Fender Flea Active VS Modulus Flea VS MusicMan StingRay Special comparison videos

[Pet Sounds]

There are many things that come to play of course, woods, electronics, pickups position, strings, action, etc..

Here is a quick guide on Fodera Tonewoods: Ebony = brightest of all fingerboards
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I do find the ebony to give a particular bright tone in its own character, a bit different from the bright you get on maple. But ebony is far away from rosewood!

Yeah, I once had a G&L ASAT Special guitar with an ebony board, and with the MFD pickups it was actually unpleasantly shrill, IMO.

 

[MobileHolmes]

Shallow as it is, I can't get past the looks on the fender.

 

[MobileHolmes]

surprisingly

Quality wise, I would surprisingly say the Fender is a bit better. Especially that the neck is quartersawn (same wood necks Fender uses on their CS!!), while the StingRay, is just soft unfinished maple which will probably move after every single gig.

I haven't played the newer ones, but my 95 stingray with the tru oil finish neck is super stable. I've owned it for like 5 years, and it's never needed a set up

 

[Pet Sounds]

Personally, I rank them in order of preference as Modulus, with EBMM a close second and Fender a distant third.

 

[silky smoove]

The Fender sounded very different from one video to the next. In the Modulus video I was hearing more in the 300-500hz region which made it less clear and a little nasal/honky in the upper register. I was also hearing more ambient noise in the Modulus video compared to the Stingray one. @libanass can you talk about the differences in the recording methodology between the two videos and what accounted for the differences?

 

[Rev. Cornelius]

Quality wise, I would surprisingly say the Fender is a bit better. Especially that the neck is quartersawn (same wood necks Fender uses on their CS!!), while the StingRay, is just soft unfinished maple which will probably move after every single gig.

The Fender sounds amazing, but it's not really a true genuine StingRay tone. It is a bit cleaner, and calmer I would say.. Has really nice natural lows that will fit any mix fantastically well.

The price of the Fender is a rather nice bang for the buck compared to the StingRay, in my own opinion.
However, in terms of ergonomics, balance and body contours, I would say the new StingRay Special is a beast (I am talking about the post 2018 models like the one I have). Even though the Fender is also great, but does not stand up to the StingRay

I also personally prefer the looks of the StingRay over the Fender.




Ebony is even brighter than maple!
Maple tonally sits in-between rosewood and ebony in terms of brightness.

@libanass

Thanks for the report. Could you please tell me what you used for the signal chain in the videos? Amp/pre - Effects - interface?

Thanks

 

[libanass]

Hi,

I used a Roland Edirol UA-25 sound card, a flat EQ, the cleanest tone (no amp profiles) possible on Garageband with a bit added reverb and compression

The basses are all set the same with flat EQs. Only the strings are different brands, but they acoustically didn't sound too different to stop a comparison from being decisive.

Ps: My StingRay is the brand new Special with neodymium pickups and roasted neck. Those are really great!

Cheers,,,

 

[eastcoasteddie]

I think the best sound comes from the Stingray Special, followed very closely behind by the Flea Active. The Stingray has a bit more midrange that cuts through? But the Flea sounds pretty awesome nonetheless.
The Modulus, to me, sounds very plastic-y.