Why We Love Stingrays

[bassdude51]

For a 5 string, I really like the Stingray 5. But.............here comes "the but", but I do not like the pick guard AT ALL! It's ugly and it's way too big.

But..........back to "the but", but I really like the looks of the Stingray Classic 5. It looks great!

I wish the Stringray 5 was like the USA Sterling with the control cavity on the back side and the 4 knobs coming through the body, no guard and boomerang.

Aside from the pick guard, the Stingray 5 is an outstanding bass!

 

[OllyW]

Is it true the Classic has been discontinued? I have been putting money aside for a Ray. And I really want the slab body, bridge mutes and 2 band eq.

They are not currently making them because of reduced manufacturing capacity due to COVID-19.

I don't think we'll make an Old Smoothie or Classic how we used to again. We'll have a limited version of a Classic drop soon and then hopefully we can improve those concepts in 2022...

There is only so much capacity with Covid that we had to reduce certain offerings. To put it in perspective I would guess it's 40-1 for Special vs Classic sales.

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[LowEndLobster]

Currently have about 8x SBMM Rays (7x SUB w/ mods and 1x Ray24 w/ JE preamp- most will be sold soon, doing a large mod project video series) and then my keeper flock has about 11 USA EBMM, 6 of which are Rays ('17 Firemist Gold, '18-'19 Special in White, BFR Fretless, BFR April 2020 HH "Pinky", Old Smoothie, and my SR Classic. The "other 5" are a Cutlass, 2x Sabre Classics, a Sterling, and a Bongo BFR Sept 2020).

I like Stingrays . It's kind of funny, I was a heavy J guy when I was younger. Now out of all my basses, I only have only one or two traditional Jazz basses, a bunch of Rays, and the other stuff XD.

 

[eyeballkid]

I think it's a great bass but apart from the change of magnets and the more attractive visual look, I still think Leo did the hard work with that one!

If I have but one criticism to make of Stingrays, it's that they're so inconsistent but when you get a good one, they rock! EBMM are often praised for their manufacturing consistency but there are apparent, inherent flaws to the Stingray design that crop up now and then. Hence why I always say, don't buy a 'Ray you can't play, but if you get a good one, keep it! Plenty of them are plagued with a weak G string or very noticeable dead spots. I will say that the G string issue really stands out more to me than the dead spots and I've found the Stringray 5 tends to suffer from this issue less.

OTOH, the Bongo has always rocked my world and I would buy one sight unseen without hesitation.

inconsistent??!!
I’ve had probably 20 stingrays over the years. I currently still have three. I’ve never gotten a single one that wasn’t built damn near perfect. Fender on the other hand....

 

[Mastermold]

1 SR5 here, it's my only 5 string. It's light for a regular Ray at 9 lbs and doesn't have any issues. Bought it new in 2013 and been happy with it since.

 

[Doctor Morbius]

FYI: Guitar Denter has the Ray4 on sale for $229.99. Satin Transparent Black finish only! A friend of mine just brought his over for me to check out. It doesn't really have what I would call a trans finish. More of a matte black, which I like better. Very nice for $70 off.

https://www.guitarcenter.com/Sterli...tingRay-Rosewood-Fingerboard-Electric-Bass.gc

 

[retslock]

I don’t have loyalty to any brand. I’ve owned Fender and Music Man. The Stingray was a great bass to play and very well made but I just didn’t like the sound that much. I sold it. One man’s meat is another man’s gravy.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I have a love hate relationship with StingRays. I love the way they sound when Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, Paul S Denman, Tony Levin Pino Palladino, Gail Ann Dorsey, Allen McGrier, and Oscar Alston played them . Original 2 bands are my favorites.

Hate them in my hands. I’ve owned 2 & they just don’t work for me.
I had a 2band and a Special 5HH. Build quality was great.
Just personal preference. I get along better with Fender Jazz and Precisions.

 

[Dr. Cheese]

I have a love hate relationship with StingRays. I love the way they sound when Louis Johnson, Bernard Edwards, Paul S Denman, Tony Levin Pino Palladino, Gail Ann Dorsey, Allen McGrier, and Oscar Alston played them . Original 2 bands are my favorites.

Hate them in my hands. I’ve owned 2 & they just don’t work for me.
I had a 2band and a Special 5HH. Build quality was great.
Just personal preference. I get along better with Fender Jazz and Precisions.

The funny thing is that I think I have good tone on most every bass I play. I am not sure that is a good thing because I suspect I should be spending more time a bass or basses that are really special to me to really blossom tonally.

