drTStingray

Nice post Sime 17 - and I agree with your view on the single coil settings - the neck pick up soloed, with boosted mids and played quite harshly gives a nice Amembicy sort of sound.

[quote name='sime17' timestamp='1341867862' post='1725489']
Buying an EBMM of course also gives you the right to spout forth on the scariest and most cultish forum on earth, apparently[/quote]

Lol - I'm guessing you mean the EBMM forum which does seem to have a very scary reputation - but honestly, the worst you're likely to encounter there is someone mistaking The Shadows for The Ventures (sacrilege in some people's view!!), or perhaps ignoring you - but Talkbass.........well it seems you're likely to be savaged at a hundred yards if you don't concur with commonly held views that a vintage Fender is the epitomy of modern electric bass and everything else has in-built design, style or sound faults which must be exposed and debated until the opposition is quelled!!

My HH Ray is my most versatile bass - does the standard Stingray thing, but with both pick ups in humbucker mode, it has the most killer slap tone, and for fingerstyle playing, smooths out the Stingray bite. The single coil settings are also great, usable tones - and it is the lightest Musicman I have. They're usually the upper end of 9 lbs but this is at least a pound lighter.

Worth trying one IMO.

Do you mean like this, Mushers? I think it's very probable you need one but only you can tell - well at least that's what happens to me when I want a Musicman bass

They'll give you the exact date when they reply to you, so it is worth picking up - the value is basically what people are willing to pay in the market. Until basses become quite old, and even then only if they are sought after, do they start to increase in value again.

Have a look on Ebay at previous sales - that will give you an idea - the colour's a nice one so maybe several people would bid against each other on Ebay - I once bid on a 87 Stingray and it went way out of my price bracket for the instrument at that time - about £1300. I bid on and won my 93 fretless (same colour as yours) a couple of weeks later for just over £750. Some go for more - it just depends if there is someone who really wants the bass at the time.

I have DR Marcus Miller fatbeams on my Stingray 5 - 125,105,85,65,45
and EB Cobalt Slinkies on my Bongo 5 - 130,100,80,65,45

I would prefer a 125 on the Bongo but they don't yet make a cobalt string in that guage.

I've found Musicman basses get the best sound balance across strings using 100,80,65,45 (on 4 string)

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1340467046' post='1704882']
There's lots they aren't too enamoured with. I'm a self confessed 2eq 'ray-phile and long standing member of the EB forum, so I know full well what goes on, what's tolerated and what's not. I find a forum where the lack of freedom to express views on the existence of other breeds of bass affects my strong sense of[color=#000000] impartiality, subsequently I rarely if ever contribute. [/color]I am a fanboy... but not that much of a fanboy.
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Yeah I know what you mean - it was not good a few years back and I didn't go on there for about a year back then, and got seriously annoyed - but it's a lot better now - quite a few people such as Sterling Ball have actually said they like Precisions and the like. One or two people got banned for one reason or another and have dissed it since - understandable to an extent on both sides - but you can't expect to run threads on improved replacement pick ups and pre amps on a manufacturers forum eh?

Which is the point of a forum like this where you don't have to toe manufacturer rules quite so strongly! Talkbass can get a bit strange if people criticise (seemingly quite rightly) a very big manufacturer - threads get closed - one wonders if they might be a contributing sponsor by any chance??!!

The Greek - that's Rod Trussbroken's site - it's not the Musicman serial number database, which EBMM holds (because it's their manufacturing record). That said, several of my basses are listed there, but only because I gave him the info (having got it off EBMM) - it's not a complete record.

[quote name='Ou7shined' timestamp='1340459659' post='1704739']
Don't forget to tell them about your love of Fenders, they'll welcome you with open arms.
[/quote]

Well yeah - as it's a manfacturers forum you'd expect them to not be too enamoured with people doing that - more likely just ignore it - having said that Sterling Ball did ask someone recently to 'cut Fender some slack' when they were moaning about Fender's customer service/quality control in comparison with Musicman's. However Musicman is a much smaller operation not dealing with the level of mass production as Fender - there again Fender's CEO isn't conspicuous by appearence in public to answer questions eh, Pike?

