Chiliwailer

Another shout out for Andertons, and particularly Dave. All the the staff I spoke to were spot on, however Dave was the guy who sorted me out, getting me some scales, basses from the warehouse, and all with a 'absolutely no problem' type vibe. Super helpful and great bloke, cheers for the help and Stingray Dave, was a pleasure

Right you are, it’s definitely a kick yourself type of bass if I sold it.

Oh my gosh, that neck!!!! It’s hands down the nicest neck I’ve had, it instantly felt like home. I thought my old Lull’s had the nicest necks, but this one tops them. Yes, the EQ is pretty much as you described on mine, it feels more ‘usable’ in that with my old Ray is mostly set and forget, but this one seems to dial in more options.The mid is like you said earlier, the centre point is like the old one dialled down some, and the maximum on mine is like the old one on about 80%-ish at a guess. It’s early days though, and I mostly played the bridge pickup tooay and some position 4, which I think is inner coils. I’ve got two days on it before I go away for a couple of weeks, so best get some playing in this weekend! I was hoping to sell my white Ray, as part of my payback plan. But like you said, I’m not sure this replaces it, and that white one is special (it must be, as I don’t like owning white basses ) so the jury is out right now.

There was a sunburst HH on display, that’s all I can tell ya. I think their site is pretty up to date though.

Exactly that mate, I hadn’t even considered this colour until I got there and had it stare at me. The other colours are really nice, but I didn’t feel like any were in my dull comfort zone

Haha, you mean the ‘coach of doom’ surely?! Its super comfy, nice and versatile, and very different to my other Ray. Would be nice if I’m not touting it to you in the future 😂 I think the colours need to be seen in the flesh, so to speak. The Burnt Apple has a lot more sparkle than I presumed, and the charcoal sparkle looked seriously sparkly in the shop. The two blue ones looked different to me too, and even the stealth hardware looked different to me close up. What colours were you after?

Please ignore all my other posts above about not being in the market for one...after a bit of curiosity, ‘clever accounting’ and a trip to Andertons I came away with one The purist in me wanted a single H, but having had a HH 5’er before I was interested again, and after clicking with this HH I had to have it so got the old plastic out. I was honestly quite prepared to come away empty handed, and almost expected to because I already have a killer Ray, but they really are fine instruments and 8.6 is a nice weight. . The new colours are great, the charcoal and burnt apple really sparkle in the light nicely. The stealth black hardware was cool, though surprisingly it didn’t call out to me like I thought it would the more time I spent with it. The older Rays in the Shop didn’t sound good at all next to the Specials, however my 2015 Ray is an exceptionally good one and next to my new Special they kind of compliment each other. I wouldn’t say either was better, just different. The 2015 sounds like it has more growl, ring and roughness, whereas the Special sounds like a Ray that’s been smoothed off a little. It took a while to get used to the tone controls as they of course react differently to the old style, but the results are great and I like it.

For those of you asking about weIght, I’ve just been to Andertons, and weighed about 4 of them there. They were between 8.6 to 9.6 lbs, even a regular H was 9.6, and I saw a similar one that weight at GAK.

I still reckon its 3:1 odds on

It seems silly for you not to have one pal, you have some absolutely stunning Ray's and you owe it to them to add the new kid on the block to the family. Can't wait to see what you get...

Get yer sampler out! 😁 Lovely looking bass...

Quite glad I’m not buying a Special at the moment, each day I have a different colour preference!

I'd love the natural / maple H. If i had the cash, I'd be more than happy to splash out. My only other concern is that I'm very fond of my current Ray... and you know all about me and getting rid of 'excess' basses 😄

@hiram.k.hackenbacker you’re suspiciously quiet in this thread right now...

My old Tu-2 too 😣

Boss can be real tone suckers ☹️

I like the MXR Custom Shop version of the Micro Amp, great EQ if you need it. Not perfectly transparent, but the little it adds to the tone is very nice to my ear.

If it's the passive version it'll be slightly less then the prices quote above. Check to see if it's got a battery cavity in the back.

Loving the all black HH and charcoal H, Not loving the prices though. Glad I’m not after one otherwise the plastic would take quite a beating this weekend.

Listening to Alice In Chains again has given me Spector NS-2 GAS 🙄

Exactly this All I really need is a P and a Ray, so my J’s come and go. I love J’s, but just don’t need one. I believe that if I ever get a J again, it’ll be buying back a specific old one of mine - but only because the wife loved the colour and misses it!

Happy days, twin pack on the way. Cheers @casapete

Totally agreed you made the right move for what you said you wanted, a great hi-if pickup - I was just praising split coils as a good choice amongst many others