Fender P Guy. Played a EB Sterling SUB. Now I'm having identity crisis

dcgriggs79

dcgriggs79

Aug 5, 2017
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Tallahassee, FL
#1
I have a MIM P, and love it's versatile tone. I was just about set on upgrading to the '16 American PJ, as I like the idea of adding a j pup and neck. I've never considered active pups as I don't like batteries.

Was in GC this week and they had an active Sterling SUB hooked up to a Rumble 100. I have a Rumble 500 and wanted to see how the 100 sounded. So I played it.

Holy cow...what a huge tone difference. The SUB pup is bridge position so I know that makes some difference, and it's a humbucker, but I think it is the active that is making the huge tone difference. Slap tone was crazy good and overall it just :growled: Anyone else have this experience?

Now I'm confused. I don't like dealing with batteries and more controls, but now I'm wondering if I should dish out for the Elite P. I'm wondering if that would get a comparable tone? Or is the humbucker on the SUB making the difference? Heck, I'd even consider a Stingray if that is they sound they achieve. I've never played one.

You owe it to yourself to try it out
 
#2
A part of the sound is indeed the pre-amp, but the location of the pickup is also an important factor. You get those great upper mids that define the ray sound, while a P is more about the low mids.
 
#4
Buy a used, real Stingray for less than a thousand. It's almost ridiculous. I saw one here yesterday.

Batteries schmatteries. Like you, I don't want to bother with them but MM batteries are changeable in 5 seconds as the separate battery door just hinges open. You do this once every 6 months tops and I practice a lot. You can do it! I think I've gone a year, though, depending on time and basses used.
 
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#5
dcgriggs79 said:
Slap tone was crazy good
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First thing's first: Do you do a lot of slapping? If you don't, there ya go. All of my basses run an active circuit and I also use various preamps (Tone Hammer, MXR M80+, VT pedals, etc) and I, too, use Rumble amps. One thing I've noticed with the TH is that it can make nearly any bass sound like an active bass. If you're happy with passive basses, maybe give a TH (or similar) a test drive with your current setup. And, of course, the best answer would be to buy the PJ, the Elite, and the SUB. Welcome to eternal GAS!
 
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#7
Get the old USA SUB. American MM quality, same pup/preamp as the original Stingray and the superior 2 band eq. I played one for 2 or 3 years along with my P and just recently decided to go back to a passve J. Old school Ps and Js are just more of my thing but that SUB was fantastic and it cured my Ray GAS for good.
 
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#9
mouthmw said:
Get the old USA SUB. American MM quality, same pup/preamp as the original Stingray and the superior 2 band eq. I played one for 2 or 3 years along with my P and just recently decided to go back to a passve J. Old school Ps and Js are just more of my thing but that SUB was fantastic and it cured my Ray GAS for good.
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I agree . I would keep the P find a used USA SUB Ray. You'll cover a lot of ground with those 2 basses. Those USA SUB Rays are great basses .
 
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#11
I've got an American Standard P and also an EBMM SUB. My advice to you if you like the sound of the bridge humbucker and active electronics, is to go for it. The Sub Ray4 is an excellent bass for the money, but you might be happier still if you moved up to a SBMM Ray34, or a used USA SUB, or even a full-fledged Stingray. But keep your P, it can do things a Stingray can't, and vice versa.
 
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