You really can't go wrong with any of the products Music Man offers. Each one is slightly different but all have a familiar underlying tonal pallet.
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Recommend an EBMM
- Thread starter vivaknoxvegas
- Start date
Not quite. The HH 5-way gives 4 combinations of Series mode (Coils 3+4, 2+3, 1+4, or 1+2) and 1 combination that is 1&3 in Parallel with each other, 2&4 in Parallel with each other, and then both of those pairs in Series with each other. The HH has no true Parallel mode and no true Single Coil mode.
Which is why I prefer the Sterling H. It's only got one pickup and a 3-way switch, but the choices are Series, Single Coil (bridge side coil), and Parallel.
AFAIK, the Sterling H is the ONLY EBMM bass that has all 3 of those settings. The Stingray H is only Parallel. And all the HS and HH basses have combinations like (but not necessarily exactly the same as) the Sterling HH.
One exception: The Stingray 5 H from before 2008 (but after the first 2 or 3 years of SR5 production) has the same electronics, coil switching, and ceramic pickup as the current Sterling 5H. So, if you are looking for a 5 string and like the Stingray 5 looks better than the Sterling, you can get that same Sterling sound in a Stingray. You just have to get an older one.
+1000!
+1. I prefer the looks of a Stingray 5 so I'll seek out pre 2008 SR5's to get the ceramic pickup.
Just got a 2-band '85 myself and think it's the best-sounding Ray I've ever played including, for some reason, a pre-Ernie 1980 I once owned. It certainly sounnds better to me than the 3-bands I've owned.
- Dec 28, 2009
- 2,053
- 1,380
- Disclosures
- Endorsed by K.B. Guitars, Nordstrand Audio Pickups, Von York Strings and Gallien-Krueger Amps.
I highly recommend playing any bass that you buy before you buy it, except for maybe a Bongo. This is not a post to say that the Bongo is the be all and end all, by the way. After 6 months of searching for a test drive of a Bongo 5 of any configuration, I gave up and ordered an HH blind (or would it be deaf in this case?) since I was able to try both 4 and 6 HH's. My Bongo 5 HH sounds great, I have no idea how it sounds compared to other Bongo HH's or H's or HS's or Piezo Bongos. However, this bass is extremely versatile and I think that since Bongo's are extremely electronics driven that they are very consistent across bass to bass of the same configuration. However....
I was at GC the other day and I played either 9 or 12 Stingrays of various configurations/materials - classic and current standard. I had three stands available in the test room and I made 3 or 4 trips, so I lost track. Anyway, I played at least 2 of each configuration that they had in stock. While they all sounded like Musicmans, there were definitely ones that were "better" even when they were seemingly identical instruments. Punchier, growlier, more dynamic changes in tone when using switches/eq's. Don't ask me why, but it happened. I was in a small, quiet room with my own personal amp, too. Wood varies, that's all I can guess....
By the way, the Bongo sounds close enough to a Stingray but not exactly. However, a Stingray can't even approach this one particular modern bass sound that I love. With that being said, I couldn't pass up buying the two best Stingrays as GC had blowout pricing on all of them, including the HH that I was watching for 6 months and almost bought instead of a Bongo that I could never find. Both Rays are maple FB, I haven't had maple FB since I sold my 93 Ray H in 98. These Stingrays sound much better than my 93 H with maple FB ever did.
In summary: Soundwise, a Bongo 5HH can simulate a whole lot of other things, this definitely includes a P and a J. It is thoroughly adequate at getting a classic Stingray sound, as well. I think the "sterility" that people talk about is a feeling more than a sound. The bass is sleeker and seems less acoustically resonant but played at normal working volume there is nothing sterile about it unless you want it to be.. But back to sound- of course, it can get this totally modern R&B sound that I hear a lot, that I was seeking for a long time but I have no idea what people are using to do it. If the Stingrays weren't so on sale, I never would have bought them in addition to the Bongo. I primarily bought them since the Bongo doesn't thoroughly satisfy my desire for classic shape and seeing some wood grain- so it was more about aesthetics than sound plus my friend liked the HH when he saw it months ago but he was out of town- so now he can use it, too. .
The Stingray 5 HH that I got can be mellow or beastly. The 5 position switch is great even if there is no serial position. Nothing that a little eq'ing cant make up for.
