Music man sound , no active electronic?

[Jefenator]

Forgive me, but what will the onboard pre provide that a quality, versatile, front end of a modern amp won't?

Onboard controls and a buffered low-impedance output (which may give you a tad more "fidelity" thru long cables). FWIW.
Onboard vs outboard preamp is of course its own hot topic. (I personally prefer having the onboard preamp for "modern" sounds over trying to "activate" a passive bass with an external unit or at the amp - YMMV.)

 

[Stevorebob]

Forgive me, but what will the onboard pre provide that a quality, versatile, front end of a modern amp won't?

It’s not so much as what a preamp does as what the Music Man StingRay preamp does, and that’s have a baked in tone that contributes greatly to the StingRay sound.

 

[lomo]

It’s not so much as what a preamp does as what the Music Man StingRay preamp does, and that’s have a baked in tone that contributes greatly to the StingRay sound.

I understand that. However, whatever is baked into the 'ray preamp can also be found in the pre of a versatile head. It may take some experimenting to find it in a head, but there's no magic dust in a 'ray pre that allows it to shape tone in a way that can't be accomplished/ duplicated by a head.

 

[lomo]

Onboard controls and a buffered low-impedance output (which may give you a tad more "fidelity" thru long cables). FWIW.
Onboard vs outboard preamp is of course its own hot topic. (I personally prefer having the onboard preamp for "modern" sounds over trying to "activate" a passive bass with an external unit or at the amp - YMMV.)

Yes, a long cable (>20 ' or so?) might need a boost from a passive bass, but my point is that the eq controls (ie tone) of the onboard pre......are just eq controls (either 2 or 3 band) with a particular centre point, Q and range

 

[LetItGrowTone]

"low slew rate op amp"
The very first time I cranked the volume and treble I understood perfectly; it isn't just EQ and gain.

 

[Stevorebob]

I understand that. However, whatever is baked into the 'ray preamp can also be found in the pre of a versatile head. It may take some experimenting to find it in a head, but there's no magic dust in a 'ray pre that allows it to shape tone in a way that can't be accomplished/ duplicated by a head.

Oh yes, one could get there. But maybe not so easily with, for example, a GK or other four-band preamp with EQ points and Q that don’t so much align with the StingRay’s. There are other ways to get there, for sure. Maybe one has the tools, maybe not. But that magic dust in the StingRay preamp absolutely gets you there.