3 band Stingray finding a P sound

[uk_lefty]

Morning all. Before you start... I already have a P bass! However, my main bass is a 3 band Stingray. I'm looking to free up some cash and fund a jazz bass and considering letting my P bass go. I then listened to a load of Sabbath last week and had second thoughts about letting the P go, even though its kinda surplus at the moment. So if I can get close to the traditional Geezer type sounds out of a 3 band Ray with rounds I will feel better about things. 

Anybody have any advice for eq'ing the Ray to get close to the older school P tones, please? 

I usually have bass on full, slight mid cut, treble only slightly boosted because I find it a bit to trill but this sounds very modern and Stingray ish. I've experimented with cutting the treble, boosting the bass to around 75% and ramping the mids up to almost full to try and get a good "crazy little thing called love" type tone. 

 

Edited February 18, 2020 by uk_lefty

[Beedster]

I would swap out the pre-amp for a model with sweepable mids, such as the John East unit (which by the way really calms what can often be a quite brittle top end on the 3-band 'rays), and allows you to really emphasise the low mids. It won;t be 100% P-Bass by any means but a whole lot closer than you'll get with the current pre-amp I believe. The other option of course is to use your amp to do the same thing, but in my experience, it's often a less satisfactory approach, and you'd need an amp with a similar sweepable EQ to find the tone that's in your head. 

Here's the link, for £157 it is a game-changer for a 'ray, seriously

https://www.east-uk.com/index.php/bass/mmsr-4-knob-3-band.html

[Paul S]

Or add a Ppickup to the Ray. 

[Beedster]

2 minutes ago, Paul S said:

Or add a Ppickup to the Ray. 

You won't get one in the right position for the P-PUP, not without removing the 'ray PUP anyway. Having said that, I've a '70s Japanese Precision with two P-PUPs, neither of which are in the classic Fender-P position, and it still sounds a lot like a Precision to me

[PaulWarning]

I had a 3 band Stingray,  I found the only way to get the P sound is with a P,  so I sold the Ray and bought a P, never regretted it, but each to their own

[Paul S]

I did it to my Sterling, reversed the coils on the P - that sounds a bit DrWho, doesn't it but the bass side was smack on the sweet spot.. 

[Beedster]

Just now, Paul S said:

I did it to my Sterling, reversed the coils on the P - that sounds a bit DrWho, doesn't it but the bass side was smack on the sweet spot.. 

I stand corrected

[uk_lefty]

8 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

I had a 3 band Stingray,  I found the only way to get the P sound is with a P,  so I sold the Ray and bought a P, never regretted it, but each to their own

Yeah I have a P, a very good one in fact, I just don't want to keep swapping my basses around on gigs for minor differences that won't get picked up on by most people except me. Just wanting to get as close to it as I can with the Ray with a few knob twiddles. 

[PaulWarning]

12 minutes ago, uk_lefty said:

Yeah I have a P, a very good one in fact, I just don't want to keep swapping my basses around on gigs for minor differences that won't get picked up on by most people except me. Just wanting to get as close to it as I can with the Ray with a few knob twiddles. 

Only bass players will notice anyway, when I ask my partner about how my bass sounds she says "It's a bass they all sound the same"  😂 and in a full band situation I can sort of see her point   

Edited February 18, 2020 by PaulWarning

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, PaulWarning said:

Only bass players will notice anyway, when I ask my partner about how my bass sounds she said says "It's a bass they all sound the same"  😂 and in a full band situation I can sort of see her point   

Sacrilege 

 

But true

[Vanheusen77]

35 minutes ago, PaulWarning said:

Only bass players will notice anyway, when I ask my partner about how my bass sounds she says "It's a bass they all sound the same"  😂 and in a full band situation I can sort of see her point   

Haha thats what other musicians usually say as well. The look is usually more important from my experience...

[Lozz196]

I`ve found that - on the `Ray itself - cutting treble pretty much fully and cutting the mids by about 50%, but then - on my amp or eq pedal - adding in hi-mids at around 2.5kHz and treble to suit I can get fairly near. It`s a case of reducing that very hi-end, but then adding in highs in the right sort of area which does it.

