Musicman S.U.B. Bass

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:32 am

There's one for $500 at a shop in Albuquerque and my dad's in the area. I might ask him to pick it up for me.

Anyone have an opinion on these? Any comparisons to a real stingray, or even the new sterling series? Do people here even like MusicMan stuff?

Ankhanu · Post by **Ankhanu** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:48 am

I'm not a fan myself, but MusicMan makes some solid basses, with a strong following. I've played a couple and they've been nice, but I haven't played the S.U.B.

So all I can say is, it has a good pedigree behind it.

Billy3000 · Post by **Billy3000** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 2:41 am

i have a real stingray. I haven't really played it in a long time, as I've grown to prefer passive basses a lot more than active. But the stingray to me does sound better than any other active bass that I have ever played.

As for the SUB basses, I haven't played one since they first came out with them. I remember that I wasn't impressed with them at all. That was when they had the weird textured, matte finishes and diamond plate pickguards. I hated the way that they looked and sounded. That was also right around the same time that they came out with the OLP line and had a stingray copy for $229 and it looked and sounded 10,000 times better than the SUB did. It was passive, but it definitely sounded worlds better than the SUB. I've heard good things about the newer SUB lines and I think now, it's called the Ray34 or something like that and not SUB anymore. So I would definitely say it depends on which one they have there.

ohyeahfuzzbear · Post by **ohyeahfuzzbear** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 11:39 am

A guy I know had a S.U.B sounds pretty decent and has an extremely comfortable neck.

However, it has a horrible finish that makes it feel like it's made from stone...

Boab · Post by **Boab** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 1:47 pm

ohyeahfuzzbear wrote:A guy I know had a S.U.B sounds pretty decent and has an extremely comfortable neck.

However, it has a horrible finish that makes it feel like it's made from stone...

I can concur with this. I've only once played one (backstage at my first gig actually) and the finish did feel a bit unpleasant. But it was a nice instrument.

MikeG · Post by **MikeG** » Wed Jun 30, 2010 8:48 pm

I know a couple of people who've owned them. Electronics and hardware seem pretty good (as you would hope for the price).

Are they not made brand new anymore? $500 is fair, I suppose.

Still, after seeing the quality of Mike's Classic Vibe bass, I'd be thinking long and hard before spending much more on an instrument these days!

damienblair17 · Post by **damienblair17** » Thu Jul 01, 2010 3:06 am

Played both a Stingray and a Sterling "Ray 34" today in Guitar Center. Both had the 3 band EQ. I thought I'd jot down some notes

Stingray - Had the classic sound I thought it would. Not too heavy, although I was sitting down and playing. The EQ gave me some nice options. I got the low end kinda growl that I usually play with (with a more pronounced pop) and some more punk-like tones with the high knob turned up. Everything on the bass pops. Which is pretty good for my style of music/playing.

Ray 34 - I tried to A/B the two and immediately I heard a difference. The Ray 34 was much more tinny than the stingray. There were more highs that I couldn't get rid of just by messing with the knobs. I could tell the EQ was helping, but it wasn't doing much to get rid of the overwhelming plinkyness. I didn't like it too much.

Not too sure about the SUB Bass in Albuquerque. I'm still thinking about it.