Ernie Ball Sterling HH

This bass was made in heaven itself by angels and appears to be a very recent model unless it's vintage or somewhere in between. It has a BUNCH of frets, many of which I will never use unless I take up with jazz poofters or something, which could happen. The frets I do use currently (I am a Folk Bassist) are very nice and shiny like you wouldn't believe.

It is an "active" bass, which I am told (regarding both basses and sex partners) is much better than "passive".

It did come with a case, where I plan to store some knick-knacks because the bass will be on display in my Game Room, looking quite at home amongst the Monty Python bobbleheads.

This is the best sounding bass I have ever heard, and I have heard a lot of basses, especially on the radio in my sister's car. I play it through a Baldwin organ amplifier from the 60s, which also picks up some radio stations if it's raining (don't know about hail yet).

It is dead quiet when I am not playing it unless it falls down, and it makes kind of a "klang" noise when that happens, which my friend Greg says is normal.

It sounds very nice through the amp and my upstairs neighbor, Mrs Richmond, says it makes her pelvis feel funny if she's lying in bed, but she also says that's a good thing.

The setup on this bass was excellent from the factory and my friend Greg says that is because they have robots. There were no flaws at all and in the right light, I can see myself very well in the reflection! Sometimes I think about taking pictures of myself like that.

This bass is very tough! I could use it to beat a squirrel to death if a squirrel broke in to my house or something (mean squirrels only) and I think the bass would be fine while the squirrel would not be. I have played a lot of folk on it so far (Pete Seeger mostly) and it seems great!

My friend Greg (he knows a lot about this stuff) says these basses never rot and if anything else goes wrong, the robots at the factory are working 24-7 and will fix stuff right away.

This bass is really good! I would like three more just like it but maybe different colors to match my pantsuits.

MusicMan Sterling HH. Rosewood fretboard, not sure of the body wood since it had a painted finish. Everything else, typical MusicMan. Not sure what else anyone would need..

Hmm.. Not as bad as the review below, but I wasn't in awe of the tone. It's very clicky and has a really annoying harsh top end. Most of the little subtleties get lost live, but that bright click was always there. Maybe that's good for some, but it annoyed the heck out of me. The EB fans will say it's my technique, but funny that my other 30 basses don't do that.. I thought the two humbuckers with the 5 way switch would be great, but only position 1 and 3 sounded decent. 3 was my favorite, and I thought that would be the one I hated. It smoothed the tone out and made it fatter, but not too fat. 1 is the typical MM tone. 2 and 4 were very strange tones, and sound nothing like a jazz, which they won't admit but I think that's what they were going for.. 5 drops off in volume and wouldn't cut through an acoustic gig if you were hooked to an SVT and 810. Bass is quiet and if you like clicky tone, then this is your bass.

It's well made. I'll give them that. I could feel the fret ends just a little bit..

I'm sure it will last the new owner for many years.

I hear they are top notch. I've visted their online forum, and well..

This is not the bass for me. Average to below average tone. Playability and build were nice, but not enough to cancel out the tone. It's not a total stinker, but I'd never recommend one.

Standard Ernie Ball Sterling with the HH pickup configuration. The electronics and color are about the only things you can change on these. The rest is standard. No point beating a dead horse. The wood used is very cheap. Poor grain, and obviously just the cheapest stuff they can get their hands on. Sad considering the price has shot up so much. Less for more. Go figure, huh?

This is the worst sounding bass I've owned to date out of about 20 or so. Dead and lifeless are the two words that come to my mind. Just absolutely not what you would expect given all the hype around EM basses. I had a MIM Fender Jazz with CS pickups that blows this thing away and I paid $250 for it. This Sterling is $1500 new.

Position 1 was muffled and farty. Position 2 kicked the volume up to #11, and had a chorus type sound to it. Position 3 was muddy. Position 4 just sounded bad all around, and also muffled. Position 5 never sounds good on these 2 PUP basses. A H at the neck sounds woofy no matter what.

Just flat out bad tone. Not much else I can say.

Again, the wood is cheap. Setup was okay, and the components are not bad.

Didn't keep it long. I'm sure it would have lasted 100's of years in my closet, because I would have never used it.

I hear they are good. Never bothered to call. They would not have liked my assessement of this thing.

