drTStingray

My take on this is bass 2 is much more Roger Waters (P Floyd) eg Money, whereas bass 1 is more Peaches I K Brunel (Stranglers). Take your pick - both valid P bass tones.

Looks nice - but point of order, not a real Ray bridge. Is that a real Ray pick up and 2 band EQ (I someone previously said it was) - if so what did the previous owner do with the rest of the instrument it came from? 🤔 They are normally almost unobtainium!!

I agree they sound very different - have they got the same strings? The second one is more scooped sounding (particularly trebly) whereas the first is much more ballsy sounding, in your face as it were. Its worth looking at pick up heights and maybe the outputs are different - the first sounds almost over driven to me. Some Precisions are louder than others. How do they fare back to back with the tone turned off (or at least down)? I know it's anathema but you could turn the bass volume down a bit on your one perhaps (unless the volume isn't linear - ie drops off very suddenly when you turn the control).

As opposed to p u k e 😏😂👍

Some good advice already here. Another couple of points:- 1) The Stingray Special has 18 volt electronics so in my experience will clip with the input much above 11 o clock. (Btw I also generally use a Stingray Special). The same happens with a Bongo but I can get slightly higher input gain without clipping with a normal Stingray (dependent on how hard you play) 2) I have the an LM3 and two 2x10s - I originally had the same as you - a 1x15 and a 2 x10 but moved to the current set up as a felt the 1 X 15 was too bassy for me. 3) For home or rehearsal use (and all but large gigs) I only use one 2x10 - either not taking the second cab or not plugging it in (as now) - the amp is rated at 350 watts or thereabouts with one 8 ohm cab, 500 with two - 500 watts is unnecessary in my experience for all but medium to larger settings. 4) For quiet use, I would lower the input gain and up the output so that the input is not higher than the output. For home use my input gain is around 7 o clock and the output similar with the volume probably reduced on the bass - anything higher would result in neighbour issues! 5) Contrary to what has been said earlier, the tweeters make a big difference, especially with a bass like a Stingray with shimmering treble availability. I tend to have one tweeter on full and the other off, being careful to check when using one cabinet its not the one with the tweeter off!! 6) I agree with the settings on tone - 12 o clock to start - filters off. 7) Are your strings worn out - the bass has two batteries - in my experience it will fail completely if there's a battery issue (though I've only ever had this happen during tune up/before sound check three times in 40 odd years of using active basses). 8) The Stingray Special has a completely revoiced pre amp - it's really good - more bass is available but most importantly the mid range is very different - you can afford to boost that although at centre it creates a very warm sound. On the older 3 band I use the mid range with it cut significantly to get near the 2 band Stingray sound. Boosting the mid range will enable you to cut through a mix in a good way - I sometimes adjust the mids on the fly as some songs really require this. Best of luck - as others have said, that rig and bass should sound phenomenal.

Fabulous - love the sparkle and the colour. Enjoy (btw they can still sound very fat (as per Bernard Edwards) and great for slap also. The new preamp is very good - the bass control is especially powerful.

Not sure about the blues version of Fleetwood Mac - a lot of people playing any form of rock music in the UK were influenced by John Entwhistle and the very available Rotosound 66 Roundwounds. Black US soul players were notable for their aggressive plucking (and often very high action on their Precisions or Jazzes). You don't surprise me regarding the late changeover by people like Chuck Rainey but the much brighter R and /disco sound (eg Marcus Miller) started around 1977. By 1980 in the UK R and B had a fat but bright sound (if it wasn't keyboard bass) and even punk had very bright sounds. So did people like Willie Weeks go through a transition period using both. I had read that Jamerson upset people and lost work, amongst other things by refusing to move to the brighter sound - I had no idea other similar bassists clung to their flats. I would very much doubt John McVie would have flats on his Alembic but I do like his bass sound very much 👍 Rounds can be tamed with decent muting technique - or allowed to let rip as per some rock bass players and people like Mark King or Stanley Clark. I am always reminded earlier Stingrays shipped with GHS flats and indeed Bernard Edwards' bass will have had those - contrasting greatly with Louis Johnson's roundwound sound on similar instruments.

