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Thread: jazz bass vs. stingray

  1. #1
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    jazz bass vs. stingray

    I'm in the market for a new bass, and i'm debating between an american series jazz and a stingray. I love both basses. I hear people saying how newer fenders aren't very good, but I disagree. Who here would choose the jazz over the ray and why.

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    Forum Member Rich Briere's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    Yo Funky,

    These discussions always interest me but you have ten reasons why YOU would prefer one over the other--and those ten reasons are located at the ends of your hands. :^>)

    While only you can pick a favorite, I whole-heartedly recommend that you sit down and play several examples of both basses. IMHO, you'll end up playing and owning BOTH. Trying to compare the two---depending on the features built into each--is comparing apples and oranges.

    Bass-ically Yours,
    Rich Briere

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    Forum Member jrgtr42's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    they're 2 totally different instruments - like comparing a Strat to a Les Paul.
    I personally don't think either one is inherantly superior to the other; they're different. That said, I PERSONALLY would go with the Stingray, mostly because of the neck. I prefer the fatter neck. 1 11/16" nut on the Ray (and the P-bass, BTW)vs 1 1/2" (if I remember right) for the Jazz. The day they make a Jazz body/electronics with a P neck on it, I'll buy one.
    I'll also disagree with catagorizing American Fender's as "not very good" True there are good ones and not-so-good ones, but as a whole they're pretty consistant.

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    Forum Member IplayforJC's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    I agree, they both bring something different to the table. If it were up to me? I'd buy an AmDlx Jazz over a Stingray. Why? Better growl and snappier highs. While the SR is good too, its use for me would be limited to funky, gospel-type music. YMMV.

    Happy hunting.
    Nice to meet you.

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    Forum Member jrgtr42's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    INteresting, JC...I think that the Stingray has more growl than the Jazz. The Fender definitely has snappier highs, though, the SR is more midrange-y... and to me the humbucker mixed with the active electronics have more....ooomph, for lack of a better term.
    Not to say the Jazz isn't good as well, I think it's a bit more refined.
    heck, given my druthers and a couple grand, I'd have one of each (with a Precision neck on the Jazz) in my stable...

  6. #6
    Gravity Jim
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    You might also want to try an MIA Precision Deluxe for a nice combination of the features you admire. Mine is extraorindarily versatile, which is why I bought it.

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    Forum Member Rickenjangle's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    I have the MIM Precision Deluxe, with the EMG's, and it rocks! I love it to death. I also have a MIM Jazz Fretless which I enjoy greatly...love the narrower neck...

    BUT...if I was more than a hobbyist at bass, AND, if I was going to get serious, and start making some decent money playing, then I'd go with the Stingray 5-string as my primary gigging bass. I think that they took the Fender bass and improved on the design greatly. It's solid, dependable, that big ol' pickup sounds GREAT, and the neck feels great too.

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    Forum Member Rickenjangle's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    OK, so I reread my post, and I made myself seem like a rank amateur...I'm more than a hobbyist, I play bass every week at church, and am regarded by musician-friends as a pretty decent bassist...didn't want you to think I didn't know what I was talking about...I started playing bass back in '83 when I was a sophomore in high school, and won the Louis Armstrong jazz award as a senior, so I do know good bass tone.

    Though I never learned to slap and pop worth a darn...I'm too steeped in Southern Rock and Country...

    "I'm gonna find myself a girl
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    Forum Member IplayforJC's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    Quote Originally Posted by jrgtr42 View Post
    heck, given my druthers and a couple grand, I'd have one of each
    LOL, me too.
    Nice to meet you.

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    Forum Member cre2403's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    This will do everything the Stingray AND the Fender will do, and sound better - for less money. Choose the HB2 pickup option. Everyone I know who has bought a Carvin has been very surprised at the incredible tone capabilities and professional quality. I've played the stingray and the fender (and still own a jazz), and the Carvin blows them away.

    http://www.carvin.com/products/guitar.php?ItemNumber=B5

  11. #11
    Forum Member davey's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    Quote Originally Posted by jrgtr42 View Post
    That said, I PERSONALLY would go with the Stingray, mostly because of the neck. I prefer the fatter neck. 1 11/16" nut on the Ray (and the P-bass, BTW)vs 1 1/2" (if I remember right) for the Jazz.
    Exactly why I prefer the Jazz over the Stingray and the Precision (as well as a lot of other basses). It's also the reason I had my G&L custom ordered for me.

