OLP MM4 StingRay

OLP MM4 Stingray. After test playing probably a dozen makes and models of basses, I found this one, and knew immediately that it was going home with me. It only has one humbucker and it is passive, but the tone was so much better than anything else that I had played. It is black with a white pickguard and lots of chrome.

I play blues, rock, metal, and a little funk when the mood hits me. It hates crate amps with a passion and will kill them. It loves my Ampeg with 400Watts. After playing on this bass I can hardly stand playing a fender. It has a very warm sound, and has crisp and distinct high end. It took some fooling around with the knobs to figure out that the humbucker is of split coil design and can be set to behave as a single coil. I have been gigging heavily for for years with it, and wouldn't sell it. I absoulutely love this bass, and still wonder if someone put the wrong price tag on it. $240

I thought the action was set a bit high. It was easy to lower it. Out of habit I went through and made sure everything was snug. Some screws needed a gentle snugging down but nothing major. I would have prefered for it to have some kind of finish on the neck. It is hard keeping the neck clean under the strings

This bass has been very reliable for 4 years of playing gigs. It stays in tune very well, usually even during transport. So far I have only had one hardware issue. The front strap button stripped out after about a year and a half of use. I replaced the screw with a slightly longer one and haven't had a problem with it since. The body is made of basswood, and if you bang it into something it will dent, but so far I only have two almost imperceptible dings. I usually have a backup bass, but have never had to use it. This one has never let me down.

I have never had to contact them.

I have been playing bass for 32 years. As far as Basses I have this one, a galveston 4 string fretless, and an ancient fender squire bass. If someone stole this bass I would hunt them down and break their fingers. I highly recdomend replaceing the strings with Rotosound Swing66 strings. They sound great on this bass. I have played many basses, but after playing my OLP I can't stand the way a Fender P bass feels. The Fender Jazz bass is better to me than the Pbass, but still I prefer the OLP. I compared it to Washburns, BC Rich, and Trabens. Nothing plays quite like it. Nothing decent can compare to the price. Would be better with an active pickup.

Nothing special, better than anything else I tried in the price range new.

Sounds alright. I play it in a funky punk band and its not bad, I'd enjoy a much fuller sound if thats possible.

Go ahead and take the metal plate off that the knobs are on. My nuts were screwed on crooked and looked like they'd been jammed on by a machine. Its impossible to tighten the top nuts on snuggly when the bottom ones are crooked, so all the dials are loose. Rattles very loud when I play. Nasty phase problems if the pickups aren't either 100% or 0%. Doesn't seem grounded very well. The neck isn't finished which I didn't think I'd care, but it dents VERY easily and gets incredibly dirty.
I got the "natural" finish which is some sort of hideous flametop. Looks cheaper than a Walmart coffee table to be honest with you.
The strap button on the cutaway fell out and had to be woodglued back in about 3 months after I got it. Who knows how long that will last.

Its never cut out on me at a show, keeps its tuning pretty well, easy to play (but the neck is pretty wide). But the crappy hardware is really unsettling.

I'll be getting a P-bass soon, this will get sold/traded/loaned.

The tone controls do not get the real Stingray sound.

I own an OLP SB5 and compared it to this. The SB5 sounds more like a Spector than the MM2 sounds like a Stingray. I guess that's because the SB4 and SB5 use EMG-SSD Stuart Spector Design pickups, and these use a bigass humbucker seen on many Chinese basses. I only rate it an 8 because of the very low price. It sounds quite good for the money, but for the same amount of money you can have TWO EMG-SSD pickups instead of a single no-name pickup.

Really good for a cheap Chinese bass, but not equal to a real Stingray. The truss rod design is a copy of the Stingray and really easy to adjust. All these cheap Asian basses need a real setup when you get them. I only rate it an 8 because I really like the neck. I'd also prefer to play this over a Fender P-bass I once owned.

The basswood body will dent easily and the cheap pots will probably wear out soon. Replace the pots with expensive ones, and it should be a giggable bass, or bring a backup bass. The tuners seem fairly sturdy and really stayed in tune.

Check out the SB4 and SB5 before you buy this Stingray copy. You get better pickups, in my opinion, and more tonal colors. The body style of the Spector copy is also more comfortable. But this is well worth the money. Most of these reviews rate it too highly, but that's because of the low price. BTW, an MM2 and an SB4 would make a killer combo for a bass rig when starting out. Both are copies of well respected rock basses. But it's not a really accurate copy.