Definitely pick - flats I doubt as they'd been more or less illegal in the UK since the late 60s - I know the US took a while to catch up but if B Edwards had bought his Stingray a year later it would have come with rounds rather than flats. Flats were complete anathema by the 80s (possibly except some studio studio employed musicians). Whilst i too love the Pino stuff on Voodoo and with John Mayer, I have always equated putting flatwounds on an Alembic with putting cross ply tyres on a Ferrari. Of course, most cars had cross ply until the early 60s...... 😂 Ive been playing my rounds equipped 3 band Stingray - with a bit of muting it sounds good enough for Sir Duke and the like, but it's also great for a slap fest like Hair (Graham Central Station). Both if which im using as part of a practice routine currently - and realising how out of shape my playing is getting from not playing gigs 😯 I'm afraid my flats equipped Classic Stingray and Fretless Stingray remain in their respective cases 😏

It's the lava pearl one!

Hi Zak that's an absolute beauty - I can't see you not buying it - I certainly would!! I've still got your ex Bongo btw 👍 The Jazz and Aria look good as well - a lot of people played Aria's in the 80s along with Ibanez Musicians (now there's a thing - you might find one if the rarer ones in Asia - eg in white). Those Arias sound great.

Yes, I was aware Tears of a Clown was Babbitt. However my point was in the build up of the breakdown in I Want You Back, virtually the same pattern of playing argeggios happens. I hadn't noticed the similarity before - probably because I've never heard the isolated bass track of I Want You Back before. There are many recordings of bass with picks - it's how that initial 'click' or 'ponk' is mixed which makes the difference. Those 60s pop tunes I mentioned above have very trebly clicks, which are mixed that way. A slightly different example but Tim Commerford is quoted for the first Rage album as having grown his finger nails to get a similar attack - that album also has one of the iconic Stingray sounds. Unless you hear these sounds isolated some of the nuance is lost but I'm with @wateroftyne on this - it really sounds like a pick (even though he may not have played with a pick live). My understanding was Jamerson also did session work with Motown and others in LA?

Bellies aside 😁 to me, it's definitely played with a softish pick with the sound not enhanced in the mix. There's no way you'd get that click at the start of each note without either having long finger nails or a pick. When I say 'not enhanced' I mean like the bass sound on Je t'aime Moi etc etc or Everlasting Love where the pick sound on the bass is actually a feature of the song. As for the playing, if I didn't know it was Wilton Felder I'd have said Jamerson or Babbitt!! It sounds so much like them. And is it just me or do I hear part of the Bob Babbitt bass line to Tears of a Clown in the breakdown?

I think poplar and basswood will be more likely, if made well they make fantastic basses (eg MM Stingrays (including the excellent US Sub) and Bongos). Presumably alder for sunburst. I suspect you just won't be able to get a natural wood finish Fender unless you go Custom Shop, and likely Masterbuilt when you put an ash option in. Other manufacturers have been doing this for a while - I can only think Fender's customary lateness to the issue may be based on the fact natural ash or even ash at all is less common than say, alder on their instruments, especially as the late 60s look with flatwound strings is probably more popular right now than the mid/late 70s (such as Marcus Miller's Jazz). Different for Musicman as natural ash is one of the iconic original finishes and has been popular ever since.

Lovely - got to love the Cruz Teal colour. Mine started with white - now has a black pg 👍

Presumably this will mean the end of the natural finish 70s American Original basses. These were as iconic in the 70s as the sunburst ones were in the 60s. As Chilliwater mentioned, Musicman announced something similar some while ago and now only offers the Joe Dart bass in natural. Presumably Fender means you can only specify an ash body as a non-production line bass - ie a Custom Shop one.

