Sound clips - Active/Passive Classic Stingray

[Tom F]

I'm in the middle of changing things around yet again, and recorded some clips of my active/passive Classic Stingray in the process. Thought that they may be of interest to folks outside of the For Sale thread, so figured I'd give them their own place.

From what I've been able to find online, this bass is a Guitar Center special edition classic, with the standard 2 band EQ plus a passive mode complete with tone control. It's also the same electronic setup thats in the BFR Gilded basses. The passive mode (activated via a push/pull pot) is pretty cool, and to my ears shows that a Stingray sound comes mostly from the pickup design and placement, and is enhanced by the pre-amp.

The passive tone control doesn't really work exactly like a traditional passive tone knob. It's in the same family though. It somehow rolls back high end while maintaining clarity.

Without further ado, the sound clips are below:

Both clips follow a similar format, which is the same lick played three times in a row using the following settings (in order):

1. Active mode with bass at 50% and treble at 25%,
2. Passive mode with tone control wide open and
3. Passive mode with tone control rolled off.

Both recordings were direct from a Aguilar TH500 head, through a Pro Tools MBox 2 into Garageband. No effects, no compression. You can hear the character of the different modes pretty clearly.

First clip - simple finger style groove.
TH500 set with EQ flat, drive off, gain at noon.

Second clip - overdriven rock.
Guitar and drum loop from Garageband. TH500 has all EQ at 1 o'clock, drive and gain at noon.

The bass in question:

 

[Freddels]

I'm not hearing much difference b/w the active/passive and/or the tone control.

I've never heard of an active/passive Stingray. Were these "mods" from the factory? Interesting.

 

[Tom F]

Yep - the electronics are stock. I bought the bass new from Guitar Center and apart from a string change after I brought it home, it is 100% untouched. The description on the Music Man page for the Gilded BFR lays everything out better than I could (this bass has the same electronics with a different finish):

PDN Gilded White StingRay 4 and 5

The passive tone sweep doesn't have the same type of impact as it does on a tradition Fender styled instrument. It rolls off the highs without the perceived increase in lows like a P-bass might.

I can hear pretty clear difference between the three settings, but all three are more like different flavors of Stingray than 3 instruments in one. I also didn't hype the controls in active mode - I tend to try and EQ active basses to sound like passive basses. Basic character flaw I suppose.

 

[Freddels]

It's probably my computer speakers that aren't hi def enough for me to hear the differences. What strings did you change to?

 

[Tom F]

What strings did you change to?

Just a fresh set of slinkies. The ones that were on there had seen some miles in the store.

 

[Movielife]

Nice sounding bass and great gear! Cool stuff, thanks. I can hear the differences, but they are subtle...but that's kinda cool. I like it.