stingray 5 not for me

[stingrayPete1977]

[quote name='Chiliwailer' timestamp='1420879789' post='2654412']
I never understood why for so many years the Ray 5 had a ceramic pickup, yet the Ray 4 had the lovely alnico ones.

I wonder how many people that disliked those ceramic version fives would like them again if they tried them with an alnico pickup?
[/quote]
I love my ceramic SR5, try one in a live mix, brilliant beast of a bass! But then I love a 2eq alnico ray hence the classic and I really like a good old alnico but with 3eq for live gigs hence my 2010 SR5, lol

[jassbass]

Pix

[patrikmarky]

Being a vain tart ..I've never liked the teardrop pickguard ...I had a usa sterling 5 string and didn't like it lost a huge amount reselling it I think we all guilty of this at some stage ...if my girlfriend new how much I had lost on buying bass's because of gas I would be living in a wheelie bin !...

[Dazed]

I also suffered with Stingray post GAS disappointment
Fancied a stingray for years, since seeing Pino playing his fretless one in the 80s, then Flea but never got around to trying one out.
Last year I saw one at a good price and bought it on the spot. All I can say is I'm glad it was cheap, it was such an anti climax playing it. It was a classic 4 I think. I later tried a US SUB and much preferred that strangely.
I still would like to try an older pre EB just to see, as there must be more to them than the one i had, and I am a huge fan of the Stingray sound.

[bubinga5]

one of the best instruments in the world IMO. amazing B string. fat and warm. i loved my old SR5. mine was heavy though. supreme feel and tone. wish it had more tone wise but it is what it is.. The Lakland 55 is a better instrument imo, better string spacing and just and only just, a better neck. but it can't quite get that SR5 tone. this lovely bass i miss. ended up trading it for a Modulus VJ4. what a mistake that was. But Lakland vs Music Man.. Lakland every time.

Edited January 10, 2015 by bubinga5

[jassbass]

Mine is fairly light

[thebassist]

[quote name='jassbass' timestamp='1420882126' post='2654438']
Ive had a usa fender 5 didnt like the b string.i liked the spector sound but the body felt too small.
I like yamahas and sandberg but gas got the better of me once again.
I love my carvin xb75p so thats one im keeping.
Yes im crazy but ive got to try a few
[/quote]

Have you tried the latest model US Standard Fender Jazz Bass V? They've solved the B issue.

[bubinga5]

[quote name='thebassist' timestamp='1420933820' post='2655344']
Have you tried the latest model US Standard Fender Jazz Bass V? They've solved the B issue.
[/quote]Hmm ive played one at Guitar Guitar, and to be honest it was just as floppy as any other Fender 5 string. not sure if its got to do with the way the saw there necks.? it just didn't feel tight and focused like an SR5's B string.

Edited January 11, 2015 by bubinga5

[jassbass]

No ive never tried one

[Guinness21]

Well there has to be something wrong with the op, because stingrays are awesome In all seriousness though my 4hh is a keeper for life.

My next bass will be a p bass, but if/when I start looking for a fiver, would be a toughie deciding between an sr5 and a classic 5. I actually love the look of the standard 'ray, and like having both pups in a stingray, but then the ocd in me would really appreciate the oval pickguard o the classic (pathetic I know). But all that's only if I went for a musicman - like the look of the G&L L2500 and the Spector Euro 5LX, and the Lakland 55-01. I just have bad GAS ok - don't judge me!

[thebassist]

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1420936215' post='2655367']
Hmm ive played one at Guitar Guitar, and to be honest it was just as floppy as any other Fender 5 string. not sure if its got to do with the way the saw there necks.? it just didn't feel tight and focused like an SR5's B string.
[/quote]

Yes, on reflection I think my statement that they've solved the B is actually wrong. I think I should have said they've solved it on some of the US Standard model Jazz Bass 5s. I've played maybe 5 of them and owned 2. The 2 I owned were great which is why I bought them but the other 3 were lacking. Not necessarily just on the B either. I love Fenders myself, but you definitely need to play before you buy in my opinion!

[Artoo]

I'd be happy for a trade (anyone? ). I love my SR4, but I'm into B string.

