Product Overview: Ernie Ball MusicMan Caprice Bass

Hello!

I have long been a big fan of the MusicMan instruments and I think they make some of the best bolt-neck production basses on the market. Their most famous instrument has to be the Stingray bass that was designed by Leo Fender and Tom Walker back in the mid 1970s. This was one of the earliest productions basses with an active pre-amplifier, if not the first. This gave it more output and a more aggressive sound than the competition.

Ever since Ernie Ball Strings bought the MusicMan brand in the 1980s, there have been new models introduced: Cutlass, Sabre, Stingray 5, Sterling, Bongo, and the Big Al; oodles of variations of each have been introduced with different string configurations , woods, and electronics packages. One thing they have not had is a bass with passive electronics, until they came out with the new Caprice bass.

The Caprice is a 2-pickup version of the Cutlass, and it has a few of the traditional features that you would expect from a MusicMan bass, including the 3+1 headstock and pickups with large pole pieces. Things vary a bit after that, starting out with a body shape (alder) that is more P-Bass than Stingray. The top-loading bridge looks familiar, but a closer look reveals that the plate is smaller and does not have the large bolts into the body. There are the usual choices of rosewood or maple fretboards, and both necks have Schaller tapered BM tuners and compensated nuts, which is not unusual for their product line-up.

Then there is the pickup configuration, which borders on heresy as it comes with a set of P-J humbucking pickups. The pickups each have their own volume control, which sends the output through a single tone knob for both pickups. I like this set-up as it is very versatile, and avoids the “knob farm” syndrome.

I finally had the chance to see a Caprice bass in person the other day, and it was an impressive instrument with a classic aesthetic and a nice balance on the strap with a sub 9-pound weight. The craftsmanship was amazing, with jewel-like fretwork (21 frets) and a lovely yellow vintage tint to the maple portion of the neck. The neck has more of a jazz bass feel with its 1.5-inch nut width and 7.5-inch fretboard radius. As this was an artist model, it was in a custom color, but normal folks have a respectable number of color choices, including natural, burst, coral, white, diamond blue, and my old favorite, black.

After this I got to experience the bass’ sound in the real world, at an outdoor club gig with 3 guitars and drums. The rig was a Mark Bass amp and 2x10 cabinet, and overall volume levels were pretty reasonable, as it was an outdoor restaurant situation. The bass player also had a Bongo and a Big Al, and there was a surprisingly powerful sound with the Caprice when compared to the active electronics-equipped basses. The mids were crazy good, and it overall it cut through the mix nicely, so it was a winning choice; my general impression was that this would be a good bass for blues, rock, and country gigs. Of course, the bass player had a lot of experience, and a lot of tone comes from the fingertips and touch, but everything is there with this instrument to help make a player successful on stage.

The MusicMan Caprice bass looks cool and sounds good, and if you are looking for a new bass and can pull together $1700 (starting street price), you will not go wrong unless you play leftie or are looking for a fretless bass. For sure, try one out and see what you think, I would be interested to hear what others have to say!

Mahalo!

NAMM 2017: Manufacturer Preview – Ernie Ball Paradigm Guitar Strings

Aloha!

I have been using Ernie Ball guitar and bass strings for decades, so it was cool for me to get to try out their new Paradigm strings at the 2017 NAMM show. In case you have not heard of Paradigm, it is a line of strings that are guaranteed to not break or rust. This is quite a sales tool, so I had to find out a little more about them.

Paradigm strings will be available in both acoustic and electric sets. There will be four acoustic sets (Extra Light, Light, Medium Light, and Medium) and eight sets of electrics that will maintain the usual Ernie Ball sizes and nomenclature (Slinkies, Super Slinkies, Etc.).

How they are made is kind of fuzzy for me as I am not a physicist, but I will give it a try. The strings use a high carbon hex core, and before wrapping this wire core is blasted with plasma to remove impurities, Then the wrapping is applied and the Everlast nano treatment is applied. This is not a dip or a coating, and the overall result is strings that feel like they have a little more bite to them, but it is a slight difference and the tone is identical.