Back to the original sunburst colour on Musicman basses - the thing with that colour is the effect under stage lights - really brings the yellow up - a clear pg sounds a nice plan.

The problem with these internet comparisons is they always show different tones on the Fenders (2 for the P and 3 or 4 for the Jazz), and one on the Stingray. The difference with the Stingray is it has real tone controls with extensive and interractive range rather than effectively a tone on and off switch which the Fenders have - thus it has a lot more versatility and because of the dynamic created by the active EQ, a more noticeable difference created by different playing styles. The Jazz, with a volume for each pick up, has a range of tones created by blending the pus, in the same way the Stingray has from blending the bass, middle and treble controls. And that's just the electronics - different body woods make the underlying sound subtly different.

Your best bet is to go and try some out, then you'll see how each bass fits your playing style and you can choose the best for what you want to achieve. I ilke them all (but much favour the Stingray as it suits my playing style and many of my favourite bass performance are on them) but recognise that in some cases, you will only get the best approximation of the sound of a particular track from one specific instrument, no matter how hard you try.

Cool bass.

If you go on the Ernie Ball Musicman forum, there's a sticky thread there and if you give them your serial number they'll reply with the exact DOB, colour/neck/pg spec and where it was shipped to. The musicman org site is the brain child of a great guy from Australia who's a big Musicman fan and shared all his acquired and historic knowledge of these instruments on the net - he's also a moderator at the official Musicman forum - the org site is the best (and possibly only) place for serial no info about pre EB Musicman basses.

I'd guess you should be able to get £650 to 750 for this bass. There are a lot of people who want to own Stingrays (and a select group of individuals who hate them as well!!).

It's in the oriiginal sunburst colour - at that time (late 80s to mid/late 90s) EBMM ran a custom colour called vintage sunburst, with a price uplift. Later, original sunburst was renamed honeyburst and vintage sunburst just became a regular colour called............sunburst :(confusing but true! Lovely colour though - I have one. The short bridge on yours first appeared on the 20th Anniversary Stingray in 96.

I'm astonished he's not tried a Stingray 5H with flats - plucked around where the pick up is on a Precision. They do natural thump rather well. If you use the HH version you can use the inner coils setting, but the first suggestion should do it just as well.

I once saw a guy using an SR5H on a Stax soul show - got the Duck Dunn feel rather well.

Gorgeous - congrats.

I've had several sets of Elites on my SR5 in the past and they do the job well. The DR MM fatbeams have been great however - they seem to produce a bit more mid range as well.

Elixirs also sound great on a Stingray.

However, I can't wait to try some EB Cobalts on one of my SRs - I have them on my Bongo 5 and have been blown away by the increased volume, clarity and general presence they add to the bass sound - according to the blurb they enhance output across the whole range but particularly in the upper mids. The Bongo wasn;t lacking in presence in a mix in the first place, but it just does it even better with these. Not sure what the price is like for 4 string sets but definitely worth a go.

[quote name='Gust0o' timestamp='1338977953' post='1681800']
The Big Al has the same sound? I thought, given the arrangement, it would be a very different animal - and thus hadn't even considered it, let alone began to wonder what the neck might be like.
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Yeah the neck is the Sterling profile - by all accounts these are killer basses - they have the MM DNA sound, but can nail a whole bag full of tones - and the passive tone is said to be very good indeed also - worth trying one out if you get the chance. I've personally only played one acoustically at a show but it felt very good and the neck was great. If Musicman UK have any in stock on their site you can get one taken to a local dealer to try out.

As for prices, if you can find a dealer with a Sterling in stock you may get a much better deal if you're willing to take that item off their hands - otherwise shop around - you should get a decent deal even on an SLO special Ray from one of the bigger outlets. Just have to wait 6 months for it to arrive! Arrrrrrrgh the GAS

You should get an immaculate used Sterling for £750 ish - you may just have to wait a while for the right one to come up.

[quote name='bigsmokebass' timestamp='1338865983' post='1680269']
The Roto's I have set on it haven't only released tension in the neck but also sound and feel great on this bass.

I thought at the time, using EB strings would benefit this a lot, as you imagine the manufacturer would know a lot about thier instruments and strings . . .

