Sterling by Music Man RAY35 Bass: Preamp Warranty and Dealer Experience

Hey guys! NBD!

https://sterlingbymusicman.com/produc...

‪@LowEndLobster‬ Hey bud! I know you did reviews on the RAY34, but don't think you have done the RAY35 yet.

This is a B-Stock bass from Pro Audio Star through eBay. Someone likely bought it and returned shortly after receiving it. I had an issue with the preamp with noisy potentiometers. Using Deoxit5 did not correct the issue.

Changing out the pot was not feasible as it is a non standard pot. It is an Alpha Mini B50k Center Detent 16mm pot with a solid shaft and 3/4" thread length. The volume is an A50k no Center Detent. All standard pots have a 3/8" threaded shaft portion. Due to the pot mounted through the preamp PCB and the body wood, a 3/8" thread length is too short. No place stocks these 3/4" pots. They are a custom pot, and while one could go to Digikey or Mouser with the specs of the pot and the product series number from Alpha, you would have an MOQ of hundreds of these pots that get pricey unless you could sell them on the internet. Not practical. At that point may as well replace the entire preamp and pickup combo with something different.


No warranty on B-Stock items from Sterling as pertaining to the cosmetics, but on playability such as the preamp being faulty Sterling honored the warranty and are sending me a new entire preamp. Saves me $100 plus shipping!

PAS did offer me a $30 credit on the purchase cost too as compensation for researching/interacting with Sterling and I accepted. Had Sterling not honored the warranty and I had to pay out of pocket, I would have expected PAS to credit me the full amount for the new preamp to make things right. If they didn't, I would have returned the bass at no charge to me, no risk. Thankfully the situation did not go that way.

Big thanks to Josh at Sterling ‪@ernieballinc‬ and Steve at PAS ‪@proaudiostar‬