EBMM StingRay Special Club

[Barticus]

Why would your amp be flat?

I have a Mesa Subway D800+ and the Subway + DI, which is the same preamp… which I have them adjusted for the type of music that I play. Playing that amp flat or an Aguilar amp flat would result in not great tone, for any bass, in my opinion. Read the manuals, great example settings are provided for both. There’s been tons of discussion in the Mesa and Aguilar owner’s forum around this very topic.

With that said, my approach has always been to play my bass flat as the starting point and adjust per song as needed.

 

[Pet Sounds]

Curious with your Stingray Special, do you adjust the EQ on your amp and fine adjust with the Stingray's preamp EQ, or keep your amp EQ flat and only use the EQ on the Stingray preamp?

I do the latter.

 

[CrimsonGhost]

Why would your amp be flat?

I have a Mesa Subway D800+ and the Subway + DI, which is the same preamp… which I have them adjusted for the type of music that I play. Playing that amp flat or an Aguilar amp flat would result in not great tone, for any bass, in my opinion. Read the manuals, great example settings are provided for both. There’s been tons of discussion in the Mesa and Aguilar owner’s forum around this very topic.

With that said, my approach has always been to play my bass flat asa starting point and adjust per song as needed.

Guess it also depends on the amp as well! I don't have all that much to work with on my rig.

 

[tremor100]

Curious with your Stingray Special, do you adjust the EQ on your amp and fine adjust with the Stingray's preamp EQ, or keep your amp EQ flat and only use the EQ on the Stingray preamp?

How i do it since the 18v preamp is boost and cut is i create my "standard" tone with the bass EQ flat. I find from there i can then have a wider range of control without touching the amp the whole night and i always know where my center is.

IMO you likely have more bands of EQ and control at the amp itself than the 3 band preamp on your bass itself.. so i don't know why you would "limit" yourself to the bass 3 band EQ, and you are going to have a harder time finding your "baseline" tone. I guess this depends alot on how much you touch the knobs and mess with your tone in your sets.

Sidenote, im not even a legacy classic 2 band stingray guy, but i pretty much never touch my mid control on the bass. Which that being my taste / perspective means that im going from 4 band on my amp with a wide range to 2 band if i were to EQ at the bass only for tone.

My 2 cents.

 

[Barticus]

Guess it also depends on the amp as well! I don't have all that much to work with on my rig. View attachment 7361872

And there’s an entire thread on settings for this amp who knew, the knobs do stuff

R

Thread 'Tech21 VT Settings Database'

Feb 16, 2009

Anyone care to submit their VT settings along with description and pertinent variables (passive/active, other effects, etc.)

I just switched from an Ampeg V4b to a Markbass with VT and I'm already missing the natural overdrive that the V4b breathed out so easily. Admittedly, I haven't played around with the VT enough to find what I'm looking for and I've been changing too many pieces of equipment lately to find my tone.

Thom Brady was good enough to send me his John Wetton settings:
Level: to taste
Mid: 1:00
Character: 10:00
Drive: 2:00
Low: 12:00
High: 12:30

Thanks...

• Robert Sjea
• Replies: 69
• Forum: Effects [BG]

And here’s a Mesa example

Point being, once my amp is set I make minor mods on the Stingray for the song.

 

[PrimitiveMan]

I use both amp and bass. But once amp is set I just adjust from the bass for the song

 

[ics1974]

I am officially down to one bass. This is all I need at the moment and it’s nice to put all my focus on it. Hopefully I can stay feeling this way

 

[humbuckaroo]

I'd be fine with a black 4H as my only bass.

 

[ics1974]

I'd be fine with a black 4H as my only bass.

I went through allot of basses to find the one I like best. This bass makes me happy! It looks great, sounds great, plays great, no dead spots, killer sustain, can handle low action without buzz, and only weighs 7.9 lbs with excellent balance. It’s a keeper for sure.

 

[Brandon Shea]

I am officially down to one bass. This is all I need at the moment and it’s nice to put all my focus on it. Hopefully I can stay feeling this way

View attachment 7362392

Looks classy, and I appreciate the simplicity of having a single bass with a single pickup. Realistically you can cover every tone you’d ever need with that one instrument just by altering the EQ and your playing style!

 

[humbuckaroo]

I went through allot of basses to find the one I like best. This bass makes me happy! It looks great, sounds great, plays great, no dead spots, killer sustain, can handle low action without buzz, and only weighs 7.9 lbs with excellent balance. It’s a keeper for sure.