[attachment=181815:MM.jpg]

[fretmeister]

[quote name='bubinga5' timestamp='1420932403' post='2655329']
one of the best instruments in the world IMO. amazing B string. fat and warm. i loved my old SR5. mine was heavy though. supreme feel and tone. wish it had more tone wise but it is what it is.. The Lakland 55 is a better instrument imo, better string spacing and just and only just, a better neck. but it can't quite get that SR5 tone. this lovely bass i miss. ended up trading it for a Modulus VJ4. what a mistake that was. But Lakland vs Music Man.. Lakland every time.
[/quote]

I had that Ray for a while, but it was too heavy for me too.

I now have a 2005 one and it's far lighter and I'm playing it loads.

[JTUK]

[quote name='jassbass' timestamp='1420836480' post='2654175']
Ive came to conclusion that no musicman is for me
[/quote]

That is it for me as well now.
I had a MM from the early 80's and it was a bomber bass and went everywhere.
Fantastic rock solid neck but I tired of the sound and moved on.
In view of the fact that the 80's 4 was so good, I looked at MM5's
in the early 90's but I really wasn't sold on the sound ..I'd done my LJ/Quincy thing
and so there was no turning back. And still isn't.

[hairychris]

Interesting chat. I've got disssa's USA Sub5 incoming and it's very different spec to what I currently use. If it's loaded with a ceramic pickup I may swap it out for AlNiCo as not sure if I want to cut through that much but depends on how good the EQ is. Not tried an EBMM neck in 5 so I may be in for a shock there too, hehe!

Edit: Checked the specs, seems to be AlNiCo. Probably for the best as for what I want I don't want it to be too cutting!

Edited January 23, 2015 by hairychris

[drTStingray]

The ceramic can produce a beautiful warm tone as well as cutting through. The resonance of a regular Stingray 5 seriously has to be felt and heard to be believed.

I first had a Musicman back in about 1980. It was the best bass of its type by a long chalk back then unless you were prepared to buy an Alembic for about half the price of a terraced house back then - you could go to a halfway house of an Ibanez Musician - fabulous bass but still expensive. Anyway I stopped playing in the late 80s and sold the Ray and everything else.

Forward to 2003 and I'd decided to restart and wanted a five string. I tried myriads of them but eventually bought an SR5 having tried one about 6 months before - more playable than a Warwick - preferred the sound to anything else I played - Lakland and Yamaha came a close second but didn't nail THAT sound.

Now this will sound anathema to most of you but for me, the Fender sound is the archetypal vanilla bass sound - I find a Precision to be so boring as to induce me, in my advancing years, to sleep. I have tried to love these things many times but as they were in my youth, they rarely capture their recorded sound live and in some instances can positively detract in a live setting (Shadows tribute bands are an excellent case - if you use authentic bass gear live you do not sound like the recordings, even if you can play them as the originals). The Jazz is somewhat more refined but even so, when I play one I get appalling blisters from a combination of trying to hear myself and trying to get the sound I want - people like Jameson used to play their Fenders quite hard to get their sound as did Duck Dunn, Leo Lyons, John McVie etc - take a look at those old videos

I know I'm not alone in this view. I have heard people describe a P bass variously as an improved starter bass which is over priced, to a bass for plodding bass lines. Now I know there have been great exponents on these basses in the past, but the volume of vanilla plodding recorded with these probably exceeds most other in the history of recorded popular music.

Modern amps help a lot and i suppose actually make these basses more usable live these days - curious that some people who use them use 60s/70s style amps which probably highlighted their limitations back then - I attended many a gig in the 70s with poor or inaudible bass sound.

I have concluded if I eventually buy a Fender bass it will be largely for reasons of nostalgia - those pale blue early 60s Jazzes with matching headstocks get me every time I see one!!!!!

Edited January 23, 2015 by drTStingray

[drTStingray]

[quote name='drTStingray' timestamp='1422015839' post='2667747']
The ceramic can produce a beautiful warm tone as well as cutting through. The resonance of a regular Stingray 5 seriously has to be felt and heard to be believed.

I first had a Musicman back in about 1980. It was the best bass of its type by a long chalk back then unless you were prepared to buy an Alembic for about half the price of a terraced house back then - you could go to a halfway house of an Ibanez Musician - fabulous bass but still expensive. Anyway I stopped playing in the late 80s and sold the Ray and everything else.

