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!

2004 Musicman SUB 4 Bass Guitar Review

Aloha!

There are some super nice American-made basses out that are still ridiculously good bargains and today we are looking at one of these, a 2006 Musicman SUB 4.

Back in 2003, the Ernie Ball company wanted to provide a lower-cost alternative to their admittedly expensive 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 wares, 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. You will notice that it does not say “Ernie Ball” anywhere on this bass...

The SUB 4 was their take on the Stingray 4 bass, their most popular model. This one has a non-contoured poplar body that is finished in black, which was their most common color. Many of the SUB instruments came with a lame faux diamond plate pickguard, but the later ones came with a black plastic guard. I replaced the diamond plate pickguard on this one as I could not stand the way it looked. By the way, they are the same pattern as the Stingray, so you can use any Ray pickguard on the SUB 4 basses.

The neck is maple (painted matte 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 5/8-inches wide at the compensated plastic nut (early SUB basses did not get the compensated nut). Just like their Ernie Ball brethren, the neck on SUB basses is attached to the body with six bolts and they get the usual truss rod wheel for easy adjustments.

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

The electronics package is very Stingray-like, which is a good thing. These basses came with a single Musicman humbucker that had a volume control and a 2-band EQ. One cool thing about these basses was that they were offered in either active or passive configurations, which is not an option that the company has provided for the Stingray either before or since the SUB series was in production. This one is active, but I have played the passive basses and they have a pleasant sound that is not so aggressive.

And this is really a great bass, regardless of how much it cost (which wasn’t very much, really). The pickup is mighty, and it has that distinctive thick Stingray growl that is perfect for rock. Though the hardware is not quite as good as 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 very well done, with nicely finished edges and a level fretboard. It weighed a touch under 10 pounds, and it balanced nicely on a strap. The non-contoured body bugged me a bit as I was used to contoured Stingrays by the time I got my grubby mitts on of one of these.

Overall this was a great playing bass, but I have enough nice playing basses so this one just did not make the cut.

The MusicMan SUB 4 basses were made from 2003 to 2006, and they were quite a bargain, with a list price of $1013.99 and a street price of $700 or so, if I remember correctly. On today’s used market they sell for about $300 or $400, which is a heck of a deal for a solid bass.

Mahalo!

MusicMan Month: SUB Series Guitars and Basses

MusicMan guitars and basses are some of the finest guitars and basses around, but if you head out to buy a new one, it is going to cost you well over $1000. The licensed OLP models were really cheap, but they were not even close in quality to the American-made products, so the folks over at Ernie Ball / MusicMan developed their own SUB series of guitars and basses.

They were introduced at the 2003 Winter NAMM show. The idea was to have an American-made instrument with the same sound and quality for under $1000, and it worked. There were 4 and 5-string Stingrays, Sterling basses, and 1 and 2 pickup guitars.

Of course, some things had to be changed to get the price point down. The bodies were made of poplar, and had no contours. Also, they had a textured finish, which was easier to make and required no polishing. They were available in Black, White, Teal, Red, Blue, Graphite and Cinnamon. The basses originally had a faux diamond plate pickguard that was later changed to matte black.

The necks were made of maple, and were finished in black, so they could use wood that maybe was not so visually appealing.

The hardware was similar to what you would ordinarily find. But (at least on the basses), they were not marked, so I imagine the tuners were not made Schaller, and the bridges were a little different.

The electronics were almost the same with a few exceptions. The Stingray 4 and 5 strings had 2-band equalizers, and could be had in active or PASSIVE models (a first for MusicMan). The Sterlings were only available as an active bass.

The idea worked out well. The instruments played well, and were a great value for the money.

Sadly, high costs and low sales made this product untenable, and production of the SUB line was stopped in 2006.