Yeah, Stingray quality is just better.

 

[humbuckaroo]

Looks classy, and I appreciate the simplicity of having a single bass with a single pickup. Realistically you can cover every tone you’d ever need with that one instrument just by altering the EQ and your playing style!

Completely agree, less is more when it comes to instruments and gear.

 

[dave64o]

Curious with your Stingray Special, do you adjust the EQ on your amp and fine adjust with the Stingray's preamp EQ, or keep your amp EQ flat and only use the EQ on the Stingray preamp?

I basically keep my amp flat-ish, tweaked to give me a good tone with my typical settings on my bass in the venue we're playing. Then I adjust bass EQ and use different pickup settings over the course of a gig.

For one thing, I find it more convenient to make adjustments on the bass in between songs. Also, at most places we play, our keys player or our guitarist are between me and my amp, so that makes accessing my amp between songs difficult and sometimes impossible. And, finally, I like the Special's controls and find them very usable, so I take advantage of using them for most of my tonal adjustments.

EDIT: FWIW, those are also the reasons I prefer basses with active EQ (especially my Musicmans, which have excellent preamps and controls). I have some passive basses I play and love, but having active controls on my bass makes tonal adjustments much more doable at most of my band's gigs.

 

[Brandon Shea]

Why would your amp be flat?

I have a Mesa Subway D800+ and the Subway + DI, which is the same preamp… which I have them adjusted for the type of music that I play. Playing that amp flat or an Aguilar amp flat would result in not great tone, for any bass, in my opinion. Read the manuals, great example settings are provided for both. There’s been tons of discussion in the Mesa and Aguilar owner’s forum around this very topic.

With that said, my approach has always been to play my bass flat as the starting point and adjust per song as needed.

I spent a little more time thinking about this. For me, flat EQ on my amp is the goal because it's easy to remember and it tends to sound "right" in a mix, but I guess it's not always where I actually end up. The most significant thing that'll make me start tweaking the EQ is when my bass sounds boomy in a room, so when that happens, I dial back the bass on the amp first.

Once I'm satisfied with how the amp sounds in a given room, I'll make small tweaks on my bass. On my StingRay Special, that usually means in order of likelihood: 1, cut treble, 2, boost treble, 3, cut bass, 4, boost bass. I don't usually take the EQ to the extremes on the bass, even when cutting treble... I still want to have that articulation and "zing" from the Ray.

 

[Barticus]

The most significant thing that'll make me start tweaking the EQ is when my bass sounds boomy in a room, so when that happens, I dial back the bass on the amp first.

If your amp does not have an HPF on it directly, you should really look into getting an HPF pedal to put in your signal chain vs making EQ changes for this problem. This will allow you to easily dial out those sub frequencies that make it boom me without killing the tone from your instrument or amp.

My Mesa gear has a built-in HPF, but before that I used a Broughton HPF pedal. If you’re using a Stomp or Anagram you can use the built-in HPF functionality from those as well.

This allows, you to focus on the tone for the song vs trying to make large sweeping changes. Like I posted earlier, after sound check, I make small tweaks from the bass itself from song to song to serve the song.

 

[CrimsonGhost]

If your amp does not have an HPF on it directly, you should really look into getting an HPF pedal to put in your signal chain vs making EQ changes for this problem. This will allow you to easily dial out those sub frequencies that make it boom me without killing the tone from your instrument or amp.

My Mesa gear has a built-in HPF, but before that I used a Broughton HPF pedal. If you’re using a Stomp or Anagram you can use the built-in HPF functionality from those as well.

This allows, you to focus on the tone for the song vs trying to make large sweeping changes. Like I posted earlier, after sound check, I make small tweaks from the bass itself from song to song to serve the song.

This was one of the reasons why I picked up a new Cali76 compressor. My amp doesn't have hpf and the cali works amazing to tighten things up.

 

[Chris Chong]

This was one of the reasons why I picked up a new Cali76 compressor. My amp doesn't have hpf and the cali works amazing to tighten things up.

The cali76 hpf is only in the side chain triggering the comp. It does not high pass the actual signal coming out fr the pedal to the amp.

 

[Geri O]

I’m an official member here, or as much of a member as can be per the conditions set forth in the first post of this thread.

Several Stingrays have come and gone over the years, including the gorgeous Pearl Green 5H Special I let go in a brief period of uncertainty and I still regret.

