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EBMM StingRay Special Club

#9,061
majbass said:
Hi - I love the stingray tone, but I'm finding the model lineup for the Stingray to be confusing and there are no places in my area that have anything above a Sterling.

I typically look toward a standard US-made model in production basses, but all I can see is "Special" in current production (before the very high end stuff). What does the "Special" designation mean for the Stingray?

What is the equivalent to the American Standard, the most down-the-middle or the most classic model there is I'm interested in a fretted 4-string in the H configuration but open minded.

(Unrelated - does EBMM not make a fretless H Stingray model any longer? A la Pino with Paul Young? Just wondering.)

Thanks!
Click to expand...

The special has a re-voiced 18v preamp with Neodymium pickups. They come with an incredibly smooth roasted maple neck, and all the hardware is lightweight. Overall these basses weigh less than the classic predecessor and have less of the high end sizzle often associated with Stingrays.

The closet thing to the classic that’s currently in production would be a Sterling Ray35 or Ray 34. These do also have roasted maple necks but they are not finished the same as the specials. I believe they are based on the 2017 EBMM Stingrays, you’ll be hard pressed to hear a difference. Amazing value for the price.

The Classic Stingray you’re talking about is absolutely available second hand, but they have been out of production for some time due to supply chain issues, so EBMM shifted full focus on the Special’s until those issues are gone.

Sadly the only Fretless options at the time seem to be BFR, which basically translates to expensive limited boutique basses.
 
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#9,062
Bill Murray said:
The special has a re-voiced 18v preamp with Neodymium pickups. They come with an incredibly smooth roasted maple neck, and all the hardware is lightweight. Overall these basses weigh less than the classic predecessor and have less of the high end sizzle often associated with Stingrays.

The closet thing to the classic that’s currently in production would be a Sterling Ray35 or Ray 34. These do also have roasted maple necks but they are not finished the same as the specials. I believe they are based on the 2017 EBMM Stingrays, you’ll be hard pressed to hear a difference. Amazing value for the price.

The Classic Stingray you’re talking about is absolutely available second hand, but they have been out of production for some time due to supply chain issues, so EBMM shifted full focus on the Special’s until those issues are gone.

Sadly the only Fretless options at the time seem to be BFR, which basically translates to expensive limited boutique basses.
Click to expand...

Thanks so much! That helps!
 
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#9,063
Moonskunk said:
My first 2 Specials came with a nice gray Ernie Ball polishing cloth inside the hard shell case along with the black felt pouch with tools, sample foil packets of both string cleaner and instrument polish. My very recent Snowy Night 4H Special that came in a Mono bag however was minus the EB polishing cloth. I wrote EB and told them that my Mono bag was missing the polishing cloth and could they please send me one. Their response was that they have never included a EB polishing cloth with any of their guitars and that the vendor must have put them in the cases of my previous Specials. That does not make any sense, the vendor would have included a cloth with their name on it, not Ernie Balls. Also the vendor normally would not mess with the Musicman bass packaging other than perhaps Sweetwater which weighs each bass and takes photos. None of my Specials come from Sweetwater however. My question to all, did your Special come with an Ernie Ball polishing cloth? I'm questioning the validity of representatives response to me.
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I would take a picture of the cloth you do have from the other basses and email it to them. It may not be a polishing cloth as far as they’re concerned and they may be hung up on the semantics.
 
#9,064
Bill Murray said:
The special has a re-voiced 18v preamp with Neodymium pickups. They come with an incredibly smooth roasted maple neck, and all the hardware is lightweight. Overall these basses weigh less than the classic predecessor and have less of the high end sizzle often associated with Stingrays.

The closet thing to the classic that’s currently in production would be a Sterling Ray35 or Ray 34. These do also have roasted maple necks but they are not finished the same as the specials. I believe they are based on the 2017 EBMM Stingrays, you’ll be hard pressed to hear a difference. Amazing value for the price.

The Classic Stingray you’re talking about is absolutely available second hand, but they have been out of production for some time due to supply chain issues, so EBMM shifted full focus on the Special’s until those issues are gone.

Sadly the only Fretless options at the time seem to be BFR, which basically translates to expensive limited boutique basses.
Click to expand...
It was my understanding that the Special became the successor to the classic in 2018. Almost like new coke. I was not aware that the classics only stopped production due to supply chain issues. More like they are gone but come back periodically in limited edition runs. Am I mistaken?
 
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#9,065
Paradilum said:
It was my understanding that the Special became the successor to the classic in 2018. Almost like new coke. I was not aware that the classics only stopped production due to supply chain issues. More like they are gone but come back periodically in limited edition runs. Am I mistaken?
Click to expand...