[Beedster]

Just now, Vanheusen77 said:

The look is usually more important from my experience...

This thread should be locked immediately on the basis of the undeniable levels of heresy being spoken. Basses sounding the same, look of bass being more important.....

[pineweasel]

I found turning treble down, and boosting mid and bass got me in the ballpark. But the old 3 band EQ won't really do it. I'm looking forward to trying a Stingray Special, with its revoiced EQ, when they eventually get some left-handers out.

Edited February 18, 2020 by pineweasel

[Paul S]

Back home now so was able to dig out the build thread that Andyjr1515 did when he carried out this mod

 

 

[MattM]

Sell it and get a Stingray HH.   You can get decent P andJ approximations plus original Ray goodness.    Jobs a good un’

[Beedster]

4 hours ago, Paul S said:

Back home now so was able to dig out the build thread that Andyjr1515 did when he carried out this mod

 

 

I might be wrong, and it might be the unusualness of the PUP configuration, but even the bass side looks much closer to the neck than bridge that is the case with standard P-PUP placing? 

[Paul S]

I believe the pole pieces were 11" from the 12th fret, Chris - it says so somewhere in the diary, I think.  The treble side was reversed and moved forward which I guess theoretically thickened the tone up a bit but, in practice to my knackered old ears, didn't seem to make much difference  It certainly sounded like a Precision.

The next stage - I went the whole hog, gutted it and just had a Precision pickup.  But the last step in my ownership was to have it put back to stock and it will soon be enjoying a new life in Germany  

[Beedster]

17 minutes ago, Paul S said:

I believe the pole pieces were 11" from the 12th fret, Chris - it says so somewhere in the diary, I think.  The treble side was reversed and moved forward which I guess theoretically thickened the tone up a bit but, in practice to my knackered old ears, didn't seem to make much difference  It certainly sounded like a Precision.

The next stage - I went the whole hog, gutted it and just had a Precision pickup.  But the last step in my ownership was to have it put back to stock and it will soon be enjoying a new life in Germany  

Put back to stock, the cycle of life

I agree Paul, there's a lot of folks get very agitated about the precision of Precisions, but you could move the PUP a few cms each way without a dramatic change, as I've found with my Fernandes. There used to be a lot of talk also about PUPs that are too close to each other interfering with each other but I've not read anything in that space for a while so perhaps that was disproved. 

And if reverse P was good enough for 1980's Yamaha BBs, it's good enough for me

[Beedster]

9 hours ago, uk_lefty said:

....to try and get a good "crazy little thing called love" type tone. 

 

Wouldn't it be ironic if that part was recorded on Deacon's 'ray

[dannybuoy]

The OP is trying to free up some cash by selling the P... So you'd be better off spending that £150 on a used Squier VM P rather than an East preamp!

[Beedster]

1 minute ago, dannybuoy said:

The OP is trying to free up some cash by selling the P... So you'd be better off spending that £150 on a used Squier VM P rather than an East preamp!

Fair point. The pre-amp solution allows him to use one bass only for both precision-ish and ray tones, the VMP solution is potentially better because it allows him to have flats on one for the John Deacon sound, and rounds on the other (I would have the flats on the 'ray because that is a glorious tone, but not everyone agrees). Not quite sure how he's going to get close to the Geezer tone either way, but I imagine a key part of that was very hot tubes and volume set at 11

[uk_lefty]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Wouldn't it be ironic if that part was recorded on Deacon's 'ray

Hahaha maybe you know something I don't?! 

[uk_lefty]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

(I would have the flats on the 'ray because that is a glorious tone, but not everyone agrees).

I've got an old set of Thomastik flats that were on the P and I'm tempted to throw them on the Ray and see what happens. They were too light for the P but I think they could work on the Ray. 

[uk_lefty]

1 hour ago, Beedster said:

Not quite sure how he's going to get close to the Geezer tone either way, but I imagine a key part of that was very hot tubes and volume set at 11

It was more the round, plummy, big traditional P bass tones than anything gritty. Deacon is maybe a better way to explain the tone I'm after though.