Stingray G string

[Andy Martin]

I'll give it a try. Is he related to THE Big Ern?

I'll be away all next week so I'll await Their reply with baited breath.

Maybe I'll just buy a Bart and see what difference it makes. I'm sure there's nothing wrong with the bass, it's just voiced so differently to the Precision I'm used to that I don't know how to eq it.

Thanks for all your help guys.

 

[Augusto Lopez]

Hi again,
Andy, I also was involved in a band with (1) guitarrist who had a Less Paul (with it's corresponding Marshall stack) and who always wanted to be H.E.A.R.D. (sounds familiar?) He's the one responsible for me buying an EB.(Question what do you throw a drowning guitarrist? answer, his amp!)
About the Bart pickup, I don't know much about the different models there are but the two or three that I tried (one of them fitted on a EBSR5) sounded very throaty(read, muuuucho growl)great for finger funk; the slap though sounded like the seventies sound, more Larry Graham's than Flea. The pick sound was much thicker as well; nothing wrong with that, all I'm saying is that the bass had a very different sound than any normal SR5.
You can't have it all can't you!
I mentioned a little while ago a pedal called Bass Aural Exiter by Aphex, it controls lower and higher mid range, it's worth while giving it a test drive.

Cheers
Gus

 

[Andy Martin]

I'm still looking for one of those pedals. AS soon as I find one locally I'll give it a try.

I'm not too bothered about changing the sound by fitting a Bart pu. I'm sure it'll still sound good, but the biggest plus of the Stingray for me is the feel and the way it plays.

I know all about guitarists wanting to be heard. My ears are still ringing from band practise today. Will they turn down? Damn them. And why do they have to bring Marshall 4x12s to practise in a room 15 feet square.

 

[Augusto Lopez]

I'm convinced that different instruments have particular types of people that choose them, maybe attencion deficit disorder may be a characteristic that some guitarrists share(please note I'm quoting some). We bassplayers tend to be more laid back; singers need attention etc..
But lets focus on the subject. Yes, Musicmans have their own very distinctive voice and are usually very playable, unfortunately not very versatile(depending on the type of band you are), often bassplayers carry a second bass like a Presicion. I personally carry my G&L because offers me the possibility of pasive tones plus, series & parallel configurations(in pasive and active).
One question, do you place your cab to your ear level or close when playing? or tilt it, or stand far enough to hear the sound wave properly? that'll help in hearing you G string, keep in mind that if you place your box on, say a milk crate you might loose some bottom end as there'll be no direct contact with the stage.
Bye for now
Gus

 

[Andy Martin]

Yes Musicmans do have a very distinctive tone and it's not right for all bands. I'm probably using the wrong bass for the band that I'm in.

Unfortunately there's no going back to a Precision for me. Fat tone or not I prefer everthing else about the Stingray. If I can't alter my tone I'll have to change my band. I'm getting fed up with it anyway. When a guitarist starts telling me "You can't play that note there" I think it's time to leave.

In the meantime I'm still trying to track down the aforementioned Aphex pedal and a stockist of Bart pickups. Does anyone know of an importer for either. Bartolini don't even list a UK importer on their website.

 

[LeftyLB]

Andy,

Have you tried a compression/sustainer pedal?

For years I used my Jaydee Mark King with a Boss C/S pedal switched on the whole time. I was told that this would help with balancing the sound across all the strings as the pedal is supposed to limit deeper louder strings/notes and enhance the higher ones so that you do not lose the G string in the sound.

However, when I first plugged my Ray into it, the sound was awful and I have tended not to use it since. I think I need to spend some time playing around with the unit to see it just needs different level settings to get a tolerable sound with it.

 

[Andy Martin]

No I haven't yet but Boss do a pedal called a limiter/enhancer which I believe does the same sort of thing. I'm going to see if I can try one out tomorrow

 

[Rev-JDL]

i had the same...

i gots a black maple neck Stingray with 2 eq and a i had the same problem....the g just not cutting thru...


tryed strings,neck and pick up adjustment but to no avail..

finally (Bout yeah ish ago..) i got a Bass Pod Pro..in the cabs and eq section ya can pick out the Freq and boost to your hearts content...(Plus its got all the comp/limiter/eq ya need...without going into all the ins an outs of the amp modeling too..)

Stingray + Pod = Happy Rev!!

(For those who care thats going into a warwick protube4 on 'Red'(Tube) Channel- set flat,shelving altered to the venue...Ashdown Abm210h & abm115)

Proper Bo!

 

[Andy Martin]

Bought a limiter/enhancer pedal which definitely improved matters. I'll have a try of a bass pod though.

 

[ihixulu]

My 2 cents:

It definitely is an EQ/tone shaping issue. I used to suffer from buyer's remorse becasue of the weak G performance until I had a recording session where I had no choice but to go DI only. The bass sounded PHENOMENAL! The G spoke with equal authority as the other strings. Don't do the headphone into the bass test (you may as well bang your head on a wall to see if it hurts), rather, plug your bass into a halfway decent 4 track or mixing board and listen back through monitors or cans.

Moral of the story, at least for me, is that the Stingray system sounds best through a neutral rig. I use SWR heads with various cabs and I find that now I eq the head to tame the midrange deficiencies of cabs (which most have) and use the onboard EQ for the primary tone shaping. Whenever I listen to recordings of sets the G is out there in equal measure to the rest of them.

BTW, any head nowadays should be able to compensate for gross colorations of the cab. Cabs are the greater culprits in sonic deformities than heads are IMO.

 

[Augusto Lopez]

Ihixulu,
The recording world is an "ideal" world we only wish we could have in live playing. I convinced the G string problem, to a degree, is going to persist on live performances unless you can afford live top of the range EQ.
Just one thing about the Boss Limiter, I use one an it's great for a lot of things. One of them is to encrease sustain; to enhance the overall tone of the bass, make it crispier or a bit more buttery; also to compress the signal and stop the amp from clipping( i.e looking after your speakers) but keep in mind that compression eats the bass's growl so you'll have to find the right compression ratio & threshold that doesn't compromise that "Holy Growl" we have all learn to love.
Cheers
Gus

 

[ihixulu]

I am not a good writer...

My point was that once I became aware of what was causing the G sting issue, I was able to solve it, at least for me, by applying similar eq characteristics to my live rig.

Now, I agree with you that a live situation is far from ideal (I would even say that most recording situations are far from ideal). Heck, I use an Aguilar 410 as my main cab and it is very heavily voiced. However, most acoustical problems due to room conditions occur in the very low frequencies, below the overtones of the G.

The G fundamental is about 103hz, the first harmonic is 206 with the next few critical speaking overtones in exactly the region that many default eq settings begin cutting as they apply the smiley face. Considering the Stingray's inherently strong upper mid character those critical overtones are the ones lacking from the G vis-a-vis the other strings.

When I said that my g string is heard clearly and with authority I meant that when someone stood out in the audience right in front of the stage (in the shadow of the PA) with a handheld tape recorder, the G was heard well in the resultant recordings.

 

[Augusto Lopez]

I tried an Aguilar 4x10 at a shop once and was very impressed with its sound. Sounds that your soundguy knows his craft given that your G string was being hear over the PA. Most soundguys in my area(Melbourne), I don't know why, always place the kick drum level over the bass burrying it.
Whenever allowed, I ask the sound guy to send some bass over the foldback and usually that tone is a bit more middlier allowing me to hear the highmid nuances on the bass. That can definitely solve the G srting problem

Gus