Musicman Stingray - Such a love/hate relationship

[horrorshowbass]

USA SUB incoming on Thursday.

Happy Christmas to me

[Vanheusen77]

The more I play my Stingray special the more I love it. It really can do it all.

Edited December 24, 2022 by Vanheusen77

[Eric.C.Lapton]

On 19/12/2022 at 07:06, Delberthot said:

I think I've said this at some point in the past - I love the sound of Stingrays but the only way that I can get the Stingray sound live is with a Sterling. I just can't get as much growl and punch with a regular Stingray unless it's a ceramic pickup SR5.

 

I bought this a few weeks ago - Sterling HH with matching headstock

 

 

The sterling is a monster,  I’ve slays preferred it’s sound to the stingray a HH must be marvellous 

[Patrick Francis]

It’s refreshing to see so many others frustrated with their Stingrays - I had 4 of them, along with a Sabre and a US Sterling, Back in the late 80’s and 90’s I had very little understanding of tone and gain stages. 87-91 I was using a Trace Elliott sold state amp,

(the one with the black light) I used a pick and a chorus pedal. I had terrible tone but I didn’t even know it. When warmer more organically produced rock music kicked in with the grunge stuff, I moved on to a precision and an SVT. 
 

I found the Stingray NEVER sounded good with a pick - unless I went for the over the top Cure, Simon Gallup, Disintegration pick tone.

They never took to drive as well as passive basses.

They had a thin ‘snock’ sound that didn’t fit in a mix.

They’re prohibitively heavy. I wasn’t aware of their weight in my 20’s, now I’m 64 it’s a deal breaker. The most recent Ray I had was over 12 pounds, I never picked it up. I have to admit the Sterling was a nice reprieve, fabulous sound, lovely weight, it just felt a little small on me.

 

[agoulding]

I'm joining in on this resurrection... I bought my first Stingray this year. Adore the bloody thing but sometimes struggle with the sound.

I had the weak G problem but it was massively improved by adjusting the poles in the pick up.

I have now settled in using flats on it, I just adore the vibe of it. Flats on the Stingray is wildly underrated if you ask me.

[Beedster]

6 hours ago, agoulding said:

I'm joining in on this resurrection... I bought my first Stingray this year. Adore the bloody thing but sometimes struggle with the sound.

I had the weak G problem but it was massively improved by adjusting the poles in the pick up.

I have now settled in using flats on it, I just adore the vibe of it. Flats on the Stingray is wildly underrated if you ask me.

Flats on a stingray are glorious 👍

 

But then flats on any decent bass are glorious 🙂

[HeadlessBassist]

12 hours ago, Patrick Francis said:

It’s refreshing to see so many others frustrated with their Stingrays - I had 4 of them, along with a Sabre and a US Sterling, Back in the late 80’s and 90’s I had very little understanding of tone and gain stages. 87-91 I was using a Trace Elliott sold state amp,

(the one with the black light) I used a pick and a chorus pedal. I had terrible tone but I didn’t even know it. When warmer more organically produced rock music kicked in with the grunge stuff, I moved on to a precision and an SVT. 
 

I found the Stingray NEVER sounded good with a pick - unless I went for the over the top Cure, Simon Gallup, Disintegration pick tone.

They never took to drive as well as passive basses.

They had a thin ‘snock’ sound that didn’t fit in a mix.

They’re prohibitively heavy. I wasn’t aware of their weight in my 20’s, now I’m 64 it’s a deal breaker. The most recent Ray I had was over 12 pounds, I never picked it up. I have to admit the Sterling was a nice reprieve, fabulous sound, lovely weight, it just felt a little small on me.

 

 

Like any mass produced instrument, there are always good and bad examples, but there is something odd about the Stingray sonically. You can tell it's definitely designed as an evolution to the Precision, as it's pickup placement fits into an almost perfect sonic space for the listener, but it's often a struggle for the player. If you're running a 'Ray balls-out like Flea, it rises magnificently to the occasion, but as an accompanying instrument it does tend to get sonically buried. It's almost as if the sound lacks the necessary body in a live situation. Even my fantastic sounding thirty year old 2eq model can seem to get a little lost [to my ears], but audience members regularly say it sounds fantastic, that they can clearly hear every single note. Maybe many of us have on-stage hearing difficulties and the Stingray is just fine? 

