patrikmarky Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 So I’ve got a sterling by musicman ray35 HH bass ..great looks and feel , great neck profile which I find more comfortable than the USA models ..my question is ..has any had problems with the preamp ..seems to have a lot of distortion and I’m wondering if it’s a issue with these bass’s especially running both humbuckers ..I’m wondering if I should upgrade the pre amp ? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jezzaboy Posted June 10 Share Posted June 10 I know that the Sterling SUB models had a very hot pre amp but they were 2 band and I`m guessing that yours is a 3 band? Have you tried turning the volume down to say 3/4 and seeing if the distortion goes away? A bit obvious I know. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrikmarky Posted June 10 Author Share Posted June 10 Yes mate ..I’ve tried that I had heard they used the same pre amps in the subs as the ray 35’s ..but I’m not sure if that’s the case .. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bassman68 Posted June 11 Share Posted June 11 The Sub range are only a two band pre-amp, The ray 34 & 35 are three band. obvious question,but have you tried a fresh battery? As most active circuits tend to distort when the battery starts to die.. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrikmarky Posted June 11 Author Share Posted June 11 Yep .. new battery Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
andruca Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 (edited) I've owned a Ray35 H and did never have any trouble with the preamp. Don't know about 2 pickup models, haven't played any. OTOH, there was distortion on every SBMM SUB I've played. Not produced at the amp's input, but in the bass itself. The kind of clipping basses do when pickups are too hot and the onboard preamp lacks headroom. I've experienced this on some basses, notably a couple Yamaha BB615s I've owned. It could be worked out by feeding it 18V (add a second battery in series). That's usually possible on most preamps, manufacturers engineer for a wide range of input gains/supply voltage, so the instrument manufacturer can decide based on pickups' gain. In those Yammies tho' the preamp (Yamaha's Q-mix) was still horrible even after the clipping was gone, so I ended up installing cheap 3 band Artec preamps on both, worked like a charm, and didn't clip with the regular 9V. EDIT: another option I didn't mention is using a variable resistor between the pickup/coils selector switch and the onboard preamp, and fine tune it to tame the pickups' output to where the whole thing doesn't distort with every EQ band boosted. That is IF hot pickups were the problem. Edited June 12 by andruca 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
asingardenof Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 On 10/06/2024 at 21:29, jezzaboy said: I know that the Sterling SUB models had a very hot pre amp but they were 2 band and I`m guessing that yours is a 3 band? Have you tried turning the volume down to say 3/4 and seeing if the distortion goes away? A bit obvious I know. I believe it's the pickups that are hot, with the preamp lacking headroom to deal with them. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peejay Posted June 12 Share Posted June 12 I have a SUB and a Sterling Ray 34 and have swapped out the pickups on both. The SUB just sounded muddy and the Ray 34 a bit too shrill. Managed to get a Delano for the SUB and it sounds brilliant. Versatile and no distortion at all. Put a Nordstrand in the Ray 34 at that sounds lovely too. I now have two great sounding and playing basses for less than the cost of a battered used Stingray. OK, the SUB finish is a bit basic, but it plays well. The preamp in the SUB is very hot, but I think the issue is with the pickup rather than the preamp in both, based on personal experience. Might try a different preamp in one of them to see if it makes a big difference, but generally happy now the pickups have been switched over. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
mcnach Posted June 13 Share Posted June 13 My 2022 Ray35 is fine. I was going to replace the preamp with a John East MMSR that I've got in a drawer somewhere, but I ended up liking the stock one enough. It sounds great. So... I don't know. 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrikmarky Posted June 14 Author Share Posted June 14 Cheers for all the advice ..was possibly the batter clip as the + didn’t seem to be connecting very well so I’ve put a new one on and seems fine now 🤟 1 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Peejay Posted June 14 Share Posted June 14 Glad you got it sorted. Sometimes the solution is far simpler than you think! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
patrikmarky Posted June 14 Author Share Posted June 14 Yes mate ..thanks again to everyone 🤟 Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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