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4 hours ago, stingrayPete1977 said:

I see you've just purchased a Rickenbacker!?!? 🤣

Yes I have, and I find it better than my Stingray Classic. Rickenbacker have corrected the faults that were there in the past and my 2018 4003 is a fantastic instrument.

20 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

I'm not worked up. Just don't like such negativity. If you haven't tried a new one then you haven't lived to be honest. 

There have always been people with complaints about Stingrays - some of it is a boring rehash of oft debated subjects. 

For every moaned about EBMM bass I generally find about 15 with the opposite view. We just have to agree to differ. 

Many are saying the latest versions are the closest to boutique quality you can get in a production bass - I have bought two and I concur with that view. They are stunning - which is probably why they're selling so many 👍

That is just hard luck.........Next you will be saying that they are Flawless LOL.

3 minutes ago, drTStingray said:

These negative threads do amaze me. Several things Spring to mind:-

1) I'm guessing virtually no one in this thread has played an 18 volt neo pick up version? Try that before you moan. 

2) I use them more or less exclusively and have none of these problems. I don't think I'm just lucky across the number of basses I own - they are all set up correctly however (based on factory recommedation)

3) If you don't like them why don't you just go and play something else and stop moaning - not every bass suits everyone - I went off Precisions in the 70s and nothing has changed my mind since - I think they're actually grossly overrated unless you're playing music with a 60s vibe - do I start threads bemoaning them - no. 

4) I'm pretty sure that some people Bemoaning these basses have other axes to grind - and probably poor home or after market set ups or string choices on their basses. 

5) Other people have played my Stingray Classic - normally they sound great but one in particular sounded awful - the only difference was the player's skill and style. (Limited or agricultural I'd describe it). 

6) Listen to recordings with a Stingray (eg Ed Friedland) - the sound balance across strings is fine. 

7) If you really want to lose upper string sound on stage try playing an upright in a large band or a Fender Jazz with loud rythmn guitarist and left hand piano. 

I would wager everyone talking about string balance is not talking about front of house but directly in front of back line on a loud stage - probably rock music. 

The title of this thread is "Musicman Stingray's Overated".............So obviously you are going to get positives and negatives on the subject which you will just have to accept. The points that have been raised are true so I cannot understand why you are getting worked up so much.

It is not always crazy low action as you say, its just low action which you can get on any Bass. And the only way to correct it is to add a shim which you should not have to do on a Bass that costs so much and is supposed to be the upmost in quality. The saddles are the problem here as previously mentioned. This is a big negative and a poor showing by Ernie Ball.

If it's not the weak G string issue which has been around for years its the amateur bridge saddles that they fit on their top end basses. There is a definite shortage of quality when it comes to EB Basses.

I think it is Flame going off the images.

A Stingray Classic with flamed maple neck..........I would say £1,100- £1,200.

42 minutes ago, Highfox said:

Enjoy the Ric, a true classic looks to die for.

I'm in the camp of tried and failed with one

The new ones are apparently better with no lifting of the tail and a more stable neck. But if it was the comfort aspect that put you off, well nothing has changed there unfortunately. I guess it is a Marmite thing with them, but having had mine for a couple of days I quite like it and have got used to the body binding, but I had to take off the bridge pup cover which was just in the way for my fingerstyle.

5 hours ago, martthebass said:

Agree with all your changes but I’d hang fire on the bridge until you’ve got a few miles under the belt. I’d intended to make this change but after a few gigs with no issues with the standard I decided to keep it stock. Be aware that if it’s a new purchase and you remove the bridge you might have some warranty issues - it’s not unknown to have paint separation in this area.

Yes good points and I agree!......I don't really want to remove it as the intonation and neck are spot on at the moment with just a slight up bow which is my preference.

 They are both different Basses and both are great!. But if you want to save a lot of dosh and still end up with a really versatile Bass then go for the G&L L-2000 Tribute which can be used in both passive and active modes. I purchased one early this year for around £700.00 and it sounds and feels just as good as my Stingray H 2 band..

Well after over thirty years of should I buy or should I not I finally took the plunge and purchased a New Rickenbacker 4003.

The Bass itself has a beautiful finish which was my main worry and plays great with no set up needed which I am obviously happy about.

