Having some 'tone' troubles with Stingray HH: need advice

[l4st.ninja]

Hey all, I just recently aquired a Stingray HH Slo special but I'm having a few issues with it that I hoped fellow ray owners might help me fix or understand.

Firstly, no matter what I do with the five way coil switch, I get this overly twangy sound, similar to the strings hitting the pickups or pole pieces.. in this case though there is enough room between the pup's and strings to park a bus! It also has this 'twangy' treble no matter how many adjustments I do to the genz shuttle amp, even with the mids dialled off and treble dialled down I still get this super bright sound. I am using DR dragonskin strings so I'm not sure if that is a factor, but I did notice the same thing at a live gig where I was playing regular slinky's.. am I doing something wrong here or is this the 'stingray sound' that most people say can't be dialled out of the tone?

also maybe a ray owner who owns a genz 9.0 shuttle can give me a few eq pointers, usually I have everything set flat, with a bit of bass boost..in the past I have played a spector, warwick streamer, lakland 4-94, fender jazz deluxe all through this amp but I am def having issues with the ray.. I know it's meant to sound agressive, but it sounds like I am almost slapping everytime I pull a string (and that's even with the action and truss set as low as it can go without buzzing)

Ok any help here would be great (and save me having to sell this bass)

 

[Movielife]

Might be pickup height. Is it second hand?

I have a Genz Shuttlemax 9.2.....and that allows ANY tone.

Musicman basses CAN be aggressive (a good thing) but they CAN be tamed easily.

Drop the treble (a lot), keep the mids and bass flat (this is on the bass itself).

Also, use flatwound or at least round wound nickels....if you are using a pick, it will accentuate the aggression.

Flatwounds are the key to an old fingerfunk tone with less aggression.

 

[Golem]

`

Assuming that the onboard EQ has it's normal degree of effect,
you're doing the right stuff. The EQ knobs DO add and remove
treble, bass, and mids [despite the persistent twanginess] ? ?

Battery is good ? Low end is the first to fail as it dies .....

The 5-way switch is working ? You can tap on the pole pieces
with a small ferrous object to check that. If the switch is not
right, and if it's always delivering the rear PU or just the rear
single coil, that would be VERY twangsome :-/

You shouldn't hafta limit your string choices or own a special
amp just to "tame" a StingRay, ESPECIALLY an HH. Sure those
are ways to tweak your tone, but any SR with almost any amp
and string choices will be within the realm of "normal", even if
a somewhat punchy normal. Twangy ? No bottom ? Not right.

The 2nd stop on the switch [central pair of coils out of all 4],
with a SMALL boost of bass and mid, plus a healthy treble cut,
should give you a sort of aggressive P-bass tone, with plenty
of lows, good growly mids, and no tinki-tink, twang, auto-slap,
wanky klank, or other impolite upper range noises.

[Yes, I have an SR4HH; and yes, it had frets on it until about
a coupla weeks ago.]


`

 

[jlepre]

Call EBMM Customer Service. BP has said this MANY times, that us Knuckleheads should let the pros do the thinkin' around here.

 

[nashman]

Hey all, I just recently aquired a Stingray HH Slo special but I'm having a few issues with it that I hoped fellow ray owners might help me fix or understand.

Firstly, no matter what I do with the five way coil switch, I get this overly twangy sound, similar to the strings hitting the pickups or pole pieces.. in this case though there is enough room between the pup's and strings to park a bus! It also has this 'twangy' treble no matter how many adjustments I do to the genz shuttle amp, even with the mids dialled off and treble dialled down I still get this super bright sound. I am using DR dragonskin strings so I'm not sure if that is a factor, but I did notice the same thing at a live gig where I was playing regular slinky's.. am I doing something wrong here or is this the 'stingray sound' that most people say can't be dialled out of the tone?

also maybe a ray owner who owns a genz 9.0 shuttle can give me a few eq pointers, usually I have everything set flat, with a bit of bass boost..in the past I have played a spector, warwick streamer, lakland 4-94, fender jazz deluxe all through this amp but I am def having issues with the ray.. I know it's meant to sound agressive, but it sounds like I am almost slapping everytime I pull a string (and that's even with the action and truss set as low as it can go without buzzing)

Ok any help here would be great (and save me having to sell this bass)

Re "I get this overly twangy sound, similar to the strings hitting the pickups or pole pieces" and "(and that's even with the action and truss set as low as it can go without buzzing)" - perhaps your strings are hitting your fretboard/frets - not the pups. Check your string height. 3/32" from the bottom of the E string to the top of the 12th fret is a good starting point. If your action is too low for your playing style, you will tend to get that "clank" noise.

 

[brownman]

very helpful thread! thank you for the info and tips.