Roto's forever

BSB
[/quote]

I certainly haven't had a problem with EB strings - all the Musicman basses I have had from new have not had a neck problem as shipped, and they and the others I have haven't had one when re-strung with the same spec - 4 string and 5 string across different models.

When you get chance, try the guage they're shipped with.

Bear in mind Ernie Ball is a string manufacturer - they sell strings for generic instruments - it doesn't neccessarily follow that every type they make will be the best alternative for every type of Musicman instrument. The heavier the guage the more tension on the neck.

Best of luck with your Rotos - I used to use these all the time and I agree they sound great initially, especially for certain genres of music.

Interesting you have this problem.

FWIW I don't think the oil and wax finish makes any difference - I have several and they behave no differently from the MM basses I have with finished necks. You may have a neck problem but it may equally be affected by string choice.

I had a similar problem to you when I strung my SR5 with Rotosound Jazz Bass flats - standard guage - what had hitherto been a great bass with a fast neck became virtually unplayable because the string tension was so great. Not only did it increase the back bow but the strings were so taught it was actually painful to play, and frankly impossible to play any line with any intricasy or speed involved.

A while back I found out that EBMM ship their 4 string basses with 100/80/65/45 strings so I now string my 5s with 125/100/80/65/45 (currently have DR Marcus Miller signature on my SR5 which sound great) and this helps not only any tension issues, but also helps to balance the sound of the B and E strings better against the rest of the bass - at some amp EQ settings the B and E strings especially can overpower - I wouldn't put more than a 130 on a 5 string bass simply because the sound might be overwhelming.

The Roto flats got moved to my SR4 fretless where they were also not good for the same reason - I subsequently discovered Ernie Ball Group 3 flatwounds which have the same tension more or less as roundwounds and are a joy to play.

I would suggest that string tension may affect 5 string basses more than 4s simply because of the extra forces involved - a civil engineer mate once said when inspecting my bass, those 5th strings look like they could support a bridge - and that was in 125 form!

Here are your choices for a Musicman with a narrower (more like a Fender Jazz width at the nut) bass:-

1) Stingray SLO special - a Stingray in any standard colour, with 3 band or 2 band EQ, with 1 pick up or two (either HH or HS),with or without matching headstock, as you want. Oh and choice of maple, rosewood or pau ferro fretless board.
2) Sterling (NOT an SBMM) - smaller body than Stingray, 3 band EQ, ceramic magnets, 3 way switch giving series/parallel/single coil plus all the variations as in 1)
3) Sterling (NOT an SBMM) Classic - all as 2) above but only in 2 band EQ - no fretless available - classic colours only; flamed or birds eye maple neck.
4) Big Al - pointy shaped body (but great fit to play especially sat down), mahogany body (the very early ones were alder) - 4 band EQ (in multi pick up version - 3 band in single H version) with coil selectors, series/parallel, active/passive - multi pick up available in SSS; HH variants - all colours etc as above.

Plenty of choice then

The SBMM SB14 is a version of 2) above made in Indonesia - with a basswood body and fewer options.
There was a SUB Sterling model - has 2 band EQ without coil tap.

Hope this and the other posts help you - let us know how you get on.

All of the above come up used sometimes and bargains can be had - however the Stingray SLO special, Sterling Classic and Sub Sterling are all quite rare - and especially on the used market - I've never seen a used Big Al advertised except on the MM forum.

Don't worry about alternatives - quite honestly only a Musicman sounds like a Musicman and suggest you don't alter the neck you already have - the resale value will undoubtedly drop and most of the sort of people who buy Musicmans wouldn't buy it off you. Very few people modify them or even change the colour.

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1338588155' post='1677059']
is a "studio sound" really relevant at all? Ultimately it's a coil of wire with a magnet and at some point it goes through something that boosts that circuit. The main difference between an active and passive bass is that happen on the bass and before the cable with an active system.
There is a difference but I that's it, just a difference and not one better than the other
[/quote]
You are right but I also think it's relevant because we develop our own sound and style generally from influence of other people - usually their recorded sound, seldom, if ever, their live sound.

