This isn’t *exactly* an official NBD, but I wanted to spend some time with this and give it an honest review, since I wasn’t able to find a ton of reviews on this particular model before I bought it.
This is my first EB bass. In fact, until a few months ago, I’d never even considered one of these. I’m a 4 string guy at heart, but for my new rock gig, I needed a 5 string. I’ve always gravitated toward single coil basses (mostly p/j), and didn’t love the 4 string EBSR’s I’d played in the past. For reference, my other main basses are Yamaha BB’s, and a Warmoth-stein p/j jazz. I believed that Stingrays have a cool sound, but it ain’t my sound. Wrong on that one. But aren’t they a “one trick pony?” Maybe. Maybe not. Look, the bottom line is: this is a 5 star axe, and I’m already a true believer. Here’s why you should buy one of these yesterday:
Tone: The two words that immediately jump from this bass are aggressive and present. When I first tried the single humbucker model, I thought “there’s no way this will sit the way I want it to in a mix.” It felt like there was no way to get rid of that famous Stingray Stank. What I’ve realized is: that’s the whole point. In a live rock situation, this bass punches through in such a cool way. Both humbuckers sound great, with 5 positions to choose from. 4 of the positions offer a not-so-subtle variation of the “sweet spot” humbucker tone: mid forward, and harmonically rich, but with varying degrees of low end and subtle mid scoop. Even with the choices, I tend to stick to whichever one sounds best on a given stage, in a given room. For most of the 10 or so gigs I’ve played on it, that’s been the bridge pickup solo’d. I’m almost addicted to how this bass balances beef and presence. It’s not a studio monster as far as I can tell. I still prefer a solo’d Yamaha P pickup for tracking. But live? Not even close. This is the best rock bass tone I’ve ever gotten onstage. And the EQ allows you to make nice little adjustments to how you sit. This bass is like a booster seat in a live mix without being too glassy or modern. There’s something about the harmonic material from these humbuckers that add an overdrive-like sparkle. To me, this bass bridges the gap between an after-market precision pickup, and a Warwick or Spector.
A word on the neck pickup solo’d: This is the wild card that gives this bass some serious versatility. This setting lets you sit much more like a P-bass/single coil. With a little HPF/LPF tweaking, you can actually get quite a good “p-bass through an ampeg” tone. I’m getting a lot of use out of it.
Lastly, the B-string. It’s very good. About as good as it gets at a 34” scale. Thunderous, and tight enough for me to get that zipper-y, flappy P-Nut tone. IFKYK.
In twenty years of gigs, this is the best I’ve ever sounded live.
Playability: …it’s also the best I’ve ever felt. At 8.6 lbs, it’s lightweight for a 5er. It’s also well balanced, with zero neck dive on a leather strap. There is slight neck dive seated, but far less than my other basses.
The neck. Is. Insane. Maybe the best part of the whole bass. It has a slick, velvety finish, and it truly makes a difference. I never cared about neck finishes in the past. This one ruined all other necks for me. I love the neck shape, too. Just chunky enough to feel solid, but flat enough to feel fast. I have small hands, and really appreciate the closeness of the G string to the edge of the neck. For some people this is a negative, as you’ll need to discipline your left hand not to pull the string off. For me, this trade off was well worth it because of the comfort. It wasn’t a steep learning curve either.
The neck heel is also an excellent touch. It won’t matter if you like to keep below 14th fret, but I solo a lot, and it adds a lot of comfort in that register.
I also love the stainless steel frets. I know fret wire often comes down to personal preference, but there is a really nice feel to this SS wire. It has a slickness that feels really good if you use any “guitar vibrato.” Plus, it will apparently outlast me, so…that’s cool.
Quality and Finish: Overall, excellent. The finish is beautiful, deep and glossy. However, I did have some issues with the hardware…
A week after owning the bass, I noticed that the Treble potentiometer was less-greased than the others, and even a tiny bit gravelly at one end. This didn’t affect the sound, it’s just a QC blip. At this price, I was hoping for perfection, but it is what it is. In all fairness, Sweetwater is paying for a replacement.
Also, the bridge does have a design quirk worth noting. The hollowed out “barrel” saddles have very little threading inside them, which causes the adjustment screws to shake out. This bottomed out my action in the middle of my first gig. Not cool. What I’ve realized is: these barrels don’t work well with down tuning because they need a certain amount of string tension to keep the adjustment screws from moving. My rock band tunes down a half step, which didn’t provide sufficient tension. This is something EB should take account of. I did find a solution, for anyone else who has had this issue: I applied a little *removable* thread lock to the adjustment screws, and it’s been fine since.
The tuners work smooth, are super light weight, and feel great with the bit of taper they have. A really nice touch.
Overall: At $2,700, this is the most expensive electric bass I’ve ever owned. However, *even with* the couple QC issues, I’m in love with this instrument. It hits in all the right places, and I can see this being my go-to live axe for many years to come. So yes, it’s worth it. To me, all basses have 1-2 basic sounds, and this is no exception. But for a live rock n’ roll mix? PFFFT. This thing KILLS. In fact, I can see this killing in most styles. No, you can’t get away from that famous Stingray Stank, and maybe this ain’t for everyone. But I thought it wasn’t for me until I hit the downbeat with the band. Now I can’t put the damn thing down.
Also, I think the HH model is well worth it. It offers some great subtle shifts in tone (and that P-like solo’d neck-bucker). Well worth the extra hundo. The coil settings will allow you to fine tune different stages to see which sits just right, and the 3-band will get you the rest of the way.
