

Not to confuse the matter any further but Sterling also made the Sterling model (under the name SB14 so it wouldn't have the confusing name of Sterling Sterling). That too was discontinued so the only Sterling model you can get today is the one made in the US by Ernie Ball Musicman. The EBMM Sterling.

Now in terms of the active preamp, they were on the first SUB basses made in Indonesia. Not all of them were affected, I owned 4 of these first versions, none had that issue. Production was shifted to China (but still had that big "SUB" on the headstock) and the preamp issue was addressed with those and all SUB basses from that point on.
The current SUB Ray basses are now called Ray4 (Sub series), different headstock and with some slight revisions to the pickup and preamp.
I'm not really sure if the SB4 basses were affected by the active preamp issue or if they were only on the Rays, those are really nice basses, shame they discontinued those.

Invalid Link Removed

 

[Bajo Clarkko]

@Slater, wasn’t there also a Southpark episode where Token is playing Bass?
(And is pretty good, if I recall correctly.)

I believe the model he’s playing, is a Marklar Marklar, by Marklar. He has it strung with a set of Marklar-wounds. He’s playing it through a Marklar head, and a Marklar cab, with the Marklar scooped. It sounds pretty Marklar.

(I have a couple of Indonesian Sterling SUB Stingrays, or whatever they call them. With the emphasis being on, “Whatever it is they call them.”)

 

[pappabass]

Yeah, Sterling Ball is kinda like George Foreman... I think he likes everything named after him. Great instruments, but you won’t find a more confusing lineup when it comes to names.

-Sterling by Musicman SUB Ray 4/5
-Sterling by Musicman SUB SB 4 (which is a Sterling - the body style)
-Sterling by Musicman Ray 34/35 in various configurations
-Sterling by Music Man short-scale Stingray
-Sterling by Musicman SB 14
-EBMM SUB (USA made both Stingray and Sterling body shapes with slab bodies and painted necks)
EBMM Stingray 4/5 - in various configurations
EBMM short-scale Stingray
EBMM Sterling 4/5 - in various configurations

I’m sure I’m forgetting some, but so does that make it clear as mud?

Confusing!!
I have the indo made ray4. Used to be called Sub4. SBMM? IMSMM (Indo made sterling music man? ) Maybe I remove the name and be done with it.

 

[beatdatthang]

I’ve posted this before, but it bears repeating. It’s not really that confusing when you think about it. The SB4 is not on this chart, as it was discontinued some years ago.

View attachment 3939876

Sure, but who carries around a chart and more importantly, who (who already isn’t a Music Man fan or owner) can tell the difference between an EBMM Sterling and a SBMM well, anything?

The point I’m trying to make is, if they wanted a bass model named the “Sterling” they never should’ve allowed the Asian imports to be called Sterling by Music Man. If they we’re going to use “Sterling” for the imports, they should’ve renamed the USA Sterling Model. They’ve got a lot to choose from seeing as how they cancelled all their other models.

It would be like if Fender, instead of using Squier by Fender, decided to call all Squiers “Precision by Fender”. How confusing would that be? Oh man, give me that Precision by Fender Jazz Bass!

 

[JakobT]

Sure, but who carries around a chart and more importantly, who (who already isn’t a Music Man fan or owner) can tell the difference between an EBMM Sterling and a SBMM well, anything?

The point I’m trying to make is, if they wanted a bass model named the “Sterling” they never should’ve allowed the Asian imports to be called Sterling by Music Man. If they we’re going to use “Sterling” for the imports, they should’ve renamed the USA Sterling Model. They’ve got a lot to choose from seeing as how they cancelled all their other models.

It would be like if Fender, instead of using Squier by Fender, decided to call all Squiers “Precision by Fender”. How confusing would that be? Oh man, give me that Precision by Fender Jazz Bass!

I agree that the naming conventions aren’t the best.

That said, however, I don’t think your example is accurate. In reality, the naming system is more or less the same as Fender does with Squier. It’s «Squier designed and backed by Fender» and «Sterling by Musicman» A Squier Precision is still a Precision, and a Sterling by Musicman StingRay is still a StingRay.

The only difference between the two is that the waters are somewhat muddied by the fact that Ernie Ball Musicman has a single model called Sterling. Slightly confusing, perhaps, but nowhere near as perplexing as people make it out to be, IMHO. In retrospect, it would probably have been wiser not to use «Sterling» in the name of the import line, but what’s done is done, and again, it isn’t really that difficult.

 

[micguy]

Congratulations! You purchased one of a dozen Sting-rayish models, all of which have names so confusing that even folks at the factories can't keep them straight.

 

[Pings Bass]

Well I don't know why a Sterling by MusicMan SUB series Ray 4 could be confusing, when Ernie Ball MusicMan produces a high-end US-made bass called a Sterling and there used to be US-made SUBs and later model Sterling by MusicMan SUB Ray 4s now branded Stingray on the headstock.

But in all seriousness, I picked one of those up on the cheap used and couldn't be happier with it for the price I paid. Less than a new set strings on the Kay, plays and sounds great, looks fine, and doesn't weigh a ton.

Edit: sorry,m I see that it's not a Ray 4 like I have My god what a branding nightmare.

 

[nnnnnn]

and no control plate

Which is much cooler than the normal Music Man control plate. Nice choice.

 

[edencab]

I have the same SUB series, but I have a control plate made in Indonesia...added D'Addario tapewounds and a tort pickguard...sounds great, neck feels great, band loves it, goes boom boom boom