They don't change, they are the same bass the day you buy one as ten or twenty years down the road. The wide range of sounds they are capable of producing (as proven on many very popular recordings) does not narrow over time. If the user chooses to make the settings the exact same way all the time with the bass and treble dimed and the mids scooped before they start slapping the crap out of the stainless roundwound strings, then they will have evolved their sound into some terrible facsimile of what they think the funk masters created ...and do it poorly.
Stingrays seem to have a certain quintessential sound for better or worse, I don't like it
The best attribute of the Fender Precision Bass is that it's pickup design and placement tends to cut through the mix and be heard well in a busy mix. Basses that don't do that, like a Jazz Bass sometimes, are not a real useful tool when they disappear in the mix. Stingrays can be set to sound as "round" and "dubby" and "Motown" and "mellow" as you choose, or made to sound as aggressive as Flea or Tim Commerford can make them sound. Just a matter of some knob twisting, string choice, amp settings and playing technique, just like with a Precision or Jazz bass.
Fender P basses can imitate pretty much any other bass within reason and to be honest I have never owned a Stingray, but the reason is because I've never liked their sound, I don't like active basses anyway, I've owned several active J and P basses, always got rid of them.
What you are describing with the Ric is the same problem that some folks have with the StingRay, if you dial in an abrasive sound and then don't like it, it is operator error and not a thing that can't be changed in minutes. Paul McCartney never sounded as you describe with his Rickenbacker.
