drTStingray

Worth mentioning the SR5 from around 1992-2008 had ceramic also - changed to alnico when the Sterling 5 was introduced. I really love the sound of my SR5. On Stingrays and Sterlings, the bridge pick up is in exactly the same place as on the H models - however if the Sterling 5 HH bridge only setting is in series, you would lose the closest sound to an H Stingray (which is the parallel setting - this is the one I use most on my ceramic SR5H) - you would get that on an H version owing to the 3 way switch. Are we sure the bridge H soloed on the HH is actually in series? Both the Stingray and Sterling HH versions are even more versatile and I tend to use both humbuckers together whenever I use an HH version, and as @FDC484950 said, with the mids boosted a bit. The only initial downside is the pop area of the slap/pop position being reduced by the bridge H - there is still plenty of room to do this however. Both great basses whichever you choose 👍

I don't usually like gold hardware but these seem good to me. Purple or pink sparkle? 😬👍

I’ve always wanted one (from seeing Alan Spenner and Percy Jones using them in the late 70s). In fact previously, I wanted a Precision to sound like Alan Spenner. The Wal sounds great though. I still want one and failed to order one several times over the past 10 yrs or so, being distracted by various offerings by Musicman (which I was hooked on from hearing Bernard Edwards, Louis Johnson and various local bassists who bought them in the latter part of the 70s). I fear the Wal is becoming unobtainium in newly built form (both in terms of price and build time) - which I would need to get the combinations I want - unless very lucky with a used one - presumably the prices of used ones will also increase?

Not sure - but it sure reminds me of late 50s P basses with adonised pickguards - with the exception that this design of pg is actually elegantl!! 😬 I think it’s an inspired choice and judging by the response on Basschat and Talkbass, the bass has shaken many contributors into the internet equivalent of pen and paper - some sounding like Man United fans commenting on a recent Man City triumph 😂😂 The sold out 50 guitars (note Joe and Jack don’t refer to them as pieces......) seemingly have sold to people amongst the vast majority of bass players who DON’T participate in bass fora!! Unless the forumites are keeping quiet about their purchases 😬

I’ve been tempted since it’s been available as well - I might wait and see if the short scale version has a second run - love that white/gold adonised look.

It pains me to say it but I suspect the target demographic may not be the tilted slightly towards geriatric one of bass guitar fora..... I know the weight of an instrument was the least of my worries when I was sub 30 yrs old!!! I just watched the video again - that sound is great (has some reverb on the whole mix at times though). If it hadn’t sold out (in 3 hrs 😳) I would be tempted. They’re right as well - I remember people moaning about the knob on the standard version - so what better than removing it - priceless 😂

Nod to late 50s Precisions (adonised pick guard, white body)? They sold out in a few hours!! Price obviously not a problem to some people. The regular Joe Dart bass now available in satin black also.

Yes I think it sounds great (in his hands) - short scale no controls - Wow!! Great colour combo as well. According to the video, production funded by Jack S as well.

These sound interesting (especially the Bongo). Let’s hope they’re available via The Vault!!

To add to HKH’s post, there’s nothing wrong with bass players being able to play a 12 bar with consistent root 8th notes at metronomic tempo. Or Rock and roll bass parts similarly. I once learned the bass part to Pictures of Matchstick Men - and then realised it was the very early use of phase on the bass which created that ‘psychedelic’ feel (along with the way the group had been dressed when they appeared on TOTP). Not a bad bass part as well!! Funny how musical snobbery can result in quite interesting things being totally overlooked - I also agree they were a great rock and roll band - I have on vinyl Down The Dustpipe (single) and Piledriver (album) from their first release. They were also trendsetters for a lot of shuffle rhythm based music in the 70s - like it or not, from Abba (Waterloo) to Wizzard (various), to Mud, Suzy Quattro, The Sweet etc etc. I suspect worshipping them is a tad too far in my book but they have a lot of fans that do!!!

Nice bass on this - back in the days when it was mixed at a decent volume - none if this ‘bass should be felt but not heard nonsense 😂)!! However I disagree with you - from what I hear on the car radio these days there’s some really nice pop stuff around currently (eg Dua Lipa) - I guess it depends on individual taste. I was first subjected to the Spice Girls album when my daughter had it - along with En Vogue, All Saints and a string of others (Take That and Backstreet Boys were others). I thought they often had interesting bass parts as well!

Thanks for posting - perfect bass sound!

