If you watch my channel you know I am a Stingray guy, but I was super impressed with the P in this demo! If the situation was I had to run on stage, I think I would grab the P.

"Which one rocks harder?" Plays them like they're gonna break...

They both have the same dad

Stage -> Stingray Studio -> Pbass

There is a bit more clarity in the stingray. The P-bass wasn't bad, but, the stingray had a bit of a brighter, more clear tone.

Kind of have to hear them rocking to know which one rocks the best.

40 years of touring... Sting Ray 100% of the time

I own around 100 guitars, but only one bass, and it's a Stingray.

Would grab the Pbass. Not because it's better or worse, but because in a pinch it's easier to get a workable tone out of it quickly with less margin for error!

Pbass. No battery, simple, + pure beautiful tone that just plain works... and for most about every application.

The stingray had a “better“ tone. But in context with other instruments, I think the P bass would sound better. With few exceptions, the electric bass is an instrument of accompaniment, and how it mixes with the other instruments is paramount.

James Jamerson, Geezer Butler, Donald “Duck” Dunn, Carol Kaye, Pino Palladino, Steve Harris, Willie Weeks, Sting, Paul Simonon , John Paul Jones... they all don't lie.

I Love both. But I would pick the Stingray. It allways works fine for me in live situations. Leo build the best basses in the whole world. The P the J and the Ray. He was a genius. They all work fine in every situation

When you phrase it the way you did at the very beginning, not only is the answer P bass, but even most Stingray guys are going to pick the P bass too in that scenario. It's the safe "generic" choice for walking into an emergency situation like that. You want to make a good impression, you're humble, you're there to do a job and not steal the spotlight. It's a sign of respect to show up with a Fender in a situation like that. Not that a Stingray is a far out choice by any means, but between the two it has a far greater chance of doing something unexpected in the mix. As far as which "rocks harder", the Stingray certainly has a reputation for an aggressive sound, but a P bass can easily be made its equal in that regard while still retaining a sound that supports the band better. I love Stingrays too, and I own both. It's just that not many models compare favorably to a good P bass. The best way to regret buying that nice boutique bass is to sit down and compare it to your P.

been messing with a stingray 5 for one year now and i feel like i should be able to give some decent opinions on the topic For starters, you will not get rid of that nasal sound. Period. It's just something that's a byproduct of it's only pickup being in the bridge section of the body and the natural tone of the bass. While still on the topic of it's annoyingly persistant nasal sound i'd like to point out that yes, even though it's got an Active 3knob EQ that won't fix this issue, for even the EQ itself suffers from it. You see, if my ears don't fail me the knob for the mids seems to affect *mostly* the low-mid range and that means that whenever you try to "flatten" the sound by cuting down on mids the bass will still sound nasal while also losing the "fullness" and definition of the notes themselves. In other words; yes, in theory you have a gigantic range of tones at your fingertips, but most of them besides the natural Stringtray tone will sound like a cheap knockoff version of the desired result. Another thing that messed me up; the highs. Personaly, i found the highs to be quite annoying as well because even though they have that distinctive bite to them that locks in with the mid-heavy nature of the stringray to create that aggresive growl of a tone they just really, REALLY like to pop for no apparent reason. No amount of trebble cutdown will save you from this and if you try to hit say, Jason Newsted's tone using a Stingray you'll become painfully aware of how bad it is. That's not to say that the Stingray has no strenghts to it though. On the opposite end of the table we have the lows. Oh god, the lows. Yeah, as if that beastly mid-range growl wasn't enough this fucker of a bass has enough low-end to fill your pants with the aftermath of the brown note with ease. I mean Seriously, treat the bass knob for the Active EQ as a weapon and give it proper respect or you'll blow either your roof or your amp, maybe both. Some say that it has too much low end and it makes the notes feel like they're stuck to mud, but that's mostly personal taste in my opinion. All in all the Stingray is a great bass if you want to cut through the mix. Great option to make melodic/complicated basslines and interludes come to life but no so much to lock in with the guitars since that mid-heavy tonality will fight with the guitars for the spotlight. If i had to describe owning a Stingray in the most mundane way possible, it'd be like being the parent of a noisy teenager. Sure, you can't help but admire how angry and full of life someone in their prime is, but sometimes you wish from the bottom of your heart he'd just shut the fuck up.

The Stingray has a sound that makes an impression, until you realize you can't ever get rid of that sound. It's like the bass that wants to be a guitar. The P just sounds like a bass is supposed to sound and always does.

Stingray. As much as I love the P-bass I think the Stingray is much more versatile and offers more of an aggressive tone.

The P bass is perfect in nearly all situations. It always sits perfectly in the mix and is a timeless classic...... and Steve Harris plays one.

P bass for me. Simple, rocks hard, the everything sound, iconic design, no battery..

I have been playing bass since 1971 and I have played many, many basses. The P is still my favorite and works with every type of music.

The P bass. I appreciate the Stingray but each time I’ve bought a 2 band or the new 3 band, it just does not work for me. I’m a pBass or jBass guy. To each there own.