I hope they do come back, if for no other reason than to push used prices back down. The used prices of the classics are incredibly high.
 
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#9,066
Paradilum said:
It was my understanding that the Special became the successor to the classic in 2018. Almost like new coke. I was not aware that the classics only stopped production due to supply chain issues. More like they are gone but come back periodically in limited edition runs. Am I mistaken?
Click to expand...

That was my impression as well, but someone on here informed me that this was incorrect.

Unfortunately I can’t find any legitimate information one way or the other. The classic is still listed on their website though so I’m taking that as a good sign in the meantime.
 
#9,067
Paradilum said:
It was my understanding that the Special became the successor to the classic in 2018. Almost like new coke. I was not aware that the classics only stopped production due to supply chain issues. More like they are gone but come back periodically in limited edition runs. Am I mistaken?
Click to expand...
Bill Murray said:
That was my impression as well, but someone on here informed me that this was incorrect.

Unfortunately I can’t find any legitimate information one way or the other. The classic is still listed on their website though so I’m taking that as a good sign in the meantime.
Click to expand...
I'm wondering if we're getting confused over the term "classic." It's my understanding that the lower-case "classic" StingRay of the past has been completely replaced by the Special. Meanwhile, the upper-case StingRay Classic model, which emulates the very early two-band, slab-body StingRays, is on temporary (as far as we know) hiatus.
 
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#9,068
Pet Sounds said:
I'm wondering if we're getting confused over the term "classic." It's my understanding that the lower-case "classic" StingRay of the past has been completely replaced by the Special. Meanwhile, the upper-case StingRay Classic model, which emulates the very early two-band, slab-body StingRays, is on temporary (as far as we know) hiatus.
Click to expand...

I went to check the site to see which model was still up and there is no “classic” or “Classic”.

Time will tell.
 
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#9,069
Paradilum said:
I would take a picture of the cloth you do have from the other basses and email it to them. It may not be a polishing cloth as far as they’re concerned and they may be hung up on the semantics.
Click to expand...

Musicman was kind enough to send me one in good faith. It's a very nice quality grey microfiber cloth. They still contend that they do not include them in the cases (my first 2 Specials had them however) although they include a packet of instrument polish. They belong together.
 
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#9,075
Bill Murray said:
I can hear no discernible difference. In a band setting it would be absolutely impossible to tell them apart.
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I can certainly hear a difference between the different pickup options on the HH in a band situation. IMO, it has a pretty wide variety of useful tones just by changing the pickup selector.
 
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#9,076
jam.majors said:
Hey all! I tried to google, but came up short on this question: on the Special HH, is the neck H voiced differently from the Bridge? I believe that's what some different manufacturers do, and I'm curious.
Click to expand...
How do you think this information would benefit you? Are you trying to determine if they are interchangeable for some reason?
 
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#9,078
jam.majors said:
Oh it’s entirely curiosity. I already have the special HH and I enjoy it. Neck pickup soloed sounds unique from bridge and I was curious if it is only position or voicing or both.
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It’s most definitely position, but I’ll wager Ernie Ball music man technical Support would be able to give you an answer regarding voicing..
 
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#9,079
jam.majors said:
Hey all! I tried to google, but came up short on this question: on the Special HH, is the neck H voiced differently from the Bridge? I believe that's what some different manufacturers do, and I'm curious.
Click to expand...
I can't recall seeing anything that said the two pickups in an HH are voiced differently, but that doesn't mean that they aren't.

You should be able to get a definitive answer on the Ernie Ball Forums. Just a heads up if you heavn't been there before - you can get great info there but those forums are sponsored by Ernie Ball / Musicman. So they do expect you to be respectful of the brands and not use their bandwidth to discuss other brands or to offer unsolicited unconstructive critiscim - and usually even constructive criticism. Skins can be thin.
 
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#9,080
dave64o said:
I can't recall seeing anything that said the two pickups in an HH are voiced differently, but that doesn't mean that they aren't.

You should be able to get a definitive answer on the Ernie Ball Forums. Just a heads up if you heavn't been there before - you can get great info there but those forums are sponsored by Ernie Ball / Musicman. So they do expect you to be respectful of the brands and not use their bandwidth to discuss other brands or to offer unsolicited unconstructive critiscim - and usually even constructive criticism. Skins can be thin.
Click to expand...
For any interested party: https://forums.ernieball.com/threads/is-the-neck-pickup-identical-or-differently-voiced.73614/
 
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