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Sterling 4 H tone question

SugarMaple

SugarMaple

Well-known member
Joined
May 16, 2007
Messages
52
Location
Central Illinois
Background: my favorite bass is my '09 Sterling 4 HS. I love the neck! I also love the grindy tone of the rear humbucker for my fingerstyle playing, and I find the bridge singlecoil sound very useful for learning basslines off of recordings and rehearsing at times. Prior to discovering the Sterling, my favorite bass was my '07 Stingray HS. Because I play mostly fingerstyle, my favorite tones on that one were the rear humbucker and the bridge singlecoil as well. This past weekend, I got asked to fill in on bass for a classic rock outfit with two distorted guitars, so I took the Stingray instead of the Sterling for a change. Besides playing, I got to sit out in the crowd and listen to a buddy play a couple of songs with it, and I was glad I chose it for that gig, because the Stingray rear humbucker fit in really well in that mix.

Question: That got me thinking... wouldn't it be nice if I could get all three sounds (Stingray parallel humbucker, Sterling series humbucker, and rear singlecoil) on one bass? I did some looking, and if I'm reading the schematics correctly, it looks like the Sterling H with the three-way switch might do just that (or reasonably close for the 'Ray sound), with the slim Sterling neck I love. Am I way off bass here, or does that sound about right?

Thanks for any feedback!
 
Yes...I would say the Sterling H seems exactly what you want. For a really good Stingray-like tone on the parallel humbucker I'd turn down the mids about 1/2 way or more and slightly boost the treble a bit. It's not 100% like a Stingray but is very close IMO.
 
SugarMaple said:
Background: my favorite bass is my '09 Sterling 4 HS. I love the neck! I also love the grindy tone of the rear humbucker for my fingerstyle playing, and I find the bridge singlecoil sound very useful for learning basslines off of recordings and rehearsing at times. Prior to discovering the Sterling, my favorite bass was my '07 Stingray HS. Because I play mostly fingerstyle, my favorite tones on that one were the rear humbucker and the bridge singlecoil as well. This past weekend, I got asked to fill in on bass for a classic rock outfit with two distorted guitars, so I took the Stingray instead of the Sterling for a change. Besides playing, I got to sit out in the crowd and listen to a buddy play a couple of songs with it, and I was glad I chose it for that gig, because the Stingray rear humbucker fit in really well in that mix.

Question: That got me thinking... wouldn't it be nice if I could get all three sounds (Stingray parallel humbucker, Sterling series humbucker, and rear singlecoil) on one bass? I did some looking, and if I'm reading the schematics correctly, it looks like the Sterling H with the three-way switch might do just that (or reasonably close for the 'Ray sound), with the slim Sterling neck I love. Am I way off bass here, or does that sound about right?

Thanks for any feedback!
Click to expand...
Sounds about right. I love my sterling H it is verry agressive but can do the mellower sr4 sound pretty well too!
 
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Love mine!
 
You should be right with the Sterling H. However, your Stingray HS has ALNICO Pubs while your Sterling HS has ceramics. At least to my ears there's a significant difference between the Ceramic and the ALNICO parallel sound. Thus, getting a Sterling H will not exactly bring you the mix of Stingray parallel + Sterling series. (Well in some way it does since the Sterling H is the four string twin of the StingRay 5 as built between 1993 and 2008).
 
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