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looking to buy a stingray- 4 or 5 string?
- Thread starter Alex Albu
- Start date
I agree with CyberSnyder. You initially asked about 'Stingray Style' basses. Well hate to say but a real Stingray and a wannabe are two different basses. You have to play the bass you are considering to see if it meets your own criteria. Example - I recall the 'OLP' Stingray lookalikes of yesteryear. Many claimed they were Stingray clones. I played a few and I thought they sucked. They were nothing like a Stingray except the general appearance. I'm sure many of the new clones are similar to the OLP offerings with the exception of the SBMM products. If you want to gain meaningful information from this thread, you might share exactly which 'Stingray Style' bass you are considering.
thanks for everyone s input, its greatly appreciated!! im looking at everything from harley bentons up to sterling by musicman sub series, not looking for anything expensive just something to satisfy my crave for the stingray sound, that sparkly, growly, quick sound that everybody loves. thats why i said stingray style, im not looking at one particular offering but a few, and what im tryna say is...i dont mind 5ers, i can make do with them for sure..im not gonna play a stingray with a pick so muting is probably gonna be fine
however i would never in a million years want my p bass to be a five string, even tho i have a 5string and do enjoy the low notes on occasion
what in wondering is..the pbass and stingray have different vibes, they make you play differently because of how they sound, so even if i dont want a 5 string p bass i might want a 5 string stingray...im sorry if its a dumb question im sure ill work this out in time, i just wanna know how others feel on the subject before i make any purchase
however i would never in a million years want my p bass to be a five string, even tho i have a 5string and do enjoy the low notes on occasion
what in wondering is..the pbass and stingray have different vibes, they make you play differently because of how they sound, so even if i dont want a 5 string p bass i might want a 5 string stingray...im sorry if its a dumb question im sure ill work this out in time, i just wanna know how others feel on the subject before i make any purchase
To be honest between the two basses, a Ray and a P-Bass, if I wanted one to be a five string, it would be the P bass not the Ray. Based on your initial post, I'm guessing you're more of a four string player to begin with - if you don't really miss that extra string in the music you already play, then it might be similarly unused and redundant in the Ray. I have tried to force myself to like a five string but in truth, other than a few songs, have little need for it which is why I'm back to being a 4 string player, those few times where a five string would have come in handy was not worth the switch. For those very rare times I needed a five, I had a bass with BEAD tuning, which in the end was little used anyway so switched it back to regular tuning. A 4 string bass is no worse nor is a 5 string a better bass, it really depends on the player and their preferences.
If your plan is to buy a Stingray copy there's really not a whole lot of advice that can be given unless we know the specific copy you are looking at.
The Sterling by MM basses are really nice for the price. Even the cheapest ones are pretty great for $300 (that's what they sell for new here in the US, I don't know about in Europe).
The Sterling by MM basses are really nice for the price. Even the cheapest ones are pretty great for $300 (that's what they sell for new here in the US, I don't know about in Europe).
^^This^^ Which is why I just bought one of these...
I don't play anything that needs 5 strings. Never have, and I doubt I ever will...
Ha ha...more than any bass I know of. It's all that inviting empty space between the pickup and the neck.
I actually got an OLP Stingray back in the day. It was a very nice bass. In fact, I bought
it to use for slap. It sounded great, like a ‘Ray, but the neck was just a little to wide for me.
At first I thought I’d lost my slap chops, but I happen to had just bought a Jazz bass, with round wound s.s. strings, so I started slapping it, Bang! Instant chops!
The 1&1/2 inch width of the Jazz made the difference. So I traded in the ‘Ray for a
Marcus Miller style Jazz bass. But now they have the slo special soooo.....
it to use for slap. It sounded great, like a ‘Ray, but the neck was just a little to wide for me.
At first I thought I’d lost my slap chops, but I happen to had just bought a Jazz bass, with round wound s.s. strings, so I started slapping it, Bang! Instant chops!
The 1&1/2 inch width of the Jazz made the difference. So I traded in the ‘Ray for a
Marcus Miller style Jazz bass. But now they have the slo special soooo.....
I noticed you’re from Italy. A lot of my favorite bassists and drummers are of Italian
descent. Is there something inherently ‘syncopated’ in Italian music?
Most music from the U.S. that was made by people of Italian extraction, isn’t.
Nobody ever applied the word funky to Sinatra, Deano, Frankie Vali etc.
Or is it just a coincidence?
I’d rather say that Italian people are generally musical .. there’s not a distinctive style of Italian pop music with the exception of the old stuff from Naples.
However a lot of international-like pop music was recorded in Italy with vocal parts sung in Italian.
I’ll post a couple of tunes of 1978 from Lucio Battisti which I previously posted on the thread dedicated to what dong we are listening to.
In my opinion, aside from the voice parts which content is nice, although non-Italian speaking listeners won’t understand anything, likely, these two tunes are very groovy:
Between the ‘70s and the first half of the ‘80s there was stuff going on in Italy and the world in general ...
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hi, i know you weren't talking to me but i can give you my opinion on this since in romanian and, as a people, we descend from slavs(think russia) and latins (italians, or rather romans, the ancient italians)
and as such our culture is quite related, we are just as europeans and half as latins
and i can tell you that..no, european (including latin european) music is not funky in the same sense as american music, which is syncopated
we ve all heard italian pop, eurobeat, european disco and such and it is not funky in the same sense as american music
and i think i can explain why
american funk is (i think) pretty related to jazz, a genre pioneered by african-americans who brought african style beats to america
and african beats are funky, syncopated, so when funk came to be the influence was there
the likes of james jamerson, larry graham, bernard edwards, bootsy collins...the funkiest bassists are black, which i can imagine had a big influence over the funkiness of american music
however european and especially latin european/italian pop and disco is more closely related to our folk music and dances, which are straight forward rythms not typically featuring syncopation
we do however have a different type of funk...jts hard to describe in words, it is not syncopated but it sure as hell gets you dancing
hope this was at least a slightly interesting read! i thought it was an jnteresting question
I switched from a 4-string 'Ray in 2005 to a 5-string 'Ray. Haven't looked back.
And yes, the G string is dangerously close to the edge of the fretboard, but I, and many others, have managed to work with it and not have it be an issue.
That said, it could be a major problem for you, so make sure you take a few out for a test play before pulling the trigger.
YMMV and all that.
Good luck--StingRays feel amazing and the tone is to die for IMHO.
And yes, the G string is dangerously close to the edge of the fretboard, but I, and many others, have managed to work with it and not have it be an issue.
That said, it could be a major problem for you, so make sure you take a few out for a test play before pulling the trigger.
YMMV and all that.
Good luck--StingRays feel amazing and the tone is to die for IMHO.
This is the SUB, the cheapest Sterling Ray...she's a heck of player, she can probably make a stick with string sound good. It's a two band EQ which I prefer over the 3 band EQ, two band is the classic Ray sound imo.
Agree. Sterling by Music Man SUB 4. Amazing bass for the price. For a lot cheaper, Harley Benton makes a pretty good MM alternative.
https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_mb_4_sb_deluxe_series.htm
They used to make a double humbucker version of this. Appears to be not available at this time.
I own the real deal and I STILL kinda want one of these.
https://www.thomannmusic.com/harley_benton_mb_4_sb_deluxe_series.htm
They used to make a double humbucker version of this. Appears to be not available at this time.
I own the real deal and I STILL kinda want one of these.
If you want the real thing for less money, hunt down an old USA SUB bass. They're discontinued, but they're made in the USA, with the same original components as the Stingrays and they have the classic 2 band preamp. They don't have the pretty finish like their big brothers, but they're cool as heck, and high quality.