Been playing for quite some time now and this is hands down the worst investment I've ever made gear-wise. Just a flat out stinker. I bought it online new, and the store wouldn't take it back, so I took a hit on the resale, but it was better than keeping this paper weight. Prices are up and the product is down. Shame on you EB.

This is your standard Ernie Ball Sterling with the HH pickup configuration. The specs have been covered to death, so no need to go into that, other than stating the pickup config..

Wow! What a turd. Let's go through it position by position.

Position 1 - The "classic Music Man spank" is nowhere to be found here, contrary to the magazine review I read on this model. The tone here was muffled and dead. Awful.

Postion 2 - The volume spiked up about 50% in position 2, and it sounded as if a built-in chorus pedal kicked in. Interseting to say the least. Who needs a volume knob with Position 2? It's like turning your bass to number 11.. Know what I mean? Weird.

Position 3 - The most useable of the unuseable tones on this bass. It wasn't muffled, no chorus, and the volume stayed about where you would expect it to be. Barely adequate.

Position 4 - Ah, the mufflers are back on here. Too bad the chorus pedal doesn't kick in.. Nothing like the sound of a chorused, muffled turd. Yuck.

Position 5 - Here we have a muffled, hollow, turd tone to die for! Enough said..

I know the EB faithful will be upset with this review, but I had a SR4HH last year and it was junk. I thought I just got a bad one, because the setup on that one was awful as well.. As it turns out the HH's are just junk. Plain and simple, they don't do it for me.

Action was okay. Finish was nice, except for the #2 Yellawood pine they make these out of now. The body wood was terrible, and the neck wood was equally as bad.

New higher prices and lower quality woods. Sweet!

It's gone.. Where it should be..

Never contacted them. I hear they are top notch, and that's good, because people buying these will need some help.

I've owned most of what's out there. I had a nice SR4 years ago. Since then I've owned 4 others, and they've all with the exception of 1 have been total stinkers. Maybe the Zon's and MTD's of the world have spoiled me.. Maybe EB just doesn't make a good bass anymore. The prices have gone up and the quality has gone down. That's ashame, because I really used to have a lot of respect for this company. I would never recommend these basses to anyone.

Obviously, you will read great reviews on these basses. Some of that comes from past success.. Some comes from the EB fans.. Some people just want convince themselves these are good after they've plunked down a lotta cash for one.. Go play one..

2007 model, made is USA, black painted ash body, maple neck, rosewood board, active ceramic dual humbuckers, 5-way pickup selector switch, 3-band EQ and volume knob, unfinished back of neck, EB standard hardware, rotary truss rod wheel where neck meets body, 5-bolt neck plate, compact body, narrow jazz neck (c-shape), fitted musicman case with truss rod wrench and polishing cloth.

Better than the alnico humbuckers in the Stingray model. What do I mean? The Stingray has a big bottom and thin highs - sort of hollow sound IMO. The Sterling has a textured, meaty tone that growls with character. The lows are thunderous but articulated, mids very punchy, and the highs are THICK. It sounds much more brighter and defined than the Stingray 4 HH (I use to own one, then I traded it for the Sterling). The 3-band EQ is very powerful - a little will go a long way (you can keep your preamp flat and do all your EQing from the bass - retaining more of its character). The 5-way pick-up selector switch will give your many tonal starting points before you EQ the bass (a diagram of this switch, and how it works comes with the bass). DEAD QUIET ELECTRONICS. There is almost no detectable hum, so you don't have to always be palming your strings to avoid that annoying bzzzzzzzzzzz that always comes with single coils.

This is where EB really shines. Build quality is outstanding. The hardware (tuners, bridge, knobs, etc.) is first quality. I already expect this from EB anyway. Fret work, as usual, was great. Set-up was very good upon arrival. I did straighten the neck a tad and raise the action, but these were minor adjustments. Intonation was dead-on. Fits perfectly in the case. The small, c-shaped neck is so easy to play. Not as chunky as a warwick, it does however have enough girth to feel solid under your thumb. This bass is surely built to last. For quality of construction, EB is one of the best, and I think THE best in this price range ($1400 - $1700 or so).

See above.

Emails are usually returned in a day or two. Never had a problem with them. Never owned an EB product that needed repairs.

I've been playing for 20 years. I've owned many, many basses (fender, warwick, peavey, carvin, etc.). IMO, EB is the leader in basses in this price range. There is nothing I hate about this bass (it could have come with strap locks though).