drTStingray

I once played a 1959 Precision in a jam session for about half a dozen songs. The bass looked nice and played and felt quite nice but for its value, was decidedly meh! And secondly I tried a 1976 Stingray in a shop specialising in vintage instruments - which meant playing it through a flip top Ampeg thingy as all their amps were vintage as well. Once again a nice enough bass but not spectacular and I couldn't get that legendary zing - however when I tried a 'party trick' on it, the unison riff breakdown from Stevie Wonder's Sir Duke, imagine my surprise when none of the notes above the 14th fret actually worked - basically wall to wall fret buzz - played fine everywhere else 😧 the shop guy didn't seem to think it was a problem and could be sorted. I'm afraid I was sceptical and left. A complete contrast to a lone 78 walnut finish Stingray I tried in a shop in Denmark Street full of Fenders - now that was a superb bass - beautifully smooth finger style sound, great slap sound - and unlike the 76 wasn't limited to 14 frets!!!

I continue to watch this thread with interest - I have three or four questions/points- 1) Whilst understanding that speaker response has a big role how much does the amp voicing play? So my LM3 has a bass control centred on 40 hz - there are two filters (which I've tried but never use). However a Little Marcus of the same power has its bass control centred on 65 hz - presumably to his spec and bass type - I'm curious to try one if these if only to hear the difference - but the LM3 seems to work great with my Musicman basses 2) the three band Stingray has a filter - to cut boomy bass sounds - some people prefer the 2 band because they like the fatter bass response - others think parts of that response can be boomy. Presumably this built in filter does part of what a thumpinator does??Would the 2 band be helped by a speaker with 30 hz reproduction though? 3) when my 5 strings have new strings they have a piano like sound - in fact you sometimes hear people wax lyrical about basses with such sounds - so why would this turn to mud unless to somehow scramble it with either too much onboard Bass EQ, too much amp Bass EQ, or a muddy sounding speaker? Just curious and I'm sure I've got the physics all wrong with this but it's sort of from a practical rather than theoretical viewpoint. 4) is all this 'mud' issue more to do with people trying to use passive basses with little EQ control for low frequencies and ending up with ill defined mud unless they boost the mids? As I say just curious but the subjects seem inter-related to me.

Sorry to butt in to this but I can confirm that my mighty LM3 with 2 X 10 Markbass Traveller cabinet handles my MM Bongo 5 (which incidentally has a hugely powerful onboard EQ) perfectly well. The whole process produces a tight and focussed sound (bass and amp set flat). With a Markbass 2 x 10 HF as well it's even better and obviously louder as you're getting the 4 ohm output. How do I know? I've stood at the back during sound check and listened. Whilst all of the technical talk in this thread about theoretical speaker performance, frequencies and characteristics of the human ear - and much as I'm a fan of Barefaced cabinets, the Markbass and Bongo 5 (or SR5) simply works in my band situation - without cutting bass frequencies.

I start by setting the input on the amp to avoid clipping other than on absolute peaks - usually between 9 and 11 o clock dependent on the overall output volume I want - output usually set somewhere between 9 o clock and 12 o clock also, bass guitar volume about 75% (leaving some headroom). The output settings are also influenced by whether I'm using one or two speaker cabinets. Amp starts flat for me also - slight tweaks to suit the room/hall if necessary - final tone controlled from the bass - either EQ or playing intensity/position. For 3 band EQ I generally do fine adjustments using the mid range control and with 2 band EQ sometimes boosting mids on the amp a little. I have sometimes cut the bass on the amp and boosted bass on the guitar (very effective with EBMM 2 band where the sound of the bass EQ is v nice!)

Interesting stuff - my Stingray was £350 new in 1980 - without hard shell case or gig bag!! The arrangement from 1976 until 1979/80 was that CLF produced the instruments under contract to Musicman - part of the cause of the breakdown of relationships between them was the failure of manufactured instruments to pass Musicman's quality requirements. There's a guy who has the production records up to 1979 or so - a number of instruments were factory refinished owing to the quality issue.

