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A question for all the Stingray guys/gals out there

#62
tb-player said:
It seems like a lot of Stingray players own more than one Stingray.

I have a friend in London who has his own signature bass from a UK luthier. He's played it for a while. But one day, he called me and told me he picked up a Stingray. About a year later, we were chatting and he told me he had 3 more. I asked him 'Why so many?' and he said he just loves them.

I found that interesting because I played the same Stingray 5 for about 10 years with no other basses. It was the perfect workhorse bass and I just adored it. The sound in my head eventually changed and I sold it. A few years after I got rid of it, I owned another SR5 that sounded almost exactly like it. I even (briefly) had a 4-string Stingray that also had that very similar feel and tone. In all that time, I never felt I needed more than one to get that sound.

So is it a collector thing? Do they actually sound different and I just can't hear it? Is variety the spice of life? Or is it an addiction? Inquiring minds want to know.
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Interesting question. I have owned 4 of the SR5's and 2 Stingray Classics. There is a big difference between the SR5 and the Classic, imho (Classic 2 band preamp = less baked in mids). The SR5's sounded quite similar, except the one that had a maple fingerboard, not Rosewood like the other 3. I just wanted to have different colors, really the only reason I traded them off for something different. However, I landed on the Classic Stingray, and have stuck with just one for the last several years. It's too nice to take to gigs, so it gets used mostly for practice and rehearsals. I have a MTD Kingston 5 for heavy gigging, and it sounds strikingly like my Stingray Classic (same pickup/position of the stingray)
 
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#64
58C3E919-04CE-46E7-A7F3-C12FFFA40B07.jpeg
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#70
tb-player said:
Obviously the H cannot get all the tones of the HH. But can the HH get the same tone as the H by rolling to the bridge pickup?
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For the most part, yes, the difference being the switch on the H offering the series and series with filter settings, as opposed to the HH being parallel only (speaking of the specials only - previous generations of the H had series, but some offered single coil mode with a dummy coil to prevent hum and there might have been other iterations of the middle position).
 
#71
Bill Murray said:
I'd day it does exactly it. Especially in a mix, would anyone be able to tell? I couldn't hear any negligible difference anyways though.

I do prefer the look on the single H but love the extra versatility of the HH.
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Any variations could be more about the individual wood of the basses, setup, strings, etc. I do agree the difference is hardly noticeable. I like the series option on the 5H though so that is why I lean that way now that I have both.
 
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#73
Have an 01 Stingray and a Special 5H. The Special 5H is basically the only 5 I use now (it's awesome, when duty calls for a 5) but the Stingray hasn't gotten much use as I have preferred a P for the last few years. Meant to let go of it but I just haven't been able to say goodbye. Might have to bring it out more often, the last setup and string change seemed to wake it up a bit, probably just mental but every bit helps I guess.
 
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#75
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I've got a whole bunch of them and they are all different in some slight way. Sure I could get by with just one but I've loved the look of them since I first started playing 43 years ago. Still the most comfortable (for me) basses made.
Two years ago I had no plans of getting any Stingrays that year and ended up with 4 because they just kept cranking out amazing work that year.
I'm hoping for a sparkle emerald green with ebony board this year :)
 
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#77
Todd Hamby said:
View attachment 4923111 I've got a whole bunch of them and they are all different in some slight way. Sure I could get by with just one but I've loved the look of them since I first started playing 43 years ago. Still the most comfortable (for me) basses made.
Two years ago I had no plans of getting any Stingrays that year and ended up with 4 because they just kept cranking out amazing work that year.
I'm hoping for a sparkle emerald green with ebony board this year :)
Click to expand...

Nice, now which one is your absolute favourite of the bunch?
 
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#79
Todd Hamby said:
View attachment 4923111 I've got a whole bunch of them and they are all different in some slight way. Sure I could get by with just one but I've loved the look of them since I first started playing 43 years ago. Still the most comfortable (for me) basses made.
Two years ago I had no plans of getting any Stingrays that year and ended up with 4 because they just kept cranking out amazing work that year.
I'm hoping for a sparkle emerald green with ebony board this year :)
Click to expand...
My hero!!!:woot::hyper::drool:
 
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#80
tb-player said:
Obviously the H cannot get all the tones of the HH. But can the HH get the same tone as the H by rolling to the bridge pickup?
Click to expand...

In my experience, the bridge pickup on an HH is the same sound as the single H Ray. That is the case for my SR4H and SR4HH. The pickups are in the exact same spot on both basses so in my opinion, anyone who says otherwise is hearing a different sound between their basses due to setup, strings, or dare I saw, tonewood (or rather maybe just different masses of each bass).
 
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