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EBMM StingRay Special Club
- Thread starter MultiScaleMale
- Start date
!!!
Brandon Shea
Commercial User
Those sparkle finishes are insane. Congrats on the new bass!
Looks great! That's one of my favorite finishes they've come out with aside from the fallout green post earlier. Congrats! The Stingray 5 has a superb low B and the neck (although not for everyone) is my favorite 5-string neck. Enjoy!
Howdy! First time Stingray owner. Took delivery of this Special in Hot Honey a little over a week ago and couldn't be happier. I picked this one at Sweetwater due to the knot on the lower horn, the bits of birdseye on the back, and all the flaming on the neck. There is also flaming from frets 1-7 on the fretboard that isn't showing well in photos.
As a long time Precision guy I'm excited about the tone of the Ray. If I'm being honest with my first impressions, this makes my Mexico P bass feel like playing a 2x4. This Stingray just feels so refined, and the sound really cuts through a mix in a way the P bass doesn't.
The set up out of the box is spot on with no buzzy frets or dead spots. The neck profile on this thing is just perfect. The nut width is the same as my P bass, but the neck profile makes it feel so much more manageable in my hand. So much easier and comfortable.
And the preamp does THE THING really well, obviously. But then rolling off the treble and mids gives more of a passive/vintage thing, but it never loses the signature musicman thing.
Thoroughly impressed with this thing! Cannot find a flaw with it. Nice job Ernie Ball.
I've had a couple of band rehearsals with it, and I was worried it wouldn't sit in one of my bands well (all the recordings are done on a Mustang), but my band leader commented on how good it sounded. He had previously expressed some skepticism of active pickups, so I was happy that he was into it.
2 more rehearsals tomorrow and 2 gigs this weekend. Excited to put this thing to work!
As a long time Precision guy I'm excited about the tone of the Ray. If I'm being honest with my first impressions, this makes my Mexico P bass feel like playing a 2x4. This Stingray just feels so refined, and the sound really cuts through a mix in a way the P bass doesn't.
The set up out of the box is spot on with no buzzy frets or dead spots. The neck profile on this thing is just perfect. The nut width is the same as my P bass, but the neck profile makes it feel so much more manageable in my hand. So much easier and comfortable.
And the preamp does THE THING really well, obviously. But then rolling off the treble and mids gives more of a passive/vintage thing, but it never loses the signature musicman thing.
Thoroughly impressed with this thing! Cannot find a flaw with it. Nice job Ernie Ball.
I've had a couple of band rehearsals with it, and I was worried it wouldn't sit in one of my bands well (all the recordings are done on a Mustang), but my band leader commented on how good it sounded. He had previously expressed some skepticism of active pickups, so I was happy that he was into it.
2 more rehearsals tomorrow and 2 gigs this weekend. Excited to put this thing to work!
Attachments
You scored with the grain on that one. Looks great
I have the 4 string version of that Charcoal Sparkle. Love it. I always come back to it if for some reason I reach for something else off my rack. Usually it’s my go-to. Enjoy it!
I’m such a fan of ebony fretboards and just love how it feels on my bass.
Holy Cow!
When the time comes for me to add a new StingRay to the ranks, that is exactly what I'm going to be striving to find.
It's why I loved doing this through Sweetwater. There is so much variation on this kind of finish between the grain of the wood, the darkness of the outer burst and the size of the burst. I am not a shill for Sweetwater, but it's a great shopping experience.
Yeah, I love that they photograph each individual instrument, and give it's weight, rather than using a stock photo for everything - though none of that really helps me, being the opposite side of the Atlantic.
Besides the specific wood figuring of your instrument (figuring being something of a rarity on Music Man instruments post 2005~ish, save for BFR's, and the Classic series), what I really love about that Hot Honey finish is that it takes my two favourite old school finishes, and creates something that works perfectly with the modern Special StingRay.
I always loved the classic bare naked maple & ash StingRay, and my favourite translucent finish was the Honey Burst with maple board.
For me, the problem with the modern Special version of the classic naked StingRay was that the roasted maple neck meant that the colour was no longer uniform between the body, and the neck - and it really bugged me, ruining the whole effect in my opinion.
Hot Honey combines those two finishes, in a way that elevates both the classic naked, and the Honey Burst, and presents the instrument in a perfectly conceived, non-compromised, new finish.