Testing has been intense, with Beta sets going out to select customers and artists, and the results have been good. On the Ernie Ball website you can find videos of Kenny Wayne Shepherd and John Petrucci abusing these strings and not being able to break them. In fact, Petrucci’s whammy bar snapped before the strings did. Cool!

When these strings go on sale they will be priced at around $14.99 per pack, and though I am a little vague on how the warranty works, I think it goes a something like this: 1) Purchase strings 2) register the serial number inside the pack with Ernie Ball 3) If a string breaks or corrodes within 90 days, contact them and they will send out a replacement string (not the whole pack). This sounds pretty simple to me, and I am sure they would not make this offer unless they have a lot a confidence in their strings.

I am pretty excited about Ernie Ball’s Paradigm strings and I am eager to give them a try so you all can get a proper review . Unfortunately, I will to wait until they are released in March of 2017, but something this revolutionary should be worth the wait. For more details go to ernieball.com

Mahalo!

2011 MusicMan Stingray 4H Bass Review

Greetings!

I have long been a big fan of the MusicMan Stingray bass and it seems like I always have one around the house because I think they are the best bolt-neck production basses on the market. So, this seems like a good opportunity to look over the 2011 Stingray that I recently picked up.

The Stingray bass was designed by Leo Fender and Tom Walker, and it was introduced in 1976. It was originally available only as a 4-string with a single humbucker pickup, a two band equalizer, and active electronics. This was one of the earliest productions basses with an active pre-amplifier, if not the first. This gave it more output and a more aggressive sound than the competition.

Ever since Ernie Ball Strings bought the MusicMan brand in the 1980s, there has been a constant improvement in features and options available for the Stingray, including: contoured bodies, improved neck joints, better truss rod ergonomics, and more than enough electronics and pickup configurations. But I am a simple man, and I still prefer a plain-old Stingray with a single humbucker pickup and the 2-band or 3-band (like this one) equalizer. And that is why this bass appeals to me so much - because it is pretty close to the way it was originally intended to be.

As I said before, this Stingray was built in 2011, and it is finished in a glossy black, like a lot of these are. This one has a contoured hardwood body with a six-bolt neck joint (for extra special sturdiness and sustain). It has has had a gentle life, so it is still in terrific shape.

The neck is a peach. It is true, and the truss rod works freely (you have to love the easy to adjust trussrod wheel). It has a nice-looking rosewood fretboard, and the 21 high-profile frets are still in good shape. The back of the neck is finished in gunstock oil and wax, which always feels as smooth as silk, though it does show dirt more. This one has a compensated nut, which I am unable to hear any intonation difference from, but someone with a good ear might…

The original hardware is all there, which includes the Schaller BM tapered post tuners and the high-mass bridge. I love the way the bridge bolts so solidly to the body on these basses. It is not a Classic model, so it does not have the string mutes, but I am not sure how many people actually use those things anyway.

The electronics are also unmolested, with the original single humbucker pickup and 3-band preamp. Stingrays have punch to spare, making them fabulous funk or rock basses. This is a well-made bass. The finish is perfect and the frets are simply gorgeous. I strung it up with some new regular gauge Slinkies, dropped the action a little, and It plays well and sounds magnificent, just like every other Stingray I have ever owned. As a bonus, it is relatively light (for a Stingray, that is), coming it at a little under 9 1/2 pounds. All bass players should own one of these at least once in their career.

Mahalo!

2000 Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray 5H Bass Review

Aloha!

Today we are looking a peach of bass I picked up from a local guy who had advertised it on Craigslist – a 2000 Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 5.

Ernie Ball started building fivers in 1988, and they have gone on to become the best selling 5-string basses ever made. It seems like every country bassist I have ever seen on stage has a Stingray 5. They have a relatively narrow (17.5mm) string spacing, so the neck is not too wide. Originally only available with a single humbucking pickup, Stingray 5s can now also be had with 2 humbuckers or a humbucker and a single coil. You can even throw in a piezo bridge and go fretless if you want to.

This one is a plain-Jane single humbucker bass, and it rocks. It looks to have been hardly played at all over the past 13 years, and the glossy silver metallic poly finish is in great shape with just a few nicks and dings.

