drTStingray

Transit from late 1965 - Period correct for 1957 =

Nice colour - spookily similar to EBMM trans green (puke yellow) 👍

The Popular/Anglia gave way to the Escort and then Focus - but as with any other car/van/Lorry/bus, none have the very basic accoutrements, or virtually anything else they had in 1957 because apart from as a vintage novelty, driving up the m4 in a rainstorm with vacuum operated wipers for instance, is simply daft. Therein all vehicles and the Precision vary as the latter is still largely the same as in 1957 and you can still buy a new one with the equivalent of the crappy wipers (truss rod adjustment requiring neck removal) - unless you compare them with the original era item it's not valid..... 😏

Must surely = Rickenbacker

Nah - Fender Precision is the Ford Anglia/Popular of basses. Sold in huge numbers, 50s design no bells and whistles (or working wipers when travelling uphill; or heater etc). But does the job of getting from A to B perfectly well. Surely the Rickenbacker is slightly Art Deco in look - Art Deco styled cars anyone?

I have no recent experience of using valve amps, but by setting the input on amps I've used to just below clipping level, by playing (a Stingray) on selected notes or passages hard I have been able to get sufficient distortion to be audible, but to produce a clean sound the rest of the time - this has been quite a useful extension of creating dynamics (an additional feature of moving the position or changing the intensity of your plucking action). Regarding setting the amp output high and the input low, I have found backed off input level to affect the overall volume quite a bit (rather like turning the entire EQ to full cut on an active bass). I guess it will vary a lot amongst different amp designs as well? As you will guess I'm coming at this more from a practical experience rather than theoretical viewpoint - so it will include my perceptions/what I hear - which may differ from others!!

Limelite would be something like this then - classic late 50s/early 60s family saloon, heavy relic, no pick up covers 😀

I'm sorry to hear that. FYI I agree with SpondonBased - my 9 volt active (Stingray; Sabre) do not cause a problem plugged into the active input on my Ashdown - it goes into the red more if it's a 5 string or with 18 volt electronics - or with very hard playing. FYI and as a rule of thumb, with these basses, clipping is under control if the input is set between say 9 o clock and 11 o clock (either Ashdown (meter) or MarkBass (light)). The MarkBass is provided in jam sessions as well and everything from Rics to P and J are ok at say 11 o clock on the input - 18 volts or players with very strong plucking/picking need to be backed off a bit. Similarly back off if the output volume only needs to be 9 o clock. Thus all assumes a relatively flat EQ on the amp. As SpondonBased says, get someone to help you set the output volume and ensure you aren't permanently clippings or distorting - I think you would hear distortion anyway. I usually do this anyway to ensure my volume isn't overpowering further back in the venue (if not through PA or with sound people).

Beautiful 1957 all purpose, ubiquitous workaday classic.

Red Stingray; Red Stingray

I also like my ceramic SR5 - so punchy but can sound quite vintage. I have a new SR5 on order - not due till the Autumn but am looking forward to receiving it - it will be Cruz teal as attached in HH form (but they actually come with a white pg - not sure whether the pick up covers will be white). The 18 v electronics and neodimium pole pick ups will be interesting.

That's good to hear and sorry I didn't say, congratulations on your new bass 👍 It would be good if you post some pics.

Ah you mean this - this is my extremely worn original version - bought on the back of the chart hit single - I'm a Man. And yes agreed - great album - some excellent bass playing amongst other things (always loved Terry Kath's guitar playing and sound also)

Ive never played a bad or mediocre one. The G string volume thing is often to do with set up issues (mostly), EQ choices (either on the bass or amp or both) - if you scoop an already naturally scooped sound etc etc, or string type/string guage choice.

Loud sub frequencies seem to be very popular in modern music mixes - both the bass/kick drum and the synth bass or bass guitar. These must play absolute havoc in some venues. Some bass drum sounds remind me of the boom boom boom of a marching band bass drum!! Overly loud drums also seem to be very popular in mixes. If you listen to Vulfpeck their sound is far more retro 70s with lots of mids. I suspect that these mixes are more to do with the overall change in music and sound taste. Of course it completely wrecks quite a lot of music not written to have those frequencies and layers, and certainly not to have then over-boosted - I've lost count of the number of times I've heard radio mixes which completely delete important elements of established music, usually in mid range, such that things like bass hooks completely disappear. How many times have we heard on this forum things like 'Later with Jools - without bass'! A general issue in my opinion - may also have a bit of me getting old, losing patience, and possibly a bit of hearing!! However Im not so sure as I have no problem hearing every bit of Bernard Edwards' playing on Chic songs played on equipment at home!!

I haven't owned or used an amp in the last 15 yrs or so that doesn't have either an input clipping light or meter - they are quite useful to get a feel for whereabouts your signal is in terms of load. I always set mine so that it's just under the point of clipping - then I don't worry about it and control the output volume from the amp output and bass volume. I only use active basses and contrary to what has been said there are vast variations, just based on the intensity of playing - a low B string changes things as well. Having the input at a level where it will clip if you play really hard is quite useful (I certainly found it so using a Stingray and getting that really gritty sound where required). Also, using Ashdown ABM I always found that using the active/passive button can cut the input unnecessarily, based on what the meter said - probably only necessary for 18 volt electronics.

