StingRay HS vs HH - sonic differences

[jaywa]

Hello everyone, brand new member here.

I have been playing bass for 28 years. I currently play in a couple of "variety" covers bands and also do worship team at my church. Between those commitments I am probably playing "out" 8 to 10 times a month. For the past 25 years my only bass has been a 78 P-Bass I got new. However, now I am educating myself on StingRays because I think they would give me more sonic versatility than my P-Bass while still having the Leo Fender heritage and feel. A couple of my biggest influences (Bernard Edwards and John Deacon) are/were StingRay players and I am really excited at the idea of becoming a first-time StingRay owner.

I will most likely be purchasing a StingRay with 2-pickups and would like to hear from people who have played either the single/double or double/double configurations (or preferably, both) to know what the differences are in sound, which configuration is more versatile, etc.

Thanks very much in advance.

 

[mynan]

Welcome to the forum. There's a lot of info on that here. It can be a little hard to find because you can't do a search for HH or HS, but here's a couple threads.

http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/24461-beaver-asks-difference-h-hh-hs.html

http://www.ernieball.com/forums/music-man-basses/3801-h-hh-sh.html

 

[oli@bass]

I currently have a StingRay 4 HS as my main player, and an HH model on order. I can't tell you the difference, but I can tell you that if you need different basic sounds in your band(s), the HS can give you a lot of options. Of the possible combinations, I especially like the single bridge H ("classic 'Ray"), both neck and bridge S ("modern Jazz") and single neck S ("dub Precision") coil combinations.

Together with the 3 band equalizer you can cover a lot of sonic ground. However, I'm eager to learn what the HH is like...

 

[Bloodfist]

Hey Jawa, welcome to the forums. I used to play a 73 P-Bass for quite a while myself and considered it a pretty good work horse. I've moved on to other basses since then and recently got my first Stingray, a 4 string HH (double humbucker). I play in an original rock band, and I use every pick up configuration on my stingray. Put simply, it's awesome. Do yourself a favor and play one sometime, you can any tone you want out of these puppies. I played the the bongo, sterling and ray, all in different Pickup designs and in 4 and 5 strings, and nothing seemed to come close to touching the 4 string HH. I promise you you'll love it. Here's a pic of mine to to help feed your GAS

 

[jaywa]

Consider my GAS fed!

That is a beautiful bass... what is that finish called? I'm a sucker for sunbursts and especially those tending towards the red.

 

[Bloodfist]

It's called a Black Cherry Burst. Here's some close up pics of the Body and Neck so you can get a good idea of the quality that goes into these basses.