It is all original, including the kick-ass hardware, which includes the high mass bridge (bolted to the body) and the Schaller tuners. This was made before the age of compensated nuts, so it did not get one. Do you really need a compensated nut on a bass? I don’t know.

The electronics are the stock ceramic pickup (alnico did arrive until 2008), with a 3-way selector switch. The positions are: series, single coil (closest to the bridge) and parallel. I am a big fan of the parallel mode.

I do not know what kind of strings previous owner put on it, but these normal gauge roundwounds really sing on this bass. I’m going to leave them on there for a while and hope they hold up.

Of course, my track record with 5-string basses has been horrible. Most do not stick around for more than a month or two, but I am going to give this one the old college try, and it is a great playing bass. We’ll see if this one makes it until my 1st quarter inventory update in January…

Mahalo!

Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky Bass Strings .045 to .105 Review

Hello!

I recently picked up an ESP Phoenix 4-string bass that was stone-cold gorgeous, but sounded deader than Sherriff Block despite its stout active EMG setup. I fussed with the control on the bass and the EQ on my amp, but nothing was making it sound like I knew it could. Though the strings on it looked shiny and good, they were an unknown factor and I hoped they might be the cause. So, I swapped on a new set of my go-to strings and voilá! It was as right as rain! These strings are the Ernie Ball Power Slinky bass string set, model number 2833.

If you have not been living in a cave for the past 50 years, you have heard of Ernie Ball strings. Mr. Ball was an innovator that came up with the idea of mass-marketing custom gauge strings and he built the business into one of the biggest string manufacturers in the word. That is what happens when you listen to your customers and give them what they need. His son and grandsons now run the company, and the strings are made right here in the US by people that earn a living wage. A few years ago I had the opportunity to tour the factory (near Palm Springs) and it is an impressive organization.

These long-scale Hybrid Slinky strings are right about the same as their regular Slinky set with the top two string just a bee’s dick smaller, measuring 0.045, 0.065, 0.085 and 0.105. Woot! They are roundwound with nickel-plated steel wrap around a tin-plated hex profile steel core. There is no coating or cobalt going on here, just straight-up strings. Ernie Ball strings still come in individual paper envelopes, but now they are sealed in airtight foil packets. I much prefer this packaging so I know I am going to get fresh strings. You never know how long strings have been sitting around at the store...

Anyway, for the ESP bass I eagerly tore open my new foil pack of Hybrid Slinkys, trimmed them to length and used my Ernie Ball Powerpeg string winder to cinch them up. They filled the nut slots perfectly, and after a bit of fussing with the truss rod I got the action to a reasonable height. After a bit of playing it was apparent that this was a good move as it played just fine with plenty of bite, and the lighter top strings gave me a bit more mobility while the larger bottom strings gave me all the thump I could ever need.

Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky bass strings are very good, and they have always held up just fine for me – at least a month or two and sometimes more. It will not break the bank to see if you like them, as they are pretty reasonably priced. They have a list price of $35 and an Amazon price of $16.99, and if you catch a lucky break with a sale or coupon you can get them even cheaper at Guitar Center. How can you go wrong?

Ernie Ball 2221 Regular Slinky Nickel Wound Electric Guitar String Set Review

Hello!

Ernie Ball has to be one of the biggest guitar and bass string manufacturers in the world (and they still make their strings in California), and their hefty market share is due to products like today’s blog subject – the Slinky electric guitar string set. This is the top-selling set in their line-up, and they are used by pros, including giants like Clapton, Page, Slash, and Vai.

I sometime try other brands, and even try new Ernie Ball products when they are introduced (the M-Steel guitar are really a winner), but I always come back to the Slinkies. You will find fresh sets of these on my Telecaster, Strat and Les Paul. They are indeed the workhorse of the electric guitar string world!

Slinkies were born in 1962, and almost immediately became the pre-eminent rock & roll string for musicians worldwide. The company is now in its third generation of family management, and their strings are still made in Coachella, California by workers who earn a living wage. Having toured their facility I was impressed with the care that goes into making their products, as well as with the amount of testing that is done to ensure that their strings are always of the highest quality.

