EQ Questions

[msbass]

I'm new to Music Man Basses. Just recently, I bought a Stingray with the 3 band EQ. Can anyone give me some clarification on the controls? I've checked out the schematics, but my knobs have no detent position and the knob closest to the input jack has a push/pull pot. Just curious if anyone out there had any information.

 

[73jbass]

If its a factory preamp it should have center detents. Sounds like an aftermarket preamp.

 

[uOpt]

Push/pull switch sound like this is the Seymour Duncan preamp. The switch puts it into "slap mode" which is some form of scooping.

The preamp itself is a straightforward 3-band, as opposed to the normal SR 3-band which is a bit more complicated.

You can verify whether it is the SD by posting a photo of the preamp, you only have to remove the screws on the top place on a SR4.

If you have an original MM pickup with the SD preamp that probably sounds pretty bad. The MM pickup with the parallel coils kind of needs the MM preamp.

 

[Golem]

`

Certainly does sound like an SD. The SD EQ-pre is,
often as not, installed with a BassLines PU. Is there
a BassLines logo on your PU ?

 

[msbass]

It is the Music Man pickup. No BassLines logo. The place I bought it from says they sold it to me new. Whether or not that is the case, is there anywhere that sells the original pre-amp?

 

[Golem]

`

IIRC MM made a few special models with bypass on
the pot nearest to the jack IOW an "active/passive"
selector. The one I've actually played in a shop was
a whorehouse 5-string [white and gold, etc] but for
all I know there were some others. A picture would
be waaaay helpful here ?

BTW, depending on manufacturing tolerances and
luck, it's sometimes possible to defeat the center
clicks by adding an additional washer on the shaft,
not that one should normally find that on a new ax.

 

[uOpt]

It is the Music Man pickup. No BassLines logo. The place I bought it from says they sold it to me new. Whether or not that is the case, is there anywhere that sells the original pre-amp?

No, you can't buy it new and it is very expensive used. However, sometimes people remove the logo. It would be great if you could photograph the underside of the pickup and the preamp. It's just a couple screws.

I can't play your bass but from my testing I think you can't use the SD preamp with a parallel MM pickup, it should sound thin until you do more work to fix it.

 

[msbass]

Pictures will be posted some time tomorrow evening. Sorry for the delay.

 

[msbass]

Here are a few pics. If I need to post them from different angles, I can.

 

[uOpt]

That's not the SD preamp.

The underside of the pickup would be interesting.

The beveled polepiece don't look MM-ish to me but I would have to wait to go home to see whether they match Seymour Duncan.

Either way, if it is a SD pickup then there is the SMB-4A and -4D which you can only see from the underside. If it is a Music Man pickup with a non-MM preamp then you might want to put it into series mode, which is easy on some MM pickups and difficult on others.

 

[msbass]

UPDATE: I called the factory this afternoon and talked with a guy in customer service. Apparently, MM made a limited run of basses where, from neck to bridge on the bass, the controls ran volume, bass, treble, and a push pull pot that acted as an active passive switch. When pulled out, the knob acts as a tone in passive mode. Golem mentioned that in an earlier post and was dead on. Thanks for all the help guys! I really appreciate it.

 

[sanderhermans]

I tought the white classic stingrays with gold hardware (2011 pdn) where the only active/passive stingrays there are. Guess i missed these....

 

[msbass]

The guy I talked to said that they were a limited run for Guitar Center. He didn't say how limited, but did say that it wasn't very common. He also never specified a specific color or anything.