The Stingray HS is dropped - I recall there being some discussion about it on the MM forum and EBMM revealed hardly any were being ordered. They're certainly not available in the 2018 version of the Stingray (H and HH only). There's a thread on the MM bass forum that lists what you can order - I think only the Sterling had options like Fretless, lefty etc - H, HS, HH were listed as available options (circa late January)

Goes well with the black also. I'm betting the chrome will reflect light as well as the Phil Lynott or Noddy Holder's mirrored top hat 😀

Oi - how very dare you - love my checker plate, industrial Ray!! And the plain white come to that 👍 there again I'm willing to accept my taste doesn't always follow the conventional standard 'wisdom' - I once swapped a tort Bongo pg for a much nicer one from a chap in Europe!! Nice work - just not for me though. Not too bling IMO. Sort of Phil Lynott with a Gothic twist.

Hi, to an extent I understand how you feel as I had a pre EB from new and sold it in the late 80s - would love to have it back. Ive played various pre EBs since but never bought one - there are indeed variances in sound but that is not surprising when you consider the EQ was updated several times between 76 and 79, the body woods were different on some colours (alder) especially in the early 80s plus they went from strings through to top load and 3 bolt to 4 bolt neck joint around 79/80. All of those points change the sound slightly although not fundamentally. I have an EBMM Classic and Old Smoothie - these get as close to the pre EB vibe as I think you can - in fact I've compared recordings made with my pre EB and the classic - they are very close - the pre EB had an alder body whereas the Classic has ash and is slightly brighter especially for popping/slapping. The Old Smoothie (which has an alder body and replica 76 EQ - including degraded performance electrical components and an epoxy coating to the pre amp) is as close you'll get to a pre EB in a new package. A standard 3 band EQ Stingray will get very similar sounds to a 3 band if you boost treble, bass and cut mids (quite a bit). So you can get the old vibe in a new package (what I've done basically - a matter of opinion but as the largest proportion of my bass playing life has been as a Stingray lover I feel in a good position to say this). You could go for a pre EB and there are nice ones around - depends whether you feel like paying over £2k and with no guarantee its all original, especially electronically. Andy Baxter has some nice ones but they often don't have their original cases - if that bothers you (I know it does buyers of old Fender basses). Anyway I wish you luck in your quest - as a matter of interest what colour was your pre-EB?

Indeed - but you have to turn the knobs a little to get signature sounds (and I suspect the P was on full tone). An interesting comparison. I preferred the Stingray here (not much surprise there!!). In a mix each of these would sound very different. However there were a number of things either notable or missing for me:- 1) Jazz ludicrously scooped (pick ups on full?) 2) Ric even more ludicrously scooped. No McCartney or Squire sound here!! 3) Thunderbird - far more defined version of the Ric (in this test). 4) Where was the Stingray sizzle and bottom end fatness? 5) Where was the Warwick signature woody sound. 6) The P was ash bodied and maple board probably with rounds - as trebly as it gets. So as comparisons go this probably favoured the P over the others because it got the signature sound. You have to turn the knobs on the others for the signature sound!

+1 - the bass is a Wal which Alan Spenner changed to in the mid/late 70s. Prior to that he played a Precision and with Kokomo got some great sounds. However the Wal was a step forward in sophistication and made a great player sound even better. It is the sound of that era of Roxymusic and Gary Tibbs played one as well. For anyone who doesn't know already Alan Spenner is on the original Jesus Christ Superstar soundtrack and plays some fabulous bass on that as well. He is a big reason why some of us (well me particularly) chase the Wal sound (Percy Jones being another).

Sounds great - the Old Smoothies are fine basses eh? I concur with you on string tension on Rays - the tighter flats really don't work as well (for me at least - and I've heard other people say this). I really think the tighter flats on P basses were probably because the early players were ex double bass players who were used to it. The original Old Smoothie as an early production 76 bass would probably have had flats fitted from new unless Sterling Ball was experimenting with rounds as well as the 'Smoothie' pick up.

I agree with you - not only were those bands a reference point if you were into jazz/funk in the early 70s, I well recall trying to learn a particularly funky Santana from one of their early 70s albums, an instrumental, for a band back then - and the bass part was extremely difficult (actually I never mastered it properly) - it was similar to the synthesiser bass part on StarCycle by Jeff Beck (there is superb version of this with Pino playing the sequencer style line on MM Fretless). However none of this stuff was played in clubs and was not club music, so I can see where Bean9seventy is coming from. It's also earlier than the big crossover with jazz/funk things like Birdland.

When we played that song in clubs you could see people at the front saying to each other in a slightly outraged/shocked way "they're singing we want a f**k" 😂 A bit like "Get the f**k outa my face" - I'm sure they these guys wrote them to sound like this!! Spookily we covered several of those you mentioned but also War and Brass Construction (Brass Construction were played a lot in clubs I went to (before playing in the band).