Absolutely!!! And they were around from the early 70s. As I said, the only downside was they produced chest crushing bass and low mid some distance away and especially at the back of a theatre, but did not necessarily produce focussed higher end detail. These were expensive new though - mine was bought used. Prior to that I'd used the more affordable HH with a 1 X 15 Carlsboro - not as good as the Acoustic and far less powerful - a very good rig for the medium sided or small room was the Acoustic with the Carlsboro. Agreed - I remember trying out a new TE set up at Soundwave Bassplace, Romford - it had a built in effect based on a chorus IIRC. As a UK bass player, at the time of sourcing my Acoustic rig, the only Ampegs listed in classifieds (which usually meant the classified pages of the Melody Maker), the only Ampegs I saw were V4Bs. I don't know when the SVT/8 X 10 fridge became a thing but I guess they were fearsomely expensive - I would have though the 8 X 10 was a stadium type thing and from the 80s. I don't recall seeing them used in the UK in that era. Maybe they were a US thing at the time.

I never experienced any problems using 1970s transistor amps - they produced (relatively) clean sound. Bands like Led Zeppelin used Acoustic, along with many R and B and reggae bands (eg The Wailers). Unless you're talking those early Vox transistor amps re reliability (1960s). It was only when I moved away from valve amps I could actually hear myself in a band situation with keyboards etc!! A interesting thing about 18 in speaker cabs and technology, Jet Harris in the early 60s used an 18 in speaker loaded cabinet - the cabinet loaded with sand to dampen the sound - for recording!!! When did 4 X 10s become generally available? I don't recall them in the late 70s - they were a must to get a decent slap sound in the 80s and tweeters help as well. If you look at video of famous rock acts in the late 60s you will see bass players using 4 X 12s with large valve amps (eg Free - using Orange - with a phenomenal bass sound). Others used Marshalls (I recall particularly Leo Lyons used 2 X Marshall 100 or 200 heads, with 4 X 4 X 12). I think reggae acts particularly liked 1 X 18s as thunderous low end is a must in that genre. However 1 X 18 should be fine unless you want to project high end detail or nuance.

I used one for a number of years (it was an Acoustic 301 with a 1 X 18 reflex cab. One misnomer which can be answered immediately is it was plenty loud enough to hear what I was playing - the real issue was it projected a low mid range/bassy sound and all the upper end was lost (even though I could hear it fine). This was late 70s/early 80s and I really wanted a crisp tone. However it certainly rattled the optics on low notes (notably detuned to D) in one or two large pubs (with a 2 band Stingray and the 400 watt Acoustic 370 amp)!! I use a 2 X 10 now (or 2 X 2 X 10) live with a slightly more powerful but class D amp - there is no lack of heft and the tone is crisp and full (and plenty bassy and loud enough). So I know which I prefer - but there again I prefer music with bass mixed a la 70s/80s/90s with plenty of mid range, bass and crisp top end.

The fretboard on these is ebony - it's probably the lighting (to bring out the sparkle) that makes it look like that. My Ray Specials (both ebony boards) range from looking shiny to dry dependent on light. Only the neck (not fretboard) is roasted 😀 I think that looks great - it will be the lighting in the Stingray pictures which makes the edge look black - I have a blue dawn Stingray that is a metallic turquoise blue burst - the edges vary between appearing black, dark blue or purple dependent on the angle and intensity of the light. That harvest orange looks great with the transition to brown on the Bongo.

Team built Fender Custom Shop guitars, as I understand, are low volume, production line instruments with a level of manual selection and possibly input to assembly, such as materials - an example being the Pino Precision bass. Masterbuilt (put together by a craftsman) are a completely different and considerably higher price point - it's notable that many of the options on the Custom Shop build sheets for CS versions of standard guitars result in the guitar requiring to be a masterbuilt one (and thus into the much higher price range). Im not aware of the standard US Fender manufacturing offering hand selected or higher cost woods etc etc - they all look to be standard to me - they are simply assembled at volume in the US rather than in a lower labour cost region, and often being a slightly higher spec, than say a Mexican version - the team built CS is a step up from that, and the masterbuilt is assembled/ built/parts selected by a named craftsman. The lower volume manufacturers, like Musicman, PRS etc etc offer instruments (particularly guitars) which have a higher spec than the standard stuff produced by the big manufacturers - AIUI we are talking vastly different levels of production also. For some people here, and because Musicman and Rickenbacker, for instance, produce basses as iconic as Fender and Gibson, assume the prices should be on a par - however Fender, for instance, is in a much higher volume market which makes a big difference (and basses are a small proportion when compared to guitars). Thus comparing the prices in that way is really not valid as they are aiming at different market segments - but with obvious overlaps - in spite of this I agree some of the prices of these instruments are higher than I would like to see - anyone looked at the price of a new Rickenbacker recently?).

