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Music Man Stingray 5 H or HH ?

Music Man Stingray 5 H or HH for a hard rock / heavy songs?

  • MM Stingray 5 H

    Votes: 73 46.5%
  • MM Stingray 5 HH

    Votes: 84 53.5%

  • Total voters
    157
I´ll buy another bass and now I´m looking for a EBMM Stingray 5 H or HH . I´ve played and record something on H ( Was mine and traded on a Ex-factor 1986) . But now I´m confused wich one is best for me .

I play hard rock and metal songs .

Here you can hear my song with bass (MM H) and drums only for reference .[Invalid or Expired Link Removed]

To preface, I currently have several 5H models and had a 5HH that I sold a few months back. For me, I like the StingRay to be a StingRay. While the 5HH had some very nice, usable tones that get you an awesome scooped, fat tone (position 3) or close to both a precision and jazz sound, I rarely ever used any of the other four pickup positions. So, for me, I just want the 5H and welcome the three different flavors from the switch on the single H. Here's a good video (not mine) of a 5HH in action.




I thought pickup placement on the H was different than than bridge placement on the HH. If so the HH will never sound just like an H.

I've seen that posted before, but it's incorrect - the bridge pickup on StingRay basses is in the same position regardless of pickup configuration.
 
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I own a 4HH and find that I tend to only use the back pick-up the majority of the time. Both pickups together sounds too scooped. I do like some of the single coil sounds, though. I even used one of the single/single setting once when recording, but other than that it's just the back pick-up.

If you need a lot of variety as far as tones, the HH is pretty impressive. If you're just after the standard MM sound, don't bother with the HH.
 
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I never really cared much about Stingray's neck pickup. We all know what a Stingray tone is. If you want a Stingray, it's the pickup in the Stingray sweet spot. The eq and hand placement brings enough variety. Neck pup either sounds too bland, too muddy or too scooped in combo with the bridge pup to me. Sometimes more is less.

So with a single H you get the classic Stingray as it is - less messing around with pup configuration and more focus on playing, really getting to learn how the eq works with that pickup and a better looking bass. Oh and, more room for slap if you care about that.

Those who love the HH - cool, more power to you. I'm in the camp "I want my Stingray to sound like a Stingray, my P bass like a P bass. I don't want a swiss army knife bass, I want the character that certain bass has". Which camp are you?
 
That last input is very nice ;)
I already own a StingRay 5 H and was leaning toward a HH for my next stingray. But I have to say I might keep my H or buy another H as I might not need the flexibility of an HH in the end.

Not everyone might think they way I do about this, and there are those who love their HH Stingrays. It's all good. It really depends on what you want out of it. I'm a huge 2 band Stingray fan, and that's what I got in the end. That's the classic Stingray tone to me, and that's what I want out of it. I can easily smooth it out or make it "in-your-face" and anything in between. But I don't really gel with jazz basses, that could be why I'm not huge on HH as well, even though I'd love to try a G&L L2000 and a Sandberg VM4 (or some other PH variant).
 
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I do not like basses with more than one pickup so I'd go H in this case.
I also have not seen many stingray 5s that were any good so if I wanted one I guess it would be a bit of a search and playing many in order to find one.
When they work, I like them however.
 
Not everyone might think they way I do about this, and there are those who love their HH Stingrays. It's all good. It really depends on what you want out of it. I'm a huge 2 band Stingray fan, and that's what I got in the end. That's the classic Stingray tone to me, and that's what I want out of it. I can easily smooth it out or make it "in-your-face" and anything in between. But I don't really gel with jazz basses, that could be why I'm not huge on HH as well, even though I'd love to try a G&L L2000 and a Sandberg VM4 (or some other PH variant).
I also own a Sadowsky Modern5 and a Sadowsky MV5. So I might not actually really need an HH in the end. Both Sadowsky have two pickups, and the Modern5 is actually in the same tonal universe of the Stingray5.
 
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I never really cared much about Stingray's neck pickup. We all know what a Stingray tone is. If you want a Stingray, it's the pickup in the Stingray sweet spot. The eq and hand placement brings enough variety. Neck pup either sounds too bland, too muddy or too scooped in combo with the bridge pup to me. Sometimes more is less.

So with a single H you get the classic Stingray as it is - less messing around with pup configuration and more focus on playing, really getting to learn how the eq works with that pickup and a better looking bass. Oh and, more room for slap if you care about that.

Those who love the HH - cool, more power to you. I'm in the camp "I want my Stingray to sound like a Stingray, my P bass like a P bass. I don't want a swiss army knife bass, I want the character that certain bass has". Which camp are you?
I guess what I don't understand about that is why you think that having what you want (the Stingray sound) and more is a bad thing. That's like saying "I need ten bucks so if you give me that hundred I'm going to flush it down the toilet because I need $10".
 
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