Stingray Classic issues.

[berty]

Purchased a Stingray classic from GC soon after seeing it in the store and was hopeful it would replace my stolen mid-80s two-band. It in indeed a beautiful instrument, and it plays like a dream. But I'm very unhappy with the consistency in tone and volume across the strings, so unhappy, in fact, I don't play it at gigs and consider its purchase a mistake. Tone (and growl) of the E and A strings are excellent, but the D and G strings vanish into the mix. I've tried string adjustments, lowering the G string until it began to vibrate against the string mute. I've adjusted the angle of the pickup to favor the treble side to such a degree it just looks wrong (and it didn't help the volume). I've tried different settings with the tone knobs, and I've tried different preamp tone settings. A customer service rep. at EB merely suggested changing tone settings. I can't figure out what to do. I've very unhappy and disappointed with this instrument. I expect so much more from EB, especially at this price point. Any ideas? Thanks.

 

[syciprider]

30 day return policy? Sometimes when a bass doesn't meet your tone/sound goals then you just have to let go.

 

[berty]

I agree.

Unfortunately, I waited too long. Thirty days went by about six months ago.

 

[Duarte]

There's loads of stuff about this issue on the forum. It is almost definitely a setup issue, as you described some extreme pickup heights which will be counter constructive ...do a search maybe, or contact customer service. They'll make everything right, they always do ...

 

[silverburst]

You have tried new strings, right?

 

[JayDawg]

Do you have any pictures of the bass?

 

[Steamthief]

+1 on trying different strings. What are the eq settings on your amp?

 

[Jim C]

+1 on trying different strings. What are the eq settings on your amp?

I can make my 2-band Ray have a a weak G and I can make it very balanced; all depends on amp settings and strings (assuming a propper set up)
With that said, if you do indeed like a treble heavy / weak low mid amp setting, then perhaps an SR is not the right bass for you

 

[berty]

Thanks.

Hey, thanks everyone.

I've tried all these things. Different strings: 50-105...45-105...45-100...nickel (my usual)...stainless. Pickup high, pickup low... I'm stumped. There's nothing remarkable about my preamp settings. I use one of a pair of Ashdown preamps, and I run them fairly flat when using my other Stingrays, depending upon the room. I've had a couple 2-bands (one was a pre-EB and was stolen), and I have an early-90s 3-band. I've set it up for Eb tuning so only play it in one of my three bands. The bass I'm wondering about (the Classic) is such a disappointment compared to the other Stingrays I've owned, even though my favorite ones were configured just like this one (2-band/pre-Flea bridge). It just seems like there's a huge difference in output of the D and G strings compared to the E and A. I guess I'll call EB again. My first contact with them was very disappointing. I just wondered if anyone else had any experience with this issue.

 

[Steamthief]

I've never had any problem with the D string, the G was slightly lower in output. What I found with my SR4 (a 30th Anniversary) was that I had a bit too much bass and treble dialed in on the amp. I started back at flat (2-10-2 on my TB-600) and the balance came back, then I dialed in ever-so-slight amounts of low-mids at 250 hz, slight increase of bass and decrease of mids on my bass, and the tone I liked was there with balance on all four strings.

If you haven't done so already, start with the amp not fairly flat, but completely flat. From there, you can probably dial in the bass pickup height to achieve the string-to-string balance.

 

[JayDawg]

I would recommend calling customer service. Maybe there is something wrong with your Classic. My Classic sounds great and is definitely much louder than my other active basses. In fact, only the Bongo is louder but that is for obvious reasons.

 

[Big Poppa]

pics please of the bass then we will talk

 

[TheAntMan]

pics please of the bass then we will talk

+1

Sounds very unusual.

--Ant

 

[Kristopher]

Do you have any recordings of this bass so we can hear the issue you're talking about?

 

[five7]

Since you do not like the classic, would you be interested in selling it to me?

 

[bovinehost]

Guys, let's hold this down and let BP and the team have this one.

 

[Big Poppa]

with the troll content high..unless there are pics Im not responding...also one key rule is contact customer service,,,a forum cant help you