NBD Stringray 5HH Stealth Black

[adamg67]

Until recently I was after a P bass, but then I made a bass I already had work better for the P bass with flats thing. I looked at the Stingray 5HH before I bought that one, and I knew about the Stealth Black, but never spotted one second hand, so when this one came up on BC while I still had the money I'd put aside, that seemed like the universe telling me I needed this bass in my life. Well, that's my way of justifying buying yet another thing anyway.

It's... well, it's a Stringray 5HH. I know the HH doesn't sound the same as the H (or HS), but I want this as a rock bass and I think it will do that nicely. The bridge pickup is right there for me, great sound. I'm just figuring out which amp models it likes, Ampeg ones seem to work unsurprisingly. I can see it being played with a pick more than my other 2.

Also, it looks the absolute dogs IMO, quite hard to photograph though. How much more black could it be? None more black.

Edited February 11, 2020 by adamg67
speling

[drTStingray]

Congratulations, that's a great bass - I especially like that they have a white logo - the only non stealth bit of the bass.

It should sound exactly like an SR5H (in parallel mode), with the blade switch closest to the bridge - that's tge classic Stingray sound. The only difference with an SR5H is you can switch to single coil or series. 

However yours has five settings - if you don't know, 2nd in from bridge is outer single coils (pumped up Jazz like sound), centre is both humbuckers (scooped like a Musicman Sabre - may need a bit of a mid range boost to cut through, but a fabulous sound - especially slap), 2nd from neck is inner coils - towards a P sound, and closest to neck is bridge H only - with a tweak of the EQ this can sound in an Alembic ball park. 

That's one very versatile bass you have there - I use my HH Stingrays all the time! 👍

Edited February 11, 2020 by drTStingray

[Doctor J]

Tasteful 👍

[adamg67]

12 hours ago, drTStingray said:

Congratulations, that's a great bass - I especially like that they have a white logo - the only non stealth bit of the bass.

It should sound exactly like an SR5H (in parallel mode), with the blade switch closest to the bridge - that's tge classic Stingray sound. The only difference with an SR5H is you can switch to single coil or series. 

However yours has five settings - if you don't know, 2nd in from bridge is outer single coils (pumped up Jazz like sound), centre is both humbuckers (scooped like a Musicman Sabre - may need a bit of a mid range boost to cut through, but a fabulous sound - especially slap), 2nd from neck is inner coils - towards a P sound, and closest to neck is bridge H only - with a tweak of the EQ this can sound in an Alembic ball park. 

That's one very versatile bass you have there - I use my HH Stingrays all the time! 👍

I had a bit of a Google before I went to look at it and saw things like this: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=8PKi_G084zQ but I don't believe everything on Youtube and in the end I just tried it and liked how it sounded  It definitely has a nice range, I'll have a play with the eq as well. I can see it becoming my go to bass for quite a few things and especially the rocky stuff.

[drTStingray]

I think where the confusion arises relates to the Musicman Bongo - the HH and the HS have the bridge humbucker in a slightly different place compared with the H version - that also has a 3 band EQ rather than 4 band on the multi pick up ones. 

In reality all of the Stingray, Sterling and (afaik) SBMM multi pick up variants have the bridge H in exactly the same position as the single H version. 

I found it very useful a year or so back getting someone to try out one of my HH Stingrays through my rig after a jam session, whilst I tweaked the EQ for each of the switch settings - it's remarkable what a different perspective you get facing the rig, and not actually being distracted by thinking about playing the bass at the same time - I learnt several useful tweaks from this!! 

[adamg67]

16 hours ago, drTStingray said:

I found it very useful a year or so back getting someone to try out one of my HH Stingrays through my rig after a jam session, whilst I tweaked the EQ for each of the switch settings - it's remarkable what a different perspective you get facing the rig, and not actually being distracted by thinking about playing the bass at the same time - I learnt several useful tweaks from this!! 

Yeah, this is a good tip. I've got a little home recording setup and a reamping box, so my version of that is to record stuff dry and then reamp it and play around with the EQ, much better than trying to do it when you're playing and can be done alongside other instruments to see what it really sounds like in the mix. Also good for spotting the faults in your own playing which can be depressing

Good reminder that I'm due a session doing that on all 3 basses, the Stingray is new, my P ripoff now has flats instead of rounds and a new pickup, and my jazz ripoff has rounds instead of flats - bit like having 3 new basses, so old presets are all out of the window and I'm starting from scratch.

[tvickey]

@adamg67 what reamping box do you have?  I'm looking for one that works well with bass... and ideally takes a 1/4" input since that is what comes out of my little Focusrite Scarlett recording unit.  Thanks!

[adamg67]

@tvickey I went for the Palmer Daccapo, their gear has always seemed pretty solid to me. I've checked the reamped signal against the original and it sounds spot on to my amateur ears and has the volume trim pot so you can get the signals the same level with your setup. It does take XLR in but adapters are cheap enough - I just made a cable for it, helps justify buying my soldering station 🙂

[tvickey]

8 hours ago, adamg67 said:

@tvickey I went for the Palmer Daccapo, their gear has always seemed pretty solid to me. I've checked the reamped signal against the original and it sounds spot on to my amateur ears and has the volume trim pot so you can get the signals the same level with your setup. It does take XLR in but adapters are cheap enough - I just made a cable for it, helps justify buying my soldering station 🙂

Thanks, that's very helpful.  I'm thinking about the Radial X-Amp.  It also takes XLR, but my Focusrite Scarlett unit has balanced 1/4" output... so I simply need a 1/4" to XLR cable.

[Guest]

On 12/02/2020 at 00:34, drTStingray said:

I think where the confusion arises relates to the Musicman Bongo - the HH and the HS have the bridge humbucker in a slightly different place compared with the H version - that also has a 3 band EQ rather than 4 band on the multi pick up ones. 

In reality all of the Stingray, Sterling and (afaik) SBMM multi pick up variants have the bridge H in exactly the same position as the single H version. 

I found it very useful a year or so back getting someone to try out one of my HH Stingrays through my rig after a jam session, whilst I tweaked the EQ for each of the switch settings - it's remarkable what a different perspective you get facing the rig, and not actually being distracted by thinking about playing the bass at the same time - I learnt several useful tweaks from this!! 

Yes, I have a Sterling 5HH and the bridge pickup sounds just like a classic Stingray (notwithstanding the alnico/ceramic/neodymium pickup differences). Initially I didn’t like it much but I’ve grown more attached to it now as (and thanks for the tip) you need to work the EQ. The mid position (both pickups in parallel, same as the Stingray) feels very scooped compared to the other 4 positions, possibly because on a Sterling all the other combinations are in series, but boosting the mid to the max gives a great tone. I’m just not used to boosting/cutting so much with eq - the preamp is quite subtle in that regard so it’s very hard to find a poor tone.

[adamg67]

8 hours ago, tvickey said:

Thanks, that's very helpful.  I'm thinking about the Radial X-Amp.  It also takes XLR, but my Focusrite Scarlett unit has balanced 1/4" output... so I simply need a 1/4" to XLR cable.

Yep, just make sure it’s 1/4” TRS to XLR male balanced cable.