b-unit
Well-known member
- Joined
- Mar 10, 2006
- Messages
- 528
Well my fifth Ernie Ball finally arrived from New Jersey this week and I am not in any way disappointed! The seller advised he had bought this baby earlier this year and that it is a 2009 or 2010 model. She has the alnico pup for sure and so far comparing it to my ceramic equipped SR5 has been interesting.
I have to say, the bass arrived with one real wonky setup. There was no relief in the neck at all and the bridge saddles were cranked up super high. The bass had completely dead strings and was clearly not set up properly at all. I am no master of setting up a bass but after a bit of browsing here on the forum, I was able to make some good corrections and have her set up to sound and feel like my Trans Orange SR5. New Slinkys of course after a fretboard treatment and she is ready to rock.
So after setting both basses up with new Slinkys I was able to go back and forth between the two and listen strictly to the difference in pickups. Both basses are lefty SR5's with the single H and rosewood fretboard. The pickup is the only real difference other then the color. They both weigh in at about 10 pounds and the necks feel extremely similar if not identical.
So the ceramic equipped SR5 has that super bright snap and sizzle in parallel mode so familiar to the Sterling. Lots of growly mids and presence. The series mode sounds a lot thumpier and darker with less brightness and sizzle. This bass has imprinted its tone in my head and I use the parallel mode almost exclusively.
The new bass has a thumpier rounded tone with less high end and a tad more warmth then her ceramic equipped sibling. It sounds much closer to my single H SR4s which makes sense. I noticed that the three way series/single coil/parallel switch amlost seems to have less effect on the tone then the other SR5 although the parallel mode clearly has the slightly brighter top end over the series mode.
I really like what each one brings to the table and am very glad to have one of each. After a thorough setup, the new SR5 plays like a dream and the color is really amazing. I could not get the sparkle to come out in the photos using my crappy camera on this cloudy day, but she really glitters in bright light and the combo of the silver with black pearl pick guard looks very classy to me. So here is number 5:
I have to say, the bass arrived with one real wonky setup. There was no relief in the neck at all and the bridge saddles were cranked up super high. The bass had completely dead strings and was clearly not set up properly at all. I am no master of setting up a bass but after a bit of browsing here on the forum, I was able to make some good corrections and have her set up to sound and feel like my Trans Orange SR5. New Slinkys of course after a fretboard treatment and she is ready to rock.
So after setting both basses up with new Slinkys I was able to go back and forth between the two and listen strictly to the difference in pickups. Both basses are lefty SR5's with the single H and rosewood fretboard. The pickup is the only real difference other then the color. They both weigh in at about 10 pounds and the necks feel extremely similar if not identical.
So the ceramic equipped SR5 has that super bright snap and sizzle in parallel mode so familiar to the Sterling. Lots of growly mids and presence. The series mode sounds a lot thumpier and darker with less brightness and sizzle. This bass has imprinted its tone in my head and I use the parallel mode almost exclusively.
The new bass has a thumpier rounded tone with less high end and a tad more warmth then her ceramic equipped sibling. It sounds much closer to my single H SR4s which makes sense. I noticed that the three way series/single coil/parallel switch amlost seems to have less effect on the tone then the other SR5 although the parallel mode clearly has the slightly brighter top end over the series mode.
I really like what each one brings to the table and am very glad to have one of each. After a thorough setup, the new SR5 plays like a dream and the color is really amazing. I could not get the sparkle to come out in the photos using my crappy camera on this cloudy day, but she really glitters in bright light and the combo of the silver with black pearl pick guard looks very classy to me. So here is number 5:
