Happy 40th Music Man You "Old Smoothie"... 

Don't even play bass and I still watch and enjoy this show!!!!! (although to be fair I am pretty partial to all the videos on this channel and to all the presenters!)

Nothing rocks like a single pickup 2- band Stingray.

Its impressive that you spoke about the original Stingray for 20 minutes and didn't mention Leo Fender once lol

it's a 10 pole piece because sterling told leo that the high output was way too much for amps and that it was driving amps too hard at the time, and they didn't want to fix that for the final pickup....but leo made one where the magnets weren't directly under the strings in order to do slightly less output, and he gave that to sterling, and that's the prototype this is based off of.

Ernie ball didn't made the first prototype, Leo Fender did.

The reasoning for the pick up was Leo Fender first prototypes were to hot and was overloading the front end of amps so it was suggested to change the pick up by having the the pole piece either side of the string to have a less of an impact on amps in turn makes it sound smoother hence the name.

I've always wanted a Music Man! I love my Warwick custom, but have always wanted to add one of these beauties to my arsenal

There needs to be a best jams compilation of these two!

The thing I love about Lee and Nathan is how their jams at the start of videos are always amazing but always so tasteful and not blatant fret wankery like most demo channels!

God i love stingrays. Nice jobs gentlemen!

Really enjoy checking out these two review some gear. The playing is a nice treat too.

I've watched this video 22 times... I'm not joking... I know... I've got issues

That jam at the beginning was a jar of jam and a half !

Jimi Hendrix by busting the bank

Nice jam, guys. Just really enjoyable.

According to Sterling Ball, Leo Fender came up with the idea of having the strings between the pole pieces rather than above just as with Fender basses. The aim was to have a mellower sound. The original prototype had a three-bolt neck and the (bullet-) trussrod access from the head. The access from the body is more comfortable. The six-bold neck I would consider for mainly phsychological reasons, since the three-bolt neck, that Leo invented back in the 60s was (like later G&L basses) of high quality.

The improv of two basses is so cool, it's hard because they share the same sonic range and palette so your sound can bleed together

that bass rocks!!!!!

I have commented before that most basses shown on this channel sound the same. Then occasionally they feature basses that cost around £2,000 and you can really hear the quality. There appears to be much more difference quality wise between a bass costing £500 and £2000, than standard 6 string guitars with the same price differential.

Thank you guys for a great show. You share valuable info about bass products, and its very entertaining too. I am waiting every week a new show to be publised. Suggestion for topic: comparison of powerfull valve and transistor amps. For example gk 1001rb vs. Ampeg SVT-CL.

I like when you do higher ground at the end

Thumbs up for the first jam

You guys rock! Love your reviews, but here are a few corrections to some of the info on this bass: 1) This bass isn’t a true reissue of the prototype because it has some of the modern features ( 6 bolt neck, truss wheel at the bass of the neck) 2) Leo Fender designed this bass for Sterling Ball because Sterling preferred a “less bright” sounding bass, hence the 10 poles not being directly under the strings...Fender ended up going with a different design for the first production version of the Stingray. 3) I believe the preamp isn’t a boost only style, it is cut/boost but has no center detent (spelling?) which is a feature similar to the “Classic” models of the Stingray, Sterling, and Sabre 4) The original Music Man basses of the mid/late 70s had 3 bolt necks similar to Fender basses at that time. Anyhow, the bass sounds great, and so does your playing! Cheers!

That mint green colour is lovely, and they do sound great... Wouldn't say they are worth the price tag in my opinion, but I'm guessing they'll fetch a decent sum in 20 or 30 years if you keep them in good nick.

Can you get your bro in to play Love Games on anything, it would still sound amazing. Great playing guys, as usual!

My music man's a 1992 and the truss rod adjustment is on the headstock, they moved it down after that also it has 4 screw neck fixing. warning , they mute springs are razor sharp I had to tape them down to keep the blood inside my fingers.

If you guys can do some PRS basses that would be great!! I'd love to see y'all demo them. Would be interesting and fun!

The pickup provides a slightly smoother less aggressive tone...hence 'Old Smoothie'....

I think the idea behind that pickup was to be able to use the same pickup for 5 string and 4 string bases.

Y'all should do a sounds nothing like episode. Basically where you try and get gear the opposite of what the band would use

ephiphone embassy bass review please ☺

Both treble and bass are cut and boost. On my Classic 2 band I prefer to have the treble slightly cut and the bass boosted by 50%. I would never set both to fully open.