Single Humbucker, 2 volume and one tone knob and the looks of a stingray. Maple fret board and I don't know what the body is made of.

I have read the ratings on this bass and I am not even sure if I am playing the same bass because everyone seems to be blown away by this bass, but I am not. I have owned a samick jazz bass, OLP MM4, 83 fender p-bass, 91 fender jazz bass, G&L L2000 and a 74 fender p-bass. I sold all my basses once I got my 74 p-bass none of them culd even begin to compare to it. Right now my P-bass is being used by a friend of mine whos band is in the studio so I got to take his OLP. The OLP sounds alright for an entry level cheap bass. I think for 200 or 300 or whatever it costs that it's not a bad buy. But the bass certainly is not professional quality. The sound seems pretty muffled and it just doesn't have the warm bright sound I like.

This bass was set up like absolute crap. I like my strings as low as can be so that I use as little energy playing as I have to. I adjusted the bridge and the neck and have been unable to get the strings as low as I would like. I have also dropped the tuning a full step and a half step and it just doesn't work for this bass. Especially when you have the lowest string two steps down. It is not a bass for metal. Playing in the second octave on the low string does not sound good at all. The strings lose their sustain completely.

I wouldn't use this bass for playing a show or recording. It seems sturdy enough, not like a fender though. The strap buttons have bent and one is stripped. If I did gig with this bass it would be the back up and not the main one.

Dpn't Know

Overall I don't like this bass. It doesn't have the quick a smooth neck that a stingray has. It doesn't sound that great and the hardwarte seems chgeap. I also don't understand why the controls are set up like a jazz bass. All in all it is not a bad first bass espcially if you like stingrays since they are easily a grand more than this bass new. But if you have been playing for a while and want a good bass to step up to this is not it. My opinion is that vintage fender basses are the way to go but they can be pricy, but on the other hand it is well worth it.

It only has a single humbucker and the Ernie Ball active electronics are not present. By turning volume down on either half of the humbucker, you can get a single coil tone, but some hum will be present. A single tone control is included for both halves of the split coil humbucker. Each half of the humbucker has a slightly different tone of ots own. It comes with no manual, and this is not explained.

The sound really blows me away. I like it better in every way than my 70's Fender P-bass. The lack of active electronics affects the tonal range somewhat compared to the Music Man original it is patterned after, but it still has more tonal range than my P-bass. It has the option of being played as a humbucker or single coil. Considering that the pickup coil is fairly close to the bridge, it has a very full sound. However, there is plenty of brightness there when you need it. For a bright sound, use the coil half that is closest to the bridge (turn OFF the volume on the other coil) and adjust control tone for brightness. For a deep sound, turn volume on both coils halves full up into humbucker mode and adjust tone control for max bass. In other words, just leave the middle volume knob full ON, use the other volume knob for switching between humbucker and single coil mode, and adjust the tone knob if you need to. When you switch between single coil and humbucker mode, you will find there is much more tonal range available than just adjusting the tone control. Think of it as a passive J-bass where the single coil neck pickup has been slid down next to the single coil bridge pickup, thus giving you a humbucker option when both volume controls are matched to each other. At any volume setting you have this humbucker capability as long as both volume controls are set at exactly the same volume level. I sold my P-bass (for much more money than I paid for this bass) and will not get another one as I like the Music Man style pickup arrangement much better. That should have been obvious to me long ago, as the Music Man bass was an improvement over Leo Fender's earlier efforts. I read where basswood bodies are perfect tonal matches for maple necks, and the sound of this bass seems to prove that theory. I also prefer this bass over the Fender Aerodyne Jazz Bass at well over twice the OLP price. I believe the lightly finished maple neck adds to the tone of the OLP bass. You can really feel this bass resonate, and it has great sustain. There are no dead or buzzing frets.

The metallic blue pearl finish is beautiful. The neck is very smooth and fast with a nice feel. The pickup was adjusted for an even tonal response among the strings. I had to raise the string saddles a bit to eliminate some string buzz on the higher frets as the action was very low when I got it. It had too much neck relief also, so I tightened the truss rod with the supplied wrench. I then set intonation with my Peterson VS-1 tuner, and I was in business. The action adjustments have held ever since. The neck is very nice, and has Canadian maple wood of a quality that easily compares to American basses at 3 times the price. This bass has a very cool retro Music Man look.

