Will a Stingray work for rockabilly?

[syciprider]

Guys at work want to start a lunch band. First jam tomorrow. They want to play rockabilly (I know, bring my pentatonic scales)

How do i EQ the Ray to get that relatively dull DB sound? I'm thinking kill all the highs and compress the crap out of it so it doesn't ring out. Oh and a little tremolo and reverb of course

 

[tkarter]

It will work. It will work good.

tk

 

[scottbass71]

Maybe mute the strings if you have string Mutes use them or a piece of Foam in the bridge

 

[todd4ta]

Definitely string it with flats if not on there already.

Start with the EQ flat, then try boosting the bass a little, cutting the mids some and then see what to do with the treble. You want the tubby bass sound, but you also want to be heard. A Stingray will work find, just a little dialing in the EQ in the live setting until it sounds right.

 

[bovinehost]

Jefe, you know that Cowpilot is basically a roots/rockabilly band and that I play a BONGO (or three) when performing with them?

www.cowpilot.net

Yeah, I reckon a Stingray might work okay........

Jack

 

[Father Gino]

Stingray will sound good with any kind of music I can imagine. That doesn't mean a heck of a lot coming from an ol' blues dude like me, but I can imagine playing rockabilly and a Ray would be fine.

+1 what they all said; Flats, mute somehow, foam under the strings, palm mute, pluck sideways up near the neck or some combination of some or all of this. You don't want to sound too much like an old upright cause you could never hear them damn things worth a crap back in Carl Perkin's day.

Check out Joey Spaminato of NRBQ. Palm mute, flats and a pick works great for him.

 

[shamus63]

I played Brian Setzer stuff on my Ray after I strung it with flats, and it sounded fine.

Everybody knows, though, that only a doghouse sounds like a doghouse.

 

[bovinehost]

You don't want to sound too much like an old upright cause you could never hear them damn things worth a crap back in Carl Perkin's day.

Ain't that the truth.

Bleeb it or not, I like being the guy that plays "Jambalaya" and "Honky Tonk Blues" on a Bongo. It works, too. My pal Brian is all about authentic, but he admits that nothing else sounds like my EBMM basses.

Jack

 

[shamus63]

Ain't that the truth.

Bleeb it or not, I like being the guy that plays "Jambalaya" and "Honky Tonk Blues" on a Bongo. It works, too. My pal Brian is all about authentic, but he admits that nothing else sounds like my EBMM basses.

Jack

By all means, I prefer doing any style of music on electric bass.

But if you audition for purists...and in rockabilly, that's almost a given...I wouldn't show up with a bass that could fit inside the cab of my truck.

 

[bovinehost]

But if you audition for purists...and in rockabilly, that's almost a given...I wouldn't show up with a bass that could fit inside the cab of my truck.

Well, yeah. But one of the great things about my band is that it is MY band, and Brian sometimes jokingly spears me about the Bongos, but he knows me inside and out - and vice versa. We've been together an awfully long time and there is no one else on earth I would rather be on stage with.

So screw those purists, James. We have a sense of humor about the whole gig, having been through the rock-pop thing long ago and understanding that we probably aren't going to be The Next Big Thing, you know?

There's a great big old doghouse over at Brian's house, but HE isn't about to play it in public and we all know I'm a Bongoloid.

You could audition for Cowpilot and no one would care what you were playing as long as you were willing to turn "Another Brick In The Wall" into a root-five fest.

In my bizarre world, that's a good thing.

Jack

 

[Aussie Mark]

I played Brian Setzer stuff on my Ray after I strung it with flats, and it sounded fine

+1

My old blues/rock band played three Stray Cats tunes, and the Ray with Chromes sounded killer

 

[Bill]

Shoot, I play bass in a Cajun band with my Stingray.

 

[Dr Stankface]

Show me a genre that you CAN'T use a StingRay for...



Andrew

 

[SteveB]

Show me a genre that you CAN'T use a StingRay for...



Andrew

Um, chamber music? You'd probably blow the other players out of their chairs!

 

[shamus63]

Screw the purists, I agree...when it comes to cover bands.

I used to get all kinds of sh*t for bringing 'modern' equipment to my Beatles cover band, or if I'd show up at a blues jam with anything other than a Fender.

It can be a real pisser, when all you want to do is have fun.

Hell, as soon as my Bongo shows up (or Stingray, as this is the subject of the thread), I'm headed to the nearest blues jam...chalk full of purists!

 

[tkarter]

Around here everyone looks at the SR5 or the Bongo5 for a bit. Then once they hear it they forget Fender.

Of course I don't go to the kind of jams you do James.

The bongo will break all the rules and do it smiling. I bleeb that with all my heart.

tk

 

[shamus63]

Around here everyone looks at the SR5 or the Bongo5 for a bit. Then once they hear it they forget Fender.

Of course I don't go to the kind of jams you do James.

The bongo will break all the rules and do it smiling. I bleeb that with all my heart.

tk

That's what I'm hoping for. Trust me when I say that it's not an easy feeling to walk into some of these jams as a first time visitor, knowing that you'll be scrutinized not only for your playing style, but also by what you wear and what axe you play.

I've won some over; been knocked by others. Oh well.

Sorry for jacking the thread, but everybody seems okay with it so far.

 

[Psycho Ward]

Um, chamber music? You'd probably blow the other players out of their chairs!

I'll say this though, my SR4 with flats played thru the Bose PAS system has a very nice cello thing going on from C on up. With just a EQing you can get a very non-electric sound, not an upright sound really, but a woody, resonate tone that if ya had the chops, you could smell some classical gas.

 

[eddybomb]

the stingray has such a wide tonal variation that makes it painless to achieve almost any sound your looking for. roll the highs back, roll the mids up, choose lows to taste, and pluck over the fingerboard...good to go.

 

[prickly_pete]

The Ray will sound fine. You really need something like this for rockabilly For the sound and the look:

http://www.kingdoublebass.com/mainmenu.html

I saw a video of the Brian Setzer Orchestra over Christmas. His bass player (playing a dog house of course) was smokin'!