Ernie Ball Music Man DarkRay 4 BFR – Grapes of Wrath

Introducing the Ball Family Reserve DarkRay “Grapes of Wrath”, a stunning limited edition bass crafted for collectors and players alike. Featuring a figured roasted maple neck with an ebony fretboard adorned with custom Purple Atlante block inlays, this DarkRay is capped with a flame maple top finished in the exclusive Grapes of Wrath colorway. Limited to just 75 instruments worldwide, each bass comes with a numbered certificate of authenticity and a premium MONO case. Powered by Darkglass Electronics and built with the same uncompromising specs as the DarkRay line, this BFR release pairs jaw-dropping looks with crushing tone and effortless playability.

Custom Darkglass® clean 2-band active preamp

The DarkRay is equipped with a new modern 2 Band preamp that Darkglass specifically designed. The preamp is extremely clean and quiet with adjustable volume, gain, bass, treble, and blend controls to achieve the desired tone.

Alpha and Omega

The Darkglass preamp offers two highly regarded drive circuits, Alpha(tight distortion) and Omega(fuzz). Both distortion circuits are fully mixable via an onboard gain knob and blend control manipulated to the user’s preference with no low-end loss. Via the 3-way lever switch, a bright color-coded LED ring is illuminated, signifying which mode the bass is in.

DarkRay = StingRay

The DarkRay bass is every bit a Stingray Special with neodymium humbucking pickup, roasted maple neck, comfort contoured body, 22 stainless steel frets, all black hardware, and the familiar 3+1 headstock configuration.

Limited to a small production run as part of the Ball Family Reserve, this version of the StingRay brings together solid craftsmanship and subtle design flourishes. From the figured maple headstock to the figured maple fingerboard, every detail is executed with care. It’s a bass that doesn’t rely on flash to stand out—it simply does what it’s built to do, and does it well.