The nut could be made from a harder material, but it works OK for now. The fretboard is very smooth, but there seems to be no finish on it, so it picks up stains from your fingers easily. I'm going to oil the fretboard with tung oil when I change strings. Since it came with genuine Ernie Ball Slinky strings, that may be quite a while from now. The tuners never slip; they can hold the tune all week. All hardware seems sturdy. The tailpiece is mounted with 5 screws, and everything about ir feels sturdy.

I doubt that it will ever need warranty service.

I bought it sight unseen. I had the option of returning the bass to Musician's Friend if I didn't like it, so I figured I would take the chance. I'm glad I did, as it met or exceeded every expectation I had of it. I recently had a similar experience with fly rods. I was looking at one of Sage's "economy" fly rods at $230. I found a similar Stowaway 7 rod at Cabela's that broke down into a smaller pack size and had a higher quality reel seat of nickel silver for $130, and the build quality was just as good. In low priced instruments, you get a much better deal by buying the imports (even Canadian Traynor or Yorkville amps). These new Asian import guitars and basses are nothing like the old ones, and the Chinese OLP bass is better than Mexican Fender basses as well as costing less. I know a guy that got an Oscar Schmidt ES-335 copy by Washburn on sale at MF for $150, and it blew me away at the price as well. It also has a very nice neck, good hardware, and a good sound (almost as good as his old beat up Gretsch valued at least 5 times as high) through a Traynor YCV40 amp. I play my OLP bass through a Marshall tube bass amp, and it is a good match for playing dirty retro bass, sort of a Jack Bruce sound if you remember the old Cream recordings. With the money you save by buying an OLP bass, you can do yourself a favor and afford to buy a good tube bass amp if vintage sounding overdriven bass is your bag. I now play guitar a bit also, but I started playing bass in 1976 and it gets most of my attention still. This is a great bass for getting 60's and 70's overdriven tube bass tones when matched with a Marshall, Fender, Traynor, Ampeg, Sunn, Hiwatt, Selmer, Orange, or similar tube head. I am only personally familiar with the first 4 brands, but most tube bass heads are similar. A guitar head with a smaller output transformer will distort sooner (OK for playing Grunge Bass), and the biggest difference seems to be in output transformers used. The bigger the output transformer, the cleaner and tighter the bass. The old Traynor YBA-1 bass heads sound good with this bass, and if about 75 tube watts will do you (your guitarist plays something like a Fender Deluxe Reverb or Peavey Classic 30), then it is an economical head and you can pick them up on eBay for about the cost of this bass with case. Expect to do some retubing and electrolytic capacitor replacement, of course, if you need it dependable for gigging. But first buy this bass and see if it measures up, and when you decide to keep it instead of buying that American P-bass or J-bass that sounds no better, the money you saved will go a long way toward a good used tube amp. If solid state is your bag, the money saved will buy you something like a brand new Yorkville BassMaster XM200 outright. And you will NOT give up anything in the sound department because you went with this cheaper OLP bass. The BassMaster XM200 kills costlier competition as well, but that's a different story and I'm an old fart that refuses to give up tubes, so to me it doesn't matter. This bass is a solid 10 at the price. I don't know how OLP does it, but luckily for you and me, they do.

Chinese made, 21 frets, solid top, but the controls are confusing. They don't give a guide to which ones do what, so you kinda have to guess.

The OLP Stingray MM4 definately suits my punk-rock/ska taste of music. It looks great, so I use it for shows, and it isn't noisay on any of the settings. It has a wide variety of sounds and styles which suits it for me

The bass was set up well at the factory, just mine has a little bit of a gap where the neck meets the body. Besides that, its perfect. The wood was good quality, and so was everything else.

This thing is a tank. I've used it for only one show so far, but I like it more than my Fender Deluxe Active Jazz Bass. The neck/truss rod doesn't need alot of work. I haven't even needed to touch mine yet!

I bought the bass on e-bay

I have only been playing for 2 years, but I think that this is the best non-expensive bass that i've ever used. I hope to get many more shows out of this baby. I'm only 14, but i put alot of work onto this thing, and it holds up well.

I think it has everything you would want except active electronics. Since this is a copy, I rate it as it compares to the original. If it had active electronics, it would be a more accurate copy, but probably not as nice sounding at this price point.

For the price, there is no way that you can give it less than a 10. This is a better bass than my old '75 Fender P-bass. The lightweight body doesn't seem to detract from the tone or sustain. I bought this as a complement to my '93 Rickenbacker 4004L. This bass sounds almost as good, but has about 6dB less output. That's doing fairly well, as the 4004L has the hottest passive pickups of any bass I have ever used. I like the 4004L sound better, but for the money the OLP MusicMan can't be beat if you want a funky slap bass. Ernie Ball Slinky strings came standard and they sound nice and bright. My Marshall AVT20 amp has an Eminence B102 bass speaker installed and everything really cooks with this bass.