I hadn't intended to start an active v passive discussion as this thread was all about how you use your on board EQ. My preference is to have one, but that's all it is - my preference - I also know I can get sounds (nice ones to my ears) out of my basses that are as much down to the basses as the playing. All that said I've heard great things about more recent passive bass tone and tone control (Warwicks; MM Big Al/Reflex to name a few) - I must try some of these. Don't get me wrong, I have a big soft spot for the P and J - just not a big enough one to spend a lot of money on one at the moment - I occassionally see a vintage custom colour one for sale and think...........hmmm one day, maybe!

[quote name='brensabre79' timestamp='1338555243' post='1676283']
if you want to get an active bass and turn all the knobs up to full you can, and people will advise you otherwise, and one day you'll discover why and tell others, and they will probably react like a spoiled teenager who doesn't like being told what to do
[/quote]

Well I've been playing just on 40 yrs, and haven't owned a passive bass since about 1979 - I have dabbled with vintage Fenders occassionally.

I have a number of basses and my 2 band Stingray regularly gets gigged on full bass boost and almost full treble boost - it's the sound I want to hear for the type of music I'm playing. Played in a fairly laid back way with an amp set almost flat, it sounds excellent IMO - very warm and fat. If I attacked the bass a la Flea it would probably be too much. As you reduce the EQ on the 2 band Ray, the mids boost - another type of sound is available doing that - I liken it to the bass sound on the Shine album by Average White Band.

Apart from my 2 band Ray, I tend to start with basses at centre detent and then adjust 'by ear', dependent on room, genre, number of pick ups in use, coil tap selection etc etc. Some need a bit of mid boost to overcome too scooped of a natural instrument sound.

I would be more worried about using an 18 volt pre amp with the bass boosted fully eg a Warwick - my Bongo would send people running to the toilet..........(cue for the bathroom equipment jokers....) having had their bowels vibrated - the bass boost is seriously that strong - I would probably lose speakers on a regular basis as well.

I've played loads of passive basses but just don't like them as much - all of the guys I liked in the 70s, and who recorded using Jazzes and Precisions (eg Nate Watts on Stevie Wonder's album Songs in the Key of Life) - played them through studio preamps (Alembic in his case) so they're really not passive bass sounds at all..............and to the guy who said you get the same sound by turning your volume up with the bass EQ set on centre detent, as by fully boosting everything, well you're wrong because on many basses the individual EQ settings of treble and bass (and mid if available) interract - yes it is correct that once you get there there's nowhere further to go, but so what...........and this is only in terms of boost anyway - you can always reduce though - and the idea of cuttting EQ can also produce some great tones.

Having got used to active basses over so many years, I find the idea and reality of a passive bass of the F variety rather limiting - great for a couple of specific tasks but not terribly flexible.................which is of course the reason why so many of the quality bassists of the 70s such as Jack Cassidy experimented and switched to active basses - or pumped up their 'passive' basses in the studio (Jaco's recorded bass sound is another example). My favourite bassists of all time are Bernard Edwards and Pino..........who used Musicmans (I know Pino has gone over to P basses but his tone is fantastic, much of which comes from his extraordinary skill - I believe the live sound with JMT is as much TI flats and Ampeg as it is P bass also!). The fact I can get myself to sound a bit like these guys is part down to the instrument - and yes I've tried to play We Are Family on a P bass - it just don't get close - but a 2 band Ray with flats, and EQ on full boost plus a lot of years practicing, you can.

He seemed to use that early shell pink Jazz bass with the STP sticker during one tour - I'm guessing he couldn't get the right sound for the music with it as he quickly reverted to the Modulus - in fact I saw them on the Jonathan Ross show in this era and the bass sounded very ordinary. The sound was nothing like the pumped up tone he normally gets live and is on a lot of the albums.

I doubt he cares too much about damaging vintage basses cosmetically - if he did he wouldn't put a sticker on a rare bass like that.

I've seen videos of him using a Musicman bass for recorded work in the last couple of years, but he has a history of using loads of different basses - Spector, Wal, Musicman, Modulus, Fender Jazz being amongst them.

Me too!

Bongos are becoming much more popular - people are selling cheap copies and Guitar Centre are going to stock them.

