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EBMM StingRay Special Club

#10,041
spector_boogie said:
Greetings, didn't know there was a separate SR Special "Club" but glad I found it!
I purchased this beauty from one of Talkbass' OG members, and is my first SR5 in quite some time. Had a 2010s SR5 H that recorded great but didn't perform live like I wanted, so had a 90's Lakland 55-94 w/ Barts that I used forever, which I wish I'd never sold, and found those 'mids' we're always talking about.

I started playing again earlier this year as an old bandmate was restarting his old band, and saw MM finally updated/modernized the SR line to stuff I prefer (the old stuff is great too, obviously, just didn't fit my tastes). 18V, 22 frets, lighter weight, and HH config sold it for me.

Here's a few pics of mine, love the black hardware and ebony board. Roasted would look awesome too but I'm content for now!

I'll be chiming in but have been reading some of the HH pickup config feedback and it's interesting how we all hear and like different things, naturally.

Since I got this, I've 'wanted' to like the Position 3 mode the best, and have been EQ'ing my preamp and amp to match it, and I kind of just gave up last night, in that I strongly prefer Position 4 for fingerstyle and light OD with a pick, and then Position 2 or 1, depending, for full-on pick attack, clean or driven.
I play some stuff with pick in Position 3 but, I just feel like I get weird phasing stuff or ghost notes or drop outs in that setting for whatever reason. The others are solid and always sound great.

Pos. 5 is definitely useful, if I had music that called for it, but not with this project. Still good to know it sounds great though for a neck-only signal.

I think I like Pos. 4 so much, is because if you took the H pickup and stuck it dead center of the bass, that's pretty much the tone you'd get. I wonder if I could get MM to make me a custom job like that... lol.

With the 18V pre you can also crank the EQ without 'bad' distortion which is great to have on these, where the EQ can totally transform the sound of the instrument.

I'm still reading contrary info on pickup heights... I feel like mine is good, but I'll watch a video or read a thread that is somewhat or significantly different than the MM 'official' user guide, so maybe I just need to get a string height measurer and do some A/B'ing. I play this tuned ACGCF, so drop C just 1 step down on the B string, as going down to G isn't my thing. Feedback here would be appreciated!

Running through a Darkglass MT500 v.2 and DG410NE cab. Love how different the pickup and EQ combinations work with the IR cabinet and mic options for DI purposes.

Anyway, sorry for the dissertation but I'm on lunch break and wanted to check in and say hey as it feels good to get my chops and finger strength back up to par and getting those callouses going. ;)

View attachment 5145172 View attachment 5145173
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Sweet!

And I'm a huge fan of position #4 as well. I use all 5 pickup swith positions in a typical gig but, even if I only had Position 4, I'd still be as happy with my SR5HH's as I am today.
 
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#10,042
Has anyone tried a high pass filter pedal with their Stingray Special? I know the previous 3 band stingrays had it built into the preamp so I am wondering if a high pass filter would give a similar sound to the older 3 banders?
Also does it tighten up the sound and add aggression to the special?
 
#10,048
ics1974 said:
I’m looking to recapture some of the pre 2008 aggression and also tighten up the sound. Which pedal do you use?
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No pedals here.

When I got my Special 5H a month ago, I was thinking, gee, I wish it were a little more aggressive as you described.

I was mucking about setting up my new Special with my preferred strings and out of the blue, I decided to raise the pickup a bit to see what would happen.

Oh, man, now we're talking! Just that little bit of height raising gave the bass a lot more of that aggressive tone and I was missing a little at first. I measured that height change, but I can't recall what the measurement is, so when I get back home, I'll measure it again if you like.

Using D'addario Pro Steels helps the aggressiveness of the tone as well, I think. And I just prefer the Pro Steels over anything else.
 
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#10,050
Geri O said:
No pedals here.

When I got my Special 5H a month ago, I was thinking, gee, I wish it were a little more aggressive as you described.

I was mucking about setting up my new Special with my preferred strings and out of the blue, I decided to raise the pickup a bit to see what would happen.

