• Ernie Ball
  • MusicMan
  • Sterling by MusicMan

LundeImages

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2025
Messages
3
Location
Norway
I'll try to keep this short. I bought a Stingray 5 BFR Moonbeam last fall through an authorized Ernie Ball dealer. It has always played like a bass—just a bad one. I've changed strings five times, hoping to find the sound I was looking for.

Last week, I put on a fresh set of strings, plugged the bass into Logic, and started playing. Finally, there was the tone I had been chasing! But then, suddenly—mid-bar—it disappeared, snapping back to the same dull, lifeless sound I'd been dealing with all along. If I hadn’t been recording in Logic, I would have booked a doctor’s appointment.

After a couple of hours of troubleshooting, I discovered that the bass actually does sound like a proper Stingray—but only when I give the battery compartment a push. I must have accidentally touched it when changing the strings.

That trick worked for a day or two. Now, I can’t get the preamp to function at all.

Normally, when an active bass has a dead battery, it either stops producing sound or distorts heavily. This one just keeps going, but with a completely uninspiring tone.

To be honest, this bass has been a letdown from day one. It arrived with a terrible setup, the certificate of authenticity was forgotten and had to be sent separately, the preamp has never worked properly, and now I can't even get a response from support. As if that wasn’t enough, I don’t even live on the same continent as Ernie Ball. I’m seriously considering having a tech rip out all of it, and install something that actually works.
 

nebadon

Active member
Joined
Jan 1, 2019
Messages
43
Location
Moyock, NC
Sorry to hear about your troubles
I would get a Tech to look at to see if it's an easy fix. Before ripping out preamp:) Guessing something amiss between battery,box and pre getting proper power
 

LundeImages

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2025
Messages
3
Location
Norway
Sorry to hear about your troubles
I would get a Tech to look at to see if it's an easy fix. Before ripping out preamp:) Guessing something amiss between battery,box and pre getting proper power
Thanks, I just got reply from EB... and I've bought a multimeter ;)
 

nhbassguitar

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
122
Shim the bottom of each battery for a tighter fit against the mating contacts. Total thickness no more than 1 mm or maybe 2. Try 1 first. The cardboard at the back of a typical spiral notebook is a good thickness to start with. Cut out 2 little rectangular pieces. You can tape them onto the bottoms of the batteries with electrical tape.
 

LundeImages

New member
Joined
Feb 3, 2025
Messages
3
Location
Norway
Shim the bottom of each battery for a tighter fit against the mating contacts. Total thickness no more than 1 mm or maybe 2. Try 1 first. The cardboard at the back of a typical spiral notebook is a good thickness to start with. Cut out 2 little rectangular pieces. You can tape them onto the bottoms of the batteries with electrical tape.
Thanks for the tip! I've tried without success, but It seems like the problem is not the battery box as I'm able to measure 9v volts x 2 on the circuit board.
 

nhbassguitar

Well-known member
Joined
Dec 31, 2015
Messages
122
Wow. I'm shaking my head in disgust and I'm not even the owner.

Take a close look at the selector switch to see if you can find any dodgy solder connections there, disconnected short jumper wires, and so on.

Also check in there to see if any wires are getting pinched, especially ones that run close to the battery box. You might want to unscrew & remove the battery box and see if it was crushing one or more wires. (I suggest this because you said the sound changed when you pushed on the battery box.)

What a mess... 😡
 

tbonesullivan

Well-known member
Joined
Aug 24, 2012
Messages
2,374
Location
New Jersey
Have you contacted the dealer you bought it from yet? EBMM is in the U.S., so any warranty type stuff would need to go through the dealer. If this was my bass, I would have pulled the battery box off of the back of the bass to see if there was some type of short or other issue. I can't remember whether the connection between the two batteries is through the contacts themselves, or whether it is done through wiring.
 

mynan

Well-known member
Joined
Feb 25, 2007
Messages
2,680
Location
Spring Lake, MI
Have you contacted the dealer you bought it from yet? EBMM is in the U.S., so any warranty type stuff would need to go through the dealer.
☝️This. This is clearly an issue that should be taken up with the dealer you purchased the bass from. They might put you in touch with the distributor for your region, but EBMM customer support is probably going to do the same thing.
 
Top Bottom