I am emotionally attached to a bass that's taking up space and I don't want any more

[kwmlondon]

1 hour ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

I find the same with my '95 ash Stingray with Aguilar pickups/preamp. For a simple 9v bass it sounds huge with sustain for days. It actually leaves my 2023 18v Stingray Special 5 in the dust tone-wise. I think I used to be an 'eq-hooligan' once upon a time as well. Now with the Rays I tend to boost the treble and bass about 30-40%. That gives me all the shove and sparkle I need. The other little known thing about the Stingray preamps is that when you back off the treble a little from your 'sizzle point', the sound thickens considerably. Yes, the Jazz is a more polite and even-tempered beast, but the Stingray's chewy thickness and sparkle is hard to beat with anything this side of a Status.

Interesting. I have always maintained that the 2EQ 9v circuit is magical. It's not like any other preamp... 

[HeadlessBassist]

7 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

Interesting. I have always maintained that the 2EQ 9v circuit is magical. It's not like any other preamp... 

 

Agreed. I don't know how much of it is the 30+ year old ash/maple, or how different the OBP-2 and Aguilar pickup is (I know they modeled it tonally on a late 70's model), but my 2eq 9v is probably the best Stingray I've ever heard.

[kwmlondon]

1 hour ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

Agreed. I don't know how much of it is the 30+ year old ash/maple, or how different the OBP-2 and Aguilar pickup is (I know they modeled it tonally on a late 70's model), but my 2eq 9v is probably the best Stingray I've ever heard.

I know that 'Rays are really hard to get to sit in a mix - tough live, even harder in the studio - but I've used mine in loads of recordings and it's been a joy. I've often just plugged straight into a desk and the results have been fantastic, but I know a lot of people who get eye-rolling from the sound person when rocking up with a 3EQ Musicman. I never got that with mine and I don't think it's down to the wood so much as the electrics. That's just opinion. I've no evidence!

[Jack]

20 minutes ago, kwmlondon said:

I know that 'Rays are really hard to get to sit in a mix - tough live, even harder in the studio - but I've used mine in loads of recordings and it's been a joy. I've often just plugged straight into a desk and the results have been fantastic, but I know a lot of people who get eye-rolling from the sound person when rocking up with a 3EQ Musicman. I never got that with mine and I don't think it's down to the wood so much as the electrics. That's just opinion. I've no evidence!

I think it depends how much you want to sit 'in' the mix vs being distinct. IME the pre-special Stingrays have a definite lack of subtlety, especially in what I hear as a very artificial top end. When people say "the active bass sound" I think of Rays whereas something like a Sadowsky sounds like a passive bass with more eq control.

[HeadlessBassist]

10 hours ago, Jack said:

I think it depends how much you want to sit 'in' the mix vs being distinct. IME the pre-special Stingrays have a definite lack of subtlety, especially in what I hear as a very artificial top end. When people say "the active bass sound" I think of Rays whereas something like a Sadowsky sounds like a passive bass with more eq control.

 

Very true - I've often found that Sound Engineers fall into two categories; Those who want to bury you at the bottom of the mix, and those who want to give you equal footing with everything else going on. I had one engineer who I worked with long term who constantly claimed he couldn't "place" my Status sound, whereas others love it, as it can't be buried, so it becomes a feature. I haven't really done many jobs with my current Stingray crop, but I can tell you that mid way through one job with the 95 2EQ Stingray, a gentleman remarked how pleasant it was to be able to hear all the individual bass notes, instead of a woofly mess. So result, I guess.

 

The lack of subtlety is why I don't use a Status or Stingray for the live tribute show. Here, the Jazz basses come into their element, even the powerful active Elite. I can boost out the parts with the preamp in fast walking bass lines, or I can run passive and gently palm mute for sparser, more subtle ballads.

 

There is definitely a difference between instruments where you 'hear' too much preamp, as opposed to those that quietly get on with boosting the actual sound of the pickups and the wood.

 

 

[Beedster]

12 hours ago, HeadlessBassist said:

 

There is definitely a difference between instruments where you 'hear' too much preamp, as opposed to those that quietly get on with boosting the actual sound of the pickups and the wood.

 

 

 

Is 'too much preamp' fair, given at least some of that is design. There are purely passive basses, passive basses with some control over gain and cut of two or three audio ranges (possibly Sadowsky, I can't really remember to be honest, but certainly perhaps a Precision with an East P-Retro circuit), and basses who's output is probably more a function of the circuit than of the otherwise passive instrument housing it, which in my experience would be Wal, Status, and EBBM. Whether with the latter you hear to much of the preamp is a horses for courses question perhaps?