The Joy of the Ray

[diskwave]

To echo an above comment. Played one thru the 80's and truth is I never felt satisfied...like something was missing, yet others could really make them bark. Anyway my angst was instantly cured when in 2004 I bought my first P bass, still, it was kinda de rigeur to play a Ray under the armpit in the 80's...haha.

[Lozz196]

On 04/06/2022 at 19:40, Lozz196 said:

I’ve never got on very well with the sound of them when I play them, but I think they sound amazing when played by those who know how to get the best from them. I do however find them pretty much the most comfortable bass to play from all the basses I’ve played, the design just fits so well, just with I could make them sound good.

Well I’ve just decided to buy another. My last few have been maple fretboard, and I’ve found them to be very “toppy”, something I just couldn’t eq out. Given that I’ve just returned to my rosewood roots on Precisions for pretty much the same reasons, and really enjoying it btw, I thought get a rosewood fretboard Ray, see if that makes a difference. Hopefully will pick it up next weekend.

[Duarte]

On 05/06/2022 at 05:35, Musicman666 said:

i bought a black ray brand new in the uk during the 90s and immediately took it to south east asia....with all that high humidity around the backplate split and the poly paint got all cracked up and started falling off, a guitar tech said it has mojo. Plays just as good as the day I first got it....but looks like shite.

Her in Thailand about 50% of music Man basses you see for sale look like that. Rusted pole pieces too. I wondered what the hell they do to their basses here!

[Duarte]

12 minutes ago, Duarte said:

My 1993 Sterling is quite possibly the best bass on the planet

 

Edited July 9, 2022 by Duarte

[Duarte]

On 05/06/2022 at 05:35, Musicman666 said:

i bought a black ray brand new in the uk during the 90s and immediately took it to south east asia....with all that high humidity around the backplate split and the poly paint got all cracked up and started falling off, a guitar tech said it has mojo. Plays just as good as the day I first got it....but looks like shite.

Here in Thailand about 50% of music Man basses you see for sale look like that. Rusted pole pieces too. I wondered what the hell they do to their basses here! 

 

For me, music Man basses just sound how I play. I love to play hard and I love how MM basses choke and growl at you when you do.

[wintoid]

30 minutes ago, Duarte said:

For me, music Man basses just sound how I play. I love to play hard and I love how MM basses choke and growl at you when you do.

Well expressed, I feel like that too

[Storky]

On 05/06/2022 at 10:05, dmckee said:

My 2001 Stingray now has a Nordy MM4.2 pickup, a John East MMSR preamp and a series/parallel/single switch. A lot of tinkering, but it sounds great. (I especially like series mode on the Nordy and a little low mid bump from the John East). 

 

But I think what I like about it, probably even more than the sound, is the body shape. I just find it super comfortable - it really ‘fits’ me. Ditto the neck profile actually. 

 

My current probably-daft-but-still-tempted idea is to get a (lightweight!) Stingray-shaped body made and have the neck and electrics from my Fender Dimension HH fitted to it. I really like the Dimension pickups/EQ (which might be a relatively unusual opinion), and it has a great pro level Fender neck, but I can’t seem to bond with the body…. 

Agree, I had two dimensions; the pick ups for me, are the most comfortable to rest your thumb on and sound great. Not so keen on the body shape. I think Fender threw everything they knew at the Dimension; really tried to make a modern Fender (for all the good it did them!) Much more thought went into it then the current Meteora IMO

[drTStingray]

I had my current favourite out at an outdoor gig yesterday - shock, horror it’s a 2003 3 band (and I have three 2 band Musicman basses 😏). 
 

Cut mids, slightly boosted bass and treble - used the mid control to tighten the sound slightly when the guitars got low and muddy. 
 

My perfect Bernard Edwards sound when required - boost the treble a bit to get more into Mark King slap sound - much of the set was 60s pop and rock and roll so I played towards the neck joint for much of it - sounded excellent. Such a versatile bass (and it has standard EB slinky roundwounds). 
 

 

Did I say it was sunny??!!

 

 

[Lord Sausage]

On 06/06/2022 at 00:56, drTStingray said:

I’ve heard people say this as well - if you try a Stingray Special you find this doesn’t happen - but they have neodymium pick ups and an 18 volt pre amp so are more powerful.

 

Its interesting, I tried out a couple of 70s Precisions a couple of weeks back and was expecting them to sound very different from Stingrays, especially as far as the G string was concerned - curiously they didn’t at all. 
 

Having played a couple of deps recently with bands with rock sets, and crunchy guitars, and using a Stingray I found I needed to be in certain parts of the octave and on certain strings to avoid being in identical frequencies to the guitars at times (and to turn up) - to avoid disappearing into the bottom end morass - the guitarists tended to play with lots of bass sound and bar chords favouring the bottom strings - the only other time I’ve experienced this type of problem has been with keyboard players with heavy left hands (and possibly they hadn’t noticed they’re playing in ensemble so don’t need to play absolutely everything). 
 

Im afraid that certain parts of bass guitar are going to disappear into the mix when playing in those sort of situations - however a Stingray can most definitely be made to cut through a mix, or alternatively form a part of it by playing technique and EQ - however it should always be judged by the sound coming out of FoH rather than a poor stage mix!! 
 

If it causes a problem, best bet is to move on to something else (exactly what I did with Fender P and J type basses way back!!). 

I always make the guitar players roll lots of bass of their sounds.

 

I tell them 'that's not for you'

[BassAdder60]

Ok .. I made a mistake with the Ray34 string gauge 

When I took the stock old factory strings off I assumed they were 40-100 ..

they are not as they are EB super slinky 45,65,80,100 

Now I can see my error as I put 40-100 on it and the G and D strings sounded weak. 
To get them sounding less weak with EQ I spoilt the A and E string tone.

