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EBMM StingRay Special Club

#8,602
dave64o said:
Beautiful! I always thought the Charcoal Sparkle looked nice, but then I saw one in the local Guitar Center and was blown away. It looks far nicer in person than in any pictures I've seen of it.

MusicMan's web site has schematics of the controls on their basses - here's the one for a single H Special. I don't recall ever seeing center frequencies for their EQ controls, but maybe you could ask about that on the Musicman Forums? They can be helpful but, if you haven't been there before, keep in mind that the forums are actually hosted by Musicman which makes them extremely pro-Musicman biased. So save any negativity for anything Musicman for other online forums.
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Indeed! The seller mentioned how the pictures didin't make the finish justice and when I got it it was around 4 or 5 PM so the sun was shining gold and as I opened the case and it hit the bass I was just in awe. Definitely a looker.
 
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#8,608
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#8,609
makanudo said:
Hey all. Just joined the club yesterday. Here's my new best friend:

Also, do you guys run factory specs (MM's FAQ has the bass setup guide) or your own? If so, what are yall's (string and pickup) height and relief measurements? I wanna leave this puppy running like a F1 car on Sunday.

Also, does anyone have any info on the Preamp frequencies and would mind educating me ln the 3 position switch? I can't seem to find any detailed infl.
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Welcome to the family - I hope you enjoy your new Special, as I have. Everybody has their own take on setup specs and I don't think there is any really 'right' or 'wrong' answer unless the bass doesn't behave like you want it to. I generally run the specs the same on all my basses, but the StingRay can achieve a lower action for my purposes. I've listed my specs below, but again, these are specific to me and do change from time to time. I think I achieve med-low to low action with these specs. Note: there is string buzz and/or 'clack' when desired.

Bass: MM Special 4H Black/Chrome/Maple
Strings: EB Super Slinky 45-100 (I run Hybrids on the other basses with rounds and might change; the 105 E and 85 A are really good)
Relief: 0.008-in to 0.010-in, as measured by applying a capo to the first fret, fingering the 17th fret (where the neck meets the body) and measuring at the 7th and 8th frets with a feeler gauge.
Action: E - 5.5/64-in, 5/64-in, 5/64-in, 4/64-in as measured by a StewMac 6-in scale on the 12th fret (first fret is not applied, I think Sadowsky may fret at the first, which would make my measurements different).
Pickup: EBMM specs, from the bottom of the string to the top of the pickup. I loosen the G-string side of the pickup slightly to raise it relative to the higher strings. Again, very slight.

To restate, your specs may vary and that's perfectly fine. I'd like to try to reduce my action a little bit further, but then I deal with the 'cost/benefit' of clean notes vs speed and 'clack'.

Hope this helps, but most importantly congrats on a great instrument and I hope you enjoy it!
 
#8,610
dave64o said:
I don't recall ever seeing center frequencies for their EQ controls
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I got this in an email from MusicMan when I asked about the EQ on the Stingray Special
630C2C30-036C-40EA-AE84-BD169CD41E63.gif
 
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#8,611
dave64o said:
Wow. Just ... wow. I was wondering how the painted neck would look, but now I can't imagine that bass having anything but a matching painted neck (lots of pictures of the bass on the Sweetwater site). And the roasted and flamed fretboard fits the bass quite nicely.


Congrats on a great looking bass! :bassist:
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It really is stunning. I tried so hard not to want it and talked myself out of it for a few months once they were announced. But I couldn’t resist. I knew that I could return it if I didn’t like the feel of the neck or the neck pickup. I’m so glad I gave the HH one more try.
Thanks to my viewing videos and asking questions of @Todd Hamby , I’ve learned how to get some great sounds out of that additional pickup .
 
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#8,612
RedJag said:
I got this in an email from MusicMan when I asked about the EQ on the Stingray Special
View attachment 4878553
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Thanks for sharing. Indeed as I was toying around with it on a spectrum analyzer it was evident pretty quickly it was shelving EQ with the mids with mids centered around the 400-500 Hz area. No wonder it sounds so good. The curves for each control are extremely tasteful!
 
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#8,615
Since you previously had and sold an HH, I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts on the HH after playing your new one over the first year or so. The H and the HH both have tones the other can’t do and I think we here can all agree that neither is better, they're just different. :D

In my case, I do use all five pickup positions on my HH’s on a typical gig, so it would tough to give up that flexibility. And having Position 4 as a favorite (inner coils) would make giving up the second pickup even tougher. But, I’ve never had a “classic” H Stingray before, so I have toyed with up the idea of adding a Classic 5 to my collection someday. That would certainly be different enough from my current two Stingrays to make a decent case for buying one.
 
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#8,618
RedJag said:
I got this in an email from MusicMan when I asked about the EQ on the Stingray Special
View attachment 4878553
Click to expand...
That graph does make it look like the mid frequency is centered around 500 Hz. Also makes it look like the overlap of the bass and treble is centered lower, maybe half that value? Interesting, seems like that might give more control over mids than I realized I had!
 
#8,620
dave64o said:
Since you previously had and sold an HH, I’ll be interested in hearing your thoughts on the HH after playing your new one over the first year or so. The H and the HH both have tones the other can’t do and I think we here can all agree that neither is better, they're just different. :D

In my case, I do use all five pickup positions on my HH’s on a typical gig, so it would tough to give up that flexibility. And having Position 4 as a favorite (inner coils) would make giving up the second pickup even tougher. But, I’ve never had a “classic” H Stingray before, so I have toyed with up the idea of adding a Classic 5 to my collection someday. That would certainly be different enough from my current two Stingrays to make a decent case for buying one.
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If you are a player that really appreciates and favors the StingRay , you need at least one single H.
That could be a pre Ernie Ball, a Classic , a short scale , and ceramic, or a Special. Find one that works best for you and get one.

( Just as long as it sparkles !!):roflmao:
Just kidding. …..or am I?;)
 
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