 

[SJan3]

I know there was a lot of Sterling Ball criticism last week, but he was the man behind the Stingray 5, and it is still one of the classic bass guitars.

Stingray's are cool. I played one for over 22 years but the majority of that time was thru cabinets with NO tweeter. Remember, the Stingray came out before tweeters became commonplace in bass cabinets and the zing was much more contained. So, if I had one again, I'd turn my tweeters off. Too much edge otherwise, IMHO.

 

[SJan3]

I think when people say nothing sounds exactly like a Fender P, they are correct.
Likewise, nothing sounds exactly like a Ray except maybe a Sabre, which I hold out hope EBMM brings back some day. Those big ole bone crushing pickups want to punch you in the throat. Can't we all get along, Fenders and MusicMan? Like that song about pianos Stevie Wonder did with McCartney?

Sabres don't sound like Stingrays. I had both pre Ernie Ball. Different pickup placement yielded different tones.

 

[Element Zero]

Your wife has excellent taste.

I know! She married me!

... I can hear her eyes rolling right now...

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Stingray's are cool. I played one for over 22 years but the majority of that time was thru cabinets with NO tweeter. Remember, the Stingray came out before tweeters became commonplace in bass cabinets and the zing was much more contained. So, if I had one again, I'd turn my tweeters off. Too much edge otherwise, IMHO.

I agree. It’s that metallic zing that bothers me when I play them.

 

[SJan3]

I agree. It’s that metallic zing that bothers me when I play them.

Yea, I'm back to passive Fenders for years now. You can always add more high end but that Stingray edge is tough to cancel out.

 

[maxschrek]

I have a few Stingrays and these two are getting a lot of play time recently.

 

[Bassmunnky]

I have the SR5 for YEARS...bought my first in 92. One thing about the RAY and RAY 5. You Plug it in, and it just WORKS...no stupid pedal, EQ FUSS at the amp..just perfect usable tone. Now I could say that about my Jazzes and my Precisions..but that's not accurate, my Fenders are more amp dependent on Tone. As a standalone solution RAYS work the best for me LIVE...Studio is another matter, it's . Fender..

 

[Dr. Cheese]

Currently have about 8x SBMM Rays (7x SUB w/ mods and 1x Ray24 w/ JE preamp- most will be sold soon, doing a large mod project video series) and then my keeper flock has about 11 USA EBMM, 6 of which are Rays ('17 Firemist Gold, '18-'19 Special in White, BFR Fretless, BFR April 2020 HH "Pinky", Old Smoothie, and my SR Classic. The "other 5" are a Cutlass, 2x Sabre Classics, a Sterling, and a Bongo BFR Sept 2020).

I like Stingrays . It's kind of funny, I was a heavy J guy when I was younger. Now out of all my basses, I only have only one or two traditional Jazz basses, a bunch of Rays, and the other stuff XD.

I am not surprised that a J guy would end up liking Stingrays. Both basses work really well in similar contexts where a brighter and punchier bass, they just do it a bit differently.

 

[FeltTipPen]

Stingray's are cool. I played one for over 22 years but the majority of that time was thru cabinets with NO tweeter. Remember, the Stingray came out before tweeters became commonplace in bass cabinets and the zing was much more contained. So, if I had one again, I'd turn my tweeters off. Too much edge otherwise, IMHO.

I agree. It’s that metallic zing that bothers me when I play them.

When I played my SR5HH through my cab with a tweeter it had that zing. Didn't dislike it but I did turn down the tweeter. I much preferred the bass through my Genzler Bass Array cab. No tweeter and smooth and sweet.

 

[SJan3]

When I played my SR5HH through my cab with a tweeter it had that zing. Didn't dislike it but I did turn down the tweeter. I much preferred the bass through my Genzler Bass Array cab. No tweeter and smooth and sweet.

I'll bet the Genzler cabinet is much smoother. I had both pre EB (2eq) and post EB (3eq) Stingrays. The 3eq was edgier than how I remember my '79 and '80 Stingrays.

 

[FeltTipPen]

I'll bet the Genzler cabinet is much smoother. I had both pre EB (2eq) and post EB (3eq) Stingrays. The 3eq was edgier than how I remember my '79 and '80 Stingrays.

Yeah it was interesting that when I plugged into the tweetered cab how much more edgy my bass sounded. My SR5HH has the ceramic pickups too, which are supposed to be more aggressive than the alnico pickups (I've never owned an alnico Stingray).