AFAIK Musicman has reduced production for Covid related reasons. The worldwide cost of shipping has also increased massively, along with delays. My only disagreement with your post really is comparing US Fender with Musicman - the truer comparison is with Fender US Custom Shop (team built) as that involves a similar level of manual input, and much of Musicman's guitar output is using figured maple, for instance, which may increase costs. I wasn't really talking build quality - although I agree Fender US has had improved quality for some while now. So have all the cheaper level instruments from non US production. I also like G and L (apart from not getting on with the MFD pickups) and have never really understood why such bargains are to be had with their instruments, especially second hand. I don't really understand how Fender could have had it's best year for sales last year (in a Global pandemic affecting production and some elements of shipping) from a supply angle unless the majority of instruments sold were either already with retailers, making them less affected as immediately, by current conditions or they, somehow are able to absorb more of the cost increase, production downturn (unless the manual input is minimal) and can respond to increased demand in the light of the issues mentioned. Otherwise it doesn't add up. We will just have to wait and see whether some brands have been able to insulate in the longer term, consumers from the pandemic and related (or in some cases not) issues affecting costs.

Aha - an SR5 prototype 😎 indeed like that!! 👍

It was a BFR - the Bass Direct price was actually two or three hundred lower than the Andertons price (they still had a couple of them advertised last time I looked).

The US Fenders truly are mass produced instruments - Musicman are more on a par with PRS, Rickenbacker or US Custom Shop Fenders (team built) - they certainly contain as much manual input and finishing and are not high volume in the Fender/Gibson sense - these really are the Fords of the instrument world. So you're really not comparing apples with apples and we all know that the prices of those types I've mentioned are actually on a par with one another. We also know that Fender's business model included parking vast quantities of instruments with retailers (indeed they would have to accept this to be dealers). Do we even know whether we've seen the true, 2021 Fender instrument prices in the UK or are we still talking sale of historic warehouse or dealer stock? Seeing all the other Covid related, supply chain related, shipping related issues (see other threads for people's problems getting items shipped to/from abroad, including the US), I'm not surprised prices have gone up - I'm not happy about it but that's the way it is - simple economics - short supply = higher prices. We'll just have to stump up more for these instruments in the future or do without them - and I won't be doing the latter!! PS the Stingray Special design was 2018 - whilst the 4 string is based on the 1976 design/ shape there are a vast number of differences - but retaining enough of the original design - so the sparkly colours are a different (in my view pretty good) set of colours on a three year old product. Sparkly coloured Stingrays first appeared around 2000, but weren't produced for long - and lamented by Stingray fans after - I think they listened to the market introducing them on the 2018 Stingray Specials (along with other more traditional colours).

You're right - BUT it's a different thing really - vintage just doesn't appeal greatly to me (I guess it's a bit like cars - there are those willing to take the big depreciation hit for the privilege of having a new car; those who always buy nearly new used to avoid that; those who buy what they can afford - and those who like classic cars and are willing to own one (to be clear I like them - in fact there are a couple of models id love to have but can't take on the responsibility of keeping them roadworthy and wouldn't be willing to use them as day to day transport)

Well if you ever change your mind.... 😀 the inca silver/black neck/pick guard combo looks great - strings through as well I'm guessing (even more sustain......oops what have I said 😂)!!

To indicate how far off piste you are with this, I found the attached invoice from 2010 the other day.... £700 for a new MM bass in 2010 would have been less than a new one in the early 90s so was an absolute bargain!!

I'm pretty sure there is a whole range of variables which affect the general sound of a particular bass guitar design (I too have noticed a slight difference with stainless steel frets - stainless steel strings definitely make a difference). Goimg back to the discussion a few posts back about rigidity of construction v resonance - my most resonance (perceived) is a natural ash Stingray 5 with a maple board - it is also the heaviest bass guitar I have - it's construction involves a six bolt neck joint and the body wood is covered with poly finish - the neck is finished with the finest coating of oil and wax finish (so is almost bare) with a thin matt coat of poly at the headstock. The construction is absolutely rock solid, yet acoustically the body of that bass is exceedingly resonant to the point you can feel the vibrations - if you hold the upper horn it resonates (vibrates) a lot - this is all acoustically. Plug it in and the tone and growl is fabulous - a number of other musicians (bassists and others) have commented on it - I have other similar basses which don't have this level of resonance or once plugged in, tone and growl (I believe the growl is partially coming from the resonance of the construction). Obviously basses which are neck through avoid the neck joint and may also behave differently as a result. I think the bass I've been talking about may just have a very resonant piece of body wood - I've attached a pic for reference...