Musicman Stingray 5 Review

History:

Purchase: Second hand purchase, Parks Music, Western Australia, $2000 (approx $1400 US). I went in looking for prices on a 2x10 or 4x10 box and walked out with this. Wasn't looking or even thinking of buying a 5 string Stingray - yes wanted a Musicman, yes wanted a 5 string. Tried it and had to own it.

What I Like About This Unit: what can you say? It's a Musicman :) The neck: As a 5 string this neck plays better than many 4 string basses that I've owned/tried and after a few minutes it felt like I'd played this bass for years. I'm not much in to slap/pop playing but a fellow bass player (who owns pre EB Stingray and Sabre basses) picked it up and was straight in to his funky "Louis Johnston" riffs and delivered high praise for the neck (and an offer to buy the bass - cheeky bugger) The sound: truely awe inspiring! Even on my practice amp (a 60 watt Berhinger) it boggies. Through Labsystem, Hartke and Marshall amps it delivers solid lowdown punch, the relativly long scale neck give the low B "extra" string usable tone and clarity It packes a lot of bottom end and the actives give it useable bright (and some times excessive) top end. Though a chorus unit you get an A1 deluxe tone for just about any style of music that grooves.

What I Do NOT Like About The Musicman Stingray 5: excesive boost on treble produces too much sharp "stabbing" top end, roll it back, use with care or pull it in with compression and/or deep chorus Lack of usable middle range tone meens it doesn't "sing" like say a rickenbacker does. So if you're after a more front and center rock & pop oriented bass sound (Beatles/Who) it maybe not your number one choice. Body weight's a little light and it (the body) vibrates excessivly. Doesn't feel as solid/stiff as one would expect for a top of the line unit like this (see below).

Stingray 5 Quality: Almost but not quite A1, a high B+ or a straight A maybe. I guess this bass is mid/late 90's and doesn't feel as solid/stiff as the earlier Musicmans. feel & quality is not up there with my Rickenbacker or even Washburn basses. This all comes down to the body - it just doesn't feel as solid and stiff as it should, when played hard and loud (think "The Clash" punk thrashing) it vibrates enough to cause slight but noticeable intonation changes.

Summary: If <insert deity/mythological hero of choice> played bass this would be his stick. If it weren't for the slight intonation issue when playing extra hard I'd rate it a perfect 5/5

Rating of this product: 4

This Musicman Bass Guitars Review Submitted By: Mark S

Date: 2004-03-30