Stingray Ceramic Pickups

[SGD Lutherie]

I did a bunch of basses for a guy some years back like this:

He used the ceramic Basslines pickups because he wanted a bright tone. I did a matching pair one time, with one bass having a ceramic and the other having an alnico.

The alnico was a little softer sounding in the high end, and not as punchy. But this was when you compared them side by side. The ceramics aren't harsh, but they are brighter. If it's too bright that's what the treble control on the amp is for.

 

[narud]

part of the sterling's sound is the preamp. not just the ceramic pickup. the pre has some pretty brittle sounding highs and booming lows. years ago i put a duncan alnico pickup in my sterling and the parallel setting was kind of a mess. thin with zero upper mid grind when you turned up the highs. it just got more glassy. i couldnt keep the highs flat. it did have the spongier attack i expected though from that pickup.

fast forward to last month. i completely gutted my sterling and put the duncan alnico pickup in along with the 2 band stingray circuit. with the ray pre it sounded completely different and just like a ray (duh). turning up the highs ends up adding some grit with that circuit rather than glass. the lows arent as overpowering either.

 

[smeet]

So in a 2007 Stingray 5 (ceramic pickups, 3-band Ray pre), would boosting the highs give me glass, or upper mid grind?

 

[depalm]

I own both, Sterling and Ray. The first came with ceramic PUs but I prefer the warmth of alnico.

I replaced it with a Nordstrand (alnico), it made the Sterling sound much better, in a traditional Music Man way.

 

[DaveAceofBass]

I have a Kinal with Kent Armstrong J/MM pickups. It has ceramics, but I thought about going to Alnico. Kent said it would make it sound very muddy, but with the John East MMSR preamp I have now the bass sounds a bit too "shrill" in the high end. Should I go with the alnico or try a different preamp? It's not a MM bass, just a MM-style bass, kind of blending features of the EB, Lakland, and Modulus Flea bass into one. Any advice? I was thinking Aguilar OBP-3 or an EBS pre.