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Stingray 5 vs Sterling 4 (2000's edition)

Jibudo

Jibudo

Mar 13, 2010
159
69
Porto, Portugal
#1
Hi!

Two year ago I brought an American Sterling 4 from 2002 and fell in love with is tone. Two months ago I brought a Stingray 5 from 2001 because I need the fifth string.

I was hoping to get the exact same tone but in a five string format. Ceramic pickup, three band eq, electronic wise, everything the same. Guess what?.. They sound quite different. The Sterling sounds waaaay hotter and waaaay brighter than the stingray. Both have new batteries, the only differences I see is the rosewood fingerboard on the sterling and maple on the stingray and the extra string on the stingray.

I can live with the stingray 5 tone, but the sterling.. it's quite unique.

Do you have an experience like me? Is this normal?

Thank You!
 
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#2
My only experience is with the Sterling Ray34. As much as I love to have a "real" Stingray I've just never had the bread. For what it's worth - I absolutely love the tone on the 34. It just sounds good. It's got the roasted maple neck, Alnico PU and 9v preamp.

"Theoretically" the maple neck should sound brighter. Maybe the difference in tone is linked to the B string 🤷‍♂️

Either way it sounds like you have a pair of damn good basses. ✌️
 
#4
Jibudo said:
Hi!

Two year ago I brought an American Sterling 4 from 2002 and fell in love with is tone. Two months ago I brought a Stingray 5 from 2001 because I need the fifth string.

I was hoping to get the exact same tone but in a five string format. Ceramic pickup, three band eq, electronic wise, everything the same. Guess what?.. They sound quite different. The Sterling sounds waaaay hotter and waaaay brighter than the stingray. Both have new batteries, the only differences I see is the rosewood fingerboard on the sterling and maple on the stingray and the extra string on the stingray.

I can live with the stingray 5 tone, but the sterling.. it's quite unique.

Do you have an experience like me? Is this normal?

Thank You!
Click to expand...

The Stingray 5 should sound somewhat different BUT if Sterling is waaay hotter and brighter I would suspect something is amiss
I would call EBMM and see if they can confirm major difference or something may be wrong
 
#5
Don't get me wrong, both sound fine. The Stingray sounds more "even" more normal I guess opposed to the sterling that sounds ultra hifi and "glassy clean", lacking a better term.

In terms of output, the Stingray is a little hotter than my American original jazz and a little less hot than an AO precision. The sterling is a lot hotter than all of my basses. (stingray and sterling with preamp centered)
 
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#8
A 4 string tuned BEAD is the solution to get the most similar sound and is what I like to do. I had a Sterling 4H (BEAD) and was great.

Also, I've had 4 USA Sterlings; two Hs, one HH and one 5H. They all sounded different. My 1st H had a stronger pickup and agressive tone (built in 2004), one H had medium tone (2015), the HH (2012) had a more compressed tone, the 5H which I currenlty have I removed the musicman active electronics and pickup and changed to fully passive (using the G&L Kiloton wiring guide) with a Nordstrand pickup, this 5H sounds great and sits in the band mix great.

I've played alot of USA Sterlings, and they each kinda had differences in tone, all sounded very good to me, but each had differences. All were built vey well. I'd say they are more consistant sounding over the last 10 years or so.
 
Last edited:
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#9
jamesblue said:
A 4 string tuned BEAD is the solution to get the most simular sound and is what I like to do. I had a Sterling 4H (BEAD) and was great.

Also, I've had 4 USA Sterlings; two Hs, one HH and one 5H. They all sounded different. My 1st H had a stronger pickup and agressive tone (built in 2004), one H had medium tone (2015), the HH (2012) had a more compressed tone, the 5H which I currenlty have I removed the musicman active electronics and pickup and changed to fully passive (using the G&L Kiloton wiring guide) with a Nordstrand pickup, this 5H sounds great and sits in the band mix great.

I've played alot of USA Sterlings, and they each kinda had differences in tone, all sounded very good to me, but each had differences. All were built vey well. I'd say they are more consistant sounding over the last 10 years or so.
Click to expand...
That's great info! Thank you!
 
#13
Jibudo said:
Hi!

Two year ago I brought an American Sterling 4 from 2002 and fell in love with is tone. Two months ago I brought a Stingray 5 from 2001 because I need the fifth string.

I was hoping to get the exact same tone but in a five string format. Ceramic pickup, three band eq, electronic wise, everything the same. Guess what?.. They sound quite different. The Sterling sounds waaaay hotter and waaaay brighter than the stingray. Both have new batteries, the only differences I see is the rosewood fingerboard on the sterling and maple on the stingray and the extra string on the stingray.

I can live with the stingray 5 tone, but the sterling.. it's quite unique.

Do you have an experience like me? Is this normal?

Thank You!
Click to expand...
Remove dirty, dull strings from the equation. Put new ones on, or boil them to return the brilliance. They should be almost piano-like with a crisp top end, even played acoustically without the amp. If you don't get that kind of tone, amplified, there is likely something electronically wrong with the bass in the preamp or the pickup, itself. The difference in output may underscore this as well.
 
#16
Thanks for all the replies!

I'm not trying to get one to sound like another, just wanted to hear what was your experiences in this matter. Both sound great, and lately I've been only playing the stingray.

moon-bass said:
I'm surprised that no one mentioned this, but it might be the strings. Brand, type, age, all would be incredibly important factors, especially acoustically.
Click to expand...
Both have old strings, the stingray has DR Hibeams 45-130, and the sterling have fender nickels 45-105.

Thunderthumbs73 said:
Remove dirty, dull strings from the equation. Put new ones on, or boil them to return the brilliance. They should be almost piano-like with a crisp top end, even played acoustically without the amp. If you don't get that kind of tone, amplified, there is likely something electronically wrong with the bass in the preamp or the pickup, itself. The difference in output may underscore this as well.
Click to expand...
This would be the most obvious "scientific" thing to do, but I'm not trying to get super picky in this, just want to hear some opinions from different folk.

Dr. Cheese said:
I will reiterate what was said earlier: find a USA Sterling 5.
Click to expand...
They sure look good, and super super rare in here.... And I'm happy with the Stingray 5. Just wanted to know fi some more people ran with the same differences as I.



darwin-bass said:
Stingray in parallel and Sterling in series?
Click to expand...
I use both on parallel mode. I din't find yet a useful situation to use de series or single coil mode.
 
#17
Jibudo said:
Thanks for all the replies!

I'm not trying to get one to sound like another, just wanted to hear what was your experiences in this matter. Both sound great, and lately I've been only playing the stingray.


Both have old strings, the stingray has DR Hibeams 45-130, and the sterling have fender nickels 45-105.


This would be the most obvious "scientific" thing to do, but I'm not trying to get super picky in this, just want to hear some opinions from different folk.


They sure look good, and super super rare in here.... And I'm happy with the Stingray 5. Just wanted to know fi some more people ran with the same differences as I.




I use both on parallel mode. I din't find yet a useful situation to use de series or single coil mode.
Click to expand...
Whatever the opinion or your intention, I was offering awareness and experience owning Stingrays specifically in noting a likely issue with an instrument that prompted your post. Good luck with it.
 
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#20
I have two Stingray 5s, one with rosewood fingerboard, another with ebony. Your Sterling is rosewood? Because for me the darker wood on your Sterling on your video is more a ebony type of colour.
My Stingray 5 with ebony is way more aggresive than my Stingray with rosewood fingerboard. A huge difference between the two basses.

IMG_0184.JPEG
 
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