The Regular Slinky set has normal gauges (.010 .013 .017 .026 .036 .046), and wound with nickel plated steel wire around a hex shaped steel core wire. The plain strings are specially-tempered tin-plated high-carbon steel. That is a boatload of hyphens, isn’t it?

This set is fairly neutral sounding, and perhaps a bit on the brighter side of things. They have figured out what they are doing over the past 52 years, and they are very evenly matched, both tonally and volume-wide), so that nothing is out of place when playing chords or finger picking.

Regular Slinkies hold up well for me, and they usually go almost a month before they start to dull. They stay in tune well, and I have only broken a few of them over the years, mostly when doing stupid stuff with a whammy bar. But the best thing for me is that I always know what I am going to get when I open up one of their sealed packs of strings. They will always sound the same, fell the same and last as long sets I have bought previously. When dealing with old guitars, old tube amps and effect pedals, it is nice to have one thing that is going to work the same every time I use it. I hope they don’t change them anytime soon…

And they are a pretty good bargain, too. They have a list price of $8.50, but nobody pays that much as the street price is a tad under $4. If you catch a good sale, you can buy them in bulk and get them for fewer than 3 bucks per pack.

Mahalo!

Ernie Ball 2921 M-Steel Regular Slinky Electric Guitar Strings Review

Aloha!

Ernie Ball has to be one of the biggest guitar and bass string manufacturers in the world (and they still make their strings in California), but despite their hefty market share they do not rest on their laurels. They keep coming out with new products, and I am a big fan of their Cobalt and coated strings, as well as their adoption of sealed string packaging to keep them as fresh as possible.

When the company introduced their new M-Steel guitar strings earlier this year, It seemed to me that all of the huge leaps in string technology have already been done, so what different could this new construction make? But, as I looked into them a bit more and actually tried out a few sets I must say that I came away impressed.

The big difference in this set is that the wound strings are based on a hex core that is made from Maraging steel, an alloy that is used in high-stress aerospace and military applications. The plain wire strings are made from tempered steel for additional resistance to fatigue. This means that these strings are supposed to last longer and be more resistant to breakage.

Most recently I tied out the M-Steel Regular Slinky set, which consists of 0.010, 0.013, 0.017, 0.026, 0.036, and 0.046 gauge strings. I installed them on my ’62-reissue Fender Stratocaster and cranked it up through my Fender Twin Reverb. I was able to A/B them with a new set of regular Slinkies on a similar Strat, so I could get a better idea of what they are really doing.

And I did not really need the comparison guitar, as right away it was obvious that the M-Steel strings were much louder and brighter (even for new strings), and they had a bit more sustain. More impressively, they were also able to produce more bass and low-mids.

This performance kept up for the two weeks I tried them , with very little degradation in tone and volume, despite pretty heavy usage. By the time I would ordinarily be installing a new set of strings these things still sounded very good. This is a good thing, because they do cost a bit more than regular Slinkies, with a list price of $21.50 and a street price that is right around 12 bucks.

From this experience, I would recommend giving a set of the Ernie Ball M-Steel strings a try, as they will last a bit longer than their normal line of strings, and they certainly do sound good!

Mahalo!

2006 Ernie Ball MusicMan Bongo Bass Guitar Review

Greetings!

MusicMan Bongo basses have been out for more than ten years, and they are still one of the least well-known basses around. Though they are not common, but they are used by gods of the bass community, including Tony Levin, Dave LaRue, Jack Williams, Chuck Ward and Ben Alsup. Today we are looking at a lovely 2006 model that made its way through here earlier this year.

The Bongo bass was a fresh design that was a collaborative project between Music Man and BMW. The first thing that you will notice is that the shape of the body and the headstock is distinctive. By going outside the usual P/J shapes they ended up with an instrument that is ergonomically comfortable to play. The bodies on these are made of basswood (bass wood!) because it provides good tone, and also because it is a bit lighter than other woods. This is helpful because the electronics package can be pretty heavy.

The neck is a conventional 34-inch scale, with 24 high-profile wide frets. The neck on this one is rosewood, but fretless models get pau ferro and Stealth models get ebony. The fretboard is inlaid with cool little c’s, and the compensated nut is 1 5/8-inches wide. Of course the truss rod has the usual Music Man truss rod adjustment wheel at the heel for easy set-up changes. The five-bolt neck plate allow for an aggressive cut-out to access the higher frets. Who uses those frets, anyway?

