2025 Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay 5 – Sparkle Finish – Excellent Condition

A rather lovely 2025 Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay 5, finished in a fantastic Sparkle finish and presented in excellent condition.

With just a few hours of home use, this is a particularly clean example of Music Man's contemporary take on the iconic StingRay platform, developed in collaboration with Darkglass Electronics. Combining classic Music Man playability with some seriously impressive onboard tonal options, the DarkRay is a very versatile and rather special five-string bass.

At its heart is a powerful neodymium humbucking pickup, paired with a custom-designed Darkglass active preamp featuring three selectable operating modes: Clean, Alpha distortion and Omega fuzz.

The clean mode delivers everything you would expect from a great Music Man StingRay: a punchy, articulate sound with a tight low end, plenty of midrange authority and that unmistakable clarity and attack. Switch to Alpha and you have a tighter, more aggressive distortion character, while Omega takes things into much heavier, fuzzier territory. Both drive circuits can be blended with the clean signal, retaining the fundamental low end while adding as much attitude as you like.

The onboard controls provide volume, gain, blend, bass and treble adjustment, with a three-way selector and illuminated LED indicator to identify the chosen mode. There is an enormous amount of tonal flexibility here, from beautifully defined modern clean tones to seriously driven bass sounds.

As you would expect from Music Man, the build quality and attention to detail are excellent. The DarkRay 5 features a comfortable contoured body, roasted maple neck, ebony fingerboard, 22 high-profile stainless steel frets and Music Man's familiar 4+1 headstock arrangement.

Factory Specification

Model: Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay 5
Year: 2025
Finish: Sparkle
Five-string configuration
Select hardwood body
Roasted maple neck
Ebony fingerboard
34" scale length
11" fingerboard radius
22 high-profile stainless steel frets
Single neodymium humbucking pickup
Custom Darkglass 2-band active preamp
Clean, Alpha distortion and Omega fuzz modes
Volume, gain, blend, bass and treble controls
3-way illuminated mode selector
Black hardware
Music Man 4+1 headstock configuration

The bass is in excellent condition, having seen just a few hours of use at home. It has a nice setup and is playing beautifully.

Supplied with its original Music Man case and all original factory paperwork.

A fantastic opportunity to acquire a virtually unused 2025 DarkRay 5, combining the unmistakable Music Man feel with the added tonal possibilities of the Darkglass electronics.

Very cool, beautifully made and ready for a new home.

Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay 5 2025 Dark Rainbow