Stingray 5 EMG Pickup Mod

[TJH3113]

I enjoy learning songs and uploading cover videos and haven't played much outside of my room for many years. I don't really enjoy playing a 5 string very much, but for certain material they are a necessity. I've got a ton of 4 strings, but only one 5 which is a holdover from when I used to play out. It's a 2006 ErnieBall MusicMan Stingray 5 and it worked well for everything. It's a great utilitarian bass. However, I've always struggled to get a sound I was happy with for my cover videos - the bass just sat too well into the mix and, for what I'm doing, I like a bass that "sticks out" a bit more. I was considering getting another bass, but this bass is really stable and comfortable to play. That's when I got to thinking... I'm not really a Precision guy either, but I'd gotten a Westbury Track 2 a while back that had a single P p/u that was pushed back towards the bridge a bit and I loved how it sounded. What if I could put a P p/u in the MusicMan? I've ordered a bunch of stuff from EMG in the past and, because I prefer Alnico magnets, I often have had to call them instead of ordering on-line (some of their Alnico stuff is not on their website). I called and (while I didn't know who it was at the time) spoke to Alison Turner. I asked her if they would be able to put one of their 40PA pickups into a MusicMan housing. She didn't hang up on me and asked a few great follow up questions. She said it sounded like it might be possible, but she'd have to check with the engineers/techs to make sure it could be done. It was and they made it for me. I found out later that Alison was the Vice President of Sales for EMG. She is also Rick Turner's daughter. She could not have been nicer, especially in dealing with some "Joey Bag-A-Donuts" off the street. Talk about great customer service! I'm running it with an EMG BTC preamp.

Here's the inspiration...


And here's how it sound in a mix...


And on its own...

 

[PotsdamBass8]

Last week I called EMG as well, and enquired about a set of 40PAX pickups since they aren’t listed on the site. I talked to… Alison of course… and she gladly helped me out. Mine came today and I popped them in my Spector Bantam 5, and they sound great. I’ve had some other interactions with EMG and they really do seem to be just as helpful and accommodating as the little companies.

 

[TJH3113]

Last week I called EMG as well, and enquired about a set of 40PAX pickups since they aren’t listed on the site. I talked to… Alison of course… and she gladly helped me out. Mine came today and I popped them in my Spector Bantam 5, and they sound great. I’ve had some other interactions with EMG and they really do seem to be just as helpful and accommodating as the little companies.

I was so impressed by my first conversation with Alison that, when I learned her full name from an e-mail, I was compelled to put a name with the face. I Googled her and was astonished to learn who she was. They make pickups for Metallica, Les Claypool, and Geezer Butler and countless others... for a company of that esteem to make a "custom" pickup for some guy on the phone just blew me away.
Edit: I got my first set of Alnicos by mistake and have never turned back.

 

[TJH3113]

Here’s what the p/u looks like.

 

[scuzzy]

it's refreshing to read a post from someone that is bragging about great service received. many will get vocal about bad service, and ignore excellent service.

EMG has been great for me as well. They are prompt to respond and thorough.

 

[stambroker]

I enjoy learning songs and uploading cover videos and haven't played much outside of my room for many years. I don't really enjoy playing a 5 string very much, but for certain material they are a necessity. I've got a ton of 4 strings, but only one 5 which is a holdover from when I used to play out. It's a 2006 ErnieBall MusicMan Stingray 5 and it worked well for everything. It's a great utilitarian bass. However, I've always struggled to get a sound I was happy with for my cover videos - the bass just sat too well into the mix and, for what I'm doing, I like a bass that "sticks out" a bit more. I was considering getting another bass, but this bass is really stable and comfortable to play. That's when I got to thinking... I'm not really a Precision guy either, but I'd gotten a Westbury Track 2 a while back that had a single P p/u that was pushed back towards the bridge a bit and I loved how it sounded. What if I could put a P p/u in the MusicMan? I've ordered a bunch of stuff from EMG in the past and, because I prefer Alnico magnets, I often have had to call them instead of ordering on-line (some of their Alnico stuff is not on their website). I called and (while I didn't know who it was at the time) spoke to Alison Turner. I asked her if they would be able to put one of their 40PA pickups into a MusicMan housing. She didn't hang up on me and asked a few great follow up questions. She said it sounded like it might be possible, but she'd have to check with the engineers/techs to make sure it could be done. It was and they made it for me. I found out later that Alison was the Vice President of Sales for EMG. She is also Rick Turner's daughter. She could not have been nicer, especially in dealing with some "Joey Bag-A-Donuts" off the street. Talk about great customer service! I'm running it with an EMG BTC preamp.

