Hey TB. So, I’ve spent the last week wearing out my new Stingray Special HH. I’ll give my thoughts below on the bass as well as a comparison to my other Ernie Ball basses. I currently own a 94 Stingray , a 95 Sterling, and I just recently sold a 2007 HH Ray. Through the years I’ve owned about 20 EB and pre-EB basses, probably played 300+ gigs on them. I absolutely love the signature Stingray tone, but I've never been completely satisfied with their flexibility. Kind of a love/like relationship. Anyways, I mostly wrote this for us TBers that are considering replacing their Stingrays with a Special.
Fit/finish and playability: This bass is a solid 9/10. The build quality is on par with my 90s Ray/Sterling (some think of this as a “golden era” for EB instruments), and is noticeably better than all of my USA Fenders. The new sculpted neck joint feels great. The tuners are an improvement and the SS frets were all perfectly seated and leveled. I was able to achieve action much lower than I actually prefer. Neck joint was super tight, balance was perfect, and it weighs only 8.5lbs! The neck is SUPER fast and feels great. It’s a bit slimmer than my other Ray but not by much. The double-eared pickups is a huge improvement to me over the old HH pickups. I used that space to anchor my thumb on my H models, glad to have it here. Overall it’s what you’d expect from a professional instrument costing over 2k. IMHO Ernie Balls have always been some of the best production basses ever made, so these slight improvements make an awesome bass even better.
Minor drawbacks: the new bridge, while being lighter, aesthetically bums me out. I really like the old look better. The 22 frets coupled with the neck humbucker make it very difficult for me to slap cleanly. I adjusted to this with my other HH but it’s even tighter now with the additional fret. Also the plastic control cavity on the back is just slapped on there, not recessed into the body. Come on EB, if a $500 Ibanez can do this I think a $2200 USA made bass should too.
Tone: This is totally subjective but I’ll give my thoughts compared to my other Rays. Let’s get this out of the way first, the new EQ is amazing. If you’re looking for only 1 reason to buy a new Stingray over the old this is it. On Stingrays the signature hi mid/lower treble “click” and those tight lows are a given, you either love it or hate it. The onboard EQ never did much to change the character of the bass, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. For the new Specials the flat tone is much more neutral and organic. It’s definitely a Ray, but without the exaggerated frequencies of the original. This is where the new EQ comes in. Combined with the HH pickups you can get just about anything out of this bass. Want the old Stingray tone in position 1? Done. Need to dial in some mids to approximate a P bass in position 4? Done. How about a J bass in position 2? Well, not quite. This bass won’t make me sell my P, Js, or PJs but it sure comes closer than the old style HH ever did. I did some recording of the HH Special compared to the old HH, as well as the Special in 1st position (single H mode) compared to the old Ray and Sterling. IMO the Specials are more refined, neutral, responsive, and flexible than any previous version of a Stingray. One more thing, I’m not sure if it’s the SS frets but compared to my older Rays notes played on the Special seem to “jump off the fretboard”. Kind of like going from my Fender Rumble setup to my GK stack. This may or may not be a positive for you, it certainly is for me.
Drawbacks: Tone-wise, I have none. If you absolutely have to have that signature Stingray tone 100% you may not be happy with the Specials. But if you’re ok with getting 90% of the way there then these will do nicely.
So, should you sell your beloved Stingray for a new Special? Well that depends on what you’re missing from you current Ray. If you dig the (as Bass Player magazine once put it) “10lbs of guts” and don’t need the extra flexibility then I say no. If you desire a more flexible tone and want a lighter bass then it’s definitely an upgrade.
Fit/finish and playability: This bass is a solid 9/10. The build quality is on par with my 90s Ray/Sterling (some think of this as a “golden era” for EB instruments), and is noticeably better than all of my USA Fenders. The new sculpted neck joint feels great. The tuners are an improvement and the SS frets were all perfectly seated and leveled. I was able to achieve action much lower than I actually prefer. Neck joint was super tight, balance was perfect, and it weighs only 8.5lbs! The neck is SUPER fast and feels great. It’s a bit slimmer than my other Ray but not by much. The double-eared pickups is a huge improvement to me over the old HH pickups. I used that space to anchor my thumb on my H models, glad to have it here. Overall it’s what you’d expect from a professional instrument costing over 2k. IMHO Ernie Balls have always been some of the best production basses ever made, so these slight improvements make an awesome bass even better.
Minor drawbacks: the new bridge, while being lighter, aesthetically bums me out. I really like the old look better. The 22 frets coupled with the neck humbucker make it very difficult for me to slap cleanly. I adjusted to this with my other HH but it’s even tighter now with the additional fret. Also the plastic control cavity on the back is just slapped on there, not recessed into the body. Come on EB, if a $500 Ibanez can do this I think a $2200 USA made bass should too.
Tone: This is totally subjective but I’ll give my thoughts compared to my other Rays. Let’s get this out of the way first, the new EQ is amazing. If you’re looking for only 1 reason to buy a new Stingray over the old this is it. On Stingrays the signature hi mid/lower treble “click” and those tight lows are a given, you either love it or hate it. The onboard EQ never did much to change the character of the bass, not that that’s necessarily a bad thing. For the new Specials the flat tone is much more neutral and organic. It’s definitely a Ray, but without the exaggerated frequencies of the original. This is where the new EQ comes in. Combined with the HH pickups you can get just about anything out of this bass. Want the old Stingray tone in position 1? Done. Need to dial in some mids to approximate a P bass in position 4? Done. How about a J bass in position 2? Well, not quite. This bass won’t make me sell my P, Js, or PJs but it sure comes closer than the old style HH ever did. I did some recording of the HH Special compared to the old HH, as well as the Special in 1st position (single H mode) compared to the old Ray and Sterling. IMO the Specials are more refined, neutral, responsive, and flexible than any previous version of a Stingray. One more thing, I’m not sure if it’s the SS frets but compared to my older Rays notes played on the Special seem to “jump off the fretboard”. Kind of like going from my Fender Rumble setup to my GK stack. This may or may not be a positive for you, it certainly is for me.
Drawbacks: Tone-wise, I have none. If you absolutely have to have that signature Stingray tone 100% you may not be happy with the Specials. But if you’re ok with getting 90% of the way there then these will do nicely.
So, should you sell your beloved Stingray for a new Special? Well that depends on what you’re missing from you current Ray. If you dig the (as Bass Player magazine once put it) “10lbs of guts” and don’t need the extra flexibility then I say no. If you desire a more flexible tone and want a lighter bass then it’s definitely an upgrade.
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