M-Bass-M

I can't help you out with local retailers, but I ordered mine from EffectPowerSupplies.com - [url="http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/sterling-by-musicman-194-c.asp"]http://www.effectpowersupplies.com/sterling-by-musicman-194-c.asp[/url] - and couldn't rate them any higher. They do a discount for Basschat subscribers, but I can't remember what the discount code is - someone else might?

By way of comparison, my SUB Ray5 comes in at 10lb 4oz.

Thanks for the links, basically confirmed what I thought - too much overlap to be practical, I guess. Backing to the drawing board then...

I've been pondering my own custom bass for a while, and I'd always thought that I wanted to mix a P-bass pickup with a Stingray pickup. With never being able to compare a Precision and StingRay side-by-side, I have no idea whether the pickups overlap at all. So does anybody have any diagrams at all that compares the different pickup spacing - i.e. Jazz vs Precision vs StingRay? I just want to understand what the art of the possible is! Cheers Mark

I know this is an old thread, but having owned one of these for a while and also gigged with it, I'd thought people may appreciate some additional thoughts. The first comment is about the weight. The Ray5 is a heavy blighter, uncomfortably so at times. The website lists it as 'hardwood', and doesn't give any weight information, but I suppose I should weigh it myself when I get home, and compare it to the Status. Secondly, as some others suggested above it does indeed suffer from neck dive. Having a strap that has a bit of friction over the shoulder reduces movement, but playing it sat down on your knee with no strap is where you notice it the most. I'm not sure how the neck has been finished, but it seems that every time I play it, it feels like I'm rubbing something off the neck. At first I just thought it was residue from the factory, but it seems to keep happening - almost like the varnish / lacquer is not sticking. Visually there's nothing, but I worry that in a few months' time some sort of mark may appear. On the 5 string, the string spacing is very narrow indeed. I've previously owned other 5- and 6-string basses, but with this one I'm really struggling to maintain both left and right hand accuracy due to the spacing. Likewise, the bottom 'B' string is really loose to play. Now this may be down to the string gauge - but I'm find it very difficult to get a controlled attack with the 'B' string. This could be general issue with all 5-strings, but as with above, I don't remember it being an issue with previous 5- and 6-strings. Sound-wise, my only gripe at the moment is that I don't have the same flexibility on the Ray as I do with my Status, but that's to be expected really. Overall, I don't think this bass is necessarily a keeper. It still remains great value for money, but I suppose I demand just a bit more from my basses.

Just got me one of these today, and my initial impressions are that I'm seriously impressed! The range of pedals available is simply unbelievable, everything from fuzz, distortion, pitch shift, harmonizers, chorus, compression, amp simulaors...it really is overwhelming! It'll take me a while to really get the hang of what is available, but suffice to say it's good enough that I'm planning to offload at least four of my existing pedals. The price is unbelievable, and the build quality is also very good - the unit feels rugged, nothing like the plasitic, flimsiness that I usually associated with Zoom multi fx pedals.

I bought a SUB Ray5 last week, and so far I'm impressed with it. As ezbass says, the maple neck feels fast and comfortable, but doesn't have any lacquer on it so does have a bit of a grainy feel to it. Balanced on my knee, there is some neck dive to the bass, but over my shoulder using a thick Comfort strap there were no problems at all. The rest of the build quality seems entirely reasonable - nothing stupid such as a crooked bridge leading to badly aligned strings etc. I had to set the action, but ended up with something that was satisfactory for my playing style. The one thing I would mention is that the strings are very tightly packed together - not in a bad way, but it's my first 5 string so it takes a bit of getting used to! I'd also echo ezbass's comments about the sound, but it's worth remembering that the SUB Ray5 is only a 2EQ model, while the Sterling Ray35 is a 3EQ model. But again, you get what you pay for. For a £300 bass, I'm certainly satisfied

According to the Status price list, you can have your own built new for only £2,295. Guess that's £700 to not have to wait 4 months for the thing to be built? [url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Status-Graphite-B2-bass-guitar-brand-new-/280906036369?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item41674df491"]http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/Status-Graphite-B2-bass-guitar-brand-new-/280906036369?pt=UK_Musical_Instruments_Guitars_CV&hash=item41674df491[/url]