Agreed! That's just stunning. I know I expressed my love of their sparkle finishes earlier but I have to say that Hot Honey is one my favorite transparent finishes from Ernie Ball.
It arrived Monday. It was beautiful but unfortunately went back in the box the very same day. First the sound. VERY "meh" - I've had a few Stingrays before and this was by far the worst sounding, with multiple different strings. Cobalt flats, Chromes, LeBella LTF... Just sounded sort of...dead and uninspiring. Compared to the Classic I used to have...well, there is no comparison.
Next, no joke, the E nut slot must have been like a quarter inch high, and the others were pretty high too. On top of that the neck required at least double the relief of what I like to not buzz on the first 4 frets, while the saddles were bottomed out at the other end, but could have gone MUCH lower without buzz on the high frets. Very bad experience with this model, and I know my way around a setup.
I think I'll I'll see if the new budget Music Man Session Series can fit the bill at the end of the year.
Next, no joke, the E nut slot must have been like a quarter inch high, and the others were pretty high too. On top of that the neck required at least double the relief of what I like to not buzz on the first 4 frets, while the saddles were bottomed out at the other end, but could have gone MUCH lower without buzz on the high frets. Very bad experience with this model, and I know my way around a setup.
I think I'll I'll see if the new budget Music Man Session Series can fit the bill at the end of the year.
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That sucks. I've seen a couple EBMM lemons before. Their QC is very good but not great IMO
Sound wise you might just prefer the more classic sound. Specials are a bit different. Or maybe an electronic problem. Did you play any specials before this one?
I had posted this over in Music Man Sound and Pickups but that thread's a little slow. Figured I'd copy it here since this is the highest traffic Stingray thread these days. Sorry, it's a bit of a nerdy topic.
Basically, I'm curious what folks normally have for pickup height on their Stingrays.
I've had a long and annoying adventure with this in pursuit of a perfect compromise between tone and magnet pull/chorusing in the upper register.
At the factory recommended single H pickup height of 6/32" from plastic casing to the bottom of the string, unfretted, there is chorusing in the upper register due to magnet pull. Mostly on the E string, which becomes unusable by about the 14th fret I'd say. It just sounds too out of tune by that point. However, any further away and the tone starts to drop off pretty substantially. It can be almost completely dialed out at about 7/32" but at that point the output of the bass is maybe a little less than a passive P bass. The tone is substantially diminished too.
The best tone from a Stingray is found with the pickup closer than 6/32", at which point the chorusing becomes prominent on the A string as well, and gets even worse on the E.
Is there something uniquely wrong with my bass? I rarely hear anyone talk about this with Stingrays. I've been playing mine for 12 years and have never been able to find a pickup height that eliminates all chorusing and still retains enough of the Stingray tone to make it worth playing vs just a P bass or something. I still love the aesthetic, UX and overall tone of the Stingray, which is why I persist with it.
So, what is your pickup height? And do you experience any chorusing above the 12th fret?
Basically, I'm curious what folks normally have for pickup height on their Stingrays.
I've had a long and annoying adventure with this in pursuit of a perfect compromise between tone and magnet pull/chorusing in the upper register.
At the factory recommended single H pickup height of 6/32" from plastic casing to the bottom of the string, unfretted, there is chorusing in the upper register due to magnet pull. Mostly on the E string, which becomes unusable by about the 14th fret I'd say. It just sounds too out of tune by that point. However, any further away and the tone starts to drop off pretty substantially. It can be almost completely dialed out at about 7/32" but at that point the output of the bass is maybe a little less than a passive P bass. The tone is substantially diminished too.
The best tone from a Stingray is found with the pickup closer than 6/32", at which point the chorusing becomes prominent on the A string as well, and gets even worse on the E.
Is there something uniquely wrong with my bass? I rarely hear anyone talk about this with Stingrays. I've been playing mine for 12 years and have never been able to find a pickup height that eliminates all chorusing and still retains enough of the Stingray tone to make it worth playing vs just a P bass or something. I still love the aesthetic, UX and overall tone of the Stingray, which is why I persist with it.
So, what is your pickup height? And do you experience any chorusing above the 12th fret?
Beautiful!
I love the Hot Honey finish, so close to the old Honeyburst, and it looks so good with the roasted maple.
Congrats!
I’ve never seen a picture that does the Charcoal Sparkle justice. I was blown away by how good this finish looks the first time I saw one in person. They’re spectacular!
