Is it just me or does every stingray I have played sound considerably different from one another? I do understand that all basses will vary in sound one way or another but it seems to ring true even more when we're talkin about rays. ALert: story is kinda long
Heres my ray story:
1. I was getting into this anime called 'beck' which involves some japanese band tryin to 'make it'. Their bassist was using a white/black/rosewood ray and when I chanced upon a used ray on a local forum with that color combo I jumped on it. I had no idea what to expect from a ray(I just started playin for 6months) tonewise or feelwise, I just had to have it. It was a japanese series EBMM, the EX series. Many of you guys might not have heard of it, but it DOES exist but its no longer in production. Anyways I had a MIJ fender jazz to do comparison with at that time, but the ray kills it in the tone and playability department which came as a surprise as it only had 1pickup and a thicker neck. I had thick low mids that cuts through as well as support the band. Anyways I had it for awhile until I decided that it doesn't 'look cool' anymore. The white finish has aged into a somewhat yellow-ish color and I thought that the fender looks somewhat sleeker and hey, all my favourite bassists are using it. So in a moment of insanity I traded it for a vintage squier jazz with topup from that other guy(damn that vintage craze, I since long swore off any adoration for old instruments).
In my head, I was thinkin to myself every ray prolly sound the same and when I have enough dough Imma get a real Stingray, not some cheaper japanese knockoff, and in a real wicked color combination. I couldnt be more wrong, havent been able to play a better ray yet.
2. afew years down the road, still with my trusty fender jazz and having sold the squier jazz, I decided to start my hunt for a ray since Ive started workin and have some cash to spare. I saw a local ray goin for a reasonable price so i decided to pop by the fella's house to try it out. With lots anticipation. I bought my fender jazz along for comparison. It was a late 90s ray with natural finish and maple neck and strung with red dr strings. I ruled the bass out after running some scales for 1minute. The tone was lifeless and dull(strings were new), playability was horrible as it had a really thick neck from front to back. I ran my jazz through the same setup(clean to a SWR amp). No doubt I own the better bass. On a sidenote, he had a spector dlx4 fm and fender deluxe on the rack as well and he was kind enough to let me try em out. The fender deluxe was pretty impressive, similar to my jazz actually with a tad more versatility. He said it was not for sale, since dats his main player. As for the EMG, 'wow'. It had a really killer, killer modern sound. Finger or pickstyle it just slays. Too bad the playability wasnt that great and the owner wanted like 1200usd for it, else I might have been a spector convert. I suffered from serious gas attack the following weeks. However, I convinced myself that the stingray's preamp prolly had a chunk of it taken off or had some hidden defect. I shall get my dream ray soon enough.
3. As for the 3rd stingray, I got it from a fellow tber. Its a late 80s 2band ray with a rosewood/maple neck and ash body. I bought it(without testing) after watching the ed friedland stingray classic video on youtube and spending too much on talkbass and eb forums, hearing people declaring the 2band rays to be in every way superior to the 3band. To cut it short, the bass doesnt have enough low mids and the high end was too clanky. The bottom end wasnt 'tight'. The neck was too wide side to side and too slim front to back. Thing was gorgeous, but after playing it live 2times I knew it was never gonna work.It sounded muddy and doesnt cut through my rock band and had a weak g string(Yes, its no myth).It doesnt help that I like low action and the pickup pole pieces and wrecking my fingers when I dig into the pickup. I tried really, really,really, really hard to like it but in the end I traded it for an am std pbass 09. But after fiddling with it for a month or so I figured out that Im not a pbass person, I traded it for my 4th ray. On a side note, the 09 am std pbass is the best pbass I have played to date.