I love both basses, and he nailed it with “you can’t make a bad choice”. personally I generally enjoy playing the Stingray more than the P-bass. Let’s face it, it’s in the playing , but Tony Levin’s tone with a Stingray, wow!

Music man Stingray forever.

You can never ever go wrong on a P bass.

For live, I would grab the Stingray, but for sessions, it would depend on the session, but would probably grab the P Bass

I had a stingray for 10 years and loved it - both in studio and live. I now play an American Elite P bass and its the best bass I've ever had.

I own a couple of both and love them all but the P Bass is my favorite. The P ust has such a classic tone, great feel and rock solid build

If I want to be Jamerson, Ronnie Baker or Duck Dunn, I'm going with the P. If I want to be Bernard Edwards, Louis Johnson or John Deacon, I'll go with the MM. Can't go wrong with either!

I have had both, and I gravitate toward the stingray. That said, I gravitate toward MY stingray, a passive stingray.. I am a big guy and I prefer to play toward the bridge of the bass so having the SR pickup right there is perfect for me, not to mention the wider nut makes things easier for my big hands. Also another little thing, the pickup on the SR is a lot bigger so it gives me more options for thumb anchoring. With the P bass, it sounds fine, but I always feel a little squished when I play it.

I've owned an American P bass for 40 years. That's all I need.

P Bass every time. Instinctive, simple, versatile. Great sound. Welcome at any party.

i have both. depends on the music

I'm the original owner of a vintage Sting Ray and I started on a Precision borrowed from school. The biggest difference is that the Music Man can have gobs of high end if you want it to. Sometimes I play with a pick and just want a "smash" at the beginning of every note and sometimes I want to dial the treble EQ down and play fingerstyle to make it just seem "normal." But that "normal" speaks with a real authority. The Precision - if only by self-reference - is more "classic." I've heard them sound wonderful when some high-mids are allowed out but that's not how you usually hear them.

I would grab the stingray and run out of the building cause’ I don’t know how to play 😃

-I’ve always wished the Stingray was designed to still have output even if the battery died like a G&L can.

The P, no eq settings to fiddle with since there's no opportunity for a sound check. Volume and tone all the way on and start playing.

I could never get used to the stingray. Somehow it lacks personality IMO. Super bassy and super trebly, no mids. That sound of strings hitting the frets just drives me nuts. I mean no disrespect to anyone, please. That’s just my opinion not an unquestionable truth. And amongst the Fenders, PBass is king.

P-Bass IS my go-to for stage and studio. I used to have a sweet Ray along with others over the years but a Fender P is my only must have. Rock on!

I put flats on my stingray and it offset the inherent brightness perfectly. From there I don't feel there's a sound that I can get from my p-bass that i can't get with my stingray.

Real easy for me--I've been shopping for a better bass, and I have tried several of each. Being older and having small hands, fretting is generally hard for me. The EBMM, even the Sterlings, are infinitely more comfortable in my hands. I like to test ease of playing with one step intervals, both picked, and I find them more difficult to nail accurately on the Precision. I can take my POS Sterling Sting Ray, hold it out from my body, and nail them every time. I put my hands on a $2600 Stingray today, and it was like butter. I couldnt miss a note. As far as sound goes, if you are putting it into a DAW, then you are going to tweak it, anyway. Ease of playing is much more important in my world.

I would never own a bass with less than 21 frets Because I couldn't play the orion solo

I've been using them both for the last few years. Then... Sold my Stingray and bought another Pbass from 1978 ... No regrets. The way Music Man plays is almost unbeatable but the Power and sound of a good Pbass .... 😍

Love them both, but if only one, P Bass for life. :)

I’m a Fender guy and I play a P and a J currently, but I’m looking for a Stingray as well. I think a Fender player needs all three.

I've owned and loved both but I now just play the P bass.

I love both. But to answer your question, the Stingray. But both are great.

Stingray all day long the best necks in the world.

It's natural to see Stingray excel more than the P-bass because it's an active bass. That EQ with the battery gives more gain for the pickup and it gives more signal to the amp.

As im running on stage, i grab the stingray. Why? Everyone likes the p bass. So that makes the stingray seem cooler to a 14 year old like me

Have a P-Bass and a Stingray. Love them both. 2 classics!

Grab the P Bass it never lets you down

P-BASS solid and simple and more versatile than it looks

I'd get a stingray and jam a p-bass pickup right up against the stingray pickup as close as possible to the correct location, install a little toggle switch on the control plate, and have the best of both worlds:)

P-Bass with Seymor Duncan Quarterpounder, Maple Fretboard and Flats

I've owned both, and the Precision bass totally owns the Stingray in every way for me. As soon as you open the tone on the Stingray it's just too clicky and obviously 'active'. The precision is raw and throaty OR warm and thumpy. The greatest bass in the world.

