One trick pony?

[Tony Renaud SR5]

Please note this post is written by a guy who loves Stingrays.....

What's your take on the common notion that a Stingray is a "one trick pony"? It's commonly thrown around enough to warrant a discussion. I personally think this "one trick" thing is a load, and it'd be interesting to hear what y'all think.

Bongo owners and HH/HS owners are invited to chime in, although you're sorta out of the loop on this

 

[strummer]

Please note this post is written by a guy who loves Stingrays.....

What's your take on the common notion that a Stingray is a "one trick pony"? It's commonly thrown around enough to warrant a discussion. I personally think this "one trick" thing is a load, and it'd be interesting to hear what y'all think.

Bongo owners and HH/HS owners are invited to chime in, although you're sorta out of the loop on this

Like jack and Aussie Mark said in another thread, right hand position alone kills the "one trick pony" idea. Add to that the tone controls, and you've got a lot of tonal options.
I think people that keep going on about the pony are just envious. They have crappy basses with two pick ups and defend their own poor judgement in aquiring equipment by slandering the fantastic SR.

 

[maddog]

I remember a thread like this many moons ago, when the board was younger and more innocent. I had always thought the "one-trick pony" label fit to a certain extent but then again, I'd never owned one to really find out. Action Jackson, Aussie "Bad Shirt" Mark and Travis "Revolving Door o' Basses" were all guiding lights in dispelling the rumours.

 

[Figjam]

Right hand technique = many trick pony.

 

[TSanders]

Figgy, you are dead on. If you can move your right hand the StingRay is far from a one trick pony.

When I slapped that first set of flats on my StingRay 5, I realized that there were still even more sounds in a StingRay 5 than Id imagined.

 

[Father Gino]

Of course it's a load. But even if it's true, that's a heck of a trick!

Is a P bass a one trick pony? Did that affect its popularity?

Are there more sonic options on a two pickup bass? I guess so, but there's lots of options to be had with a single pickup and in the end perhaps that simplicity makes one get more sounds with just their hands.

 

[sandman@midlife]

I gotta confess, I passed on a SR4 once because I thought it was a one trick pony. I was a new bass player, and I thought one pickup, one sound. It's amazing how I was so ignorant. Mostly inexperienced.

Possibly villageous, I am ashamed to say.



Waiting to be inducted into the land of Bongolia,

Tony

 

[strummer]

Possibly villageous

ROFL

Aren't we all

 

[Lazybite]

Dunno bout the stingray but on my single pup sterling I can play metal, rock, funk (incl slap), blues, jazz, punk.. .all with a few tweaks to my knobs (hehe) and change the position of my hand (ie nearer or further from bridge, neck or pup), and change the velocity of my hits.....

 

[Motojunkie]

You know, all I really need is one trick - a good one, and the Stingray delivers. Of course, it's nice to have options.....

 

[Rod Trussbroken]

IMO, the Ray is very versatile.

I often think the one trick pony is the donkey trying to play it

 

[Lazybite]

I often think the one trick poney is the donkey trying to play it

Touche'

 

[oddjob]

Problem is that many (and at one point I can include myself) think that 1 pup = 1 sound. They see a SR and say "Oh this has 1 pup it can't possibly sound as good as that Jazz with 2." I was guilty of this with my Bongos... while I love them all, I got the 5HH and the 4HH because "they had to be better than the 1H!" What do I play almost exclusively now... the single H. Why... the base (no typo) sound is what I was looking for... add that to right hand positioning and a killer electronics package and I have "my sound" and many more. EBMM knows how to position pickups to get the most out of the bass... the single H Bongo and single H SR are no exceptions.

 

[bovinehost]

'Tis a bad carpenter who blames his tools.

That has always wrapped it up for me.

Hell, I play Buck Owens songs on a Bongo! What do I know?

 

[syciprider]

Ok so Sterling Ball killed that argument.

NEXT!

 

[bovinehost]

Ok so Sterling Ball killed that argument.

Yup.

Jack

 

[Big Poppa]

Actually Leo did and then Mark Wentling and Tommy and Dudley did.....

I can't understand this myth ....the two band original was a boost only active bass...when it came out the P bass was like an mono and the stingray was surround sound...Now some fast typists love to perpetuate the one trick pony. Now we have the bongo and it is like HIGH DEF.

98 percent of the sting rays are three band cut/boost preamps...if you think that it only has one sound, you must be in the hearing aid line at wal mart.

 

[bovinehost]

Actually Leo did and then Mark Wentling and Tommy and Dudley did.....

Good point, although I think Leo only did grevious injury to the myth. Mark and Tommy and Dudley - and you - drove a stake through its trembling heart.

Back in the 70s, I never thought of my P basses (yes, I owned many) as one trick basses. By that time, I was at least smart enough to realize that everything from Motown to funk to modern jazz (modern then, anyway) was being played on P basses.

Then my pal Bill, a dealer to the stars, dropped off a 77 Stingray at my house for me to fondle and test out. That sucker blew my P bass right into the weeds, even though the P had - of course - a J pickup in the bridge position. (We had to do it ourselves back then.)

No one with any sense can listen to Sade and Queen and AC/DC and say with a straight face that your standard garden variety Stingray is a one trick pony.

if you think that it only has one sound, you must be in the hearing aid line at wal mart.

I imagine I'll get there sooner or later, that hearing aid line, but I'll still hopefully be smart enough to know what Stingrays can do.

And this from a HIGH-DEF dedicated Bongo player!

Jack

 

[Samingo]

....the two band original was a boost only active bass...when it came out the P bass was like an mono and the stingray was surround sound...Now some fast typists love to perpetuate the one trick pony. Now we have the bongo and it is like HIGH DEF.

That has to be the greatest way of explaining that I've ever heard.

I mean, I've always been a firm beleiver of the "Stingray has Tones!" concept, but that just totally explains what I believe.

Also, what Jack said about the carpenter... Perfect.

 

[Colin]

Hell, I play Buck Owens songs on a Bongo! What do I know?

that's like doing the shopping in a porche