Modulus FB/flea/FU4/EBMM Stingray wiring

[Jimryan]

Evening all,

Don't suppose anyone knows how the baselines pickup in a modulus flea/FU4 is wired? Is it series, parallel or out of phase?

Cheers,

James

Edited February 6, 2013 by Jimryan

[stingrayPete1977]

Being Flea you would think parallel the same as a standard Ray with a single H?

[Jimryan]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1360175090' post='1966183']
Being Flea you would think parallel the same as a standard Ray with a single H?
[/quote]

Just curious. I know the pre and the graphite neck are BIG factors, but love he sound. If it's parallel I'll have my MM bucker changed from series.

*stupid question time*
What's the difference between series, parallel and out of phase?

[Dingus]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1360175090' post='1966183']
Being Flea you would think parallel the same as a standard Ray with a single H?
[/quote]

+1 on this

It sounds very much like a parrallel wired pickup [i]a la [/i]Musicman Stingray single H .

[Dingus]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1360175414' post='1966189']
Just curious. I know the pre and the graphite neck are BIG factors, but love he sound. If it's parallel I'll have my MM bucker changed from series.

*stupid question time*
What's the difference between series, parallel and out of phase?
[/quote]

Series sounds quite a bit louder and has more pronounced low mids and a less apparent treble , parallel is slightly quieter ( or less loud , depending on how you look at it ) and has a more scooped -out midrange and an apparently slightly more extended bass and treble response . The classic Musicman Stingray sound is very much the sound of a parallel wired humbucker . As for out of phase , I don't really know !

Edited February 6, 2013 by Dingus

[stingrayPete1977]

Series cuts through better but lacks that ultimate Stingray sound as far as the bottom end is concerned although that might not be an issue if you dont boost the lows all that much but I do as do quite a few others (Musicman20 is a bit of a fairy with his though )

[stingrayPete1977]

And again out of phase I dont know, +1 series is louder to my ears.

[Jimryan]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1360175867' post='1966200']


Series sounds quite a bit louder and has more pronounced low mids and a less apparent treble , parallel is slightly quieter ( or less loud , depending on how you look at it ) and has a more scooped -out midrange and an apparently slightly more extended bass and treble response . The classic Musicman Stingray sound is very much the sound of a parallel wired humbucker . As for out of phase , I don't really know !
[/quote]

Ah-ha, I was once told that a stingray was series and a sterling was parallel? And on that alone I had my MM pickup wired series. I'll have to look into changing it now.

Dingus - in light of my more recent thread, a good way to get the FB-4 tone at a much cheaper cost, re-wire my pickup, add the Aguilar pre and possibly (if I like them) graphite neck. Can't help it, love flea's modulus sound and this (although not exact) is a much more cost effective method leaving money for a much wanted holiday.

[Jimryan]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1360175928' post='1966202']
Series cuts through better but lacks that ultimate Stingray sound as far as the bottom end is concerned although that might not be an issue if you dont boost the lows all that much but I do as do quite a few others (Musicman20 is a bit of a fairy with his though )
[/quote]

That's explain my current volume/output, but I'd much rather the stingray-ish sound

[stingrayPete1977]

Some cheaper versions are wired in series so if someone had only seen the inside of an original SUB or OLP then they might of told you Rays are series? Full fat Ray always = parallel I wouldnt be able to tell that easily but as my main basses are now Ray 5s obviously they have the switch from series/parallel/single coil (phantom) so I have been able to compare series parallel first hand, I also have one ceramic and one alnico Ray 5 so the bases are all covered!

[Dingus]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1360176154' post='1966212']
Ah-ha, I was once told that a stingray was series and a sterling was parallel? And on that alone I had my MM pickup wired series. I'll have to look into changing it now.

Dingus - in light of my more recent thread, a good way to get the FB-4 tone at a much cheaper cost, re-wire my pickup, add the Aguilar pre and possibly (if I like them) graphite neck. Can't help it, love flea's modulus sound and this (although not exact) is a much more cost effective method leaving money for a much wanted holiday.
[/quote]

To the best of my knowledge , that is actually the wrong way round . The Stingray is parallel and the Sterling is series ( I know the Sterling 5 is definitely series wired ) . What bass are you thinking about modding here Jim , is it a Music Man Stingray ? If so the I would say that a stock wired Ebmm Stingray with a Status graphite neck will get you very close to Fleas' tone with his Modulus . I have played the Modulus quite a few times over the years and , regardless of whether it had a Bartolini , Lane Poor or Basslines pickup and regardless of what preamp was in any of them they all sounded the same to me , and that is that they all sound very much like a Musicman Stingray with a graphite neck ( which is basically what they are ) . Any decent Stingray with a graphite neck will let you get a very close approximation of Fleas ' sound with these Modulus basses . There is really no need to get the Aguilar pre if the bass has a decent preamp in to begin with .