The 5H with 3 position switch is a little more limited but thoroughly Stingray which is thoroughly awesome. The 5H has more neck dive since there is less pick-up weight in the body. I bought it for its classic look and wood grain, and price. Sonically, there is no reason to pick an H over an HH as the HH can do what the H does and more.
I am by no means a great slapper but I can slap perfectly normally on any of these three basses, the neck pick-ups don't bother me and I even use both index and middle finger on each of the G and D strings, respectively.
Pics later.
I was at GC the other day and I played either 9 or 12 Stingrays of various configurations/materials - classic and current standard. I had three stands available in the test room and I made 3 or 4 trips, so I lost track. Anyway, I played at least 2 of each configuration that they had in stock. While they all sounded like Musicmans, there were definitely ones that were "better" even when they were seemingly identical instruments. Punchier, growlier, more dynamic changes in tone when using switches/eq's. Don't ask me why, but it happened. I was in a small, quiet room with my own personal amp, too. Wood varies, that's all I can guess....
By the way, the Bongo sounds close enough to a Stingray but not exactly. However, a Stingray can't even approach this one particular modern bass sound that I love. With that being said, I couldn't pass up buying the two best Stingrays as GC had blowout pricing on all of them, including the HH that I was watching for 6 months and almost bought instead of a Bongo that I could never find. Both Rays are maple FB, I haven't had maple FB since I sold my 93 Ray H in 98. These Stingrays sound much better than my 93 H with maple FB ever did.
In summary: Soundwise, a Bongo 5HH can simulate a whole lot of other things, this definitely includes a P and a J. It is thoroughly adequate at getting a classic Stingray sound, as well. I think the "sterility" that people talk about is a feeling more than a sound. The bass is sleeker and seems less acoustically resonant but played at normal working volume there is nothing sterile about it unless you want it to be.. But back to sound- of course, it can get this totally modern R&B sound that I hear a lot, that I was seeking for a long time but I have no idea what people are using to do it. If the Stingrays weren't so on sale, I never would have bought them in addition to the Bongo. I primarily bought them since the Bongo doesn't thoroughly satisfy my desire for classic shape and seeing some wood grain- so it was more about aesthetics than sound plus my friend liked the HH when he saw it months ago but he was out of town- so now he can use it, too. .
The Stingray 5 HH that I got can be mellow or beastly. The 5 position switch is great even if there is no serial position. Nothing that a little eq'ing cant make up for.
The 5H with 3 position switch is a little more limited but thoroughly Stingray which is thoroughly awesome. The 5H has more neck dive since there is less pick-up weight in the body. I bought it for its classic look and wood grain, and price. Sonically, there is no reason to pick an H over an HH as the HH can do what the H does and more.
I am by no means a great slapper but I can slap perfectly normally on any of these three basses, the neck pick-ups don't bother me and I even use both index and middle finger on each of the G and D strings, respectively.
Pics later.
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Get the Ernie ball MM Stingray HH, it sounds amazing! I do love the Sterling too!!! But if it is the stingray sound you have in your head, then get a stingray, and have no regrets later, its the most popular for a reason!
a little off topic, but would you guys say that any 2-band Ray is going to have that warmer, more traditional Stingray tone? Or would I have to get a pre-EB or Classic series?
For two reasons, I would suggest that no, not "any 2-band Ray is going to have that warmer...." Please read my post above for elaboration on 1). 1) I played a bunch of various Rays the other day, including 2 or 3 new, 2-band classics. I LOVE the classic music man tone that I hear on old songs but I bought a current standard HH and H. They were essentially the same price as the classics (the classics might have been even less expensive) because they sounded better to me and certainly had more tonal options without having to reach for my amp eq. 2) When doing my research, I read somewhere from one of the Ball's himself- if you keep the mid eq flat then you have a 2-Band Stingray. The mid eq was added for more options. As I have discovered from reading here and from my experiment the other day, there are many variables besides electronics in a bass' sound.
I finally broke down and got a Stingray. I wasn't crazy about the color (hoping it grows on me or I may switch out the pick guard), but it was $900 new and I couldn't pass it up. Thanks for all the opinions. Serial #E77951
It wasn't labeled an HH though. Is this an older one, or just mislabeled?
It wasn't labeled an HH though. Is this an older one, or just mislabeled?
Go to ernie ball site and I in bass forums there is a sticky thread where you give them serial number and they will give you any info you want... DOB, material, wiring. ....
+1 on the Sterling HH..... I loved mine when I had it. Even though I use a Stingray now... It's only because it's the lightest one I ever held.
