Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Just got a 2004 MusicMan Stinray 4-stringer with the "graphite pearl" finish and optional 3-band active preamp!!! I've been wanting one of these for months and finally took the plunge. I bought it used from Guitar Center for $699 + tax, which came to $746 total. That included the original hardshell case and a free set of D'Addario strings. I think I did pretty good!!! There are a few scratches on the front and back, but none of them are bad enough to make me cringe. I was after a good working bass anyway, not one in pristine condition. The frets have no wear on them, which surprised me. I really wanted a black body with a maple fretboard, but that didn't keep me from passing on this deal (this one has rosewood). I got her setup pretty good last night and she sounds great! This is my first active bass and it's cool how you can dial in tons of different tones with the active preamp. VERY COOL! Anything I should know? Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by SgtThump Anything I should know? Chris Yea....HOW TO POST A PIC OF IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members RSBro Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by lug Yea....HOW TO POST A PIC OF IT! +1, and damn- that's a killer deal! Do you know how much the 5's were going for, from what you saw? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members basshunter Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by lug Yea....HOW TO POST A PIC OF IT! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Nice! Can't wait to get my Sterling! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by lug Yea....HOW TO POST A PIC OF IT! LOL! I haven't taken pics yet, but I will tonight. It's nothing "different" or anything. Just a graphite pearl (charcoal gray) body, black pickguard and rosewood fretboard. The headstock isn't painted. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by SgtThump It's nothing "different" or anything. Just a graphite pearl (charcoal gray) body, black pickguard and rosewood fretboard. The headstock isn't painted. Any Musicman is a thing of beauty... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by RockStarBassist +1, and damn- that's a killer deal!Do you know how much the 5's were going for, from what you saw? Thanks! I think I did good! This was my evening at GC... I went there in the off chance they had a used Stingray sitting around. They didn't have any last week, so I didn't expect any this week either. I saw a used graphite pearl Stingray5 right off the bat. I was surprised!!! I played with that bass for a while and noticed that the center "notches" on the controls were no longer there. It's like they wore out or something. That turned me off, but I could replace those if I got a good deal. The bass was marked to $899, but I got them down to $850 including tax (they knocked off around $100 when you include strings). That price seemed OK, but kinda not, since the pots had the worn out issue. I told the guy that I wished they had a used 4 banger and he said they did! The one I got was marked at $799, but he went down to $746 (or something real close to that) including tax and strings. I bought it right away!!! When I got home, I noticed there was tons of junk in the case from the previous owner. The original receipt was in there and it showed that he payed somewhere around $1,200 new for the bass in 2004. I didn't realize it was THAT new, since the bass is obviously used with some scratches on the body and quite a few on the pickguard. The thing is in great shape, but it is used. But I purposely buy used to save money, so a few scratches doesn't bother me one bit! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by bassplayer7770 Any Musicman is a thing of beauty... I'll definitely take some pics tonight. Man, my rig has really come around. I'm totally satisfied with the rig I've assembled (check sig). ALL of that was purchased in the last 2 months and most of it was used. I'm not made of money or anything, but had a few different killer guitar rigs that I sold (two nice GMW guitars, a Peavey JSX head, Marshall 4x12" cab, bunch of pedals, etc...) to put towards a nice bass rig and I think I've achieved my goal! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tdempsey Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 congrats Sgt, no turning back to guitar now. I've been gassing for a lot of home studio gear, but a replacement 'Ray and possibly a new Variax bass are in the next 18 months for me... I bought a pre-Ernie Ball for my kid brother twenty years ago and he destroyed it - so I'm trying to replace that vibe. At Manny's in NYC I sat down with one of the newer champagne finishes and without plugging it in it both a) put me in a time machine and b)made me rethink my need for a Fender. Congrats on the deal, now log off and slap and pop that beaut. Oh yeah - PICS is your homework assignment! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by SgtThump I'm not made of money or anything, but had a few different killer guitar rigs that I sold (two nice GMW guitars, a Peavey JSX head, Marshall 4x12" cab, bunch of pedals, etc...) to put towards a nice bass rig and I think I've achieved my goal! You've done well. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by tdempsey congrats Sgt, no turning back to guitar now. I've been gassing for a lot of home studio gear, but a replacement 'Ray and possibly a new Variax bass are in the next 18 months for me... I bought a pre-Ernie Ball for my kid brother twenty years ago and he destroyed it - so I'm trying to replace that vibe. At Manny's in NYC I sat down with one of the newer champagne finishes and without plugging it in it both a) put me in a time machine and b)made me rethink my need for a Fender. Congrats on the deal, now log off and slap and pop that beaut. Oh yeah - PICS is your homework assignment! Ha ha! Thanks man! I'm still keeping a killer guitar rig around, because I'm not 100% sure how long the bass gig will last. But I am absolutely having a blast doing the bass stuff and I've dived in head first with it. I also gigged on bass for 2 years back in '97, so it's not TOTALLY new to me. But it's been years and I'm looking forward to doing it again! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 By the way, here's an example of how serious I'm taking the bass stuff... This started out as a warmup exercise, but I decided to record it and throw a short bass solo towards the end. Let me know what you think! http://www.chrissnider.net/temp/sniderbass_mixdown1.mp3 Oh yeah, that's the Fender Jazz, SansAmp BDDI and the direct out from my Ampeg SVT 4 Pro. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members tdempsey Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Chris, Excellent stuff, you're hired! What drum machine are you using? Is that the Fender Geddy? Where did you learn your technique? Enough questions, love the double-stops. I'll check out your site soon, my office is moving so this is a goof-off day ! With a gig tonight... life is good. Thanks for the funky stuff. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Detox Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Welcome to the Stingray club. I joined last Saturday. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Thunderbroom Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Nice score! Gotta load up some pics!!! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by SgtThump Let me know what you think!http://www.chrissnider.net/temp/sniderbass_mixdown1.mp3Oh yeah, that's the Fender Jazz, SansAmp BDDI and the direct out from my Ampeg SVT 4 Pro. I listened at low volume (at work). It sounds good! I'm not much of a slapper myself, but the only "issue" I hear is the timing. It could be a bit more precise... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members CLAY9ER Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 congrats on the sting ray, I love that color. I just orderd a sterling in the graphite pearl, black pick guard, and maple fingerboard and I have to wait about another 6 weeks to get mine, which sucks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by tdempsey Chris, Excellent stuff, you're hired! What drum machine are you using? Is that the Fender Geddy? Where did you learn your technique? Enough questions, love the double-stops. I'll check out your site soon, my office is moving so this is a goof-off day ! With a gig tonight... life is good. Thanks for the funky stuff. Thanks Tim!!! I've said this a few times in other posts and I hate to keep repeating myself (I'm sure folks are getting tired of hearing it), but I'll tell ya anyway... I've been a lead guitar player since 1985 or so. I've played lead guitar in 10-15 different bands during that time and done alot of experimenting with home recording. I originally bought a crappy bass back in 1996 to lay down bass tracks to songs I was writing and recording at home. This was in between bands and a newly found passion I had (writing and recording). I was looking to get back into a band and wasn't having luck at all. I found a band that needed a bass player and a drummer, so my friend (the drummer) and I tried out for the heck of it. We both got the gig and I started gigging every Friday and Saturday for almost 2 years with that band with me playing bass. I jumped into it bigtime and forced myself to learn how to play REAL bass guitar. I made a conscious (sp?) effort to learn REAL bass and NOT play guitar on bass. That took ALOT of work!!! Up until that time, I made fun of bass players. lol... All the bass players I played with throughout the years pretty much sucked, so I had very little respect for the instrument. But when I started actually gigging on bass, I found a new respect for good bass players. I focused everything I had on becoming a good bass player and locking in with the drummer. That's something I never even thought about when playing lead guitar. I gigged on bass for almost 2 years, then switched back to guitar up until 2-3 months ago. I was bandless and got another offer to switch back over to bass recently. I was about to take an extended break from guitar anyway and this looked