The pre-amplifier and pickup packages are where the real magic happens on the Bongo basses, as they can be made to sound very aggressive. They have an 18-volt pre-amp, and the pickups use neodymium magnets. With the 3 or 4-band equalizer, almost any tone can be dialed in. There are plenty of pickup choices, including single humbucker, double humbucker and a humbucker/single coil combination. You can also throw in a piezo bridge as an option. This bass is equipped with a single humbucker with a 3-band EQ, which is my favorite option for these basses.

This particular bass is a very nice California-made 2006 Music Man Bongo 4 H. It is finished with a glossy Desert Gold (orange) poly on the body and a matching satin finish on the neck. The craftsmanship is exactly what I expect for an instrument that comes from the folks in San Luis Obispo. It is first-rate! This one is a little on the heavier side -- newer Bongos are lighter thanks to the lightweight tuners they started using a few years ago, but this one has the original style Schaller BM high-mass tuners so it comes in at just a touch over 9 pounds.

As I said the single humbucker combination is my favorite Bongo configuration, and this is due to its simplicity and versatility. With judicious use of the EQ knobs (do not dime them out!) I have been able to achieve any kind of tone that I need with minimal effects usage.

It is a shame that these do not sell very well, because Bongos are some of the best basses around. I guess too many players are stuck in 1960, and cannot get past the whole Precision/Jazz Bass mindset.

Mahalo!

Ernie Ball Power Slinky Bass Strings .055 to .110 Review

Aloha!

A while back I picked up a Musicman Stingray 4-string bass that some misguided soul decided to put enormous strings on in an effort to make it sound like the lower 4 strings of a 5-string bass. It was a stupid cheap deal, so I bought it to flip. Funny enough, his idea actually worked, but that was not what I was looking for and it would be harder to sell it this way so it was time to string it normally. Unfortunately the nut slots were opened up a bit to accommodate the bottom heavy (0.130 for the B!) strings, and it was a compensated nut which would have been a headache to buy. So, I started looking for the best compromise, which ended up being a set of Ernie Ball Power Slinky bass strings (model number P02831).

If you have not been living in a cave for the past 50 years, you have heard of Ernie Ball strings. Mr. Ball was an innovator that came up with the idea of mass-marketing custom gauge strings and he built the business into one of the biggest string manufacturers in the word. That is what happens when you listen to your customers and give them what they need. His son and grandsons now run the company, and the strings are made right here in the US by people that earn a living wage. A few years ago I had the opportunity to tour the factory (near Palm Springs) and it is an impressive organization.

These long-scale Power Slinky strings are indeed beefy, measuring 0.055, 0.075, 0.090 and 0.110. Woot! They are roundwound with nickel-plated steel wrap around a tin-plated hex profile steel core. There is no coating or cobalt going on here, just straight-up strings. Ernie Ball strings still come in individual paper envelopes, but now they are sealed in airtight foil packets. I much prefer this packaging so I know I am going to get fresh strings. You never know how long strings have been sitting around at the store...

Anyway, I eagerly tore open my new foil pack of Slinkys, trimmed them to length and used my Ernie Ball Powerpeg string winder to cinch them up. They seemed to fill the nut slots enough, and after a bit of fussing with the truss rod I got the action to a reasonable height. After a bit of playing it was apparent that this was a good plan as it played just fine.

In fact, it was kind of a big macho thrill. I could wail and pop and slap on this 'Ray and there was no untoward buzzing or clanking. There was a good balance between the strings, and there is nothing on the planet like the zing of a fresh set of roundwound.

Of course, these string were not made to salvage dumbo situations like the one I was in -- these strings are stout enough to maintain decent tension when de-tuned, so I had to try that out too. They are definitely able to meet this challenge, if that is your bag.

Ernie Ball Power Slinky bass strings are very good, and if you play de-tuned and/or are looking for more oomph, their heavier gauges could be just the ticket for you. It will not break the bank to find out either, as they are pretty reasonably priced. They have a list price of $36 and a street price of $17.49, and if you catch a lucky break with a sale or coupon you can get them even cheaper. How can you go wrong?

