How to mix a StingRay live?

[Chroliver]

On my 2EQ SR4, I usually boost the bass to about 85-90%, sometimes all the way on, and boost the treble somewhere a little over 50%. This seems to get a hotter, slightly saturated sound.
On my amp I also cut about 6dB off in the 500Hz range too (and 2 or 3dB at 250Hz and 1kHz). I find this gives me a sound that cuts through, and is very audible (the highs), but also has plenty of beef (the lows).
This is more for my originals work, where I play all over the neck, and quite melodic stuff in a three piece. Covers etc. I roll off a lot of the treble.

 

[keko]

First set bass EQ flat (center click), turn volume knob max., ...amp EQ set flat too, than set up an amp gain knob until clip light goes on, ...than return a little bit gain knob back, ...clip light should not go on while play hard!!!

Next step, ...rise master volume amp knob slowly until reach wanted level.

Than play with whole band for a a sound check, ...sure You're gonna rise the master volume knob a little bit more, ...than if necessary use bass EQ just for a blend, ...rise up what missing, cut what's to much, ...if You know what I mean?

That's it!

 

[zortation]

From my experience, they are tricky live, they are the un-fender of basses and it's a common thing to hear of guys who panic after gigging one live...I have always had some luck concentrating on the amp settings first and setting the bass controls flat.

MIDS are the key to a ray being heard live. Boost them on your amp to your liking, also the highs on your amp may be less clacky than the onboard treble control, so you might want to use that instead. Get the sound you want from your amp, then finesse with your bass pre if needed.

 

[jlepre]

HOLY CRAP!

Do you guys realize you resurrected a year old thread? I guess either way it's good information.

A little story:

I purchased ANOTHER brand bass as a backup thinking I wanted a DIFFERENT sound, but guess what? My trusty EBMM SR5 wins HANDS down! The other bass just sounded like boomy muddy crap, and that was after using it for months. I just couldn't get it to sit in the mix and be heard. Just the other night, I officially gave up on the OTHER bass, and put it up for sale. I'm going to get ANOTHER BALL instead.

 

[LeftyBongo]

I find that SRs are very sensitive to bass amps and cabs. It's not like a P bass, which people say they sound good through anything. I'm having great success with boosting the bass and treble just a tad, and staying in parallel mode (SR5). If I'm doing a melodic solo, I might go to single coil and boost the mids a bit. I do the same in the studio. My live rig is a Schroeder 2x12 with a G-K MB500, and it's sounds like heaven with everything flat on the amp. An Ampeg setup might need a bit of tweaking. I think that Ampeg rigs tend to lack mid definition when flat, and always find myself boosting the mids a bit, regardless of what bass I play. This is all very subjective, as Ampeg "rigs" can vary greatly.

As some others mentioned, I think the key is to start with everything flats and try correcting for the room and or frequencies missing in the cab. I personally find that boosting the mids too much in the bass can muddy things up, because the control interacts with the bass and highs.

I recently played through a Hartke stack, and in that case, I found myself using the graphic EQ to boost the very high end (it sounded a bit clanky otherwise) and doing the same mentioned before in the bass, boosting the low and highs just a tad. I use Elixir nickel strings.

Finally, I used to find SR extremely muddy live, although I loved the sound at home. I ended up realizing the problem was the cabs I was using: they had a built-in smiley face EQ curve that was making any bass sound muddy.

 

[uOpt]

A stingray has a lot more low bass than a Precision bass, and most PAs are not prepared to handle that as-is. If you overload the PA sub-100 Hz, or try to, you get mud. You aren't TOTO If you are 5-stringing around you make things worse. Plus the soundmixer, for rock, is probably only used to Fendereske frequency distribution.

A Stingray is a bit more scooped in general, it also has more treble, but quite honestly that doesn't matter in most Rock bands since modern distorted guitars and the keyboarder's left hand will wipe it out anyway. So it's all back to the mids and low-mids.

You should have some equalizer that allows you to really push around 150 Hz and cut a bit below 100 until things stabilize. A boss pedal works well enough, and you can leave it in the bag if there's no problem.

 

[jlepre]

I hate to disagree, but I have to disagree almost 100% with your opinion. I believe that a Pbass is famous for the low THUMP, while the Stingray is best known for its ability to CUT through the mix. I believe this is accomplished by its ability to cover much of the LOW/LOW-MID frequencies.

JMHO

 

[Rick Auricchio]

Naturally, we're all talking about taste here. It's like discussing how we each like to spice up food for cooking.

My 1965 Precision has the well-known Fender "honk," and that tone is almost always present. It's a unique tone.

The Stingray tone has what I call a "buzz" to it, and that's its characteristic tone. But you can vary the tone considerably with hand position and the tone controls. I like to run my 3-band Ray completely flat, or maybe with the treble a little below the center detent. But that may only be applicable for my playing style, my strings, my amp and speakers, and my band mix.

Two totally different sounds. I use the Fender in the practice room and the Stingray for performance.

FYI, the most accurate recorded Precision tone I've heard is the 1974 Orleans song "Dance With Me." You can hear the honk on certain notes, and even the characteristic distortion on some others. A perfectly documented 60s-early 70s instrument.