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Ernie Ball Musicman Sterling HS - epic mods - SOLD
£800

TheDaivisch

By TheDaivisch,
in Basses For Sale

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TheDaivisch Community Regular

TheDaivisch

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[b]Price: [s]£850 [color=#0000ff]£800[/color][/s][color=#0000ff] [/color][color=#000080][s]£775[/s] [/color][color=#800080][s]£750[/s][/color][color=#ff0000] £700. [/color]NO TRADES PLEASE.[/b]

[b]Can ship outside of the UK.[/b]

[b][u]I WAS UMMING AND AHHING ABOUT GETTING RID OF THIS. THIS IS NOW DEFINITELY UP FOR STRAIGHT SALE![/u][/b]

New better quality sound clips:

Pos 1 (parallel bridge H)
[url="https://soundcloud.com/user9492250/sterlingpos1?in=user9492250/sets/sterling-sounds"]https://soundcloud.c...sterling-sounds[/url]
Pos 2 (series neck and neck coil of H)
[url="https://soundcloud.com/user9492250/sterlingpos2?in=user9492250/sets/sterling-sounds"]https://soundcloud.c...sterling-sounds[/url]
Pos 3 (Series H)
[url="https://soundcloud.com/user9492250/sterlingpos3?in=user9492250/sets/sterling-sounds"]https://soundcloud.c...sterling-sounds[/url]
Pos 4 (All coils)
[url="https://soundcloud.com/user9492250/sterlingpos4?in=user9492250/sets/sterling-sounds"]https://soundcloud.c...sterling-sounds[/url]
Pos 5 (parallel neck and neck coil of H)
[url="https://soundcloud.com/user9492250/sterlingpos5?in=user9492250/sets/sterling-sounds"]https://soundcloud.c...sterling-sounds[/url]

[b][size=5]The bass[/size][/b]

A 2008 model Musicman Sterling HS, made in the US of A. Absolutely immaculate, as new, without a single ding, scratch, or chrome tarnish on it. This bass has been very, very well looked after. Beautiful natural oiled finish slim Sterling neck.

Comes with original MM hardcase in very good condition.

[b][size=5]The "epic" mods[/size][/b]

This bass looks completely bone stock from the outside. However, there is a fairly extensive list of modifications, all overseen by Guitaraid London, who really knows their stuff.

[b]Pickups[/b]

The original ceramic humbucking pickup has been replaced with an alnico Nordstrand MM4.2. The S neck pickup has also been replaced with one live coil and the dummy coil from an MM4.3. Anyone who's used these pickups knows how good they are - they are sweeter, warmer and more organic than the original ceramic pickups.

[b]Preamp[/b]

The preamp has been replaced by an SJD 70s Musicman Stingray preamp replica. It is a copy, with modern quality components and as such nails the musical, sweet sounding 70s preamp with far less hiss than the 70s original and less hiss than the modern Sterling preamp. SJD is a small boutique guitar electrics builder who builds absolutely top quality parts.

[b]Switching[/b]

This is where I think it gets most interesting. As I wanted both Sterling and Stingray coil options, I've completely rewired the switch to give the following options:

[b]1. Parallel H.[/b] The parallel option, plus the Nordstrand and 70s preamp means you absolutely nail the classic stingray tone. Think Sister Sledge or Rage Against the Machine's debut album.

[b]2. Coil 1[/b] of the H pickup (nearest to the neck) + neck live coil in series. This setting is one of my favourites - it gives a really growly aggressive Musicman/P-bass hybrid tone with loads of low mid balls.

[b]3. Series H. [/b]This is the thick, funky powerful Sterling sound, albeit with extra organic sweetness from the Nordy and preamp.

[b]4. Coil 1 and 2 in series and neck live coil in series with the dummy coil, both circuits in parallel[/b]. This is a thick, modern tone - the Stingray parallel H sound with more bottom end and mid presence. Nice fat sound with fingers and treble rolled off. Nice meaty rock tone.

[b]5. Coil 1 of the h pickup (nearest neck) in parallel with the neck pickup. [/b]This is a more scooped less aggressive version of setting 2.








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TheDaivisch Community Regular

TheDaivisch

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It sounds fatter, warmer but with the low mid growl still present. The treble on these has a huge amount of boost and cut and a lot of "interactivity" with the lower frequencies, so it can really warm up and change the character of the sound.

Ropey playing aside, the clips were very rough quick tests for myself - I should have done a more representative recording with each of the coil settings in order and some different EQ settings/playing styles. I'll see if I can find time in amongst my house move to do that.

It is actually a feeler at the moment - I love it so much (and have put so much work into it) I'm not sure I can bare to part with it yet...

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TheDaivisch Community Regular

TheDaivisch

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I mayyyyyy consider a nice cheap-mid price jazz in trade. Still not sure on outright sale at the moment.

Fleabay - sorry mate, not quite what I'm looking for.

Yeah it does do lots of Musicman punchy goodness. I want to make a better recording with more tonal/playing variation showing the coil settings in order. Maybe once I move into my new house this week...

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