Mahalo!

2000 Ernie Ball MusicMan Stingray 5 Bass Review

Greetings!

Today we are looking a fantastic bass I found on the wall at my local Guitar Center, and at a really good price – a 2000 Ernie Ball Musicman Stingray 5.

Ernie Ball started building fivers in 1988, and they have gone on to become the best selling 5-string basses ever made. It seems like every country bassist I have ever seen on stage has a one of these. They have a relatively narrow (17.5mm) string spacing, so the neck is not too wide. Originally only available with a single humbucking pickup, Stingray 5s can now also be had with 2 humbuckers or a humbucker and a single coil. You can even throw in a piezo bridge and go fretless if you want to.

This one is a plain-Jane single humbucker bass, and it rocks. It looks to have been hardly played at all over the past 14 years, and the glossy Trans Teal poly finish is in great shape.

It is all original, including the kick-ass hardware, which includes a six-bolt neck joint, a high mass bridge (bolted AND screwed to the body) and Schaller tuners. This was made before the age of compensated nuts, so it did not get one. Do you really need a compensated nut on a bass?

The electronics are the stock ceramic pickup (alnico was used until 1991 and after 2008), with a 3-way selector switch. The positions are: series, single coil (closest to the bridge) and parallel. I am a big fan of the parallel mode. The knobs include the volume control and a three-band equalizer.

After I got it home, I cleaned it and installed new strings and it is a fantastic bass. After more than a decade the 22 frets are still level and the finish shines like new. I like the feel of their gunstock oil necks and this one is no exception. The electronics have no hum, and I really like the tone of this instrument, as it really cuts through the mix. It is pretty much a winner! It is a tad heavy at 10 pounds, 8 ounces, but that is the way it seems to go with these.

Ernie Ball is a fabulous company that still makes their instrument in San Luis Obispo, California, so you are going to pay a bit more to get the Cadillac of 5-string basses. The cheapest ones available have a list price of $2350, and a street price of $1645. Shop around a bit if you want to pick one of these up new.

Of course, my track record with 5-string basses has been terrible. Most do not stick around for more than a month or two, but I am going to give this one the old college try, and it is a great playing bass. We’ll see if this one makes it until my 3rd quarter inventory update.

Mahalo!

2012 Ernie Ball Music Man Bongo 4H Bass Guitar Review

Greetings!

It is hard to believe that Music Man Bongo basses have been out for more than ten years, and they are still one of the least well-known basses around. Though they are not common, these basses are used by gods of the bass community, including Tony Levin and Dave LaRue. Today we are looking at a lovely 2012 model that I picked up late last year.

The Bongo bass was a fresh design that was a collaborative project between Music Man and BMW. The first thing that you will notice is that the shape of the body and the headstock is distinctive. By going outside the usual P/J shapes they ended up with an instrument that is ergonomically comfortable to play. The bodies on these are made of basswood (bass wood!) because it provides good tone, and also because it is a bit lighter than other woods. This is helpful because the electronics package is pretty heavy.

The neck is a conventional 34-inch scale, with 24 high-profile wide frets. The neck on this one is rosewood, but fretless models get pau ferro and Stealth models get ebony. The fretboard is inlaid with cool little c’s, and the compensated nut is 1 5/8-inches wide. Of course the truss rod has the usual Music Man truss rod adjustment wheel at the heel for easy set-up changes. The five-bolt neck plate allow for an aggressive cut-out to access the higher frets. Who uses those frets, anyway?

The pre-amplifier and pickup packages are where the real magic happens on the Bongo basses, as they can be made to sound very aggressive. They have an 18-volt pre-amp, and the pickups use neodymium magnets. With the 3 or 4-band equalizer, almost any tone can be dialed in. There are plenty of pickup choices, including single humbucker, double humbucker and a humbucker/single coil combination. You can also throw in a piezo bridge as an option. This bass is equipped with a single humbucker with a 3-band EQ, which is my favorite option for these basses.