Edited February 6, 2013 by Dingus

[Jimryan]

Yeah, you guys are gonna hate me for this.

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1360176824' post='1966234']
Some cheaper versions are wired in series so if someone had only seen the inside of an original SUB or OLP then they might of told you Rays are series? Full fat Ray always = parallel
[/quote]

I was told that by a local tech...an ernie ball stockist :-S

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1360177044' post='1966238']


To the best of my knowledge , that is actually the wrong way round . The Stingray is parallel and the Sterling is series ( I know the Sterling 5 is definitely series wired ) . What bass are you thinking about modding here Jim , is it a Music Man Stingray ? If so the I would say that a stock wired Ebmm Stingray with a Status graphite neck will get you very close to Fleas' tone with his Modulus . I have played the Modulus quite a few times over the years and , regardless of whether it had a Bartolini , Lane Poor or Basslines pickup and regardless of what preamp was in any of them they all sounded the same to me , and that is that they all sound very much like a Musicman Stingray with a graphite neck ( which is basically what they are ) . Any decent Stingray with a graphite neck will let you get a very close approximation of Fleas ' sound with these Modulus basses . There is really no need to get the Aguilar pre if the bass has a decent preamp in to begin with .
[/quote]

Well, as a way to have multiple sounds in one bass, it's my P with a ceramic MM at the bridge. When I had it done I said I wanted the bucker wired like a stingray (it's only passive at the moment, that was left until I could afford a pre). It got wired series.

It's a good bass, and I know I won't get a true stingray sound, but I reckon I could get bloody close. I'm thinking of adding the pre and hopefully a graphite neck (replacing my maple/maple one) this year. Was just doing my homework really.

I suppose, in it a nutshell, I have a precision. It has a quarter pounder P (which for this discussion is irrelevant), and a ceramic MM basslines bucker at the bridge. I'm after both the P sounds (already achieved) and a decent stingray sound. Then eventually I'll add a pre and a graphite neck. Also worth noting, is when I had the pickup routed/installed, matey changed the stock squier pots for 250k CBS ones and I'm still not happy with the tone pot.

Thoughts?

In my eyes it's also a gorgeous bass which I can also upload pictures (yes, I'm still not tired of showing it off) to show you what I'm working with.

[stingrayPete1977]

The ceramic pickup will make it sound less like a Ray more than the series parallel bit IMO/E

[stingrayPete1977]

unless it is the 90's Ray 5 sound you are after of course, nothings simple is it?

[Jimryan]

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1360178235' post='1966262']
unless it is the 90's Ray 5 sound you are after of course, nothings simple is it?
[/quote]

You're right there :-( nothing is.

[Jimryan]

You know what, in future, I'm gonna ignore stockists/luthiers and just ask on here. Something that took me a couple of days for him to find out (wrong) has taken me minutes on here.

So, I'd be better off with alnico 5 in parallel at the bridge?

[Dingus]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1360177744' post='1966251']
Yeah, you guys are gonna hate me for this.



I was told that by a local tech...an ernie ball stockist :-S



Well, as a way to have multiple sounds in one bass, it's my P with a ceramic MM at the bridge. When I had it done I said I wanted the bucker wired like a stingray (it's only passive at the moment, that was left until I could afford a pre). It got wired series.

It's a good bass, and I know I won't get a true stingray sound, but I reckon I could get bloody close. I'm thinking of adding the pre and hopefully a graphite neck (replacing my maple/maple one) this year. Was just doing my homework really.

I suppose, in it a nutshell, I have a precision. It has a quarter pounder P (which for this discussion is irrelevant), and a ceramic MM basslines bucker at the bridge. I'm after both the P sounds (already achieved) and a decent stingray sound. Then eventually I'll add a pre and a graphite neck. Also worth noting, is when I had the pickup routed/installed, matey changed the stock squier pots for 250k CBS ones and I'm still not happy with the tone pot.

Thoughts?

