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Ray35CA or Lakland 55-01

#5
These basses have some distinct differences... The Lakland's neck is 35" scale with 22 frets and asymmetrical neck profile with 19mm bridge spacing, two pickups and a three band active/passive preamp. The Sterling has a 34" scale 21 frets, 17.5mm bridge spacing one pickup and a two band active only preamp.

Probably gonna have to use a canned answer say that you need to play them both to discover which is best!

Edit: My apologies...I was confused, the Lakland neck is apparently not asymmetrical. However it is made with a compound 10" - 13" fretboard radius compared to the Sterling's straight 12" radius.
 
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#11
I never bonded with the Ray and the voicing of that bridge pickup... So I'd go with either Lakland, because they also have the neck pickup. I'm leaning more towards the 55-01, and might consider putting a passive system in it, perhaps with Nordstrand pickups. I also very much like Lakland necks, but that's a personal preference. Go try both if you can.
 
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#12
I own a 55-01 and a Ray 35 (see avatar), but it's not the CA. I love them both, but if I had to choose I would go with the 55-01. I find it more versatile with tone and the 35" scale is nice and did not take me any getting used to the longer scale. I really had to spend a lot of time getting it set up and getting the intonation right,out of the box. The action was horribly low.

The Ray 35 is definitely a great bass but it is a bit limited for tonal possibilities being the obvious one pickup and even though the three way switch is present I don't notice much difference in the positioning of it. It was set up perfectly when it arrived, but it did come from Sweetwater.
 
#14
image.jpeg
Which one gives you a dominant bass face of the two?
 
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#16
A Lakland 55-02 will not do the Stingray thing even though it looks like it should. That is not a bad thing as it has it's own tone which is equally good BUT if you are after the Stingray tone then the Lakland is not for you. If it were me and I had a chance at a Korean 55-02 (and if I liked 5 strings of course) that is the one I would go for 100%.
 
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#18
ODDBALL said:
What about a 55-02? I might be able to get a 55-02 Korean made.

Shaun
Click to expand...
I an a EBMM fan, but between a SBMM Ray35, a Lakland 55-01, or a Korean 55-02, the 55-02 hands=down.

The SBMM is not a Sting Ray, sorry. If I was going to go with a SBMM BASS, I would just get a $299 on sale at GC for 15% off.

Korean made 55-02's are in a completely different class than the SBMM basses. I would look at buying a used US EBMM Sting Ray (or US Sterling) or the 55-02
 
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