This particular bass is a very nice California-made 2012 Music Man Bongo 4 H. It is finished with a glossy black poly on the body and a satin black finish on the neck. The craftsmanship is exactly what I expect for an instrument that comes from the folks in San Luis Obispo. It is first-rate. As a big plus, this one weighs in at 7 pounds, 15 ounces, which is the lightest Music Man bass I have ever seen. This low weight was achieved by the lightweight tuners they started using a few years ago, which probably cut ¼ pound off of this thing.

As I said the single humbucker combination is my favorite Bongo configuration, and this is due to its simplicity and versatility. With judicious use of the EQ knobs (do not dime them out!) I have been able to achieve any kind of tone that I need with minimal effects usage.

It is a shame that these do not sell very well, because Bongos are some of the best basses around. I guess too many players are stuck in 1960, and cannot get past the whole Precision/Jazz Bass mindset.

Mahalo!

2006 MusicMan SUB Sterling 4-String Bass Guitar Review

Greetings!

There is a company called Sterling by Musicman sells licensed imported copies of Ernie Ball Musicman instruments, and they recently introduced a budget series of instruments under the SUB moniker, which can be really confusing. You see, the Ernie Ball Musicman also sold a SUB line of instruments in the 2000s, and one of them was the Sterling bass. We are looking at of the originals today, a 2006 American-made Musicman Sub Sterling.

Back in 2003, the Ernie Ball company wanted to provide a lower-cost alternative to their top shelf guitars and basses; the Musicman SUB line of instruments came from this idea. These instruments were built in the same San Luis Obispo factory as their other products, but with features that made them more affordable. This included cheaper body woods and hardware, as well as textured finishes that required less labor and no polishing to complete. It does not say “Ernie Ball” anywhere on this bass.

Obviously, the SUB Sterling was their take on the Sterling, which has a smaller body and narrower neck than the Stingray. This one has a non-contoured poplar body that is finished in Graphite Gray, of which I have seen very few. Other available colors were: White, Black, Teal, Red, Blue, and Cinnamon. Many of the SUB instruments came with a lame faux diamond plate pickguard, but the later ones came with a black plastic guard. It makes all the difference in the world in the appearance of this bass.

The neck is maple (painted satin black) with a 11-inch radius rosewood fretboard and 22 high-profile, wide frets sunk into the fretboard. This is a 34-inch scale instrument, and the neck is 1.5-inches wide at the compensated plastic nut (early SUB basses did not get the compensated nut). The neck on SUB basses is attached to the body with six bolts and they get the usual truss rod wheel for easy adjustments. By the way, there was also a fretless model available, and they came with a pau ferro fingerboard.

The hardware is a bit cheaper than what is found on the Ernie Ball basses. The chrome-plated open gear tuners are not from Schaller, and though the bridge is similar it seems a bit cheaper (but it still has stainless steel saddles). They had to get the price down somehow, you know.

The electronics are not from the bargain bin, though. These basses come with a single Musicman humbucker that has a volume control and a 3-band EQ. I am not sure if they have the phantom coil or not, and I never took mine apart to see.

So, this was really a good bass, regardless of how much it cost (which wasn’t very much, really). The pickup is mighty, and it has that distinctively strong Sterling tone that quite pleasing. Though the hardware was not quite as good as the stuff on their higher-priced models, I never noticed any problems with sustain or tuner slippage.

The craftsmanship was what I expected to see coming out of San Luis Obispo – the neck pocket was tight and the frets were good, with nicely finished edges and a level fretboard. It weighed a touch under 9 pounds, and it balanced nicely on a strap. The non-contoured body was uncomfortable for me, as I was used to contoured Sterlings by the time I got the chance to own one of these.

Overall this was a great bass, but I was always more of a Stingray guy instead of a Sterling guy anyway. You know how it is – old dogs and new tricks….

The MusicMan SUB Sterling basses were made from 2003 to 2006, and back then they were quite a bargain, with a list price of around $1000 and a street price of $700 or so, if I remember correctly. They did not make a very many of these basses, and I do not see them come up on the used market very often. But when they do, they usually sell for well under $500 bucks, which is a good deal on a US-made bass that plays well and sounds good.

Mahalo!