    I read this a long time ago, and it's totally true, and it goes even more to why I haven't even picked up a Stingray (or Sabre for that matter)- "when I pick up a bass, it sounds like me playing bass- when I pick up a Stingray, it sounds like me playing a Stingray."

    It does what it does, it sounds like a Stingray- it doesn't do what you want it to do- it makes you sound like you're playing a Stingray.
    *Recipient of the 2006 Time Magazine "Man Of The Year" Award*


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  12. #12
    Forum Member jrgtr42's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    Davey: you like the smaller necks, eh? s'all good...different strokes for different folks. I personally like the feel of the bigger neck.
    I don't really agree with the quote you repeated. To me, the Stingray is as versitile an instrument as any others out there - it's what you do with it. I would ask you to play one sometime, just for fun. Explore the electronics and what they can do. If you don't like it, no biggie; it's no skin off my teeth. I know people who play it jazz, rock, blues, punk, you name it, the SR can do it. So can plenty of others, I'm not saying anything bad about the Jazz; like I said, I want one with a P-neck.

    Cre: greed, Carvin makes some incredible gear at short money...my only complaint with them is they have one neck shape - thin.
    Correction, they have a 6-string guitar neck, a 7 string, an acoustic and 4, 5 and 6 string bass necks. very slim for all of them.
    As I mentioned earlier, I like honkin' big ones.
    Ain't taking anything awqay from Carvin, though - they invented the production/custom instrument. I just wish they'd intruduce different neck shapes.

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    Forum Member davey's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    Quote Originally Posted by jrgtr42 View Post
    Davey: you like the smaller necks, eh? s'all good...different strokes for different folks. I personally like the feel of the bigger neck.
    I don't really agree with the quote you repeated. To me, the Stingray is as versitile an instrument as any others out there - it's what you do with it. I would ask you to play one sometime, just for fun. Explore the electronics and what they can do. If you don't like it, no biggie; it's no skin off my teeth. I know people who play it jazz, rock, blues, punk, you name it, the SR can do it. So can plenty of others, I'm not saying anything bad about the Jazz; like I said, I want one with a P-neck.
    I totally understand people not liking the 1.5" nut width, it's what I learned on, and I actually did have the Noel Redding Jazz with an 11/16" nut for around a year. I hated it, but I gave it my best shot.

    I've been fortunate enough to play literally dozens of Stingrays and Sabres- and actually had a Stingray on loan for a month or so (this was around 1995 or so) I could never get it away from it's "signature" sound. Everything I played unmistakably sounded like it was coming out of a Stingray. Maybe some of it has to do with the bass sound I was trying to get out of it, the one I had on loan was being run through an old SVT-2/8x10 and my GK 800 RB/2+1x15. It's not my thing- I accept that, and I don't think any less of the instrument or anyone that uses it-
    *Recipient of the 2006 Time Magazine "Man Of The Year" Award*


    Some people are like Slinkies . . . not really good for anything, but you
    still can’t help but smile when you see one tumble down the stairs.

  14. #14
    Forum Member jrgtr42's Avatar
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    Re: jazz bass vs. stingray

    Quote Originally Posted by davey View Post
    I totally understand people not liking the 1.5" nut width, it's what I learned on, and I actually did have the Noel Redding Jazz with an 11/16" nut for around a year. I hated it, but I gave it my best shot.

    I've been fortunate enough to play literally dozens of Stingrays and Sabres- and actually had a Stingray on loan for a month or so (this was around 1995 or so) I could never get it away from it's "signature" sound. Everything I played unmistakably sounded like it was coming out of a Stingray. Maybe some of it has to do with the bass sound I was trying to get out of it, the one I had on loan was being run through an old SVT-2/8x10 and my GK 800 RB/2+1x15. It's not my thing- I accept that, and I don't think any less of the instrument or anyone that uses it-

    Fair enough, Davey...from your earlier post, I though t you were saying that you never played a Stingray.
    I will admit that there is a sound you get from it, though to me the electronics give a pretty wide range of tweakability.
    Depending on the sound you were looking for, the GK and Apegs are pretty distictive amps...at least the GK for sure, the SVT I haven't played enough to really get a feel for, but that could be part of it...
    like I said, it's all good, man...

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