In my eyes it's also a gorgeous bass which I can also upload pictures (yes, I'm still not tired of showing it off) to show you what I'm working with.
[/quote]

Right , I see a bit more what you are working with . O.k , first thing is that , ideally you would want to get some kind of balance between the output of the P and MM pickups . I am not an electronics buff by any means , so I couldn't really advise you about the value of the pots but I'm sure someone else will be able to help with that . Adding a pre and making the MM pickup parallel wired will certainly help get you much closer to a true Stingray sound . One word of caution would be that in my experience it can be a bit of a mistake to spend a lot of money modifying a relatively inexpensive bass in so much as you can ( or will ) end up with a cheap bass with lots of expensive bits on , rather than an overall better quality instrument that you could have got for the total amount of money spent on this one with the mods . Weigh up what you would be spending on a graphite neck , preamp , rewiring ect and then look what you could pick up a used EBMM Stingray or similar ( or even a Modulus ) for on Basschat and you might be surprised .

[Jimryan]

[quote name='Dingus' timestamp='1360178733' post='1966284']


Right , I see a bit more what you are working with . O.k , first thing is that , ideally you would want to get some kind of balance between the output of the P and MM pickups . I am not an electronics buff by any means , so I couldn't really advise you about the value of the pots but I'm sure someone else will be able to help with that . Adding a pre and making the MM pickup parallel wired will certainly help get you much closer to a true Stingray sound . One word of caution would be that in my experience it can be a bit of a mistake to spend a lot of money modifying a relatively inexpensive bass in so much as you can ( or will ) end up with a cheap bass with lots of expensive bits on , rather than an overall better quality instrument that you could have got for the total amount of money spent on this one with the mods . Weigh up what you would be spending on a graphite neck , preamp , rewiring ect and then look what you could pick up a used EBMM Stingray or similar ( or even a Modulus ) for on Basschat and you might be surprised .
[/quote]

I get what you're saying there. The output balance I've got spot on now. So I'm happy where.

As for modding a cheap bass, I'm not overly bothered with. The pre, neck and rewire would cost half of what a 2nd hand EBMM would. Was just weighing up what to do. I love the feel, weight and look of the bass, I'm happy with the current sound and options. Was mainly trying to get closer to a MM sound with the bridge pickup. The neck and pre are both "maybes" at this stage.

[Dingus]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1360179017' post='1966294']
I get what you're saying there. The output balance I've got spot on now. So I'm happy where.

As for modding a cheap bass, I'm not overly bothered with. The pre, neck and rewire would cost half of what a 2nd hand EBMM would. Was just weighing up what to do. I love the feel, weight and look of the bass, I'm happy with the current sound and options. Was mainly trying to get closer to a MM sound with the bridge pickup. The neck and pre are both "maybes" at this stage.
[/quote]

OK fine . That sounds like a good plan . I can't see why this wouldn't work . Those Basslines MM style pickups are fantastic , and especially if you wire it correctly and stick a preamp in there you should be right on for a classic MM style sound . For what it's worth , if you are a big fan of Fleas' sound , I expect you probably know this already , but are you aware that on a lot of those older records he is playing Wal , Spector and Alembic basses , rather than a Stingray ? Blood Sugar Sex Magic is mainly a Wal , I think Mothers Milk is mainly a Spector and One Hot Minute is an Alembic bass . For any approximation of the sound of those basses you are actually better off with your MM pickup in series , ironically enough .

[Jimryan]

Yeah, aware of his gear/sounds through the ages. That note given, another option I suppose would be a rotary/blade switch with the parallel/series option?

[Dingus]

[quote name='Jimryan' timestamp='1360180815' post='1966352']
Yeah, aware of his gear/sounds through the ages. That note given, another option I suppose would be a rotary/blade switch with the parallel/series option?
[/quote]

Thart would be very useful . I have got a Musicman Reflex bass that you can switch between series and parallel and it makes it like having two different basses , so different do the two settings sound .

Edited February 6, 2013 by Dingus

[Jimryan]

I'll look into that instead then

[Dingus]

Jim , this video gives a pretty good idea of the difference in sound between a series and parallel wired Music Man pickup :

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Dg0lcR5njo

[Jimryan]

Cheers for that. Really helpful :-)

[stingrayPete1977]

I'd put a switch in too, might as well. A passive P bass setup and active musicman 2eq clone preamp would be cool with switching to run either pickup through the active or passive controls?