Forward to 2003 and I'd decided to restart and wanted a five string. I tried myriads of them but eventually bought an SR5 having tried one about 6 months before - more playable than a Warwick - preferred the sound to anything else I played - Lakland and Yamaha came a close second but didn't nail THAT sound.

Now this will sound anathema to most of you but for me, the Fender sound is the archetypal vanilla bass sound - I find a Precision to be so boring as to induce me, in my advancing years, to sleep. I have tried to love these things many times but as they were in my youth, they rarely capture their recorded sound live and in some instances can positively detract in a live setting (Shadows tribute bands are an excellent case - if you use authentic bass gear live you do not sound like the recordings, even if you can play them as the originals). The Jazz is somewhat more refined but even so, when I play one I get appalling blisters from a combination of trying to hear myself and trying to get the sound I want - people like Jameson used to play their Fenders quite hard to get their sound as did Duck Dunn, Leo Lyons, John McVie etc - take a look at those old videos

I know I'm not alone in this view. I have heard people describe a P bass variously as an improved starter bass which is over priced, to a bass for plodding bass lines. Now I know there have been great exponents on these basses in the past, but the volume of vanilla plodding recorded with these probably exceeds most other in the history of recorded popular music.

Modern amps help a lot and i suppose actually make these basses more usable live these days - curious that some people who use them use 60s/70s style amps which probably highlighted their limitations back then - I attended many a gig in the 70s with poor or inaudible bass sound.

I have concluded if I eventually buy a Fender bass it will be largely for reasons of nostalgia - those pale blue early 60s Jazzes with matching headstocks get me every time I see one!!!!!

You can readily see why a bass designed in 1957 or 1960 with a fifth string grafted on is not going to appeal to me. On my quest for a fiver an enthusiastic retailer really tried to get me to love a P5 - I'm afraid it didn't do it for me.

The SR5 is the daddy of production 5 strings and I'd still great today. It is of course not just a Stingray with a fifth string - it has s new EQ designed for it, has series/parallel/single coil capability and a neck that is superb (for most people).

[/quote]

[fretmeister]

IS the body on the classic 5 a slab without belly / forearm cuts?

[drTStingray]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1422019037' post='2667800']
IS the body on the classic 5 a slab without belly / forearm cuts?
[/quote]

Indeed it is, in contrast to the regular SR5 which also has chamfered body edges - looks cool (dependent on your viewpoint), but no doubt drops some weight also.

[Rumple]

[quote name='fretmeister' timestamp='1422019037' post='2667800']
IS the body on the classic 5 a slab without belly / forearm cuts?
[/quote]

yes it does, it's the main reason I moved my one on.

[stingrayPete1977]

And mine is my lightest five string bass so what do you know?

[JTUK]

Low B's...it is definitive of the bass, IMO and not something that is necessarily sorted of basses that retail
at £1500.
Personally, I'd put that money into a SH 5...

But something that can gum up a B st... is a 130 plus gauge.

All my basses have 120 or less...and I prefer the string tapered. Works for me.

[dincz]

Clubby neck = good B? Just a suspicion, but how do the thinner necked SR's compare to the fence-posted ones?

[chris_b]

My first 5 string was an SR5.

It was a good instrument and I liked it a lot but following on from 25 years of playing a Fender Precision, I never [i]loved[/i] it.

I moved on to a Wal then a Lakland. That's when I decided that humbuckers weren't for me and I preferred wider string spacing and the 35" scale.

[drTStingray]

I think a lot of people decide they want a certain type of bass and adapt to that bass - even if that bass or its design have aspects which don't appeal to some people. As long as those issues are not sufficient to alter their playing in a negative way that would be enough for most people. For me, my SR5 has a great neck and just makes me want to play - perhaps that's because I developed a lot as a player on that bass and then went to various 4 strings (all 19 mm spacing) as a broadening of instruments available to me. That said, swapping between 5 and 4 and vice versa in gigs has been a breeze.

There's a group of people who seem to flit from bass to bass searching for a 'holy grail' - all instrument design involves compromises to one level or another - maybe there are some people who will never be satisfied with their instruments and others who are enthusiastic about all basses so will buy examples of lots of different makes.