Dr_Tom Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 Hey, Just wondering if anyone knows of some good replacement pickups for the MM active SUB? I really want to start playing this bass again as I love the look of it and it seems a waste to have it sitting around, but I could never find the sound I was after. Then I got a mexican jazz and that was exactly what I wanted. I love the mids of jazz basses, whereas I find the SUB to either be all bass or all treble, no compromise. Does anybody know of any good replacement pups that would give me that mid I'm looking for? Cheers Tom P.s. I havent actually tried it out on my new TC electronic stuff yet as its stored away at a mates house, that might make a difference.... Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Shonks Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 [quote name='Dr_Tom' post='1149817' date='Mar 4 2011, 07:30 PM']Hey, Just wondering if anyone knows of some good replacement pickups for the MM active SUB? I really want to start playing this bass again as I love the look of it and it seems a waste to have it sitting around, but I could never find the sound I was after. Then I got a mexican jazz and that was exactly what I wanted. I love the mids of jazz basses, whereas I find the SUB to either be all bass or all treble, no compromise. Does anybody know of any good replacement pups that would give me that mid I'm looking for? Cheers Tom P.s. I havent actually tried it out on my new TC electronic stuff yet as its stored away at a mates house, that might make a difference....[/quote] i had Barts on my Warwick $$ they're sort of a mellow sounding Stingray which is a weird thing to say I know - but slightly less aggressive than the Musicman Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 I would look on eBay for a pukka EBMM pup, You could always whip it back out and sell it separately if you sell the bass at a later date. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 [quote name='Dr_Tom' post='1149817' date='Mar 4 2011, 07:30 PM']Hey, Just wondering if anyone knows of some good replacement pickups for the MM active SUB? I really want to start playing this bass again as I love the look of it and it seems a waste to have it sitting around, but I could never find the sound I was after. Then I got a mexican jazz and that was exactly what I wanted. I love the mids of jazz basses, whereas I find the SUB to either be all bass or all treble, no compromise. Does anybody know of any good replacement pups that would give me that mid I'm looking for? Cheers Tom P.s. I havent actually tried it out on my new TC electronic stuff yet as its stored away at a mates house, that might make a difference....[/quote] a good SUB replacement is... a SUB pickup. I personally think they are great pickups. So I'll just say I am going to need a pickup for an OLP I defretted... if you don't want your SUB pickup, I'll buy if from you! Just PM me. I'm serious. (4-string, I presume) I personally love the Seymour Duncan alnico replacement, the SMB4A. I have a couple of those and they really are very nice. But I happen to like the SUB pickup. I have a SUB5 that came with a ceramic SD fitted, and the original. It sounded great, but I wanted it to sounds more like my Stingray. I happened to have the alnico version of the Sd as well (bought for another project). Sounded very good. Then tried original. Not much difference. I liked the original, not sure whether more or less than the others, but it sounds great so it stays put. However the 2EQ preamp can be a bit extreme. The treble can be insanely trebly, and cutting down treble can leave the sound too bassy and boomy. I get nice sounds out of it, I like it a lot... but what transformed my Stingray for me (a 2EQ as well) was not changing the pickup but changing the preamp. I use a John East preamp. Not very cheap, but it's well worth the money. Much more focused bottom end, and with the sweepable mids you can get such a wide variety of tones. I think if you did that you would be amazed and like your SUB with the original pickup. But if you want to sell your pickup... please let me know! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted March 4, 2011 Share Posted March 4, 2011 [quote name='Dr_Tom' post='1149817' date='Mar 4 2011, 07:30 PM']Hey, Just wondering if anyone knows of some good replacement pickups for the MM active SUB? I really want to start playing this bass again as I love the look of it and it seems a waste to have it sitting around, but I could never find the sound I was after. Then I got a mexican jazz and that was exactly what I wanted. I love the mids of jazz basses, whereas I find the SUB to either be all bass or all treble, no compromise. Does anybody know of any good replacement pups that would give me that mid I'm looking for? Cheers Tom P.s. I havent actually tried it out on my new TC electronic stuff yet as its stored away at a mates house, that might make a difference....