I'm a bit surprised at the advice to cut everything below 100 hz and leave that to the bass drum. That leaves a very wide frequency band for it - maybe that's why I hear bands sometimes where the bass drum is the only prominent bass instrument. The bass control on an LM3 is centred on 40 hz - on a Little Marcus 3 on 65 hz - are you guys really saying cut that to -10? If so I think this is quite unnesessary. I tend to have mine set at centre throughout with variation for room/hall issues - I then control minor variation for song style from the EQ on the bass guitar and especially the mids. I get a tight and focussed bass sound. The other thing is variation caused by the guitars people use. Some basses are better at creating a tight and focussed bass sound than others - as indeed are some playing styles - it's essential in my mind for instance, for Tower of Power type material - judging by the sound on some recordings these days though a woolly and indistinct sound would seem acceptable if not desirable for some genres (the bass drum providing the focus and the bass guitar being a sort of background drone). I guess a lot of this comes down to the type of music you play and the band you are playing in.

Well I don't think it's bs but you can think what you like - I did carefully say a lot of it and not all of it. If you haven't before, have a listen on the Live at Montreux video of AWB and make your own choice. They are both playing Stingrays through Acoustic stacks. Clearly there are a lot of variables in a bass sound but one of the biggest and least predictable is the player and how they play the bass (IMHO of course). Hamish and Alan have subtly different ways of playing R and B bass.

There are plenty of live recordings with Hamish Stuart playing a Mustang and on other songs, Alan Gorrie playing a Precision. They do sound quite different - Hamish Stuart often played with a pick and a phase effect also in AWB. They even sound quite different playing Stingrays - which goes to show a lot of it is down to the player, not the bass. Examples of songs with Hamish Stuart on bass (definitely live, probably in studio) are Schoolboy Crush; I'm the One; When Will You Be Mine. The first is probably on a Mustang - the others may be Stingray. There are quite a few.

The difference is Bingo - usually in the interval - and if you're playing at a holiday camp club - that even more esoteric of activities - linked Bingo - where all the sites around the country are linked by tv to play massive games of bingo with big prizes!! The biggest challenge Ive come across with these is when the whole audience leaves after the Bingo.......

Blimey - how's it sound? PS when EBMM bring out the 5 string version of the Cutlass and Caprice basses you'll be able to buy something very much like this.

Blimey when did you last go to one - it's all iPads these days!! I play bass in the house band at a couple of jam sessions and yes, some of these stock numbers occur but we get asked to back jazz singers on standards (keyboard player pulls them up on iReal and away we go). Examples of what we played last week - Girl from Ipanema (including being asked to play a bass solo..... 😧), Purple Rain, Albatross, Gravity, Dock of the Bay, Johnny B Goode, Flip Flop and Fly, Our Day Will Come, Hey Joe, Fire, Smooth Operator, Simply the Best. So quite varied. I understand the feeling that these events sometimes feel cliquey in fact I have felt that when going to some of these. I think it's down to the skill of the house band to include everyone who wants to play as much as possible - for the two I play in i'd say the success of that can be variable.

They both play bass and also guitar but I've never seen them both playing bass at the same time. There are tracks with two basses on (on Soul Searching IIRC). They both played Musicman Stingrays after about 1977.

The Bongo is quite a complex shape and although that bottom horn is closer as you say, it is only so in plan view - the real one has a complex curve to it. You should get a real one - reasonable price used and you can always sell it if you don't like it - really very unlike a Stingray - super powerful EQ and with pick up blend, there are lots of tones available although I tend to run mine with the EQ flat mostly. Its a revelation ergonomics-wise particularly standing up - the lower horn gets in the way a touch when sat down. Those cheapo tuners stick up miles beyond the headstock on the Aliexpress copy - prime candidate for getting bent!!

Here's the Mini if you fancy one!!! The rear aspect is even worse!! The problem is these fakes do take real business and do also trick people - there being a story recently of Guitar Centre inadvertently trying to sell a used fake Musicman bass.

Extraordinary!! Here's my actual Bongo for you to compare - somewhat different shape for starters....😀 That Aliexpress Bongo puts me in mind of the Chinese bootleg version of the BMW Mini - as featured on Top Gear - similar comical shape reproduction!!

Looks great - congratulations. Tony Levin has said he cuts the mid range on his 5 string Stingray quite a bit, also. I've tried that setting on my 3 band Stingrays and it works well.

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.