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Does Anyone Still Play Music Man Basses
- Thread starter PleyswethSqwerl
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- ernie ball musciman
Check out juliaplaysgroove. She’s my favorite youtube bassist by far, and she plays mostly Music Man instruments (though she plays a Lakland in her most recent vids).
No, that means also that a lot of people are buying them, indicating an active market and interest in these instruments. If you watch the classifieds like I do, you will see the basses come on the market and get sold, usually within a day or two, and sometimes within an hour or two.
I play a Stingray almost every day and I gig a Stingray about once a week. I see plenty of people still using them live although not as much as in the past. No idea why, I still think they are fantastic
False equivalency. If they all eventually sell, the market exists and the popularity maintains.
Now if there's a glut of EBMM basses that never sell, you would be correct.
Saw a band at Amos' SouthEnd the other night. Bass player had a P Bass and a Music Man. Originally I thought the Music Man was a 5 string, but when I got a better look it was a digital tuner or something clipped to the headstock not a 5th tuner.
I’ve heard a lot of good MM bass sounds, so I’m certainly not going to trash them. I’ve mostly played Fender basses for the last 50+ years and recently tried a MM Stingray 5 HH.
My observation was that it was certainly usable, but find the preamp for the most part just duplicated what I have available on my amp. The gain out of it was definitely higher than any FB I’ve ever had my hands on and it’s not even close. I’m just not so sure all that extra gain is necessary for a good professional sound with good amplification.
Finally the playability issue. I didn’t find it an easier or more problematic than playing a typical Fender bass.
At the end of the day assuming you don’t have some sort a weird EQ and or effects, either is going to sound unsurprisingly like an electric bass which is the whole point of the exercise.
The second sentence allows for both possibilities without any need for assumptions.
Lots of players are looking for lighter weight basses. Generally the lighter bass is made out of basswood.
Hmm. Maybe you find what you're searching for?
I have found tons of content related to Musicman basses because I have been debating getting a 4 string Stingray.
They sure seem popular, and the sure seem to be selling well. Even when I go to Guitar Center, there are Sterling Stingrays and SLO Stingrays on the wall.
All of us who are answering with, " I have been playing my Stingray since the earth's crust started cooling" are a biased sample, and I include myself in that group.
That said, I think the visibility of instruments has changed since the days of MTV and VH1 and music videos being a major medium for music distribution. At that time, Flea and his Stingrays were all over the airwaves, and I think that drove a lot of mainstream popularity, at least in Boston in the 1980s and 1990s.
How we consume music has really changed drastically, and it seems that ever since D'Angelo and Pino and others like Sean Hurley repopularized the Pbass and flats sound, that has become common in mainstream music again.
That's my (obviously biased ) opinion.
I have found tons of content related to Musicman basses because I have been debating getting a 4 string Stingray.
They sure seem popular, and the sure seem to be selling well. Even when I go to Guitar Center, there are Sterling Stingrays and SLO Stingrays on the wall.
All of us who are answering with, " I have been playing my Stingray since the earth's crust started cooling" are a biased sample, and I include myself in that group.
That said, I think the visibility of instruments has changed since the days of MTV and VH1 and music videos being a major medium for music distribution. At that time, Flea and his Stingrays were all over the airwaves, and I think that drove a lot of mainstream popularity, at least in Boston in the 1980s and 1990s.
How we consume music has really changed drastically, and it seems that ever since D'Angelo and Pino and others like Sean Hurley repopularized the Pbass and flats sound, that has become common in mainstream music again.
That's my (obviously biased ) opinion.
I think they did this with the Bongo as well. I really liked the Bongos I had. The basswood Ray that I had I did not care for. It was lightweight. I just never cared for the sound of the new preamp.
I’m a huge EBMM guy. I also have to say I don’t find anything wrong with your post. Reasonable question to ask.
I think they are the best production line instruments made today. The two problems they have is that the tonal profile is not what people are looking for now (p bass or mustang bass with flats seems to be the hot item again) and the prices have gone up tremendously both new and used.
To answer your question, I would think that it was not a lot to begin with? There are so many versions of p basses, jazz, double humbucker basses around. While a manufacturer has 10-15 different models like Yamaha or Ibanez, Music Man has basically 2 models. So the market is not flooded with them. Basswood? You just have to be more careful. Plus if it was not, it would weigh 12-14 pounds! Then people would be complaining about the weight!
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The second sentence was the scientific control model.
EBMM basses sell consistently in the classifieds here unless they are priced over market.