I intend to remove the talent inhibiting bridge pickup cover and install one of the Tube Ampology Cove Bezels to fill in the gaps caused by the removal of the cover.

The Bridge as we all know is not the best design so I will probably change it for a Hipshot, but for the moment I am going to leave the original on and see how it goes.

There was only one thing that was off with this Bass which seems to be quite common with the Bridge pickup being on a slight angle but that is easily fixed as I believe it is only glued onto the plate.

Same as every other 4003 the neck pickup was around 20% lower than the bridge pickup which I rectified by raising the neck pickup to maximum and lowering the bridge pickup to suit. I changed the stock Nickel Roundwounds with Thomastik Infeld Flatwounds and the Bass sounds really good........Well it sounds like a Ric if that floats your boat.

Happy Days!

The first thing I did with my ABG was to replace the horrible Phosphorous Bronze strings which were noisy as hell under the fingers. It now has La Bella White Nylon Tapewounds which are 100% better.

38 minutes ago, GisserD said:

I was playing with some of the Amp and cab models today through headphones. ALL of the amp/cabs were pretty unusable even after tweaking IMHO. However...

 

Stick a 800 Hz Crossover split before the amp to bypass the lows (only mids/highs through the amp/speaker) light compression on the lows, then mix the signals..... SOUNDED. SO. FREAKIN. AMAZING.

 

Ill post the patch on the tips/tricks thread incase anybody's interested

Thanks for the info Buddy!

Like others have mentioned it is basically crap!.........I will look for something more workable, I just took a quick look on the Line 6 forum and many members don't rate it, I can control the GAS.......LOL!

I own a Fender Kingman with a Fishman preamp and has a great Jazz style neck, but I found that it didn't really cut it volume wise acoustically along side a quiet drummer and an acoustic guitar.I think that you would have to fork out more than £1k for an acoustic Bass that pumps out good volume in a small acoustic set..

5 hours ago, CameronJ said:

Through desktop speakers? Headphones? Earbuds?

Sorry Guys I guess I should have given you more info. Basically its Bass>> HX Stomp>>Interface>> PC.I use top quality headphones and did try it through a pair of Rokit 5 studio speakers.I know the stock presets are crap but even after tweaking the tone did improve but it still sounded muddy. I used to own a Line 6 Bass Pod XT Live some years ago and had the same muddy sounding problem with that.

51 minutes ago, Al Krow said:

What bass and amp were you playing through?

No amp or cab just straight into a PC.

I tried one of these today and was not impressed at all, it reminds me of the old Line 6 Bass Pod XT being very muddy sounding even after tweaking. I am going to look elsewhere for a better sounding unit.

I am just following this thread as I don't know diddly squat about anything that is Helix related. It is informative and interesting though for members who are not up to date on these kind of things.

EB Flatwound Cobalts on my Stingray, Bongo and G&L L-2000. TI Flatwounds on my P Basses and DR Hi Beam Roundwounds on my Jazz Bass. Oh and La Bella White Nylon Tapewounds on my Fender Kingman ABG.

5 minutes ago, Painy said:

If you read my first post it's my UNholy trinity precisely because of this. The P bass is also a Squier! 

My fault Buddy, I have never seen a Squire with a Fender decal before.

Nice but you are still short of the trinity as a Sterling doesn't count!

It does sound like a Flatwound maybe they are newish, mine are 6 years old and that is what I am probably going off. I cannot remember if they had  finger noise from new.

There is a lot of finger noise on the track that tells me that they are not Flatwounds, even with the tone knob dimed.

Yep it is just like any other Acoustic when plugged in, but acoustically I have played other ABG's that are noticeably louder.

I get tired of showing my solid bodied P Bass and J Bass so here is my other Fender a Fender Kingman ABG. This gets very little playtime and I really don't know why I bought it in the first place but I did. It is not the loudest acoustic on the market if you want to play it live without amplification, but it has a cracking J Bass neck and a good Fishman preamp. Made in China which I was sceptical about at first, but after reading on line reviews which were in praise of it I took the plunge. The build quality and sound are both great and it is currently strung with La Bella White Nylon Tapewounds.