Stingray vs. Sterling for upright player

[JonBass]

Hi All,

Just came across this forum, and it looks great.

A question: I am predominanly a jazz player who plays upright. The band, however, has added a few few R&B and funk tunes to the book, and I need to get an electric axe. (I've actually played electric for a long time before switching to upright, so I'm familiar--though rusty--on the instrument.) I've been wanting (an excuse to get) a StingRay for years, and I've decided to buy one. I want a four- string, fretted model.

Just as I was about to consider the decision done, I learn of the Sterling as an alternative to the StingRay. I've read the posts Re: stingray vs. sterling, and a consderable amount of the discussion focuses on playability and neck feel.

My question is: "does anyone have recommendations for which instrument to get, given that I will typically be playing upright along with electric on the gigs?."

One thing I would like is to minimize the difference between the upright and electric feel. For example, I will likely set the strings a bit higher on the electric, and I would like the neck feels to close (for example, a fat round neck is probably closer to the string bass than a thin planar neck).

I won't be playing jazz on the electric, and I'm not a very notey (read: dexterous) player. I want a great tone, good playability, and versatility. I'm inclined to go with the industry-standard StingRay, but thought I would bounce this off the community first. I am ready to purchase immediately.

Thoughts?

Thanks in advance,

-JonBass

 

[MM Scarborough]

Have you thought about the SUB? I don't play a SR, but as far as I know the differences are

Stingray - Typical stingray tone, (ha as you would expect). Generally one pick-up, great sound and playability and reliable.

ADV - Great sound, nice fat neck, nice looks.
Dissad - Not a particuarly vesatile sound, i.e you've got the stingray sound and thats it.

Main Rival - Fender Precision

Sterling - Similar (almost identical) stringray sound, more complex but versatile pickup, split coil. Thin neck

ADV - Versatile sound
Dissad - Different looking, not a stingray

Main Rival - Fender Jazz

Thats just my opinion, im sure others will throw much more informative opinions against these two basses

 

[TSanders]

Sterling has a smaller neck, and I find it a bit more versatile.

 

[spectorbassguy]

I would say go with the StingRay.

 

[basspastor]

ERNIE BALL MUSIC MAN / SR4 ACTIVE SUB BASS Item number: 3758924147
Check this out on e-bay, just a thought.

 

[stingraydude]

nothing beats a nice stingray... ( except maybe other music mans )

 

[Morrow]

Try them if you can and compare. The Stingrays have a beefier neck and the body is a bit heavier. I like the feel of a Stingray myself. Some prefer the Sterling. YMMV.Welcome to the forum. I also double on upright but do mostly blues and roots stuff. I like to set the action on electrics fairly low but I play electric with a very light touch.( My touch on upright is not that light.) How do you amplify your upright? It can be a bitch switching from one to another quickly on the fly when you have two sets of EQ's and volumes to deal with.Good luck and may you enjoy whatever you decide is right.

 

[JonBass]

Thanks for the insights

Thanks all for the insights. Sounds like either bass (Stingray or Sterling) would be wonderful. I think I will take your collective advice and just try them both. (Hopefully I will get down to the store today).

Regarding amplification: for my upright I have a basic Underwood pickup that is sent directly to a GK800RB (from my rock and roll days), and then to a custom-built (but poorly designed--I did it myself) 15" cabinet (basically a Black Widow in a plywood box).

The issues of EQ and balance are important ones when switching between electric and upright. I was thinking of picking up a cheap bass effects pedal, e.g., the DigiTech BP50 (for compression, more than anything), and using the user settings to set up patches for each. The only potential downside is that the Underwood pickup, being a piezo, likes a very high input impedance. The 800RB has an input impedance of 1 Mohm, and it works well. If the BP50 has a lower impedance (it's not stated in thier specs), then this may load the signal a bit and color the sound (makes it tinny). Option #2 might be to put the effects box in the effects send/return cicuit of the 800 RB, which will should avoid any problems.

Anyway, thanks again for the insights. Any further comments are welcome.

-JonBass

 

[Mobay45]

Hi Jon and welcome to the forum. I haven't said much since I don't play upright but when you play both basses, there are enough differences for you to be able to make a solid decision on which one to get. I don't know what part of the world you live in, but there will be a get together of bass players tomorrow in the Dallas area. If you live around here, let me know. It is a great opportunity to try different instruments and amplification.

