NBD. Stingray content.

octatonic

I wandered into Bass Gallery earlier today to look at bass amps and came away with a MarkBass CMD102 and a new/old stock Stingray IV 2EQ.

I've wanted one of these since I was a teenager- super happy with it.
Slappity, slappity, slappity-duca-duca-slappity etc.

guitarfishbay

Nice bass. Definitely one of the classics for tone.

My mate has the same bass in the same colour, and it's a light weight one too. He won't sell unfortunately!

octatonic

guitarfishbay said:

Nice bass. Definitely one of the classics for tone.

My mate has the same bass in the same colour, and it's a light weight one too. He won't sell unfortunately!

Cheers.
It was between that and a Jazz Deluxe.
The Jazz was used but had an electronics problem that I couldn't be bothered fixing.

Winny_Pooh

I remember you used to have a p-bass lyte? Di it directly into your DAW and compare, the MM sounds huge and clear just like that. I still like my P but it takes way more work to sound good. 

octatonic

Winny_Pooh said:

I remember you used to have a p-bass lyte? Di it directly into your DAW and compare, the MM sounds huge and clear just like that. I still like my P but it takes way more work to sound good. 

I sold that a couple of year ago.
I still have a P Bass- will do as you suggest.
Loving it so far.

fretmeister

Nice!

guitarfishbay

Winny_Pooh said:

I remember you used to have a p-bass lyte? Di it directly into your DAW and compare, the MM sounds huge and clear just like that. I still like my P but it takes way more work to sound good. 

Is this a high end thing? I prefer no load tone pots on Ps and Js, especially Ps, it can really open them up if you're going for tones that need high end. Very cheap to try anyway. A preamp/DI pedal would probably help close the gap also, given the Stingray has an inbuilt pre/EQ.

guitarfishbay

octatonic said:

guitarfishbay said:

Nice bass. Definitely one of the classics for tone.

My mate has the same bass in the same colour, and it's a light weight one too. He won't sell unfortunately!

Cheers.
It was between that and a Jazz Deluxe.
The Jazz was used but had an electronics problem that I couldn't be bothered fixing.

Honestly I think the stock US Standard is a better sounding bass than the deluxe, the real singles have more punch and character (if you level match). In 2012 they changed the standard pickups to the Custom Shop 60s, which are fantastic IMO.  There are usually a few used on basschat/eBay etc if you were looking for a Jazz again

octatonic

guitarfishbay said:

octatonic said:

guitarfishbay said:

Nice bass. Definitely one of the classics for tone.

My mate has the same bass in the same colour, and it's a light weight one too. He won't sell unfortunately!

Cheers.
It was between that and a Jazz Deluxe.
The Jazz was used but had an electronics problem that I couldn't be bothered fixing.

Honestly I think the stock US Standard is a better sounding bass than the deluxe, the real singles have more punch and character (if you level match). In 2012 they changed the standard pickups to the Custom Shop 60s, which are fantastic IMO.  There are usually a few used on basschat/eBay etc if you were looking for a Jazz again

That is essentially what I thought too- they kinda had punch but not as much as the Stingray.
It was a bit of a vanilla tone though.

I would have been fine with the Jazz Deluxe but I'd rather spend a bit less on a US Std or even a Mexican that I can rip the pickups out of.
I'll get a Jazz at some stage- yeah, they turn up on Basschat fairly often.

I've spent the evening setting up a new patch in the FX with the Stingray- having too much fun.
Compressor + Envelope filter + Crystal Pitch effect is kinda awesome.

Dave_Mc

Very nice

Winny_Pooh

guitarfishbay said:

Winny_Pooh said:

I remember you used to have a p-bass lyte? Di it directly into your DAW and compare, the MM sounds huge and clear just like that. I still like my P but it takes way more work to sound good. 

Is this a high end thing? I prefer no load tone pots on Ps and Js, especially Ps, it can really open them up if you're going for tones that need high end. Very cheap to try anyway. A preamp/DI pedal would probably help close the gap also, given the Stingray has an inbuilt pre/EQ.

The passive P I have is quite bright DI'd. Into a BJFE pale green comp I can get a smoother low end before the DI but straight in no combination of amp sims/plugs sounded as great as the MM straight in with the bass up and treble rolled back a tad. 

octatonic

Winny- do you find the Stingray sounds best with the bass control only slightly turned up and the treble up quite high.
The bass control seems too make the signal get very muddy if turned up.

Oh and I have a blister.
Yes... on my thumb.

Winny_Pooh

Mine is also a 2eq and bass up a quarter from centre, treble down the same or a small boost IIRC. It really depends on your taste. Is this into the Markbass? Nice combo. 

octatonic

Winny_Pooh said:

Mine is also a 2eq and bass up a quarter from centre, treble down the same or a small boost IIRC. It really depends on your taste. Is this into the Markbass? Nice combo. 

Yeah I am very happy with the combo.
So far I have everything flat but dip the lower mids slightly.
I am thinking for gigs I'll pair it with a 2x12 or a 1x15.

Snap

V nice. Not helping my urges AT ALL!!!

guitarfishbay

Winny_Pooh said:

The passive P I have is quite bright DI'd. Into a BJFE pale green comp I can get a smoother low end before the DI but straight in no combination of amp sims/plugs sounded as great as the MM straight in with the bass up and treble rolled back a tad. 

Fair enough. I'd really like to get a Stingray at some point.  I'm not familiar with that compressor but I also don't tend to compress anything on the way in either.

Personally I've had most sucess with preamp pedals and then adding an IR in the DAW.  A good all purpose one is the VT DI  (with speaker sim turned off on the pedal it sounds great into an IR) but for grittier stuff the RBI and B7K are tough to beat.

fretmeister

Darkglass Vintage Microtubes Deluxe.

Amazing pedal. Proper old B15 tones up to saturated SVT. Actually has more drive than the B7K but it's a different flavour.

Buy both! It's what I did!  

guitarfishbay

fretmeister said:

Darkglass Vintage Microtubes Deluxe.

Amazing pedal. Proper old B15 tones up to saturated SVT. Actually has more drive than the B7K but it's a different flavour.

Buy both! It's what I did!  

@fretmeister I seem to remember you had the VT DI at some point, are you all Darkglass now?  The tighter driven sounds on the VT DI can get clanky very fast, but I love it for cleaner or softer stuff (as the RBI and B7KU don't do those).  VMT seems to be able to do softer drive without getting as flubby as the VT DI, but I've never tried one.

Are you using the VMT with the Era knob or the attack/grunt switches?

fretmeister

Era knob version.

But Doug tells me the new one can do the same with the new EQ on it.

I'm all Darkglass now. Amazing things. I have the VMTD, the B7K the Duality, and the Supersymmetry.

guitarfishbay

fretmeister said:

Era knob version.

But Doug tells me the new one can do the same with the new EQ on it.

That's good to know.  I really think the grunt/attack switches are what make the BxK pedals so useful to begin with.  Even the B3K has a lot of mileage in it (essentially the B7K, and B7KU are the same thing with an EQ after the distortion).

Winny_Pooh

@fretmeister I'd love to try one sometime but but at home as a DI which rules out shops, how do you find it vs the sansamp & other amp sims? Does it do clean?