Here's the inspiration...
View attachment 5110686

And here's how it sound in a mix...


And on its own...

Super cool story and even cooler bass tone. It sounds really fantastic in the mix!!! Are you playing straight into interface, or what amp setup are you running?

 

[Z-Bass]

Very cool! Sounds great. It's very noticeable about the pickup placement. Still has that Stingray slice but with more grunt. Based on the one pic, it looks like the pickup is in a reverse precision orientation?

 

[TJH3113]

Very cool! Sounds great. It's very noticeable about the pickup placement. Still has that Stingray slice but with more grunt. Based on the one pic, it looks like the pickup is in a reverse precision orientation?

Thanks! I was really surprised at how much of the Stingray sound remained after replacing the p/u and preamp. Yes, EMG's Precision p/u's (in soapbox formats) are "Reverse P" by default. If you want a traditional magnet layout from them you have to order it as a "reverse"... haha. That being said, I'm a big fan of the Reverse-P thing.

 

[TJH3113]

it's refreshing to read a post from someone that is bragging about great service received. many will get vocal about bad service, and ignore excellent service.

EMG has been great for me as well. They are prompt to respond and thorough.

Though I very rarely complain about bad service, I am generally guilty of ignoring good service. This was so over the top, especially coming from a company of their size and stature, I just couldn't ignore it. Even though this experiment didn't accomplish everything I was hoping it would, I still feel great about my experience with EMG.

 

[TJH3113]

Super cool story and even cooler bass tone. It sounds really fantastic in the mix!!! Are you playing straight into interface, or what amp setup are you running?

Thanks! I use GarageBand just to generate my sound (with a bit of GarageBand preset compression) and all of my EQ comes from a SansAmp pedal. I bounce back and forth between a Bass Driver Ver. 2 and a Para-Driver. This was a Para-Driver. My bass and the record music go from the headphone output of my desktop speakers straight into the camera.

 

[Nebadon2000]

I enjoy learning songs and uploading cover videos and haven't played much outside of my room for many years. I don't really enjoy playing a 5 string very much, but for certain material they are a necessity. I've got a ton of 4 strings, but only one 5 which is a holdover from when I used to play out. It's a 2006 ErnieBall MusicMan Stingray 5 and it worked well for everything. It's a great utilitarian bass. However, I've always struggled to get a sound I was happy with for my cover videos - the bass just sat too well into the mix and, for what I'm doing, I like a bass that "sticks out" a bit more. I was considering getting another bass, but this bass is really stable and comfortable to play. That's when I got to thinking... I'm not really a Precision guy either, but I'd gotten a Westbury Track 2 a while back that had a single P p/u that was pushed back towards the bridge a bit and I loved how it sounded. What if I could put a P p/u in the MusicMan? I've ordered a bunch of stuff from EMG in the past and, because I prefer Alnico magnets, I often have had to call them instead of ordering on-line (some of their Alnico stuff is not on their website). I called and (while I didn't know who it was at the time) spoke to Alison Turner. I asked her if they would be able to put one of their 40PA pickups into a MusicMan housing. She didn't hang up on me and asked a few great follow up questions. She said it sounded like it might be possible, but she'd have to check with the engineers/techs to make sure it could be done. It was and they made it for me. I found out later that Alison was the Vice President of Sales for EMG. She is also Rick Turner's daughter. She could not have been nicer, especially in dealing with some "Joey Bag-A-Donuts" off the street. Talk about great customer service! I'm running it with an EMG BTC preamp.

Here's the inspiration...
View attachment 5110686

And here's how it sound in a mix...


And on its own...

You do a great job with Covers: Used them many times, Sound, Playing, accuracy and tone always excellent
Can't mistake that background