Stingray-most versatile bass ever made?

[5StringBlues]

El aliento de mi gato huele a comida para gatos.

 

[Tori2013]

Stingrays have been used in all genres and they fit right in. Sade, RATM, Paul Young, The Who, RHCP, etc etc. It's the carpenter, not the tools.

 

[5StringBlues]

Tony Levin says so at 4:49:

 

[somebrains]

I'm a huge fan of a Bart MM with a SD 3-band preamp.
I really think Warwick screwed up with their Spanish market LE's when they used MEC preamps with Barts.

 

[Pilgrim]

I've owned some Precision basses & I'm not hearing the versatility.

Everyone's ears are different. I can't say that I've ever played a gig in which a P would not have been an appropriate tool. That's not to say it's the ONLY tool, but IMO they can work in just about any situation. YMMV.

 

[Christcr]

Everyone's ears are different. I can't say that I've ever played a gig in which a P would not have been an appropriate tool. That's not to say it's the ONLY tool, but IMO they can work in just about any situation. YMMV.

That's also true of a Stingray. The only place I haven't seen them is in an orchestra pit...

Given any quality bass, I think the biggest factor is the player, not so much the bass.

 

[Pilgrim]

Agreed. I'm a big fan of the saying "the sound is in the fingers."

I just picked up a Fender Bassman 100 yesterday and tried it at practice last night. Amazing how much it sounded like me playing through my Genz-Benz Shuttle system.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

Timbre is in the hands is correct, but...
I have never had another bass that was so sensitive to change in technique or style than my current Ibanez Premium (Nordstrand Big Singles)

Probably not the fault of those basses,

It definitely was, because I've got on with other basses much better, as per my point above.

I was just playing my #1 bass, the best I've owned thus far & it struck me how I could get so many different sounds out of it w/o even turning on the preamp.

Sure, it's unlikely to get voted "most versatile", but for my hands it is.

 

[drTSTingray]

That's also true of a Stingray. The only place I haven't seen them is in an orchestra pit...

Given any quality bass, I think the biggest factor is the player, not so much the bass.

They are used in orchestra pits at major shows - in fact there's one I can think of in the West End in London that is all Stingray - another all Sadowski. Stingray 5 is especially well suited to the musical theatre role.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I might be speaking out of school, but couldn't just about any bass guitar work in a pit orchestra situation?

 

[somebrains]

This would be difficult for the conductor to ignore.

 

[mesaplayer83]

Timbre is in the hands is correct, but...
I have never had another bass that was so sensitive to change in technique or style than my current Ibanez Premium (Nordstrand Big Singles)



It definitely was, because I've got on with other basses much better, as per my point above.

I was just playing my #1 bass, the best I've owned thus far & it struck me how I could get so many different sounds out of it w/o even turning on the preamp.

Sure, it's unlikely to get voted "most versatile", but for my hands it is.

Whatever makes you feel better, I suppose - although logic would dictate that if everyone else is capable of getting something done with a particular tool, and you aren't - the common denominator in the failure equation is you, and not the tool...

I figured you were finished with this, but since you decided to start up again by quoting me, it would be rude of me not to respond...

 

[Jim C]

I have 2 Stingrays and find them not that versatile at all.
They do have that signature sound (and a weak G string).

 

[Christcr]

It's interesting that, as bass players who should be able to figure the obvious out via experience, we as a group tend to perpetuate myths. Myths like all Fenders have dead spots, all graphite necks are sterile sounding, all Stingrays have weak G-strings, etc.

Have I owned a Fender with a dead spot? Sure. I've owned quite a few dogs from Fender. Have I owned a Stingray with a weak G-string? Yes, I have. I've even owned a pre-Gibson Tobias that was horrible sounding. But have I also owned Fenders without dead spots and Stingrays without weak G-strings and great sounding Tobias basses? Yes I have.

Perhaps an old cliche really is good advice: don't judge a book by its cover.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

the common denominator in the failure

There was no failure. I found something better & that's the end of it.

 

[twc1313]

I think the confusion here lies in the wording. Versatile vs ubiquitous.

To me the P is not incredibly versatile (able to get various different sounds out of it) but is very ubiquitous (sounds good in all types of music).

The Ray is a tad bit more versatile but slightly less ubiquitous, only slightly. This is because it has a very distinct character that is hard to hide (this is not a bad thing).

To me the Jazz is very versatile and very ubiquitous, so is a P/J. I agree with the posters who say they don't buy a bass for versatility, too many options makes my OCD go haywire. In this great world we can have all options!

Luckily I like Rays, Ps, PJs, Js, llamas, Oreos, and pizza.

 

[Killed_by_Death]

I think the confusion here lies in the wording. Versatile vs ubiquitous.

Definitely!

 

[mongo2]

No, it can't do a P bass.

And a P bass doesn't have to do a Stingray because...well, it's a P bass.

 

[Bassist Jay]

Man I thought they discontinued the Gamechanger 2 years ago. They sure tried their best to convince folks it was a good idea didn't they?

I wonder if the Game Changer would have sold better had it come in other colors than just black? Or if it was an upgrade option to other models? I owned 3 Game Changer guitars and thought they were okay but hated the ergonomics of the bass. But had the electronics been able to have been put in a Stingray, Sterling or Bongo, I would have ordered one right away at that time.

Now getting to the OP’s statement, I don’t think Stingrays are the most versatile bass that there is. They do several things good and can play a variety of styles of music well. They also sit in a mix pretty well, generally speaking but for a bass that come from the factory only active, there are a lot of other basses out there that have both active and passive modes that are much more versatile.

 

[Christcr]

No, it can't do a P bass.

And a P bass doesn't have to do a Stingray because it's a P bass.

Hows about we simply decide which "sound" we would prefer, since either works in most all situations. For me, although I like P-basses just find, I'd definitely take a Stingray because that is the "sound" I like.

I can't imagine, for instance, Paul Denman having a "P sound" on the Sade stuff. For me, much of the appeal was that "sound" he was getting... the "sound" of a Stingray.

But again, it all depends on your own preference as a bassist--like I said, either works about 95% of the time. I've never had complaints when using a P-bass and I've never had complaints when using a Stingray. To the contrary, I've had lots of compliments on both over the years (and J-basses and XXX basses). For the most part, the rest of the band and the audience just wants to hear a viable "bass." That's a pretty wide open order, so take you pick of about a zillion basses out there. You pick the tools you want to use. Just use the chosen tool wisely and you're golden.