StingRayBoy42

Did you play a StingRay?

Wow!

Done plenty of those - Used to have a semi regular gig at a bar in Manchester where I had to move out of the way to let people leave.

Toss up between a pre EB StingRay and a 74 (YOB) Precision. Or a Ricky.

Tonight! Katie O'Brien's Irish Tavern in Leicester with Azura - 3 piece as singer/guitarist was away playing army. Early start, we arrived about 6 once we'd found the loading bay round the back. Horrendous load-in, down a dark, slippy, uneven alley that looked like a great place to get murdered. Big place, decent stage, packed (at 6 o'clock!) with a semi-feral mob. Could go either way tonight, lads! Loaded in (didn't need the PA speakers, which helped) and the manager told us the solo acoustic act who was supposed to start at 6 hadn't shown up, so we might as well set up. Half way through setting up, the solo acoustic act who was supposed to start at 6 showed up, so we had to stop setting up and watch him play for about an hour and a half. Joe something, he was called (AKA the solo acoustic act who was supposed to start at 6) He was really good, nice set of upbeat modern and classic covers (including half of our setlist and half a set of stuff we're going to nick), great crowd interaction, good voice, lovely solo/chord thing going on in Isn't She Lovely... really good. Once he was done, we finished setting up around the people sitting on the edge of the stage and tried not to kick any of their drinks over. The place was rammed by the time we went on about 9, first set went down a storm, it was like a cross between the last days of Pompeii and Sodom & Gomorrah. A girl at the front (a music teacher we later found out) conducted us all the way through (?!), people trying to ask for requests mid song (while we were wearing IEMs), packed dancefloor, whooping and hollering... the works. Fantastic! Three sets, the last one nearly blew the roof off. The manager loved us, the bar supervisor told us loads of punters had said how good we were... really fantastic gig. Packed down, loaded up, back down the M6 with Snarky Puppy and Vulfpeck to keep us awake, back home about 2:30 for an Aldi vinage cider. Played the P for a change -> amp board (VTDI and Thumpinator) -> MB 121H. I didn't bother with pedals as the front of the stage was littered with drinks and people. Red socks and peppermint green DMs, foot fans. Really great night, the sort of gig that'll keep me going through the next few shockers.

Not much to look at, but pretty efficient.

Me too! Any idea what they do?

An example of how ace Basschat is.... I asked for recommendations for a clean DI, someone offered to lend me a really nice pedal to see if I liked it. He's not selling it, he just... offered to send me a 200-odd quid pedal to play around with for a bit! You don't get that on twitter.

Thanks for all the replies folks. The Eden WTDI looks lush but 15V DC means an extra wall wart, which I could do without. The Basswitch and EBS MicroBass both look like killer bits of kit, but massive overkill for what I need. I still kinda want them both. I've gone for an MXR M81 from this here forum - it seems to have everything I need, nothing I don't and the reviews reckon it does clean pretty well. If not, it'll be back on marketplace and I'll be back asking for more recommendations. Cheers all.

Like I say, I can't promise it will sort your problem, but it is definitely less bulky and kickoverable. It comes with a straight-straight polarity reversing adaption which didn't fit under my mini board. When I asked if they sold an angled one, they sent me one for free. Little things like that are why I'm recommending them!

Not sure if it'll sort your problem, but I got a replacement adapter for a Harley Benton PSU from myvolts. It's great and their customer service is fantastic.

My first Bass was a Hohner Arbor P copy that I inherited (stole) from my brother. I played it for a couple of years until I got my StingRay in 94 or 95. I thought it would be a good idea to strip the paint, spray it blue, stick a huge Birmingham City badge on it and defret it... none of these ideas were good. Unimpeded by knowledge or proficiency, I took a pair of pliers to the frets and pulled them out using a subtle blend of brute force and ignorance. Realising this hadn't ruined the fretboard enough, I attempted to fill in the fret trenches with some sort of plastic wood stuff, which covered up some of the splinters AND covered the fingerboard in dark brown gunk. It's still at my Mum's. Every time I visit, she asks hopefully if I'm going to take it with me. I really admire her optimism.