like a great opportunity to get back into bass. I didn't expect it, but my interests in bass is ten times more now than it was when I gigged on bass the previous time! I'm all into it again and enjoying the heck out of it! Now I'm a fulltime member of that band, which is full of great musicians and dudes in general. So I sold a bunch of guitar stuff recently and put together what I consider an excellent rig. As far as technique, I just do what feels good to me. That slapping/popping stuff was VERY unnatural at first. But I've been working on it on my own without any instructional videos or lessons, so I'm probably doing alot of stuff wrong. However, it feels good to me, so I'm running with it! LOL! My band doesn't even require slapping stuff, but I think it's fun to do, so I mess with it at home regularly. I have a timing issue when slapping/popping, so that's why I started playing along to a drum machine (it's an Alesis SR16). So this clip really started out as a practice routine to get my timing better, but I comped (sp?) a few takes together and ended up with a little tune. lol... I don't have a problem with phrasing leads, since I was a lead guitarist for so long. But the bass specific stuff like slapping/popping has really taken alot of work to get to where I am now and I STILL have the timing issues. But I'll get those worked out soon. Another challenge has been using my fingers on my plucking hand. I'm starting to get it now and really enjoying using my fingers instead of a pick. I've always been a huge Rush fan, so I watch Geddy Lee real close in all of the live stuff I've seen. I really try to take alot of what he does and put a slightly different spin on it (in other words, I don't sound exactly like Geddy or anything). I think I'm a good guitar and bass player, but don't get me wrong. There's alot I need to work on. But yeah, bass is my #1 focus at this point. I haven't even picked up my six stringers in months! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by bassplayer7770 I listened at low volume (at work). It sounds good! I'm not much of a slapper myself, but the only "issue" I hear is the timing. It could be a bit more precise... EXACTLY! I definitely realize the timing issue and I'm working to overcome that. I don't think I have timing issue in general, though. It's mainly when slapping/popping. My hand doesn't work fast enough to stay completely in time. But I'll fix that! Thanks for the feedback! Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by SgtThump EXACTLY! I definitely realize the timing issue and I'm working to overcome that. I don't think I have timing issue in general, though. It's mainly when slapping/popping. My hand doesn't work fast enough to stay completely in time. But I'll fix that! Thanks for the feedback! I understand completely. I don't practice slapping very often, so my timing is always off even though I don't normally have a problem with timing. It just takes practice. I guess that's part of the reason Victor Wooten and Marcus Miller both blow me away! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members ThaiBarGirl Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Congratulations on the Stingray! when did you change your amp set up? Weren't you just playing a couple GK cabs and a different head? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members lug Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by ThaiBarGirl Congratulations on the Stingray! when did you change your amp set up? Weren't you just playing a couple GK cabs and a different head? There is just something soooo sexy about a Thai Bar Girl from Canada. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members rig-talk.com Posted May 13, 2005 Author Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by ThaiBarGirl Congratulations on the Stingray! when did you change your amp set up? Weren't you just playing a couple GK cabs and a different head? Thanks! Yeah, I've changed a few things around in the past 2 months. I know it's crazy, but I started buying stuff before I knew what I wanted. The good thing is that I almost always buy used, so I can sell stuff for exactly what I paid. So even though I've swapped gear around ALOT lately, I haven't lost money on the deal. I had an Ampeg B2R, but it wasn't enough power, so I sold it for the same price I paid (actually a few bucks more!). I also just sold that GK 410 cab and am about to put the GK 115 cab up. I bought those two 8ohm cabs before I realized that I really want a single 4ohm cab. That's why I bought the Ampeg SVT-412HLF recently (also used). So yeah, I've been through quite a few things in the past 2 months. Hopefully, I have everything straightened out now. I will admit that I LOVE buying/selling/trading gear, though. Chris Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members bassplayer7770 Posted May 13, 2005 Members Share Posted May 13, 2005 Originally posted by SgtThump I will admit that I LOVE buying/selling/trading gear, though. Jugghaid Jr.? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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