NBD: On The Ray4 Bandwagon

Evan J

Evan J

Sep 27, 2023
441
774
991
30
Seattle WA
#1
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After the success of my MIM P pickup upgrade, I got inspired to get an even cheaper bass too see how a pickup upgrade would go. I have been on the hunt for a Sting Ray for a while. So the Sub Series Ray 4 was an obvious choice.

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Putting the Aguilar in later this week.

Initial thoughts:
- Easily the best feeling neck of a bass in this price range I have ever tried.
- Needed a tiny truss rod adjustment and intonation out of the box. But overall I was very impressed with the condition considering the Amazon delivery.
- Preamp all the way down is my favorite sound so far. My DCX works as a better preamp, obviously.

Questions
1. Has anyone ever made one of these passive? How was it?
2. If I wanted a new 2 band preamp, what would you pick? Or should I just go 3 band and grab the Aguilar to match?

Also… in case you needed an anxiety spike today. Here’s what it looked like inside the Amazon truck:
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#3
Nice bass! I've been curious about Musicman replacement pickups. It seems to me that part of the Stingray tone is inherent to the pickup, and I wonder what is the philosophy behind the various replacement pickups from Aguilar, Nordstand, Seymour Duncan etc. Are they supposed to sound different than the MM pickup or are they supposed to approximate the tone?
Anyways, very cool bass, love the color, and I hope the pickup does what you want!
 
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#6
shirojiro said:
Nice bass! I've been curious about Musicman replacement pickups. It seems to me that part of the Stingray tone is inherent to the pickup, and I wonder what is the philosophy behind the various replacement pickups from Aguilar, Nordstand, Seymour Duncan etc. Are they supposed to sound different than the MM pickup or are they supposed to approximate the tone?
Anyways, very cool bass, love the color, and I hope the pickup does what you want!
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Seems to me like each brand goes for their own flavor. Some are a bit more modern, some are more abstract, and some are more classic. From what I can tell, the Aguilar is a better representation of the classic Sting Ray tone than the low end Sterling pickups. The sterlings are a pretty hot and not super clear. The Aguilar (from the demos) is a bit more mid focused, and has quite a bit more clarity.
 
#8
Evan J said:
Seems to me like each brand goes for their own flavor. Some are a bit more modern, some are more abstract, and some are more classic. From what I can tell, the Aguilar is a better representation of the classic Sting Ray tone than the low end Sterling pickups. The sterlings are a pretty hot and not super clear. The Aguilar (from the demos) is a bit more mid focused, and has quite a bit more clarity.
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Ooo I'll keep that in mind for when my Joe Dart Sterling comes in.

I want to see about MAYBE adding a second pickup and running them both passive. with a 3 way pickup selector
 
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#9
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Speaking of Joe Dart. Here is my first mod for this bass. It’s a poor man’s Joe Dart Jr setup. No knobs. Just wired straight to output.

Brilliant or an abomination? Remains to be seen.

Output is pretty low as you would expect. But I can easily make up for that with board. The Origin DCX preamp is paring very nicely with this pickup.

So far it’s sounding lovely.
 
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#10
Evan J said:
View attachment 7009994Speaking of Joe Dart. Here is my first mod for this bass. It’s a poor man’s Joe Dart Jr setup. No knobs. Just wired straight to output.

Brilliant or an abomination? Remains to be seen.

Output is pretty low as you would expect. But I can easily make up for that with board. The Origin DCX preamp is paring very nicely with this pickup.

So far it’s sounding lovely.
Click to expand...
P.S. for the ocd folks out there. I had to wire the output one space forward because the pickup wires didn’t reach. Classy I know.
 
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#11
lowendblues said:
The pickup in mine is extremely hot, downright harsh sounding. I'd be very interested in a passive wiring diagram.
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Depends on the era of sterling. My first was stupidly hot. My second Sterling was much better. As I understand it, the Aguilar pickup and pre-amp is the closest to a stock MM setup.

Now watching this thread because I really want to upgrade my second Sterling. I went the EMG route on my first Sterling.....want to try something else this time.

The EMG was just meh....
 
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#15
Nuisance said:
Depends on the era of sterling. My first was stupidly hot. My second Sterling was much better. As I understand it, the Aguilar pickup and pre-amp is the closest to a stock MM setup.

Now watching this thread because I really want to upgrade my second Sterling. I went the EMG route on my first Sterling.....want to try something else this time.

The EMG was just meh....
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The Bosko 2 band pre is a clone of the original '70s 2 band pre. I'm getting one once my redundancy check comes through. The pots also have solid shafts, in sympathy with the originals (& subsequent EBMM 'Rays).
 
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#16
1. Congrats on coming over to the Ray4 side. Nice bass. I bought one in 2019 to see what all the hype was all about. I have played it at most every gig since. I have since sold 2 my 2 fender p basses, fender jazz, & p/j. The sound is great. Not muddy/thuddy like a p bass, has a bigger sound than a jazz. I use EB regular slinky’s, play between the neck & pickup. No pedals, I get compliments on the sound frequently. Even from other bass players.
I have recently bought a USA made SUB! I should have made this change years ago! Still rocking the Ray4 too!
 
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#18
Nuisance said:
Depends on the era of sterling. My first was stupidly hot. My second Sterling was much better. As I understand it, the Aguilar pickup and pre-amp is the closest to a stock MM setup.

Now watching this thread because I really want to upgrade my second Sterling. I went the EMG route on my first Sterling.....want to try something else this time.

The EMG was just meh....
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This pickup is holding very well on its own. Plenty of clarity, it’s got the stingray perr, and a nice vintage knock to the sound.
 
#19
bigdaddybass12 said:
1. Congrats on coming over to the Ray4 side. Nice bass. I bought one in 2019 to see what all the hype was all about. I have played it at most every gig since. I have since sold 2 my 2 fender p basses, fender jazz, & p/j. The sound is great. Not muddy/thuddy like a p bass, has a bigger sound than a jazz. I use EB regular slinky’s, play between the neck & pickup. No pedals, I get compliments on the sound frequently. Even from other bass players.
I have recently bought a USA made SUB! I should have made this change years ago! Still rocking the Ray4 too!
Click to expand...
I haven’t played it live yet but I bet it fits in the mix so easily. I miss my Yamaha BB for this reason. The quality of the upper mids really shined in a mix.
 
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