Stingray5 - Piezo or No Piezo?

IMO, few fretted basses sound good with the piezo option, though many fretless basses benefit significantly.

I'd personally opt out of that.

 

I own three stingray 5's, none of them with piezo's. I think they sound a bit harsh and not at all useful for what the "stingray tone" is famous for. Piezo's would be useful for fretless, but for fretted I didn't care for them much.

Look at it this way, if the price isn't much more get the piezo's and you can always turn them off if you don't like them.

 

I have had my SR5 with piezo for over a year and have had zero problems with it. I was able to A/B the two at the time I made the purchase and with the piezo the SR5 will give you more tonal choices . IMO well worth the extra money.

 

I would HIGHLY recommend the piezo. With the piezo and the right amp you can get a LOT of tonal varieties out of it. The piezo on full blast certainly doesn't sound the best, although I like it, but what it really helps with is giving the instrument more thump for when you need it. One of the bigger complaints people have with SRs is that they lack the thump of other basses (precision specifically) and although they aren't SUPPOSED TO, the piezo really allows you to get some wicked thump and bass in.

 

Honestly, I've wonder what the hell the piezo bridge really IS, & have NO clue or what it's function is... That said, I went with I dont' care.

 

piezo bridge is another pickup built inside the bridge that uses crystals and not magnets to pickup the sound signal. It has a distinct sound that is very warm and bassy (at least IMO).

 

I never thought of this. I recently bought an Ibanez EDA905F, which has piezos, and they really add so much to this particular bass' sound. Without them, the bass would be a little too dark, but, mixed at about 60/40 or so (magnetic/piezo) they add just the right amount of percussion and openness to the sound. The piezos by themselves do sound warm, but, if you go past a certain point on the piezo treble control, they tend to get harsh quickly and hurt your ears.

Remember, this is a fretless we're talking about.

As Eric M. said, order them, and if you really don't like their sound, just turm 'em down.

I' ve never heard them on an Ernie Ball bass.

Good luck.

Mike

 

I do know that Dave Larue does recommend them on MM basses to folks who are doing a lot of chord work. Apparently they sound great for that.

 

After I bought my Conklin hollowbody with a piezo bridge I'll never own another bass without them!!

 

If you have the money, i don't see why not. I didn't get it since it was a several hundred dollar upcharge, and for me it was either the burst finish or the peizo bridge and well-i was dead set on my first American made bass was either gonna be a burst finish. I ended up w/Cherry Sunburst. Now, i could see times where having a more thumpy/acoustic tone would be nice as for marching band there's 1 song where the director decided it wasn't worth hauling out the upright for me to play for just 38 bars vs. 200 and some odd bars on bass guitar. I'll end this now so i don't ramble on for much longer, if you have the money get it; like what has been said, if you don't like it, you can just turn them off/down. That's all

 

It's made by Ernie Ball, so I'd say the chances are less then with anything you would get from Fender. BTW, my piezo is on a SR5 (maple neck) and it sounds fantastic.

I turn it off when I need some punch, but when I want some warmer and smoother sounds I bring the piezo in at 50/50 ussually and it really makes the bass sound very different.

 

So go for it!!!!!

 

Yes. It will sound exactly the same when it's turned down. I only use it when I need it, but when I need it I sure am glad it's there.