Musicman Sterling Sub bass issues

[Curtis_Bass]

Hey there guys, I've got a weird ringing/rattling coming from Musicman Sterling Sub bass one of the budget series (Under £300) models. The ringing/ratting only happens when I play the low E open, I've adjusted the neck, bridge and made sure the machine heads are fully tightened e.g. the screws but the ringing/rattling is still there? I've read other forums and it seems like it's a trust rod fault but I'd like to get some more knowledge on this.

Also the low E makes the pickup clip and distorted no matter how low the pickup is there, I'm thinking of throwing in a Seymour Duncan SMB4D to solve this hopefully but that pickup is for a 3 band EQ preamp but the Sub is 2 band is there a way to wiring it into a 2 band instead of a 3 band?

Sorry for rambling and such but I bought the bass new a few days ago I tried it out in the shop I didn't notice these faults in store only since I've tried it out at home, maybe because there was other musicians about trying stuff so I wasn't able to hear the faults? The shop is 2 hours a way so just simple popping back isn't easy for me, seeing as I can't travel easily due to health. So any advice would be awesome!!

[Cosmo Valdemar]

[quote name='Curtis_Bass' timestamp='1481200763' post='3190427']
Hey there guys, I've got a weird ringing/rattling coming from Musicman Sterling Sub bass one of the budget series (Under £300) models. The ringing/ratting only happens when I play the low E open, I've adjusted the neck, bridge and made sure the machine heads are fully tightened e.g. the screws but the ringing/rattling is still there? I've read other forums and it seems like it's a trust rod fault but I'd like to get some more knowledge on this.

Also the low E makes the pickup clip and distorted no matter how low the pickup is there, I'm thinking of throwing in a Seymour Duncan SMB4D to solve this hopefully but that pickup is for a 3 band EQ preamp but the Sub is 2 band is there a way to wiring it into a 2 band instead of a 3 band?

Sorry for rambling and such but I bought the bass new a few days ago I tried it out in the shop I didn't notice these faults in store only since I've tried it out at home, maybe because there was other musicians about trying stuff so I wasn't able to hear the faults? The shop is 2 hours a way so just simple popping back isn't easy for me, seeing as I can't travel easily due to health. So any advice would be awesome!!
[/quote]

If it's new I would ring the shop first, they may be able to replace it for you.

[Cato]

If you google 'sub ray preamp clipping' you should get a few links to various threads on Talkbass and others discussing the hot preamp issue. It's a well known phenomenon with these basses and there's also a few solutions discussed.

The string rattle is a separate problem and could be caused by anything from the nut to the bridge and everything in between, including uneven frets or a truss rod issue.

Edited December 8, 2016 by Cato

[geoffbyrne]

Check that it's not a loose machine head rattling - i.e. the shaft, not the baseplate. I had this problem on a bass & I took ages to track it down. Like you, I thought it was all sorts of other things.

G.

[mr zed]

The nut may be cut too deep on the E string- worth checking.

Edited December 9, 2016 by mr zed