That color is incredible in person. Nice choice!
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Music Man StingRay Club | PART FIVE
- Thread starter fivestringgecko
- Start date
-
- Tags
- club
That color is incredible in person. Nice choice!
So I hear you say you're planning to sell the Ray34, eh? As it happens, I NEED a Ray34. I'm currently pretty impressed with them, now that I've gotten a chance to play one. I think the only way I could like it more is if it came in that butterscotch finish over the ash. PM me with a price on your Ray34 and I will save my money for it.
love the fact your phone is down to 1% battery life left from reading about basses...
so is it a photographic parallax error issue or does the 5 string pickup on a 4 string bass not really line up with the strings proper the way the genuine Smoothie pickup does?
A/B sound comparison clips?
Have to admit the idea of building an Old Smoothie clone had crossed my mind; but I was probably going to start with a Warmoth body.
The pole spacing on the wilkinson pickup is not the same as the original smoothie pickup, but was the best I could do for $40. The cheapest pickup that would have the right pole spacing is the Aguilar at over $100 (over budget for this project unfortunately). I also understand that the actual smoothie pickup has about half the winds of the Wilkinson, resulting in a very different sound comparatively.
Enjoy
The pole spacing on the wilkinson pickup is not the same as the original smoothie pickup, but was the best I could do for $40. The cheapest pickup that would have the right pole spacing is the Aguilar at over $100 (over budget for this project unfortunately). I also understand that the actual smoothie pickup has about half the winds of the Wilkinson, resulting in a very different sound comparatively.
Enjoy
I picked the wrong bass in the blind test, because I thought the Mold sounded "smoothier."
Well, I did and bought the SBMM Ray35HH. I still cannot compare it to a Stingray 5HH. But I can compare it to a Sterling 5H and a Stingray Classic 5H.
The Ray35HH sounds much mellower than a Stingray 5H Classic. It lacks the zingy high end glass cutting zizzle of a classic Stingray. The mids and bass are warmer and more driving. In position 3 (all coils active) the bass is ultra fat and has a very 'band serving' quality in the mix. In the neck most position it comes next to a P-Bass sound. These sounds are difficult if not impossible to get from a classic Stingray or Sterling. On the other hand the zingy ultra agressive midrangy classic Stingray or Sterling sounds are out of range for the Ray35HH, even in the bridge most position with all mids and highs in.
Sound wise the Ray35HH is closing the gap I was looking for. It covers a wide range of sounds where the bass doesn't necessarily serve a dominant role and provides a fat rhythm fundament. Very usable for Pop, Rock, RnB and Jazz. The Sterling 5H and Stingray Classic 5H are much more upfront, the kind of sound you want to have to stand out.
Of course, no pic, no bass. The white looks much better than on the picture. It's more like a perloid ebony, very tasty.
Very pretty! I guess I'd have to hear a Ray35 HH to really get what you mean about the difference in tone, but I always thought a standard StingRay 5 HH could be warm and mellow if you wanted it to be. Between the tone controls on the instrument and the controls on the amp, there's a lot of room for variation.
Congrats on the bass. I would agree with your tonal assessments of the various tones from the SR5 HH, (my SR5 is the dual humbucker as well).
A big box came in the mail today so I opened it and found this inside...
This thing is an absolutely monster! Despite what most people say about the 2018 specials, this is one of the most aggressive, in your face basses I've played so far.
After going through a couple of Rickenbackers with lumpy fretboards I was a little worried about another blind purchase but I am blown away by the quality of this instrument.
The neck is dead straight so getting the action low wasn't an issue.
I wish I hadn't waited this long to go with EBMM but I'm glad I finally did. I can't recommend these basses enough!
This thing is an absolutely monster! Despite what most people say about the 2018 specials, this is one of the most aggressive, in your face basses I've played so far.
After going through a couple of Rickenbackers with lumpy fretboards I was a little worried about another blind purchase but I am blown away by the quality of this instrument.
The neck is dead straight so getting the action low wasn't an issue.
I wish I hadn't waited this long to go with EBMM but I'm glad I finally did. I can't recommend these basses enough!
Hey all! Made a vid going through all 7 of my rays . Enjoy!
. Enjoy!
Hey all! Made a vid going through all 7 of my rays
As a fellow Stingray fan, I very much enjoyed that video. Question, what type of strings are on your fretless in that video?
I believe they're the stock EB strings that came with it. I haven't swapped em (yet).
Ah ok. I wonder what they put on the stock fretless. Mine was purchased used and has what I believe are the cobalt flats but I might change it up. I recently picked up some tapewounds for one of my other Stingrays so maybe I will try those on the fretless next.
Hey all! Made a vid going through all 7 of my rays
You shouldn't do that to me. Now I need to look for a Stingray special HH and need to buy more wall hangers.
(Sorry if someone already responded to this point.)
The bass side of the pickup has two screws, so you could adjust it such that one corner of the pickup is lower than the other, in which case the top edge of the pickup would not be parallel to the pick guard. They're saying don't do that. That is, regardless of how high you set the bass side of the pickup overall, you should set both bass-side corners to the same height as each other.
The treble side of the pickup only has one screw so the same issue doesn't apply.
Mine came with round wound slinkys on. I read somewhere (maybe on the EBMM web site) that you can change to flats if you like, but there's no need to. I'm usually aiming for an upright-type sound, so switched to flats almost immediately, then settled on tapes. They all worked well, the tapes just suit my particular style requirements.
