Best Stingray for mids..?

[mackanbass]

The more weight the more tone! I like ash and ash is heavy, but get a really good and wide strap it´ll take care of some of the problem. My SR5 felt heavy (playing 2 hour sets) I changed to a wideer leather strap and now its much better. Hope this helps.

/Mack

 

[strummer]

Yep, somehow the added weight does make a difference, but with a 4" strap that's not an issue. Besides, all the light MusicMan basses are owned by Musicman nut lol

 

[timmy5strings]

I would think the Sterling is lighter than the Stingray.

Not necessarily true, I've owned a heavy Sterling before. Check before you buy em, there are some basses out there that could use a diet.

 

[bob atherton]

Well I've just bought a Stingray! It will be with me in a few days. It's black, black P/G and maple neck and weighing in at an acceptable 9.4lbs.

I used to have a '73 P bass that was black with maple neck and sold it way back. Always thought it looked as cool as a moose.

One thing.... It is about 2 years old and has the new nut with the compensation thing on it. I always cut nuts down to within a cigarette paper of hitting the deck for a crazy fast action. I've never filed one of these before. Should I watch out for anything? Also... On most of my basses I get the neck just off dead flat, and i mean just off. If the string is pressed at the 1st and 15th fret there is just about enough room for another cirarette paper at the 7th fret. Is this good practice with a Stingray?

Will get back when the bass is with me. A very excited, Bob

 

[oli@bass]

IMO, it's not necessary to file the nut down. I usually have very low action (luthiers take my basses in their hands, and generally ask "can you play this without buzz?!" with a frown). The only thing I do is to lower the bridge saddles a bit from factory specs, and then have as little relief as possible, almost a straight neck. That way I get very low action with little buzz on light touch, but it gets a bit noisy when I dig in hard -- which is part of my sound. However, if I need less buzz at hard dig (e.g. when doing studio recordings) all I need to do is give a bit more relief.

You might want to try adjusting the action using the bridge saddles and trussrod before working on the nut. Leave it that way for a couple of days and see whether it grows on you. Also don't let you trick by measurements into thinking that the nut has lots of room to file down: The new StingRays have really thick fret wire, so the whole playing level is raised from the fretboard quite a bit.

 

[oli@bass]

OK. I've to partially take back what I said above.
The nut on the Lava Pearl 2006 SR 4 HS I just received could need some filing. The action on the first fret is much higher than on any other SR I've had or played so far. It requires definitely more hand strength to play in the first position on this bass. I'll probably take it to a luthier (I don't have the proper tools anymore) to have the nut slots cut down a bit.

 

[bob atherton]

Well the bass came today and I am totally blown away by it. It looks just so damn sexy. All glossy black with maple neck, total clasic. A bit heavier than my P bass but no big deal. The tone, oh the tone....

I have only been jamming with my 1x15 Rickenbacker practice amp but the perfect mid tone is there! roll off the treble a bit turn up the bass a bit and turn up the mid quite a lot and off you go, there is just no stopping me!

I've got a gig with the band tonight and I'm going to take the Ray along with the P just in case. It will go through 500 watts of Ashdown ABM, should sound good, I will let you know. I am knocked out by the note pitch being so spot on, it means there is no room for sloppy playing but it's a gas. I was doing Jaco'esque stuff and it put a very big smile on my face!

Thanks for all the help and advice here. I'm a very happy bunny...!

 

[mynan]

OK, I'll say it...

No pics, no bass...

 

[bob atherton]

Update four years on. The SR has gone but has been very happily replaced for the past two years by a Sterling 4H. I love the Jazz like neck and I get the tones I am after with this bass. Thanks again for all the help.

 

[T-bone]

Very cool, Bob. I picked up a Sterling too and love the neck and the overall feel when she's strapped in. Still, my 30th is the "go to" bass.

tbone

 

[Golem]

I play my Stingray with the treble knob
down a bit and the mid knob up a bit.
Sounds great to me!

Yah ! You wanna have control over the mids ?
With the 3-band you can jack the mids all you
like yet [mostly] avoid klankerism by dropping
the treble way down. The bands have a pretty
wide "Q" so they tend to overlap and interact
with each other. So ... if you've really pushed
the mids and maxi-dropped the the treble but
now have too much klank, then just edge up
the bass, which will spill over into the mids a
bit while it also raises the volume. Nowz you
compensate the volume back to where it was,
and the klanks go down as well. You just can't
get this kinda control from the two band.

FB? You might prefer maple. You might also
prefer series over parallel. A 1H Sterling will
give you either choice. Dual PU Sterlings and
Rays are mainly series-only, cool 4U if thaz
your tone, plus with an HS dual PU you can
use the neck SC as a sorta bass boost.


