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MusicMan S.U.B.Bass Guitar |
Hi! The guys at Australian Musician have asked me to take a look for you at the new offering from Musicman , creator of the legendary Stingray bass. Their newest release is called the S.U.B. and a little beauty it is too ! Made in the same factory in San Luis Obispo, California as its more famous big brother, I think this is a bass we will see a great deal more of.
The version I have for review is the passive version, so it would be wise to mention now that there is also a bass / treble 2 way active version of this bass available as well . This is by no means a mere " poor mans" Stingray but a genuine offering for those of us who prefer the more open sound of passive basses . The initial response when I unpacked it was that it had the familiar Stingray size and shape , but visually a lot is different.
The finish was one of the first things to catch my eye... a subtle textured matt white body ( as opposed to the more familiar high gloss finish) with a heavy-duty metal scratchplate and the neck and headstock are finished in a matt black. The neck is very well shaped and comfortable in the hand and the example I was given was very well set up from the factory, requiring only a few very minor tweaks to make it play like a dream. The Frets are large and well dressed showing no sharp edges or uneveness in height. It is not quite as heavy as a standard Stingray but has enough body density to give strength to the low frequencies. On a strap it sets up very comfortably indeed and I found that all the controls were well placed to be easy to reach without being in the way. The basic setup is Volume / Tone with the last knob bringing in the second section of the pickup for extra grunt. Machine heads are the standard Musicman style and are well made and very solid and the strap buttons are well placed and solid. The Musicman bridge provided is the same as the Stingray and to the best of my knowledge the S.U.B. uses the same pickup as your standard Stingray.
The body timber is Poplar , a timber that is getting a lot of use in instrument building as it has the same basic tone and weight as Alder without the cost . The neck is of very dense hard Maple but doesn't make the instrument head heavy and is well finished off with a quality Rosewood fingerboard. The S.U.B. is only available in the Rosewood board at the moment , and is also only available in 4 string but there are apparently plans afoot to make 5 strings at a later date. The overall tone of this bass is precisely what we would expect from Musicman..... deep and rich but with clear bright tops that make articulations stand out effortlessly and precisely. This is one mean little slapping machine too ... the open upper-mids of the passive setup give it a great edgy bite without the overabundance of " glassiness" which some active basses are prone to. I found it to be very even in its tonal response and very even across the neck in volume from string to string . I thought I'd give it a tough test so I ran up several tracks of Protools and recorded the S.U.B. direct into the board in several different styles of music. The result was that it passed with flying colours .. a Latin track showing that with the tops wound backthat it had a smooth filling sound that still had enough mids to give punch and clarity without overusing the E.Q.. A quick Funk track had me convinced that it will sit up and give you a tight punchy sound when played firmly back near the bridge and the obligatory Slap track was as expected. The S.U.B. cut through cleanly and followed through with a solid bottom end that supported the Kit very well indeed. Played with a pick on a Rock track , that familiar growl was easily found and gave a mean sound to the overall track. A quick visit to one of my standard solo pieces ..a blues in which the bass plays a bass line under a upper end chordal figure while also playing a pinch harmonic melody at the same time .. also let me know that this is not a bass that will smear notes ...every chord was easy to distinguish and the separation between the 3 different tones that I use in this piece was very pleasing. Of note also was the low background noise ... very acceptable and without the "hiss" that some actives are prone to.
In summary, the S.U.B. is a great , American made bass that will provide you with a good range of strong useable tones in a well made and finished instrument that also happens to be very affordable ... retail price will be $1795.00 excluding case and the Active version will be $1995.00 so for those of us unable to rise to the cost of a Stingray , the S.U.B. will be a godsend. I would advise you to get down to your local store and ask about the Musicman S.U.B., I think you'll be delighted at what you find.
Out of five:
QUALITY
PLAYABILITY
BANG-F0R-YOUR-BUCK
OVERALL