Truss rod: same as every maple board Fender made between 1950 and 1959. And thousands of other models since. Come on guys 😏

The pole pieces were either side of the strings because the amps at the time couldn't handle the high output signal of the active pickups with 8 pieces, so Leo Fender, not Stirling, sawed the humbucker in half and put 2 together, you can see the imitation join. Having the poles either side of the strings gave a more passive feel, hence the smoothie nickname, Stirling Ball loved the sound a gigged with the prototype (even though the pickup was held together with electrical tape) but it was decided collectively that the 8 poll piece was a better design. Personal preference obviously, I prefer the 10 piece. But definitely built by Leo, great video though

I think the sound is way better since you switched to miced cabs!

The neck is not a one price maple they take one big chunk of wood put in the truss rod then glue it back using the chunk that was part of the original chunk and it looks like one piece

6 bolt neck plate originally was 3 bolt tilt Truss adjustment was on the neck, new design was better Leo would have approved

"Higher Ground", knew that it was Chili Peppers but couldn't remember exactly which song

Oh come on lads.... who does your research? ...Leo Fender made old smoothie for Sterling Ball his godson.... Sterling was just a young bass player at the time

Dude goes off at 2:15 mark…

The double pole pickups were at least conceived to produce a smoother sound, hence, “Old Smoothy.” The pickups on electric guitars make sound by the steel string waving over the pickup and interrupting the magnetic field of the pole which is then converted to an electrical signal and then into analog sound out the front of the amp. With two poles for each string, theoretically, the string will travel over one pole to produce a signal but this time when it waves in the other direction the second pickup will also produce a signal thus producing a signal on both sides of the sign wave. Clever and in fact maybe too clever by half (electrical engineering pun intended.) Somehow they get the 180 degree out of phase signals to not cancel. So, I’m sure they decided that this was all too complicated, expensive and esoteric for virtually no improvement in the sound. I’ve never compared a double pole with a modern single (I’ve played a Stringry-5 for a couple of decades) so I’m speculating, but one of the characteristics of a Stingray is the growl thing...Like a P bass but juiced with active pickups. I can usually tell the difference on a recording between a Rick, J, P, and MM right off and If one “smooths” that Stingray growl out...well...you may actually loose the signature sound. Hard to tell listening with an iPad but the 10 poles did sound smoother or more - I don’t know - even? I’d lke to see the wave form on a scope to see if I’ve completely imagined it which is quite possible. Lot’s of stuff going on between the production of the electrical signal and sound coming out of the amp speaker and one would think if MusicMan thought this was an improvement they would have incorporated it on their contemporary standard series. They didn’t. But what all guitar makers are doing is anything they can to keep sales going and putting new gizmos on the product so people can say, “Ooo, I need one of those to make me sound better,” seems to be the going strategy in the market. Personally I like to keep it simple. If the action and string spacing on a J was even close to a Stingray I’d own one instead. No batteries, tone and volume knobs and that’s it. In the end not a single person in the audience (unless they happen to be a studio engineer) cares one bit about the nuance of the bass sound and frankly I really don’t either as long as it’s clear.

Here's the story! ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-R2ZRWzEBIzE.html

get Megadeth sound??

I take the piss out of people watching QVC and Home Shopping channels yet watch these videos without batting an eyelid. My ex wife was right I am a hypocrite!!😂😂

excuse me, when ? in the 70s Sterling Ball owned Musicman? i dont get it..

What bass do you recommend for punk

Genuine question: why do musicman basses always sound so 'clicky'? Like the action is too low.

@ 3:32 Lee I think you mean Leo Fender not Sterling Ball... Sterling Ball had nothing to do with the design of the Stingray.

The single tuner on one side of the head, is that just for aesthetics or is it out of practicality?

They actually are boost/cut, but the vintage EQ don't have center detaunts (how the f*** is it spelled?).

hhhhhhHHHHHOWWWWWWWW much?!!!!! ;)

The boys obviously did not do their homework on this one. It ain't too hard to get info on Music Man. As a Stingray owner, I was looking forward to this one. First thumbs down.

"one of the prototype Sterling Ball was working on in the 70's"????? are you seriously drunk or just incompetent? Sterling Ball in the 70's was a teen ager, his father was working with LEO FENDER who made several prototypes, and the Old Smoothie was prototype #26 which Sterling kept....cmon guys, do your homework before putting on a review....

둘이 동시에 같은악기로 연주하니 뭐가ㅜ먼지,못알아듣겠다

Nobody cares about basses or bass players unless you look like, and can sing like Sting or Mcartney. Bass players are fellows who can't figure out guitar cords.

stingrays are in my opinion the best sounding slapper basses you can get, Tim Commerford of RATM got me into trying them out even though i don't own one, now i want sound like Rage Against The Machine (Tim Commerford) without busting the bank and a Tom Morello BY busting

Love the intro jams on these bass vids