sterling 4 vs older stingray 5

[wikifishy]

Hi all.
I am intresting to hear opinions from players who had both the sterling4 and the ceramic stingray5
I had a 2004 stingray 5 in the past and i miss that tone...
Now i am a 4 string player, so i am thinking a sterling 4...

Pickups and pre are the same...But sterling 4 has less size...so less mass.
How this have an inpact to the tone of the instrument...Can a sterling 4 be same beast as the bigger brother..
Stingray 5 had some serious lows together with the growl

 

[tbonesullivan]

The necks are also different, which is something you may want to consider from a comfort perspective.

Of course, now there are the new stingray basses with Neodymium magnets, which might also be worth a look.

 

[Golem]

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Having a few of each, I find no important differences.

OTOH, consider that mine are FL, many with piezo,
and all with flats. Any or all of that might disqualify
my opinion in some circles ....

OTOOH, having several examples I have experienced
how exactly-same-model-same-specs basses cannot
be assumed to sound like each other.

OTOOOH, the Sterling 4 was intro'd a bit later than
the ceramic SR5 cuz 4-string players felt "forced" to
play 5 strings just to get that ceramic tone, so EBMM
built them a 4-string version of the ceramic SR5 and
all was happiness and light in MM land. So a Sterling
4 is as close as you're ever gonna get, whether the
difference seems to your ears to be noticeable or not.

As noted earlier, the difference in mass ought to be
audible. IMHO, mass has an effect on sustain but is
not a major issue tonewise. Tone, or voicing, comes
from the central region of the body, about the width
of your palm [the "tone block"] so all the extra wood
at the outer regions of the body is not a tone thing.

So, mass may be audible, but mainly as sustain and
not so much as tonal coloration. Perznally, I believe
that seeking the tone of "bass X" in some "bass Y" or
"bass Z" is pointless. Comments on what is SIMILAR
are helpful, but similar is the limit of rationality. Just
consider the endless quest for "P-Bass Tone" in other
basses than Fenders. It makes for amusing reading
if you have a bit of a cruel streak ... so BEWARE

 

[delberthot]

A couple of years ago I had a shoulder injury and was finding my ceramic pickup Stingray 5 a bit heavy for longer gigs so decided on a Sterling 4 and hipshot double stop for those songs that I needed a low D or B

When I first got the Sterling I didn't think it had the same amount of growl that the Stingray5 did but I think that was down to how I had the EQ set.

If you only take one out with you, you probably won't really notice the difference but if you had both of them side by side then you might.

I didn't use the low B enough to miss it and I love the neck on the Sterling