4. Ok, so heres the ray I still own. Its late 90s model(ash body), with a maple neck. Trans read with maple, seriously man, whats there not to love about a ray in transred and maple?. After much consideration, I traded my pbass for this ray as it wasnt really love at first note. This ray sounded like a more powerful version of the 2nd ray Ive played. With eq set to flat it sounds hifi and sterile but theres still some punch to it. Its the most articulate amongst the stingrays ive tried, the playability is amongts the best as well. Cutting the treble and boosting some mids gives me a pretty good sound, though its not like the first one. It still lack low mids but it has enough 100hz to fill up the bottom and high mids to cut through plus the g string wasnt weak like the previous ray's. With fresh rounds it sounds really like flea with his modulus. But still, its still missing that 'something'. Its great sounding in its own rights and people have come up to me and tell me how good I sound(I never happen to my jazz or pbasses), but the sound in my head will always be the one of the first ray.
Alright so thats the 1st chapter of stingray story. For those who have bothered to read the wall of text, Im sure some of these thoughts below have crossed your mind:
1. Dude's just want what he doesnt have - In a way its true, Im the type of guy who gets a gas attack whenever he chance upon a sexy bass but I have 3 of the basses mentioned for more than afew months so I know how they sound like whether I still own them or not. My guitarist with whom I have played with ever since I started playing told me that the 1st ray was the best sound I ever got. For a guitard to tell you that, how can you doubt yourself? I did ask my drummer aswell, and he was like 'well i dont remember the sound much, but it yeah it looked kinda...cool'. Well....drummers... what can I say?
2. Dude's just confused cus hes playing through rays with different amps, strings and setup - My jazz bass has been with me since the first ray so I have played all rays through the same amp as my jazz did. The japanese ray beat them all. All the rays I have played have been strung with dr steelrounds so while they are definitely in the same ballpark. All the rays have been setup with low/medium action. While I have improved as a player over the years I still have that same hard touch I did when I first started.
3. That jap ray has been modded - For a period of time I thought that the ray mustve been modded into series mode or something. I tried the nordstrand mm4.2 in series on my 4th ray, I dont dig it that much. It was kinda mellow, I actually preferred the stocks. Could it be the bodywood, could it be a aftermarket pickup? Guess Ill never know. The few clips I can find on youtube that showcases a stingray EX, the basses dont sound like my first ray either.
4. Did you try to recover your first ray - Heck, I did and got really really close. I traded it on a local forum and a good 4years after I traded it away I was actually able to get in touch with the owner
So, you must be thinking that since I dont have the bass with me the owner's prolly using it as his main player since its so amazing, right? Apparently not
through, sms
me: hi, do you remember me? I traded my white ray for your squier
him:yeah bro, wassup
me: Do you by any chance have it? Im willing to pay a good price to buy it back bro
him: sorry man, I gave it away
me: wow, to who?
him: as a bday gift to my friend
me: no ****, any chance hes willing to sell it?
him: maybe? ill ask you for him
*afew days later*
me: so hows it goin man?
him: sorry man, my friend is not willing to sell it since its a gift.
I have since added him on facebook and constantly bugged him to ask his friend to sell it to me. Here's how our last message exchange looked like
me: cmon man, im sure you can do something. u gave him the bass man
him: dont you feel embarrassed for constantly bugging me?
me: well, shows how much i want it man ; p
him: give it up man, look elsewhere.
me: fine, fine. btw why did you ,of all basses, have to giv the ray away
him: its the only want I didnt want
5. No clips no stingray! - I was only ever recorded playin the white ray live once, Im not sure where the vid went but I tink its stashed somewhere in my drummer's hard disk. I remembered myself sounding amazing even i played like a total noob.If I have to find a tone on youtube that most resemble it, then it'll have to be the vid of Ed Friedland playing the Classic Stingray on youtube. Didnt bother to upload vids of the 3rd ray, was almost always buried in the mix. I still have the 4th ray, you can check out afew vids of my playin some acoustic covers w it in my link below. It actually sound decent enough through a sx15W amp(seriously man, sx is bang bang for buck). Theres a vid of me covering 'show me how to live' with my trusty fender jazz aswell.
K, so heres the end. Please pardon my less than flawless vocab and grammar. Feel free to ask me any questions regarding rays, Ill try my best to answer em. If you think you have an awesome ray you wish to sell at a bargain to a really cool guy then you know who to pm ; P
until then, happy ray-ing