This year has seen a few life-changing events, mostly positive, but losing our Mother was a big setback for us, as one can imagine. In the process of my brother and I working to settle her affairs, my brain has developed a craving for simple, uncomplicated ways of doing things. I’m currently at her residence with my go-to bass rehearsing new material for 3 situations (2 bands and church) and for the last couple of days, and out of nowhere, I’ve had a serious craving for another Stingray Special. As much as I love my go-to bass, I realized that it’s on its 3rd set of pickups and 4th preamp. And I can’t figure out why I’ve put myself through that kind of time, effort, and expense. While I love its tone (a Jazz-style bass), something unsettling has set in with it. Maybe it’s knowing that when I have a Stingray Special 5H, it’s positively perfect just the way it is straight out of the box. No “what if…” with the pickup and preamp. It’s there!

So while this isn’t a “hell freezes over” moment, I’m on the hunt for a Hot Honey 5H with a maple fingerboard. New, used, good deal, retail, don’t care. It may be a few weeks as I’m not selling anything to make the purchase. And I’m thinking it will be my go-to bass. Some folks try to make the ridiculous point of the Stingray tone being divisive or “too much”, but my Special 5H was always accepted and complimented when I would bring it bc along instead of my go-to.

I’m not sure why I felt compelled to write all this today, but mainly to say, I’ve missed the Stingray Special chatter here and the folks that participate as well. I see there’s many pages to catch on and as I’m house-sitting for a few more days, there will be time.

And to wax philosophically for a moment, hold the things you love close and the people you love closer. We aren’t here forever. Make your mark!

I look forward to posting of my new Stingray Special Day. Won’t be long now!….

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I’m an official member here, or as much of a member as can be per the conditions set forth in the first post of this thread.

Several Stingrays have come and gone over the years, including the gorgeous Pearl Green 5H Special I let go in a brief period of uncertainty and I still regret.

This year has seen a few life-changing events, mostly positive, but losing our Mother was a big setback for us, as one can imagine. In the process of my brother and I working to settle her affairs, my brain has developed a craving for simple, uncomplicated ways of doing things. I’m currently at her residence with my go-to bass rehearsing new material for 3 situations (2 bands and church) and for the last couple of days, and out of nowhere, I’ve had a serious craving for another Stingray Special. As much as I love my go-to bass, I realized that it’s on its 3rd set of pickups and 4th preamp. And I can’t figure out why I’ve put myself through that kind of time, effort, and expense. While I love its tone (a Jazz-style bass), something unsettling has set in with it. Maybe it’s knowing that when I have a Stingray Special 5H, it’s positively perfect just the way it is straight out of the box. No “what if…” with the pickup and preamp. It’s there!

So while this isn’t a “hell freezes over” moment, I’m on the hunt for a Hot Honey 5H with a maple fingerboard. New, used, good deal, retail, don’t care. It may be a few weeks as I’m not selling anything to make the purchase. And I’m thinking it will be my go-to bass. Some folks try to make the ridiculous point of the Stingray tone being divisive or “too much”, but my Special 5H was always accepted and complimented when I would bring it bc along instead of my go-to.

I’m not sure why I felt compelled to write all this today, but mainly to say, I’ve missed the Stingray Special chatter here and the folks that participate as well. I see there’s many pages to catch on and as I’m house-sitting for a few more days, there will be time.

And to wax philosophically for a moment, hold the things you love close and the people you love closer. We aren’t here forever. Make your mark!

I look forward to posting of my new Stingray Special Day. Won’t be long now!….

Let me be the first to welcome you back and offer my condolences on your Mother . I hope you find a beautiful hot honey that will enjoy even more than the frost green you had. Hot Honey is one of the best EBMM finishes ever offered. I think people will desire it long after it is discontinued. Maybe it will become a classic like black and natural ash.

 

[GroovyBaby]

For the last year, I’ve been playing Stingray Specials every time I go in a store. Each time thinking, “I need one of these.” Well, Sweetwater had a nice hot honey under 8lbs and a grabbed it (after much thinking). Before it even arrived, someone here posted a EBMM short scale stingray, so now I have two! Really loving the tones these brings. These are my first stingrays after over 30 years of playing bass. Tomorrow we go to band practice.
The Hot Honey is wearing TI Jazz Rounds. Sounds perfect. I bought TI Jazz Flats for the shorty but they are 32” instead of 30”. Unsure if I’m going to install them or go with TI Jazz Rounds instead, since they will wrap easier around the tuning peg. I’m nervous about breaking new $90 strings. Thoughts?
NBD thread here: https://www.talkbass.com/threads/nb...-short-scale-string-length-questions.1679341/