Larry

 

[fresnorich]

Don't forget to try to Bongo too!

 

[Morrow]

The signal from your MusicMan will be a lot hotter than the signal from your Underwood so you will have some tweaking to do.You will probably have diferent EQ settings to deal with as well so you will have some fun getting a system down to quickly change instruments. I generally switch between a 51 Fender re-issue with flats and my upright and use a Yamaha NE 1 bass boost as a pre-amp.I run the upright flat on the pre-amp and set my amp's EQ for the upright. I have a Beisle magnetic pickup for the upright.I find if I use the low boost from the pre-amp on the electric I can get a usable sound between the two and only have to change the low boost and the volume. I can do the change in about fifteen seconds.I run a GK400RB with a fifteen or a GK MB150 with an extension cab for the quieter gigs.I am always tinkering with my aproach so it may be different next month but it's been workable now.

 

[JonBass]

Update

Well I made it down to the music store today and played both a Sterling and a traditional Stingray (again, both 4-string, fretted, with rosewood neck and 3-band EQ). It was a bit of an unfair comparison because the Sterling had strings that were well on their way to being dead, whereas the Stingray strings were brand new (the thing sounded like a freakin' piano..it was great). I used my own amp (GK800RB) into a 2-10" Hartke cabinet at the store.

First, I must say that both basses were great.

I didn't realize that the Stingray is a slightly longer scale instrument than the Sterling. Playing upright, this is preferrable to me (since we don't use the third finger when playing upright, I won't be using it on the electric in the forseeable future, hence even though I have small hands, the slightly longer scale is not an issue). Both basses played well, though the Stingray seemed to feel slighlty better. Also the 3-position tone switch on the Sterling did not seem to make worlds and worlds of difference. Both instruments had hints of that great Stingray sound, though my guess is it will take some EQ tweaking as well as technique tweaking to really get that signature sound.

In any event I didn't actually buy anything yet becuase the only color Stingray they had was a teal one, which I didn't care for. They are sending three instruments to the store next week. Colors include Envy Green (?), Gunbarrel black (?), and Granite (or metallic gray; I forget). I looked on the color sheet on the Ernie Ball website and couldn't find any of these colors, but hopefully at least one will look nice (I hate to have to wait months for a new instrument).

Anyway, thanks again, all, for the thoughts and insights. The jury's still technically out on whether I will get a Sterling or a Stingray, but it's looking like a 'ray.

Have a great weekend. I'll post an update when I see the new axes.

-Jon

 

[Morrow]

Grab that envy green-it was a limited run and is no longer made.Bovine has pics of his green hornet-check them out. I'm uaually a sucker for bursts over solids but I love that envy green and the black headstock.I doubt you would get another crack at getting envy green again.
I think the Sterling is the same scale as the Stingray but the body is smaller and the neck narrower.

 

[Mobay45]

I vote for the Envy Green also. It would be nice to have a limited edition and should also help to hold it's value.

 

[TSanders]

Get The Envy Green!!!!!

 

[prickly_pete]

I didn't realize that the Stingray is a slightly longer scale instrument than the Sterling.

-Jon

I believe that the Sterling and the Stingray are the same scale length -- 34 inches.

 

[JonBass]

I'll have to double check this.

I actually placed both instruments fretboard to fretboard at the store, because I was curious of this myself. It appeared that the 'ray had a slightly longer scale. Once I noticed this, I didn't pay too much attention, but the difference was apparent arount the third or fourth fret (the discrepancy continuing, of course, going down the neck): definitely longer on the Stingray.

I've always favored longer-stringed instruments (both electric and upright), hence this was probably the primary reason I swung to the 'ray.

In checking the Ernie Ball website, both Sterling and Stingray come in at 34" in terms of scale, which seems to conterdict the above. I'll have to take another look.

If anyone knows the answer, please advise, as the longer scale immediately swayed me to the 'ray. If they are, in fact, exactly equal I'll again bring the Sterling back in the running.

I will definitely check out the Envy Green color; thanks for the tips. I saw a picture in the store on the website, but it was hard to judge the color.

Details to follow. Thanks again for the great, prompt comments folks. This forum has added a new dimension to the purchase decision.

-JonBass

 

[midopa]

Perhaps it's due to the Sterling's neck being thinner than the StingRay's? I don't know how the widths would affect the illusion of different lengths, but it's just a thought.