[miles'tone]

2 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

Maybe many of us have on-stage hearing difficulties and the Stingray is just fine? 

Maybe the heavy bass response of a Stingray needs to travel out into the room to make sense?

[martthebass]

20 hours ago, Patrick Francis said:

It’s refreshing to see so many others frustrated with their Stingrays - I had 4 of them, along with a Sabre and a US Sterling, Back in the late 80’s and 90’s I had very little understanding of tone and gain stages. 87-91 I was using a Trace Elliott sold state amp,

(the one with the black light) I used a pick and a chorus pedal. I had terrible tone but I didn’t even know it. When warmer more organically produced rock music kicked in with the grunge stuff, I moved on to a precision and an SVT. 
 

I found the Stingray NEVER sounded good with a pick - unless I went for the over the top Cure, Simon Gallup, Disintegration pick tone.

They never took to drive as well as passive basses.

They had a thin ‘snock’ sound that didn’t fit in a mix.

They’re prohibitively heavy. I wasn’t aware of their weight in my 20’s, now I’m 64 it’s a deal breaker. The most recent Ray I had was over 12 pounds, I never picked it up. I have to admit the Sterling was a nice reprieve, fabulous sound, lovely weight, it just felt a little small on me.

 

I agree with you on a fair amount of the above.

To me the game changer came with the introduction of the Specials and the Shorty.  I use a Darkray and an EBMM shorty on gigs, both have great tone and are 8.5 and 7.5lb respectively

[NJE]

It’s fascinating how we all perceive sound and decide what works for us.

 

In have been through multiple, precisions, jazzes, stingrays, Warwick’s, overwater etc and for the last 8 years i have settled on a stingray. It’s one of the few basses I can hear well in a big band, it cuts so well. I play it in a funk/soul band and a 90s pop/dance band and it just seems to work well for most things.

 

It’s one of the few basses where I have ever had compliments on the sound. I have a 3 band eq and run it flat with small boosts and cuts depending on the room. Adjusting the mids on the bass and amp seems to make the most impact for me in terms of flexibility. 
 

when I first got one I just boosted treble and bass which sounded great doing crappy flea impressions at home but struggled in a band situation.

[Bagman]

I was lucky enough to get an unlined 2EQ fretless Stingray , I think it was 3 years waiting before one came on the market 

The Bass was made in 2002 but was hardly played 

 

I strung it with Chromes for maybe 3(?) years and this year it's on GHS Precision Flats 

Never a G string problem , never a "mix" problem 

takes light Overdrive and Compression very well 

 

all in all a top Bass 

[mep]

I love my 1990's 2eg 4 string Ray. Initially I had the week G string, but fixed it by adjusting the pole pieces too. I run it on full bass and 70% treble. Some light eq settings on my amp to suit but always a low mid boost. It cuts through the mix of our 3 piece band where the guitarist likes a muddy bassy sound. I get a lot of compliments on my sound and our drummer says it's the best sounding bass he's heard on stage. The neck is just right for me and it's such a joy to play.

Edited yesterday at 08:11 by mep

[Mrbigstuff]

1 hour ago, mep said:

I love my 1900's 2eg 4 string Ray. Initially I had the week G string, but fixed it by adjusting the pole pieces too. I run it on full bass and 70% treble. Some light eq settings on my amp to suit but always a low mid boost. It cuts through the mix of our 3 piece band where the guitarist likes a muddy bassy sound. I get a lot of compliments on my sound and our drummer says it's the best sounding bass he's heard on stage. The neck is just right for me and it's such a joy to play.

I always said I prefer the sound of a vintage electric bass and your MM might be the oldest ever! 

[mep]

7 hours ago, Mrbigstuff said:

I always said I prefer the sound of a vintage electric bass and your MM might be the oldest ever! 

Oops, edited now. Thanks for letting me know.

[Misdee]

I've got a Stingray Special and for me it's the best Stingray ever. It's light, comfortable to play and sounds incredibly punchy.

 

It's definitely different to the vintage Stingray basses of my youth, but for my taste all the differences are improvements. The overall tone is a bit richer and less harsh in the treble whilst still being 100 percent Stingray, the ergonomics are much better and the reduced weight is essential for my aging back and shoulder.