[/quote] I just realised that we share some equipment: SUB (I also have a Stingray 4-stringer), RH450 and RS210 The SUB/Stingray love that amp. And viceversa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 (edited) Just to beat mcnash and ou7shined to their glory it appears a sub 4 is series wired and a sub 5 is parallel hence sub 5's sounding more like a real Ray if you like. From their photos in the calling all Sub owners thread it wouldn't take more than 20 minutes to convert your own sub pup to parallel instead of series and see how you get on with it after, this will cost you 0 pence to try. If you like it you could even put a series/parallel switch in somewhere to keep both sets of tones. Edited March 5, 2011 by stingrayPete1977 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ou7shined Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 [quote name='stingrayPete1977' post='1150172' date='Mar 5 2011, 12:48 AM']Just to beat mcnash and ou7shined to their glory it appears a sub 4 is series wired and a sub 5 is parallel hence sub 5's sounding more like a real Ray if you like. From their photos in the calling all Sub owners thread [b]it wouldn't take more than 20 minutes to convert your own sub pup to parallel [/b]instead of series and see how you get on with it after, this will cost you 0 pence to try. If you like it you could even put a series/parallel switch in somewhere to keep both sets of tones. [/quote] You'd think. Try this at your peril... or get someone who knows what they are doing to do it for you. It's a very tricky solder job. Personally I wouldn't bother. My 'ray's original pup is locked away safe and sound. I've been using a '03 SUB pup in my 'ray for some time now. I've A/B'ed my 'ray with a few others and it raises a smile when I explain how my phatt sounding "all original MM" kick their asses. Ah well that's the cat out of the bag. You'll all be doing it now. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I don't like series though Rich! (I don't use my Ray5 phantom coil either). OP Cut it up and blob some solder around if it ruins it then you will have to choose a new one anyway Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Prime_BASS Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 No mids on a SUB? There isn't as much as a stingray, granted. But there should be loads of mids still there due to pickup position and they arnt nasal and bass-less like some jazz basses sound on the bridge a lone. My guess is you need to try it flat with your t.c stuff with the tube tone off. Then you can get an idea of if there's anything wrong with it. If it's got the 2 band EQ then you should understand how it works. There are a few different variations, and on the SUB I think the bass is boost only and the treble is Cut and Boost. Also if you still feel there is a lack of mids, a pickup change or re-wire arnt going to help that much. Series wiring only gives you a boost in the low mids and a loss of treble and a possible small volume boost. You'd be better of changing the pre-amp to one with a mid control, it adds an extra dimension to the sound, and obviously if you need more mids you can boost them. Also the reason why people say the SUB 5 sounds more a ray than the Stingray 5(of the past) is that its pickup was alnico and the preamp was a stingray 4 preamp. Where as the Stingray 5s back then came with a ceramic pickup and the pre-amp from the Sterling series. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Hutton Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 I'm just a wee bit confused. If your MIM Jazz is exactly the sound that you want then why bother to mess around with your SUB? Use the Jazz for mid tones and use your SUB for the glorious tones that come out of it! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
stingrayPete1977 Posted March 5, 2011 Share Posted March 5, 2011 [quote name='Prime_BASS' post='1150267' date='Mar 5 2011, 08:26 AM']Also the reason why people say the SUB 5 sounds more a ray than the Stingray 5(of the past) is that its pickup was alnico and the preamp was a stingray 4 preamp. Where as the Stingray 5s back then came with a ceramic pickup and the pre-amp from the Sterling series.[/quote] Have a look in the calling all sub owners thread and look at the photos of ou7shined and mcnashes pups, The Sub 4 is wired in series and the sub 5 is wired in parallel. I know from my own Ray5 that switching from series to parallel will make more of a difference than any of the other stuff ( I have a 2010 Ray5 with alnico pup and standard 3 EQ preamp BTW ) Careful soldering should result in a free test to see if the OP likes the traditional Ray sound more than the Subs standard series tones. A push/pull pot could be fitted quite cheaply (less than a pup and/or preamp) to give series parallel which I think would be a great addition even though I dont use my series switch much I understand others do Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Dr_Tom Posted March 5, 2011 Author Share Posted March 5, 2011 Hey, Cheers for all the replies so far, I appreciate everyones suggestions and comments. I'm not all together too confident with soldering so wouldn't attempt to re-wire it myself, but it might be something to talk through with a mate of mine who can do all that stuff. Although I think the first thing too do is really have a play with it with my TC stuff and see what I can get out of it. Don't get me wrong I absolutely love the sound of the thing, especially for slapping, but that has always been me arsing around, I am definitely not good enough to do it in any of the bands I play in. I probably explained the tone issues a little badly as, I am not the most knowledgeable bass player you will meet, in fact I have always been someone that just likes to pick one up and play and think very little about anything else. It must seem a little wierd wanting to mess around with the SUB when I love the sound of my Jazz, but I get bored easily.... I like to play around with stuff, and as I said it just seems a waste to have it sat around in a case and never get played. For those asking about me selling the pup if I replace it, i will let you know as soon as I decided what to do, I just need to get the bloody thing back from my mate! Cheers guys Tom Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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