If you already own a good high powered audiophile stereo, just run this bass through a Tech 21 SansAmp RBI and be prepared to be blown away by the range of tone that you can get. You can get the RBI and this bass for a little over $500 brand new and it will outperform bass/amp rigs at over $2000 (in a home setting) if you have a killer high powered sound system that has deep loud bass.

I have never seen better at this price point. The metallic pearl blue is color beautiful. I do my own setups. The truss rod needed adjustment after tuning the strings to pitch. The bridge needed a bit of intonation, but the string height is pretty good for a fairly aggressive style. There is about 7/64" string height at the 12th fret on the E-string, with the other strings being a bit lower. Neck is true with no buzzing or dead frets. Fret ends were very smooth and nicely beveled. It is very easy to adjust the truss rod, and the tool is included. I like the feel of the satin finished neck. The basswood body makes it easy to carry for long periods of time. Really a stunning good looker for the price.

The tuners hold the tuning quite well. Pots are quiet and smooth. The pickups seem fairly quiet as well. Everything is great for the price. You can get one of these new for less than a mint condition used Mexican Fender P-bass or J-bass sells for on eBay. I would pick this over either of those if the prices were equal. The only thing that concerns me is the nut seems to be made from a rather soft plastic. No problem yet, but I couldn't expect better at the price. This is a good quality instrument at a very low price.

I didn't even get a manual, not that I need it though.

This is a solid 10 at the price. If anybody else is making this quality of instrument at this price, I want to know about it. I may get another one to set up with a different set of strings. This bass is so good that it has me reconsidering my past attitude towards low cost instruments. I would rather have 6 of this quality of bass and have lots of versatility rather than pay $1000-$2000 for a single high end bass. I don't think any bass is better sounding or better looking than my Rickenbacker 4004L in its price range, and this bass comes so close in sound quality that I really don't want a second Rickenbacker for backup duty. I'm going to start paying more attention to some of the better rated Asian copies of American guitars. Why pay much more for an American Fender bass when this bass is practically as good? You can have 3 or 4 of these instead with different strings and different setups for different styles. And it plays and sounds superior to my old American P-bass to boot.

This is actually the OLP MM2 4 string bass that can be found <a href="http://www.musiciansfriend.com/srs7/search/g=home/detail/base_id/55623">here</a> at Musicians Friend. It's a MusicMan stingray copy, made in China in a similar vain as Fender's cheaper Japanese or Mexican series basses. It's made of basswood, has two volumes and a tone, maple neck and fingerboard and the classic MusicMan pickup.

This bass sounds fantastic! The two volume knobs allow you to switch between front and back pickups in any variation or combination of tones. The back pickup gives you the classic Jaco thump/squawk while the front pickup sounds fat and thick, reminiscent of Duck Dunn. Adjusting the volume knobs themselves shape the tone quite a bit. Eg. rolling off either volume knob a bit changes the tone and seems to roll off quite a bit of high end. This can be very pleasing although some may consider this a flaw (uneven?)... I don't. It allows you hundreds of different tones. All three basic tones, front, back and both, are excellent sounding and distinct. The tone knob is very effective and sounds musical all the way up and all the way down (not too thin or muddy).

I'm playing this through my Sovtek Mig50 (Russian tube amp) through a 2x12 cab and the two sound amazing together. The Sovtek has two channels with two distinct sounds. One like a Fender Bassman (fat), the other somewhere in between a Vox and a Marshall (kind of shril). The MM2 sounds incredible through either channel. The first channel sounds like "butter" and offers the ultimate 70s grove, blues or jazz tones. The other is fantastic for slap or playing with a pick and works well for funk and punk.

The setup wasn't the best. It's string height was uneven (not in a good way) and they didn't de-tune it for shipping (was still playable when it arrived). The frets were dressed well though and the ends were nice and smooth. I got the Blue finish and it looks just fine although I really don't care how it looks. If anything, the dot inlays are kind of weird looking (flat black against maple). I also don't like the feel of a Precision bass although I love the tone. This bass is the perfect "tweener" of Jazz and Precision in both feel and tone.

This thing is a tank.

