Music Man StingRay HH - 5 String

[Chiliwailer]

I'm not usually one to post reviews but having owned my first Ray HH for around 2 months now I'm well impressed. I'm not looking to write a killer review, just give an idea of the scope and hopefully help someone out who is considering one.

Background - As an 18 year old a second hand Ray 4 was my first 'proper' bass and I cut my teeth on that one, loved it. I've owned others and Sterlings and Sabres and always enjoyed MM basses. (I sold my original one 7 years ago when I sold all my gear for a deposit on a flat). Fast forward to now and I fancied another Ray but needed a 5'er. 2 pickups was now needed too as I was reluctantly letting go of a 2 pickup Thumb 5 and I like the variation.

My bass is a 2013/4, ash body, maple board, Alnico pickups, HH version. Currently strung with rounds, but also sounded amazing with Thomastiks. Rounds are staying on though as I'm reliving my youth with it

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The bass has a 5 way pickup selector switch:

Position 1 - Bridge pickup, regular Stingray sound as it's wired in parallel. Sounds great and does exactly what you expect. I often start in this position when noodling around but after dialling in positions 3 and 4 I rarely go back to it.

Position 2 - Outer coils of both pickups. Very articulate sound, clean, sharp and very much a regular single coil sound as both pickups have only one coil on the go. Jazz Bass / StingRay love child.

Position 3 - Both pickups with all coils on. Sounds absolutely huge, love it! For me it sounds so-so when solo'd but really comes alive in a mix.

Position 4 - Similar to position 2 but the inner coils. It's still more articulate than the dual coil modes but this position is softer and warmer then position 2, sounds great with FX too.

Position 5 - Neck pickup. Has a more woolly sound and with the right EQ and amp settings or preamp can a great tone that's sounds almost like a passive bass, though I must stress it may take some initial work to find the setting that does this for you.

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So with that many great tones, why would I ever buy a single pickup one again?!

Slapping with the neck pickup there didn't take long at all to get used to, and it's great having a thumb rest up that end too.

I bought this bass as a tool, but am becoming much more fond of it than I thought I would. If I only had to have one bass, this could cover it all for me as long as kept my JHS Colour Box for the old school tones.

Edited for pics - to induce GAS...

Edited August 6, 2016 by Chiliwailer