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Musicman- pros, cons?

#41
i play a stingray, which i really love!! :) :bassist: :cool:


Lord Henry said:
For Rock/Metal etc I think it's the business. For a more mellow bluesy sound I tend to turn to my Ibanez P.
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actually, i find that if you play between the fret board and the pickup, fingerstyle, you get a very round, thick, smooth, not necciceraly mellow, but bluesy and floaty. in relation, if you play benind the pickup, you get a flat, very defined tone.

the oiled neck is so smooth, you wonder how you could ever play a fender!! the thickness is just right, not to fat, no to slim. great build quality too.

i slap alot, and it sounds like a monster with the mids boosted!!

all in all, amazing, versitle bass. go pick one up!!
 
#42
funkybassinator said:
i play a stingray, which i really love!! :) :bassist: :cool:


actually, i find that if you play between the fret board and the pickup, fingerstyle, you get a very round, thick, smooth, not necciceraly mellow, but bluesy and floaty. in relation, if you play benind the pickup, you get a flat, very defined tone.

the oiled neck is so smooth, you wonder how you could ever play a fender!! the thickness is just right, not to fat, no to slim. great build quality too.

i slap alot, and it sounds like a monster with the mids boosted!!

all in all, amazing, versitle bass. go pick one up!!
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I agree. I play in a blues rock band, no pick. When I want a fatter more round tone, I just move my fingers closer to the neck, and I get it.

The thing with the Stingray is this: if you like the tone for even just one kind of music (such as metal), you will soon learn how to make it work for all kinds of music.

I got the Stingray for a hard rock experimental kind of project I was doing for a while. Then I bought a used Pedulla for the blues rock band. I quickly ditched the Pedulla in favor of the Stingray, because I learned how to make it work for blues rock, and it works great.
 
#44
lowphatbass said:
I think an important aspect of MM's is the consistently good B string. I think this is a product of the build quality. I played an early/mid 90's SR5 for a bit and and found it pretty darn versatile. I think that it gets labeled as a "1TP" because from a traditional sense it doesn't really "nail" the classic P or J sound all on it's own, it's really up to the player IMO. There's plenty of J bite there but you've got to really get back on the bridge to bring it out. The SR signature sound it seems is a bit less definable than some other basses but most good recording engineers can hear the beef right off. They are great for recording.
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GREAT post. Tooks the words out of my mouth, and stated it better than I would have. Thank you.
 
#45
I have a Sterling HS that I really love. Mine is perfect, but I have seen one that shouldn't have left the factory. The body had some filler in an area near the neck where the two piece body joined. It also had a place where during installation of the frets they tore out a very small piece. This was fixed and would probably not be noticed by 99.9% of buyers. But I do woodworking and tend to notice things like this. Neither of the above mentioned flaws were a Guitar Center fix. They were well done factory fixes. But still, you shouldn't see something like this on a new guitar. In defense of MM this is the only one I've seen like this and I accept this as a rare exception to their high QC. MM is probably the only guitar that I would feel comfortable ordering NIB sight unseen.

Taylor, also a high quality maker, also let's a bad one slip out. I found a factory reglue of a chipped neck on a 214e. Once again, it was a very well done factory fix. But they should have scrapped the neck. I saw another Taylor with a very pronounced bump in the neck. Both Taylors came out of factory boxes.
 
#46
danbass007 said:
Thanks for your replies everyone!
Another question- what are your experiences recording with this bass and would you recomend the stingray, the sterling or even the bongo?
-thanks in advance
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I bought my my Musicman Stingray back in 1978. At my first recording session with the MM the active electronics drove the recording engineer crazy. This was the first time the engineer had any experience with a MM bass. Since time is money I ended up using my old standby Precision Bass. After the session was over the engineer asked me to hang around so he could try some things to get a better tone out the MM. After a couple of hours of trying different EQ and DI boxes he got what he was looking for. Bottom line the MM is a great recording bass in the right situations.
 
#48
EBMan said:
I have a Sterling HS that I really love. Mine is perfect, but I have seen one that shouldn't have left the factory. The body had some filler in an area near the neck where the two piece body joined. It also had a place where during installation of the frets they tore out a very small piece. This was fixed and would probably not be noticed by 99.9% of buyers. But I do woodworking and tend to notice things like this. Neither of the above mentioned flaws were a Guitar Center fix. They were well done factory fixes. But still, you shouldn't see something like this on a new guitar. In defense of MM this is the only one I've seen like this and I accept this as a rare exception to their high QC. MM is probably the only guitar that I would feel comfortable ordering NIB sight unseen.

Taylor, also a high quality maker, also let's a bad one slip out. I found a factory reglue of a chipped neck on a 214e. Once again, it was a very well done factory fix. But they should have scrapped the neck. I saw another Taylor with a very pronounced bump in the neck. Both Taylors came out of factory boxes.
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unfortunately ive seen quality slip a bit too recently. i bought my sterling in 96 and every ernie ball i played for years was consistently perfect. no weird fret jobs or neck angles. they could always be set up however you liked. but one of the stores i work at has a buttercream bongo 5 that is in desperate need of a neck shim. relief is set right and even with the saddles slammed low, the action is still way too high in the upper register. the low register is comfy and plays just right, but the the angle at the pocket just isnt right. i was suprised to see it even leave the factory like that when i never used to see an issue like that.
 
#49
I play 'classic' rock / blues, along with some jazz and funk. Previously I had a mid 90's (?) Sterling - it played nicely and sounded great solo. However, in a band mix, I found it got lost very easily, especially compared to my Fender Jazz. For that reason alone I passed it on.
 
#50
danbass007 said:
Hey everybody!
A friend of mine just picked up a musicman sterling bass and it sounds phenominal through his gk 700rb rig. Does anyone here have a musicman bass? I've heard great things about them and alot of pro players use them. Can you guy's give me the lowdown and your opinions on the basses?
thanks alot!
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I own two Sterlings, two Sting Rays and a Sabre.
MM basses are just great.
Only pros.
No Cons
 
#54
Stingrays are great basses. Tone is awesome and the craftsmenship is superior. Truly a great USA bass! The only con for me is the weight. I've owned 2 of them, the first one was a 4 string (which I sold) that weighed about 12 lbs. the second a 5 string (I didn't sell) which weighs about 10.5 lbs. Never order an instrument from a catalog or the internet, you need to play the bass in person before you purchase it. Check the weight and balance of the bass as well as the tone and sustain. Play the bass standing up with a strap. If it feels too heavy now imagine how it will feel after playing an hour long set at 11:30pm at night.
 
#59
unbeliever said:
I play 'classic' rock / blues, along with some jazz and funk. Previously I had a mid 90's (?) Sterling - it played nicely and sounded great solo. However, in a band mix, I found it got lost very easily, especially compared to my Fender Jazz. For that reason alone I passed it on.
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You're the only person that I know of that says the MM got lost in the mix.EQ maybe?One of the strong points of the MM bass,especially the single H, is being able to be heard better in a band setting. You had to have had the mids cut not to have heard it. I currently own 3 and have no problems being heard.
 
#60
No it depends on the bass and the mix. I had a mid 90's Ray that got lost in the mix pretty regularly on a house gig I had back then. I am sure that if I had tried other Stingrays I could have found the right combo for that group/room. I think it had a lot to do with the wood,the mids on a three band Ray and the instrumentation of my band. Usually a Ray will cut right though, but not always.
 

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