Maybe we'll get some pastel colours yet!

If you lost it, you'd want to be able to replace it - I would try and get a Policy which gets you a new replacement - clearly it can't be a black Onyx but a new Sterling with premium colour, perhaps. If you were lucky enough to find a black onyx one you could probably get that with this approach.

I'm surprised to hear the comparisons between a Sterling and a Jazz - beyond the neck profile - the Sterling is basically a 4 string version of the 1992-2008 Stingray 5, electronically - far more dynamics than a Jazz owing to pick up switching ability combined with a wide range of bass, mid and treble boost and cut on the EQ - in SR5 form these have been used on countless recordings. A whole range of tones is available from smooth to harsh - they are very responsive to variety in playing/plucking style and position, as you would expect owing to the greater dynamic range.

I've watched lots of comparisons of Precision v Jazz v Stingray and none explore the range of tones available on the MM bass - often showing it played with the EQ flat - in comparison the Precision and Jazz get shown with the half a dozen general stock sounds available between them. I personally prefer the range being available but still have a soft spot for the Precision and Jazz.

You guys are hilarious....................... yawn.

Those look like Fender colours to me.

Fat Rich you seem to have terrible bad luck with your Stingray - I know lots of people with Stingrays and they don't ever adjust the truss rods, and they still seem to be able to play them perfectly well. My SR5 is a good case in point - I took it out to a jam session a couple of weeks back - it hadn't been used and had been stored in its case for about six months. It was still in tune and played as it should, straight out of the case.

The modern Stingrays are built with far better quality control than those old 70s ones, nice as they are - the new ones also have a far superior neck attachment using 6 bolts - maybe that is the difference.

Having said that I played a gig on Friday - one of the other bands had a bass player with a 76 Stingray, and he was the original owner - he has no problem of this type and the bass sounded great also - in fact the only one which sounded crap all night was a 72 Precision when it was played with the tone control fully on - the clankiness of the sound overpowered the music. Fine in bassy mode though.

So maybe you just have a bad un - you could upgrade to a new one

Everything you've said about the Bongo is right Gareth. They are so versatile - just wait until you play one in a gig setting or recorded - they sit in a mix so well.

In a playability sense, I've never had a problem with the painted neck - in the same way as playing Rays with lacquered necks or switching between them and standard is no problem. I find the neck profile the same as my Stingray 5.

And the body shape feels great - easily the best of all the basses I've ever used over the last 40 yrs or so - but there again it should be - it wasn't designed in the 50s/60s and technology/human understanding has progressed a lot since then.

I love mine - fattest and fullest tone you could ever want. I agree that a yellow one would be cool.

You should get the sky blue one Gareth.

[attachment=108387:17092010828.jpg]

Ps I haven't been on this forum long but love the humour/banter - Bongos/toilet seats - you guys really don't know how funny you are

[quote name='mingsta' timestamp='1337097143' post='1655416']
I'm sure there are some out there!!!

In fact they've just closed the books on an April only special run from premier dealerships - they were taking orders for Bongos, Rays, Reflex, Stingray with a special spec of honeyburst finish, mahogany body and roasted maple neck.

I was tempted, but at ~£1800-2200 depending on model it was a bit spendy for me.
[/quote]

Interestingly these have a wax and oil finished birds eye maple neck (i.e not lacquered, unlike previous roasted necks) - I was very tempted as well, particularly by a mahog Ray, or a trans finish Bongo!

[quote name='stingrayPete1977' timestamp='1337100184' post='1655485']
Nicks guitars had some, I guess he imported them himself?
[/quote]

Unless he went and bought them personally from dealers in the USA he won't have been able to. However, some clearly were ordered either by individuals through dealers or dealers for stock, as I've seen at least one black sugar/roasted birds eye neck Stingray used on Ebay in UK.

Worth bearing in mind that these count as limited edition - the non international sale by US dealers of EBMM guitars agreement expires in respect of limited editions after 3 yrs. There's some very nice stuff available at places like Guitar Centre and Bass Central as a result (special models created for Guitar Centre, some of which are very cool, are not included in this respect - per Sterling Ball response to query). They come up used on Ebay occassionally though.