School me on Sterling HH's

[BIGEJ2]

I currently have a Big Al 5 SSS with maple board and Stingray 5 H with rosewood. Been thinking about buying a Sterling 5 HH. My only experience with Sterlings was with a friends HS 4. Some people say the HH models tame the rawness of the Sterlings. Some say it doesn't.

Can anyone provide similarities and differences between the Sterling HH, Big Al SSS and Stingray H? Are they different enough to justify owning all three or can the Big Al and Stingray come close enough that would make owning one redundant? I currently play rock and pop but throw done funk, jazz and blues in from time to time.

 

[tunaman4u2]

Had both for a while the difference isn't that big . It would be cool to do if u can swing it but u certainly won't say it's different enough to need to keep all 3.

 

[BIGEJ2]

Thanks Tunaman.


Between the 3, which two you you say sound the closest?

 

[tunaman4u2]

Big Al SSS & Sterling HH are pretty close. The Ray H will be its own separate beast. Ride with what you have but if you have a chance to grab a Sterling HH, thats my favorite by far. Tone wise it was close to the big Al but I liked a 3 band EQ better adjusting on the fly & I prefer the pickup switch vs the buttons but thats just my subjective take.

 

[Golem]

......... Been thinking about buying a Sterling 5 HH. My only experience
with Sterlings was with a friends HS 4. Some people say the HH models
tame the rawness of the Sterlings. Some say it doesn't.

.........

Some people say the HH models tame the rawness of the Sterlings.
==========================================

That much should be true for most peeps' ears. Specifically, the full
blown all four coils setting. That setting can be pretty muddy on an
alnico SR, and so the Sterling electronics would wash off a lotta that
mudd. The other coil configs you can select on an HH are also those
which would tend to tame a hot tone by some modest amount, such
as the jazzbazz-like setting, and acoarst the neck-PU-only.

That said, if you didn't like the Sterling HS, and assuming you gave
it a real wringing out, I'm not so convinced you'll find the HH does
all you want in terms of taming the Sterling. As a non-slapper and
kinda mellow-tone-all-around player, I find the HS plenty tame with
2-outa-3 coils cooking .... that being with the bridge coil OFF. And,
its full-triple-coil tone is just a moderately hotted up version of that,
for those tunes that can be played entirely in the money zone.

My own HSs are 4-string, but you're after a 5er, so I'd say beware
of the HH being too tame and somehow muddying up your B-string.

 

[tunaman4u2]

I have the mahogany sterling hh and that tone is thick , I put steels on the bad boy to get more aggression.

I'm eyeing a sterling 5 hs with a maple neck for super aggressive tone although I wouldn't turn down an ash body maple neck sterling hh either !