Then I fitted 45-105 thinking it was the solution and it helped as it matched the G and D but now my A and E were perhaps too bassy !

Just ordered a set of EB super slinky RW to put on it and it should be spot on. Phew !!! 

[SteveK]

I've always liked the sound of a Stingray, but I could never get over the hideous scratch plate/control panel! It's hard to imagine that there was more than 5 minutes of thought put into its design!

 

 

[Cosmo Valdemar]

15 minutes ago, SteveK said:

I've always liked the sound of a Stingray, but I could never get over the hideous scratch plate/control panel! It's hard to imagine that there was more than 5 minutes of thought put into its design!

 

 

That's one of my favourite parts of the design.

[KevB]

The scratch plates on the 4 stringers look OK but the ones on the fivers are a bit of an abomination.

[Jack_Stroud_Bass]

Chucking my two cents into the mix... 

 

I love my Stingray. I have a 1991 four string in teal green, rosewood board, birdseye maple neck and the bridge with the mutes. 

 

Hands down my favourite bass in my small collection - the others being Fender Jazz and Ps. 

 

My favourite thing about it is the build quality. The Fenders (All USA models) don't come close. It's incredibly well balanced too. 

 

It makes me look like this... 

 

Edited July 12, 2022 by Jack_Stroud_Bass
Adding pic!

[SteveK]

6 hours ago, Cosmo Valdemar said:

That's one of my favourite parts of the design.

😲

5 hours ago, KevB said:

The scratch plates on the 4 stringers look OK but the ones on the fivers are a bit of an abomination.

It's funny, as I said in my previous post, the hideous scratch plate/control panel on the 4 stringer (imo) deterred me from making a purchase for many years... until I realised that (imo) the 5 string scratchplate was far more agreeable. I subsequently added a beautiful spangly candy red, black scratchplate, rosewood neck, piezo, 5er to my arsenal. Sadly, it quickly became apparent that I was not at all at home playing a 5 stringer 🥴! Hey ho, such is life!

[Bunion]

2 hours ago, Jack_Stroud_Bass said:

Chucking my two cents into the mix... 

 

I love my Stingray. I have a 1991 four string in teal green, rosewood board, birdseye maple neck and the bridge with the mutes. 

 

Hands down my favourite bass in my small collection - the others being Fender Jazz and Ps. 

 

My favourite thing about it is the build quality. The Fenders (All USA models) don't come close. It's incredibly well balanced too. 

 

It makes me look like this... 

 

Bass face!!! 😄

[Raslee]

Perfect bass apart from those sticky up pole pieces of the older models - designed to shred your fingers!

 

Easily rectified with a bit of cardboard, no loss of sound.

 

[BassAdder60]

I’ve decided to move mine on and will be sticking it in the for sale section soon

Sterling Ray34 in Black 

Purchased new in May 22 

[Supernaut]

Why? Is this because of the string tree? It seems like you wanted any excuse to list it. 

[BassAdder60]

7 hours ago, Supernaut said:

Why? Is this because of the string tree? It seems like you wanted any excuse to list it. 

Hardly a reason and definitely not why it’s up for sale ( but now withdrawn ) I do  prefer my PBass though ..

So I’m looking to mod the Ray and get a deeper fuller tone from it 

Not sure how but maybe a different pickup / preamp ? 
 

Edited July 13, 2022 by BassAdder27

[BassAdder60]

Continued …. Band rehearsals last night, started with Ray and swopped over to my PBass ( there it was again my tone ) 

Came home with the intention to sell the Ray and even posted it on here .. however … I love playing the Ray but I need to get a tone out of it I like. 
Tried it with my ABM600 head and it’s better sounding than with the GK Legacy.. 

The GK head is a very mid voiced amp, pair it with a Stingray and it’s nasal city ! 
So I’m now looking at keeping the Ray34 and find a better combination of bass / amp and that looks like my ABM600!!

Wow the joys and perils of tone chasing hey !! 

[Lozz196]

On Mon when I picked up my new 3-band EQ we put it through the ABM600 with the Shape engaged, Drive at midday and it sounded amazing, really rich and solid, removed the overly middy aspect nicely, probably the best sound I`ve ever had from a `Ray.

[BassAdder60]

2 minutes ago, Lozz196 said:

On Mon when I picked up my new 3-band EQ we put it through the ABM600 with the Shape engaged, Drive at midday and it sounded amazing, really rich and solid, removed the overly middy aspect nicely, probably the best sound I`ve ever had from a `Ray.

You’re right .. the ABM600 with Shape engaged pulls the mids ( which are plenty from the Ray ) 

I think I compounded my problem when I got the GK Legacy amp ( planned to be a backup )and this amp isn’t as tone friendly with a Ray compared to a Pbass 

What is surprising is the Ray34 doesn’t really have a hot active pickup 

I can use the passive input and leave input settings similar to where my Pbass would be set 

What strings do you plan to put on your Ray ? 

[Rayman]

As my name suggests, and when Basschat first started, I was a Stingray man through and through. Unfortunately I’ve been through many basses since then, and not owned one for maybe ten years.

 

A couple of them definitely had the “quiet” G string issue, and I never did figure that out.

[Lozz196]

I’ve gone for 50-105 Ernie Ball coated rounds, figure the higher gauge D & G should help on the naturally high sound of the ‘Ray. Usually use Elixirs but couldn’t find any if their 50-105s anywhere, plus EB strings on an EB bass, should work nicely, certainly sound nice online.