N/A

I've been playing for 19 years and have owned many a bass. My main bass has been a Fender Jazz for years. I have always wanted a Stingray but to be honest, I could never justify the price (usually @ $1500). For that price, a bass has to be PERFECT for me and I never found one that I couldn't live without. Then when they issued this bass, I couldn't believe it. SO much cheaper than the MusiMan and everything I wanted. I couldn't resist.

This was the first instrument I've ever bought "sound un-heard". I had played a few at a local Guitar Center and liked it so much I decided to take a gamble and buy one online. I wasn't disappointed at all. If you're looking for one bass to do it all, buy this one!

Made in China, presumably recently.
4 strings, by my count.
2 volume, 1 tone.
1 'bucker, apparently similar in quality to a MM, but I wouldn't know from hands-on experience.
Passive.
I believe the nuts and bolts have been covered in other posts, and I wouldn't know, given the fact that the axe arrived in a cardboard box with no documentation.

At the outset, I am a pro pianist, and have (probably) scant experience playing scads of pro instruments other than kybds.
That said, I am wildly impressed w/ this instrument.
I (at this point) play easy walking standards, Creedence, Billy Joel, blues, and roots rock.
I use a Music Man HD 130 thru a small "15 Cerwin Vega cab.
Not a bit noisy.
Initially ( before I navigated the volume/tone configuration WITHOUT A MANUAL) I thought the bass was sort of childishly bright. Once I got into the swing of things, I found the sweet spot. I believe this bass would please most players. It is unquestionably capable of (maybe designed for) high octane slapping and whatnot.
But what I found appealing was its well defined, round bottom. (Wierd description)...I run the the "upper" volume somewhat louder than the lower and just tweak the tone enough for a bleed of treble. I get an extremely well defined BASS sound, even w/ the rather biased Ernie Ball strings. Fat, round, and sculpted.

Near perfect set-up. Wonderfully playable.
PU just fine.
Mechanically this bass was made to be played out of the box. Beautiful blue finish. Flaws? Heck if I know. Do ya play these things, or look at 'em?

I have no doubt that this bass could go the distance. Crimeny, after a certain period of time, EVERYTHING breaks down. I'd use it in heartbeat w/out a backup. Who brings a backup, anyway?

Have no idea. It's a coupla chunks 'o wood w/ 4 strings and PU. I guess if the thing spontaneously combusted, I probably wouldn't be callin' CS.

I own a ton of gear, and am not, primarily, a bass player. I HAVE been fortunate enough to play and record w/ some of the best bass players in the country, and I know what sound I like.
The OLP, IMHO, cannot be beat for the $. I own one of the now coveted Peavey t40s, and I can't begin to coax the nice sounds out of that box that I can out of the OLP.

I assume we are talking about the OLP MM2 which is the 4 string Stingray bass clone (the MM4 is actually a 6 string electric I believe)
Made in China - 2001 I would guess. Maple Neck and Fingerboard with 21 frets...Natural Body - Elm - with single passive humbucker. The controls are set out as per MM Stingray though obviously not active. The headstock is roughly MM Stingray style with impressive machines. The bridge is solid and functional. I paid #250 (UK Sterling) for it buying online from Guitar-friends in Germany...I could probably have found one a bit cheaper closer to home...or even cheaper from the States but I'm still happy.

The aim was obviously to get as close to the Stingray sound as possibly and its remarkably close...particularly when you consider that this is a passive bass. Very full and it suits my pick style very well...as far as I can tell given that I've only just bought the bass.

I lowered the action considerably - this presented no problems - and its now set pretty low with very little rattle. The neck was set up with a very slight inward bow which I could easily straighten if I wanted...though I prefer it this way...my P-bass has always been set up the same...its about right - too straight and it will buzz. The overall finish is pretty good for the price...not perfect but you get what you pay for...and a whole lot more in this case.

I've only just bought the bass so I'm still finding my way around it but it looks pretty solid and reliable to me and may well become my regular gigging bass after a long spell with my P-bass.

Not applicable.

At 48 I'm an old timer...still gigging regularly - always have. This bass was bought on impulse - something I havn't done for a long time...and I'm well pleased with it. I've always been cynicle about overpriced instruments...I've gigged a Jap Squier P-bass for the last 10 years which knocks spots off some American Precisions I've tried...So this beauty fits the bill perfectly...I won't pay a four figure sum for a Stingray...no need to now!!
Its going through a Trace-Elliot 150w 1x15 Combo linked to a Peavey 150w head and 1x15 cab...a rig I've been using for some time and really like.