She didn't filp my D x-tender or pluck my G string... and she didn't touch my Bass either.

https://www.theguardian.com/music/2024/feb/03/aston-family-man-barrett-bassist-with-bob-marley-and-the-wailers-dies-aged-77 Fantastic, tasteful player. Another sad loss.

Tonight! The Pickle (?!) social club in Acocks Green, Birmingham with the Cantina band - Rock, heavy rock and more rock. Standard stuff, first set met with bemusement, folded arms and polite applause, second set had enough up dancing to make it feel like a decent gig.. The drummer was on fire, despite having a torn rotator cuff. Sterling -> small board -> MB CMD 121P, leopard print Converse. Highlight was getting manhandled by a gorgeous blonde when I went for my wireless foray on to the dancefloor for the last two songs. Two lime & sodas and a Thatchers Gold on the house, paid, home about half midnight for a Dunkertons Black Fox Organic Cider (6.8%), a cheese and Laoganma bagel (toasted) and an Old J Tiki Fire spiced rum (75.5%) Not the worst evening I've ever had!

Wow! High praise indeed!

Can anyone recommend a modern sounding, clean preamp/DI pedal? Playing Dua Lipa, Britney, Arianna Grande, Beyonce, Destinys Child type stuff on a StingRay 5 straight to PA with IEMs. Aguilar Tomehammer? Tech 21 Q strip? Can I get the sound I want from my VTDI? All and any input welcome.

I've got five six and I'm skint. Come to think of it, that might be why I'm skint...

Depends which version you watch, apparently! https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Han_shot_first

We're called The Cantina Band because we always play the same songs. Also, we generally play wretched hives of scum and villainy.

Tonight: The Lounge at Boldmere (Sutton Colefield) with the rock band. Nice place - when we got there, a bloke was being ejected for some light-hearted comedy racism and the bouncer told us there were a lot of d!ckheads out tonight. Yay! It was full of wideboys, the manager told us it wasn't really a 'Rock' venue and asked could we not play the Motorhead, Pistols, AC/DC type stuff that makes up pretty much our entire setlist. 🤨 We said we'd see what we could do and played the Motorhead, Pistols, AC/DC type stuff that makes up pretty much our entire setlist. During the first set, there were three or four people dancing at the front and about seventy people watching from the safety of the bar at the back of the room. Gotta love that huge, yawning chasm between the stage and the audience. A bloke came up to the singer mid set and gave him some money, I assumed they were mates. When this happened three or four more times, I wondered WTF was going on... was he a staff member paying the fee bit by bit? Turns out he was some random bloke just giving the singer money. Bit weird but he cut us all in, so no complaints. Second set was loads better, everyone was suitably refreshed and they really got into it, the whole place was up by the end. The manager came up as we were packing up and told us how wrong he'd been, he and everyone else had loved it and that he would definitely rebook us, so that's a win. Sterling (love that Bass for rock stuff) -> small board -> Sansamp PBDDI -> Markbass CMD 121P. Used my wireless and went and had a boogie on the dancefloor during the last song - I can heartily recommend it! Feet update: Red socks and silver Converse. Second gig with the ACG custom earplugs, they felt tons better than last time, it sounded like us just quieter. I've lost my voice which meant no BVs... I really missed singing but I did notice myself focusing on the Bass more rather than just doing it on autopilot. Spent the fee on a Pedaltrain Novo 24 on eBay inbetween sets - Apologies if you were bidding against me. I'll be selling my Classic JR this week if that helps?

I like my Markbass 802 - sounds great, small enough for home practice, I also use mine for a 5 piece jazz band, a 20 piece jazz orchestra and 'proper' band gigging (with PA support). Small and light, good for Double Bass as well as electric, handles a low B, I paid £250 used for mine.

None on any of mine, but a tasteful one in the right place can look superb, like a nice tattoo on a beautiful woman.