Oh, man, now we're talking! Just that little bit of height raising gave the bass a lot more of that aggressive tone and I was missing a little at first. I measured that height change, but I can't recall what the measurement is, so when I get back home, I'll measure it again if you like.

Using D'addario Pro Steels helps the aggressiveness of the tone as well, I think. And I just prefer the Pro Steels over anything else.
Click to expand...
Yes please let me know the measurements that work for you
 
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#10,051
ics1974 said:
Has anyone tried a high pass filter pedal with their Stingray Special? I know the previous 3 band stingrays had it built into the preamp so I am wondering if a high pass filter would give a similar sound to the older 3 banders?
Also does it tighten up the sound and add aggression to the special?
Click to expand...
I don't always use my pedalboard, but I have a Broughton Always On HPF mounted on the underside. I don't keep it set at any specific frequency, though. But, if and when my bass sounds boomy in the room we're playing, then I'll raise the frequency just enough to tame the boom. That frequency will, of course, vary depending on the room. If I don't need the HPF, then I just leave it set to its lowest setting so it effectively has no impact.
 
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#10,052
dave64o said:
Sweet!

And I'm a huge fan of position #4 as well. I use all 5 pickup swith positions in a typical gig but, even if I only had Position 4, I'd still be as happy with my SR5HH's as I am today.
Click to expand...

Absolutely. I decided to use it on yet another tune in my song list last night, but with a pick. It really just does sound 'right' for a lot of applications, clean or driven, fingers or pick. Great stuff!
Using it with my Alpha-Omicron, it absolutely crunches and doesn't have the loss of definition say in Pos. 1 or 3.
 
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#10,053
Geri O said:
No pedals here.

When I got my Special 5H a month ago, I was thinking, gee, I wish it were a little more aggressive as you described.

I was mucking about setting up my new Special with my preferred strings and out of the blue, I decided to raise the pickup a bit to see what would happen.

Oh, man, now we're talking! Just that little bit of height raising gave the bass a lot more of that aggressive tone and I was missing a little at first. I measured that height change, but I can't recall what the measurement is, so when I get back home, I'll measure it again if you like.

Using D'addario Pro Steels helps the aggressiveness of the tone as well, I think. And I just prefer the Pro Steels over anything else.
Click to expand...

ics1974 said:
Yes please let me know the measurements that work for you
Click to expand...

There's a thread about this that I was posting in this week, someone suggested 6/32" on the Treble side and 7/32" on the Bass side, for BOTH pickups. Made a huge difference. I posted in that thread too what EB/MM recommends specifically for the Special line of basses, and it's quite different- of course they said that's just a recommended starting point.

However, I really like this 6-T and 7-B setup, with both pickups being the same height, instead of the 'traditional' way of the Neck p'up being lower.

Give it a whirl!
 
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#10,057
LadyLoveStingRay5 said:
All of my Specials wear flats . Perfect match !!! :thumbsup:
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I've been using flats on basses since 1995, when I put LaBellas on my first American P-Bass (sunburst, rosewood and tort, natch!). This was in the years BTB (before Talkbass); I probably read about LaBellas in Bass Player magazine.
I have rounds on some basses, too, but I favor flats and have 'em on StingRay, Precision, Jazz, Hofner and Rickenbacker basses.
 
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#10,059
Snibborwocky said:
Quick question I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on - Stingray 5 in the new Pueblo Pink color, Tony Levin vibes or no? His 5 is a more peach to me but this new color is about the closest thing to his that I think I've ever seen if doing a comparison, or am I totally off on this?
Click to expand...

Ya, I think Tony's might be just a little more pink, less pale, but otherwise it's the closest to his colour that I've seen them offer in years.
 
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#10,060
Snibborwocky said:
Quick question I'm curious if anyone has thoughts on - Stingray 5 in the new Pueblo Pink color, Tony Levin vibes or no? His 5 is a more peach to me but this new color is about the closest thing to his that I think I've ever seen if doing a comparison, or am I totally off on this?
Click to expand...
It is the closest I’ve seen but it lacks some of the orange hue. If you desire to get close to the original, buy a used model at a great price and have it refinished.
 
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