 

 

[Jeffskowski]

I have a 1981 Stingray. It is my first and until recently, my only bass. I need a back realignment after playing it for any length of time but.... It sounds incredible. In the early 90's it was Rotosounds through a Trace Elliott 1x15 / 4x10 and it always sounded bloody amazing. Huge growl and a punchy low end. After a decade of laying dormant in it's case, It has seen the light again and yes.... it still sounds bloody amazing! Currently strung with Dunlop flats due to some nerve damage in middle fretting finger (bizarre gardening accident) and you guessed it. It still sounds bloody amazing. Arguably, even better due to a more balanced sound between strings. 

I can't imagine not having it in my life.
 

[Kev]

Started out bass life with a SUB being the first proper non-"cheap" bass I owned, spent the next 18 years owning pretty much every type of bass imaginable and never being satisfied, and for the past year I've landed back with a 2016 PDN StingRay and it just ticks all the boxes for me now.   The Specials are also wonderful basses (and share much of the PDN spec).  

 

I went through a period of trying other older Rays and concur with the other issues noted on here, but the newer ones are very, very much worth trying.  Most Ray's I've played have felt like overly harsh sounding boat anchors, but not so with the newer stuff.

 

Edited 4 hours ago by Kev

[HeadlessBassist]

55 minutes ago, Jeffskowski said:

I can't imagine not having it in my life.

 

It's nice to see some balanced opinions and experiences here.

 

In my case, I've always been a die hard Status fan, and whenever the Status sound hasn't been appropriate, I'd usually resort to a Fender Jazz (both passive and active are available to me.) I have a few other basses, such as a very punchy GB Spitfire and a couple more, including an incoming new build walnut/graphite Jazz. Then there's my 95 Stingray with Aguilar pickup & preamp, an utterly fantastic sounding bass in isolation, which is currently up for sale on the marketplace here.

 

I've had several EBMM instruments, such as a Piezo Stingray, an older Stingray 5, a newer three band Stingray 4, a Sabre Classic, a Big Al 5 & more recently a nearly new Stingray Special 5. For some reason, the EBMM sound never seems to work for me in a live situation. It disappears into a sonic hole of sorts, just like a Precision. Maybe it's those pronounced upper mids? I prefer some smoother clean treble with the mids set flat usually. Maybe I play too quietly and sensitively, but whatever the reason, whenever I get stung by the Ray (see what I did there?), it sadly ends up staying home and ultimately gets sold.

 

Note to self: Stop buying Stingrays, you eejit! 

 

 

Edited 4 hours ago by HeadlessBassist

[Kev]

4 minutes ago, HeadlessBassist said:

It disappears into a sonic hole of sorts, just like a Precision.

 

 

 

It is interesting that we all hear different things.  For me, you've just named two bass types that stand out most from the sonic hole! 😅  Whereas I find most two pickup single coil basses disappear unless they're really dialled up.

[HeadlessBassist]

Just now, Kev said:

 

It is interesting that we all hear different things.  For me, you've just named two bass types that stand out most from the sonic hole! 😅  Whereas I find most two pickup single coil basses disappear unless they're really dialled up.

 

Yes, it is. Maybe we're all tuned to different frequencies of said sonic hole..? 

 

I always remember a regular bass player at a Jam Session where I was house bass player some years ago, who used to go on and on about adding mids. What he never realized was that yes, adding a bucket load of mid frequency helps you hear yourself very clearly, but in turn always sounds nasty and harsh to the audience. I'm sure there's a balance lurking around somewhere!  

[Misdee]

When I got my first Stingray in the '80's a pre-EB 2 band, I always felt that in a band mix I was inaudible due to the big scoop in the midrange frequencies that is one of the defining characteristics of that bass. I was used to more mid-forward tones like a Jaydee or Status ect. Tastes change though, and now I really appreciate the idiosyncrasies of the Stingray sound. It's both punchy and understated at the same time, if that makes sense.  More recently, I especially like a 'Ray with flats. It never occurred to me back in the day that Bernard Edwards might have used flats. I thought everybody had ditched them asap when rounds became popular. Nowadays we know better.

Edited 2 hours ago by Misdee

[Kev]

Becoming inspired to give flats a go, though the main 'Ray gig is with an Evanescence tribute, so not quite the vibe! 😅

[Misdee]

42 minutes ago, Kev said:

Becoming inspired to give flats a go, though the main 'Ray gig is with an Evanescence tribute, so not quite the vibe! 😅

More articulate flats like Thomastiks might be the way to go.