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EBMM StingRay Special Club

There's a beautiful white Slo Special on reverb right now.

Sure, but it's about $2,000 with shipping before taxes. For an extra $900 (even less if you don't pay your sales tax since EBMM doesn't collect it) you get the color you want, a one year warranty, sculpted heel, the new preamp/pickup (if you're into it), stainless steel frets, and a roasted maple neck (if you're into it). You would have to wait a few months ordering.

That $2,000 price tag is in my "massively overpay" category.
 
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There's a beautiful white Slo Special on reverb right now.

Not sure if were allowed linking... but if its the one im seeing, im pretty sure thats not a SR special.. and just a stingray lol. 1) its from 2014 i thought specials were in 2018 2) it doesnt have the nicer carves, roasted maple or any of the special features.

Pretty sure the guy just mislabelled it not knowing the difference.
 
I like the Special sounds from both these videos.





These new videos of the frost pearl green are starting to concern me :( i have one coming on the way in January and some of the more recent ones seem to look more like a "greenburst" with a black border instead of whats advertised on the site.

I know they are going to range a bit for bass to bass, but the finish i loved was the deep sherwood green framing the lighter turqiouse into the whiteburst in the middle. The more recent examples it looks like they changed what they are actually putting in their spray guns.
 
Not sure if were allowed linking... but if its the one im seeing, im pretty sure thats not a SR special.. and just a stingray lol. 1) its from 2014 i thought specials were in 2018 2) it doesnt have the nicer carves, roasted maple or any of the special features.

Pretty sure the guy just mislabelled it not knowing the difference.

It is correct, it is a StingRay SLO Special. Which is different from a StingRay Special.
 
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Just curious with the 18 volt preamp and the Neo pickups there is allot of output. Do you all run your Stingray Special volume maxed or turned down some? If so explain the way you use the volume with the Special.

I don't find it to be that hot of output honestly. 18v just means more headroom for the boost and cut of the preamp is my layman's understanding.
 
Just curious with the 18 volt preamp and the Neo pickups there is allot of output. Do you all run your Stingray Special volume maxed or turned down some? If so explain the way you use the volume with the Special.
I run my Special’s volume at 100% all the time. I set a level at the amp and/or my bass channel on the mixing desk. If I need to be softer, I play softer.

I don’t want to be thinking or fiddling with the controls. It works fine for me, maybe not for everyone.

I do this with all my other basses as well.
 
My Stingray Special 4HH actually has me playing with the volume knob at about 80-85%, and then I set my onboard eq to my preferred taste depending on what pickup setting I’m on. This is a fairly drastic change for me, as I always had my volume on full on every other bass I ever owned, but the Special has me thinking differently. I can’t quite put my finger on it, and maybe it is because of my deep dive into playing guitar mostly for the last few years and the volume control on guitars have a lot more power in the tone and gain structure, but the preamp on the Stingray Special has me reinventing and rethinking everything I’ve done for the last 30 years of playing bass. I’m getting some pretty amazing tones from my Special and utilizing the volume knob in addition to the onboard eq is definitely a part of that.
 
I don't find it to be that hot of output honestly. 18v just means more headroom for the boost and cut of the preamp is my layman's understanding.
Agree. I have other basses that run much hotter than my Specials. For example my Spector, ESP, G&L and even the SBMM Ray34's run hotter. The 18 volts is for headroom. Max out the volume and you don't hear compression like you would from some other basses.
 
The Sterling By Music Man basses I've played are way hot, especially the SUBs.
Yes the older, not sure about the newer, SUB's are really hot. The Ray34's are better, but still pretty hot. The G&L M2000 Tributes are stupid hot. That's not to say that the Stingray Specials are lacking in volume. They are not, it's just people automatically think 18 volts equals more volume. I was initially guilty of that as well thanks to the G&L's.
 
These new videos of the frost pearl green are starting to concern me :( i have one coming on the way in January and some of the more recent ones seem to look more like a "greenburst" with a black border instead of whats advertised on the site.

I know they are going to range a bit for bass to bass, but the finish i loved was the deep sherwood green framing the lighter turqiouse into the whiteburst in the middle. The more recent examples it looks like they changed what they are actually putting in their spray guns.


Just call Ernie Ball and ask them.
 
Where'd you order it from? Maybe ask for a pic before they ship it in case you don't like it

I got it from Long & McQuade which is basically the guitar center for us Canadians. So worst case i would be able to just return it to one of the storefronts nearby. I probbably should have called in advance to verify or request they spray it accordingly but it never occured to me that was an option or they were that available to just contact directly... but it just seems crazy to me they would full on change one of their advertised finishes.

Like to me, these are completely different finishes, and the more green one is whats in all their official Videos displaying the color and on the site as an example. Perhaps im being overly fussy.

L97750000004000-05-2000x2000.jpg

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
 
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I got it from Long & McQuade which is basically the guitar center for us Canadians. So worst case i would be able to just return it to one of the storefronts nearby. I probbably should have called in advance to verify or request they spray it accordingly but it never occured to me that was an option or they were that available to just contact directly... but it just seems crazy to me they would full on change one of their advertised finishes.

Like to me, these are completely different finishes, and the more green one is whats in all their official Videos displaying the color and on the site as an example. Perhaps im being overly fussy.

L97750000004000-05-2000x2000.jpg

[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]
This is the thing that threw me off from the burnt ends finish. Ernie ball imagery looked awesome, but everywhere else the pictures were like the bottom one you shared: way too much black. And for the 5, you get like small patch of not black and the rest is pickguard
 
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This is the thing that threw me off from the burnt ends finish. Ernie ball imagery looked awesome, but everywhere else the pictures were like the bottom one you shared: way too much black. And for the 5, you get like small patch of not black and the rest is pickguard

Agreed, i know there will be variances with bursts and its a bit to taste and the artist/painters discretion or style... but for the frost green pearl.. you would think they have very specific steps with Color A, then Color B, and Color C... it looks like at some point they just threw that out the window and put black?!

Also, i was SOOO close to getting burnt ends as well for more of a tranditional look, but i noticed the same as you, didn't like the tort pickgaurd and i found out the specials because of the extra fret aren't easy to find or replace with a black guard, and lastly they just have "select tone woods" so it would have been a coin toss of what wood grain i was getting underneath the trans finish, some of the examples look great, but its a pretty big gamble.