Really, i just want to upgrade the PICKUP. I want to keep that musicman sound but am looking for a better pickup in my SUB Sterling(sb4) that will get it closer to the STINGRAY sound. I want a punchy low end and bright high end. I play funk/ hard rock. What pickup would be best for SLAP. Im looking into either EMG or Seymour Duncan. Which is better and which model is best?
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Turning a MM SUB Sterling into a Stingray
- Thread starter GTH007
- Start date
You appear to have asked the same question here as in the 'Pickups' forum, so I will post the same reply here...
Over the last few days I have played 3 EBMM (2x 2-band and 1x 3-band), an SBMM Ray34 3-band (my own) and a SubRay. If I were to be brutally honest, they all capture the essence of the Stingray sound and the main differences were in materials, hardware quality and playability rather than overall sound - all three are capable of 'the sound', but the way they respond to the player, and therefore what the player needs to do to achieve 'the sound', is different.
IMO, the pickups on the SUB are fundamentally good and a poor setup can make a 'real' ray (or any instrument for that matter) sound terrible. On one of the 2-band EBMMs I tried, the pickup height on the bass side was too high by about 1mm and it was producing horrible wolf tones and a weird 'tremolo' effect above the 12th fret. A few seconds with a screwdriver fixed this and changed the whole character and tonal balance of the bass across the whole range.
FWIW, I would try getting the most out of what you have before shelling out on a new pickup. Even then, if the instrument is not very responsive or is badly set up, no new pickup will compensate for that.
Over the last few days I have played 3 EBMM (2x 2-band and 1x 3-band), an SBMM Ray34 3-band (my own) and a SubRay. If I were to be brutally honest, they all capture the essence of the Stingray sound and the main differences were in materials, hardware quality and playability rather than overall sound - all three are capable of 'the sound', but the way they respond to the player, and therefore what the player needs to do to achieve 'the sound', is different.
IMO, the pickups on the SUB are fundamentally good and a poor setup can make a 'real' ray (or any instrument for that matter) sound terrible. On one of the 2-band EBMMs I tried, the pickup height on the bass side was too high by about 1mm and it was producing horrible wolf tones and a weird 'tremolo' effect above the 12th fret. A few seconds with a screwdriver fixed this and changed the whole character and tonal balance of the bass across the whole range.
FWIW, I would try getting the most out of what you have before shelling out on a new pickup. Even then, if the instrument is not very responsive or is badly set up, no new pickup will compensate for that.
Ok thankyou, I'll look into the Seymour Duncan. Steve, i do believe I'm getting the most out of what i have, but i just want more lol. Not disappointed with it, i just figured the parts are cheaper than the real ray(obviously) so if i were to replace one part, it would be the pickup.
i have the seymour duncan, but with the ceramic magnets, in one of my basses. it is powerful. i paired it with a tone monster 3 band, active/passive preamp. i can tame any sound i want out of it. it is very bright, it can also be very low, deep, or growly, and has plenty of midrange. i love it.
You may be better served by saving and upgrading your amp. What amp are you playing through and what are your eq settings?
This may sound kind of crazy at first. But I currently own a musicman and previously owned two others. If it was me and I wanted to change the pickup in a SUB, I'd probably try to find a actual musicman neodymium pickup. The reason I say this is if I'm not mistaken. your Sub bass has a different body wood than a stingray. If it's basswood, the neodymium pickups are what musicman actually picked to go in the bongos which has a basswood body.
Basically over the years musicman has used severel different versions of their famous big pickups. They used neodymium magnets, ceramic magnets , alnico magnets. But the neos are what musicman actually went with for the bongos which I believe share the same body wood as the sub.
There's plenty of brands and different models.
Delano might be a good choice.
Here's a couple of clips that made me want to buy them.
Notice the tone is slightly different in each one.
Delano MC-4 Dual Coil
Delano Hybrid 4
Seymour Duncan Bassline
Delano might be a good choice.
Here's a couple of clips that made me want to buy them.
Notice the tone is slightly different in each one.
Delano MC-4 Dual Coil
Delano Hybrid 4
Seymour Duncan Bassline
I have an EMG MMCS which is, I believe (and correct me if I'm wrong...) the active version of the MMHZ - both are "ceramic and steel" pickups. The MMCS comes with the preamp and tone and volume controls. I added in a BTS Control for bass and treble. I stuck the whole lot in a Vintage brand Stingray copy and I love it to bits. Very good bottom end and plenty of zing too. Will probably add the parametric mid at some point just for the fun of it. The MMHZ is just the pickup on its own and leaves you the choice of pre-amp. Might be worth going for the MMCS if you want the whole lot in one go (and add the BTC Control 
).
On reflection, I guess the MMHZ is just the passive part of the MMCS setup - i.e. just the pickup. The MMCS pickup is passive too... you just get the pre-amp in the box with it.
).On reflection, I guess the MMHZ is just the passive part of the MMCS setup - i.e. just the pickup. The MMCS pickup is passive too... you just get the pre-amp in the box with it.