Yes, mine's the same - though as I bought an SR5 Special as well that's a tighter fit (came in the same type of case exactly) - I collected both in their original shipping boxes. My Old Smoothie is in the same type of Musicman case as well. I hadn't appreciated that the size of the Stingray case has altered - it was only when I had some stacked up together that I realised the more recent cases are slightly larger - they are also deeper, but to the same basic design. It seems to be from when they started using the red label with white logo on the case - presumably the shipping boxes must also be slightly bigger. This appears to have been introduced somewhere between 2014 and 2016.

The Special version of the Stingray (post 2018) has lightweight hardware (aluminium) which sheds quite a lot of weight - until recently the bodies were lightweight swamp ash - now poplar or basswood owing to the ash shortage. Previously these basses all had, since around 2000, ash bodies -weights varied but I've heard of Sterlings under 8lb - Stingray 4s are generally 9 - 9.75 lbs but there are light ones around. I like the tone of the 9.5 lb or thereabouts ones. Prior to that some had ash, some poplar (solid colours or blueburst) and some alder (trans red). Tone is similar but varies marginally - even with pre EB some colours had alder (some sunburst) - the Old Smoothie bass is alder.

I've posted this before (even in this thread) but you should measure from the 12th fret ps it's in inches because that's how Americans measure things (imperial) and they're American basses 😏 @AndyTravis I think you stand little chance of that - however you could buy an Aguilar pick up and EQ or one of the others (Nordstrand pu plus John East preamp for instance) - they're meant to do a good job. However, I think you need the two pick up version to get that 'little extra' - actually a lot extra - if you tweak the EQ you get lots of cool sounds 👍 The 2 pu with both pick ups on humbucker coils makes the most wonderful sound - nice scooped slap sound as well but there are others - plus of course the standard Stingray sound as well - though they're 3 band, turning the mid down a lot and boosting bass and treble a touch gets you in 2 band proximity (I have a Sabre with 2 band EQ so can vouch for that being correct).

Thanks! Just been playing it acoustically - I really must change the strings!!!

Thanks - it sounds great (and the 18 v EQ is very powerful).

No problem - from 96 to 2018 the non Classic series have a shortened version of that bridge omitting the mutes but still the same substantial steel casting and holding bolts. The cheaper copies (incl SBMM Sub)have a version of the large area bridge but in thinner material and held down at the sides by a couple of screws rather than the bolts. That version can be bought very cheaply on EBay - as you probably know EBMM only do the more major parts for a Stingray on an exchange basis. I shall be interested to see/hear the result 👍

Yeah - Ive had it just over 18 months - now needs new strings - weighs around 8 lbs. Got a bit of banter from some band mates when I first got it asking if I was starting a glam rock band!!

You're right thebpick up position is an important element. Strings through is only on pre EB to around 1980 and on the more recent Classic range. In all cases (except the Special - introduced 2018) the bridge is a thick piece of steel with two holding down bolts going deep into the body - the Specials have the same shaped bridge but in aluminium to reduce weight and omit the deep holding down bolts. They all have significant area attached to the body

Congratulations. Yep I have one - it's extremely versatile with five coil combination settings as well as the powerful 18 volt powered 3 band EQ. That colour you will find even more stunning in person, and it should be light as well. I use mine almost always when I want to use a five string. The roasted maple neck with oil and wax finish produces one of the most playable and superb feeling necks you'll come across.

No problem @Maude you're welcome. I would try and get a cheap high mass bridge - one of those cheap copy Ray bridges they sell on EBay would do (similar to the SBMM Sub) - Juliaplaysgroove on You Tube uses an SBMM Sub Ray and it sounds pretty much like a Stingray to me. I think you may need something better than the BBOT type to get the string snap. Sounds an interesting project! Btw I have to pinch myself every so often as my brain is now rewired to metric, but as you may well know, everything's measured in imperial on a Ray (and Fender) - hence showing inches - American!! 😏