If you’re sitting on the fence for one of these, you have my permission to lean forward!
This is my first EB bass. In fact, until a few months ago, I’d never even considered one of these. I’m a 4 string guy at heart, but for my new rock gig, I needed a 5 string. I’ve always gravitated toward single coil basses (mostly p/j), and didn’t love the 4 string EBSR’s I’d played in the past. For reference, my other main basses are Yamaha BB’s, and a Warmoth-stein p/j jazz. I believed that Stingrays have a cool sound, but it ain’t my sound. Wrong on that one. But aren’t they a “one trick pony?” Maybe. Maybe not. Look, the bottom line is: this is a 5 star axe, and I’m already a true believer. Here’s why you should buy one of these yesterday:
Tone: The two words that immediately jump from this bass are aggressive and present. When I first tried the single humbucker model, I thought “there’s no way this will sit the way I want it to in a mix.” It felt like there was no way to get rid of that famous Stingray Stank. What I’ve realized is: that’s the whole point. In a live rock situation, this bass punches through in such a cool way. Both humbuckers sound great, with 5 positions to choose from. 4 of the positions offer a not-so-subtle variation of the “sweet spot” humbucker tone: mid forward, and harmonically rich, but with varying degrees of low end and subtle mid scoop. Even with the choices, I tend to stick to whichever one sounds best on a given stage, in a given room. For most of the 10 or so gigs I’ve played on it, that’s been the bridge pickup solo’d. I’m almost addicted to how this bass balances beef and presence. It’s not a studio monster as far as I can tell. I still prefer a solo’d Yamaha P pickup for tracking. But live? Not even close. This is the best rock bass tone I’ve ever gotten onstage. And the EQ allows you to make nice little adjustments to how you sit. This bass is like a booster seat in a live mix without being too glassy or modern. There’s something about the harmonic material from these humbuckers that add an overdrive-like sparkle. To me, this bass bridges the gap between an after-market precision pickup, and a Warwick or Spector.
A word on the neck pickup solo’d: This is the wild card that gives this bass some serious versatility. This setting lets you sit much more like a P-bass/single coil. With a little HPF/LPF tweaking, you can actually get quite a good “p-bass through an ampeg” tone. I’m getting a lot of use out of it.
Lastly, the B-string. It’s very good. About as good as it gets at a 34” scale. Thunderous, and tight enough for me to get that zipper-y, flappy P-Nut tone. IFKYK.
In twenty years of gigs, this is the best I’ve ever sounded live.
Playability: …it’s also the best I’ve ever felt. At 8.6 lbs, it’s lightweight for a 5er. It’s also well balanced, with zero neck dive on a leather strap. There is slight neck dive seated, but far less than my other basses.
The neck. Is. Insane. Maybe the best part of the whole bass. It has a slick, velvety finish, and it truly makes a difference. I never cared about neck finishes in the past. This one ruined all other necks for me. I love the neck shape, too. Just chunky enough to feel solid, but flat enough to feel fast. I have small hands, and really appreciate the closeness of the G string to the edge of the neck. For some people this is a negative, as you’ll need to discipline your left hand not to pull the string off. For me, this trade off was well worth it because of the comfort. It wasn’t a steep learning curve either.
The neck heel is also an excellent touch. It won’t matter if you like to keep below 14th fret, but I solo a lot, and it adds a lot of comfort in that register.
I also love the stainless steel frets. I know fret wire often comes down to personal preference, but there is a really nice feel to this SS wire. It has a slickness that feels really good if you use any “guitar vibrato.” Plus, it will apparently outlast me, so…that’s cool.
Quality and Finish: Overall, excellent. The finish is beautiful, deep and glossy. However, I did have some issues with the hardware…
A week after owning the bass, I noticed that the Treble potentiometer was less-greased than the others, and even a tiny bit gravelly at one end. This didn’t affect the sound, it’s just a QC blip. At this price, I was hoping for perfection, but it is what it is. In all fairness, Sweetwater is paying for a replacement.
Also, the bridge does have a design quirk worth noting. The hollowed out “barrel” saddles have very little threading inside them, which causes the adjustment screws to shake out. This bottomed out my action in the middle of my first gig. Not cool. What I’ve realized is: these barrels don’t work well with down tuning because they need a certain amount of string tension to keep the adjustment screws from moving. My rock band tunes down a half step, which didn’t provide sufficient tension. This is something EB should take account of. I did find a solution, for anyone else who has had this issue: I applied a little *removable* thread lock to the adjustment screws, and it’s been fine since.
The tuners work smooth, are super light weight, and feel great with the bit of taper they have. A really nice touch.
Overall: At $2,700, this is the most expensive electric bass I’ve ever owned. However, *even with* the couple QC issues, I’m in love with this instrument. It hits in all the right places, and I can see this being my go-to live axe for many years to come. So yes, it’s worth it. To me, all basses have 1-2 basic sounds, and this is no exception. But for a live rock n’ roll mix? PFFFT. This thing KILLS. In fact, I can see this killing in most styles. No, you can’t get away from that famous Stingray Stank, and maybe this ain’t for everyone. But I thought it wasn’t for me until I hit the downbeat with the band. Now I can’t put the damn thing down.
Also, I think the HH model is well worth it. It offers some great subtle shifts in tone (and that P-like solo’d neck-bucker). Well worth the extra hundo. The coil settings will allow you to fine tune different stages to see which sits just right, and the 3-band will get you the rest of the way.
If you’re sitting on the fence for one of these, you have my permission to lean forward!