@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@@





Perznally, I found a better option than the
dual PU models, which is to get a 1H with a
piezo bridge. I speaketh not thru my hat as
I keep 4 such beasties in the bestiary. The
piezo bridge is not available with dual PUs.
It costs about $250 more than a neck PU,
and does essentially the same job but more
betterly. It's deep, but way better focused
than a neck PU. Also, you get a blend knob
for your 2 PU systems. A dual mag PU Ray
or Sterling has no blend control.

How much doth I luuuurrrv my piezos ? I
agree with the comments of others about
the mahogany Ray 30th, and I'm a hawg
for 'hog [way many non-EBMM 'hogwood
basses in the bestiary] .... but, to me, my
ash body SR with piezo is "the same only
better" as my SR30th.

BTW, you may have heard of piezo-mag
basses that would be sorta "special effect
only", tonewise, if dialed to 100% piezo.
NO SUCH problem with the EBMMs. It's a
rich and fully useful tone at 100% piezo.
In fact you'll begin to consider 100% mag
as bordering on being a bit strange

Did I mention how cool EBMM piezos are ?
Good, cuz I tend to ferget stuff .... SNAP.
Now I remember: "Best StingRay for Mids" ?
SR4 H-piezo, mid band cranked, at about
a 40/60 or 45/55 blend favoring piezo
The center click on the blend knob isn't
necessarily 50/50. It depends on the how
close your mag PU is to the strings. BTW,
you can radically tilt the humbugger to put
its rear coil closer the the strings. This is
NOT something I'd wanna do on a nonpiezo
Ray or Sterling, altho I've done it to HS PU
basses, cuz there's no choice on the 5-way
switch that favors the outermost 2 coils.

Even tho the piezos are located IN the bridge
do not think of them as ultimate bridge PUs.
"Bridge and neck PUs" is a mag PU concept.
Piezo is a whole nuther concept, more of a
"whole string PU", not location sensitive the
mag PUs are.



`

 

[bob atherton]

Wow , that sum mazzter claz in how ta get mids out o them bassez. thankx

 

[oli@bass]

wow , that sum mazzter claz in how ta get mids out o them bassez. Thankx

lol!

 

[Golem]

`

It's really a poorly disguised plug for putting more
MM piezo basses into circulation .... since I love
them and I almost always shop used-only, it's to
my own benefit like that ;-)

`

 

[T-bone]

Every so often, Golem, you make a lot of sense.

.... but, to me, my
ash body SR with piezo is "the same only
better" as my SR30th`

What????? Wait a minute......

tbone

 

[stu42]

Perznally, I found a better option than the
dual PU models, which is to get a 1H with a
piezo bridge. I speaketh not thru my hat as
I keep 4 such beasties in the bestiary. The
piezo bridge is not available with dual PUs.
It costs about $250 more than a neck PU,
and does essentially the same job but more
betterly. It's deep, but way better focused
than a neck PU. Also, you get a blend knob
for your 2 PU systems. A dual mag PU Ray
or Sterling has no blend control.
`

This is great info Golem. I've never heard anyone describe the tone of the Piezo like this before but it sounds great. I'm looking forward to getting my Bongo Hp FL soon!!

 

[bob atherton]

Golem, how would you describe the sound of the piezo on it's own? Is it a bit like any other setting on any other MM pup?

 

[Golem]

Golem, how would you describe the sound of the piezo on it's own?
Is it a bit like any other setting on any other MM pup?

It's going thru the EBMM EQ-pre, which has a definite character of
its own, so therefor, the solo piezo sound is all-in-the-famberly. My
previous description [somewhere above] is that it's kinda like a neck
PU ... cuzza it's deep ... but better focused, meaning to say it's less
"wooly" than a neck PU. Another aspect of the piezo is that it offers
a sorta "faux acoustic" voice. Acoarst it's only "faux" in that it differs
somewhat from the sound of a hollow box bass with piezo ribbon. It's
actually NOT faux ... it's the legit acoustic sound of a solid body bass
but amped up ... and "colored" by the EBMM EQ-pre, which is I spoze
some degree of departure from purely acoustically representing the
neutral acoustic sound of the ax. Anywho, it's got "acoustic-ness"
and rich bass. If you dial up a lotta high end on the EQ-pre, you can
get some tones not available on "normal" MMs, useful tones, but out
of the ordinary.


`

 

[jlepre]

...The
piezo bridge is not available with dual PUs.

Close but not quite. It IS available on an HH Bongo.

 

[mynan]

IMHO, the best 'Ray for mids might actually a Sterling...