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Ernie Ball MusicMan StingRay HH Price Paid / Price New: $830/~$1500 Year Manufactured: not sure, about 2004 Specs:
If this were a regular StingRay the rating would be 5/5, but its not and because of that is loses points. The HH model has two humbuckers and a five position switch to allow you to choose different combinations. Starting at position one, closest to the bridge:[list=1] [*]Bridge pickup only, both coils [*]Both pickups, outer coils only [*]Both pickups, all coils [*]Both pickups, inner coils only [*]Neck pickup only, both coils [/list] 1: Classic StingRay tone: sounds like a StingRay should sound, no need to get into further detail. 2: Jazz Bass and a piano - it has the same qualities as a Jazz Bass with both pickups turned all the way up, sort of a nasally, scooped mid sound, but because of the coil placement the lows and highs are more pronounced, and the low notes remind me of a piano. 3: Sounds like a cross between a StingRay and a Jazz Bass and a jar of molasses. This is the setting I had the highest hopes for, and the one that disappointed me the most. With all four coils on, I expected the tone to be very big and punchy, instead it is thick, nasally and quiet. Start with the normal Stingray tone, then add too much of the nasally, scooped mid sound mentioned above, and then increase the bass and lower the overall output level to about half of any other setting and you can approximate this setting. This setting most reminds me of pressing the "bass boost" feature on a cheap boombox, pretending to increase low end response but really just cutting out needed higher frequencies. Maybe with some EQ work and pickup height changes I can make this more usable, but for now it won't be seeing much action. 4: A cross between a Jazz and a Precision. Similar to position 2, but with the active coils closer together and more centered in the mid position, the tone loses its low and high end and gains more midrange. It still has the characteristics of a Jazz Bass, but with a little Precision thrown in. Probably the second best setting. 5: A StingRay with less bite. This is the other setting I was disappointed with, with a big humbucker in the mid/neck position, I was expecting something like a big Precision-like tone. Instead, I got a StingRay sound with a little less of the springy/bite tone and a little more low-mids and bass (and less overall volume). With some EQ changes I can get rid of some of the Stingray sound and make it more Precision-like, and if I play with a pick I can get that clacky P-Bass tone, but there's a hint of StingRay no matter what. Before I got the bass I played a similar model in a store, I didn't get a whole lot of time with it but I knew I wanted a StingRay and the additional configurations the second pickup brings in just seemed like a bonus, but it turns out not all are as usable as I thought they'd be. Now I think I would rather have the HS model, with a single coil in the neck position instead, though that has its own sound quirks (the HS model has a third pickup, hidden underneath the pickguard). Instrument Quality: 4/5 It is a big, solid guitar. Mine was shipped from California to Pennsylvania, and when it arrived it was still in tune. The first time I played it it was great, but the second time one of the coils in the bridge pickup went out. I don't know why this happened, I took the electronics apart to try to find a break in the lines somewhere and found nothing. I posted about it on the EBMM forums and got a bit of a  reply from Sterling Ball about it:quote:Jonguitarz and allat ebmm customer service are snorting tums on this one. This is our worst nightmare. Takes everything apart and then attempts self diagnoses and then ends up confused and with a bass taken apart and usually together wrong. I decided to follow his instructions, put everything back together and got ready to call customer support, when I noticed the bridge was fully working again. It briefly went out again, but not since. If it gets to be a problem again I'll actually call next time, but for now it seems fine. I do have an issue with the neck pickup, the springs holding it in place don't seem all that strong, and when I rest my thumb on it while playing it tends to get pushed down some. I'll try to put foam or something underneath to help it out. The only other thing that needs some work is the string height/truss rod, but that's more personal preference than build quality. Hopefully that will get rid of the rattle I'm having on the E string (the previous owner did a poor stringing job as well). Playability: 4.5/5 Its on the heavy side, but not unmanageable. The biggest problem I have is mentioned above, with the neck pickup moving when I rest my thumb on it. The neck will take a little getting used to coming from playing primarily a Jazz Bass, and for some reason bending strings seems a lot tougher than it should be, but its not something I do often. The bass also has MusicMan's new compensated nut to help intonation, and it does its job pretty well. Overall Value: 5/5. Despite the issues mentioned above, I still think the instrument was worth the price paid. The $830 is about average for used regular StingRays, HH models tend to go closer to $1000, and all mine really needs is a proper setup and it will be fine (and maybe a different pickguard, "Moonstone" looks a bit goofy).
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Mar 20, 2007 16:37
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| # ¿ Apr 29, 2024 06:36 |
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