The P-bass is the emperor with no clothes.......Stingrays have always had a better overall tone that lets the bassists parts be articulated better.....your playing examples proved it. That being said...use what you like and color the sound to fit the song best, yes even a P-bass.

I really loved the tone of the Stingray

Stingray with flatwounds are very funky!!

Great video! I have a P-bass and a J-bass, and I dream of expanding my collection, by adding a Stingray to it. Maybe some day.

I think I prefer the tone from p basses , they seem to be more organic , open sounding old fashioned tone. Having said that a stingray is a great gig workhorse because it just had a really tight punchy lower mid sound and always cuts through the mix without sounding boomy .

I'm a diehard P-bass player. I do own a stingray, and as for that opening question, if I'm ready to jump on stage, I would grab the Stingray

Surprisingly, the Music Man Stingray, had a more responsive sound, from your doodling!! IMO.....leif

It’s like comparing apples with pears. One with active a microphone, and the other with dynamic.

All my life (and I’m 63 at the moment) I’ve been a Höfner and Rickenbacker lad. Last year 2019 I decided to get a P bass. I was very surprised by the tone !!! Unfortunately with the pandemic, I haven’t been able to use it in gigs yet. It has a very distinguished sound, so different to the Höfner, the Rickenbacker and the Steinberger that I also owned. I’m happy with it. Never played a Stingray, can’t compare its tone to the rest. In your video, both seem similar in tone. That’s my experience. Cheers !!!

Any studio or sound engineer prefer P Bass. Sounds way better in the mix....

In your scenario: P-Bass. I'm more familiar (even though I recently got into Musicman) and there's fewer options. To me the P-Bass's basic tone always works, so fewer ways to mess up the bass tone is better in a "hurry up" situation.

Live show - Stingray Recording - Precision bass

Stingray every single time, without even thinking about it. P-Basses are great, but Leo Fender Designed the Stingray to be what is essentially the modernized P-bass. I took the plunge and dumped an entire tax return on a Smoked Chrome (such a damn sexy finish) US 4-string StingRay Special single pickup model with the 18 volt 3 band EQ. No regrets. The first time you pull it out of the case the way everything feels on that bass is perfect, and mine was set up perfectly, and was even in tune after being shipped across the country too. I will keep that bass as my go to 4 string forever. The tone is unbelievable, and the neck.... The neck on that bass is really what makes it blow everything else away. No bass that I have ever played has ever had a neck that comes anywhere close to how good my StingRay's feels. I have a Sterling HH Stingray5 as well, and I thought it felt amazing for what they were asking for in a $600 bass (If you don't want the $1500 to $2400 price tag you'll get more than your money's worth out of a Sterling Stingray). Once my 4 string came in I realized how massive the gap in quality between the 2 instruments was though. You can feel and hear how good the tone is going to be in the wood even before you plug the thing in. I'll pass on the P-bass, but the Jazz Bass though. That's a completely different story. I want a couple of those. Especially a fretless 5-string J-Bass.

My P bass has a Badass bridge II, an absolutely beautiful birds eye maple Warmouth Neck, Steve Harris pickups and Hip-shot tuners. I play it one of every three practices. The Stingray is all Stock and I play it 2 out of every 3 practices. Bottom line, If you want to be cool and get laid, you need to have both these basses in your arsenal.

I'm a die-hard Fender guy, however, I love my Stingray. But if I was in a hurry going onstage, I would choose the Precision Bass because of the tonal simplicity. I wouldn't want to have to mess around with a 3-band EQ up on stage when I could just roll up a single tone knob. If I had the option though, I would choose a Jazz Bass, my favorite of all time, the Swiss Army knife of basses IMO.

I have a 1978 stingray. I brought it when brand new . It’s been an absolute beast indestructible and versatile. It also has a more even tone than the pbass there’s no hot spots and still has a beautiful fat tone up the neck.

Phoenix Farrell plays the Stingray. I gotta agree with most of you thinking the P Bass fits more musical scenarios, but by golly, I'm a real fan of that gritty tone the Stingray has!

I`ve owned both (amongst others) but the P bass is the best all -round, fit in anywhere instrument.

P Bass. Hard to not get a good sound out of it. Not to mention, it's extremely F.O.H.-friendly straight from the DI Box.

I think one would always miss a P bass in the " collection " while a Stingray, and active in general, is more of a bonus and an acquired taste of some sort, when you want to add a personnalized touch to your style. Exploring. If I had to go backward I'd pick a P as my first bass, no question about it ( instead of my jazz ) and a Stingray design as a second spot.

Stingray for me every time unless I'm playing Motown songs. In the studio it has to be a P but I am addicted to the ballsy and commanding tone of my 2000 5 string Stinger.

p 4ever. also: batteries suck

I’d choose a Jazz Bass 🙂

Well, the P had a 25 year head start. Now if Leo Fender had created both simultaneously, which would have been more popular?

I’ve owned both. I sold my Stingray. I now have three Fender Precision basses.

I like the Stingray better although the p-bass is favored for its stronger mid tones, I didn't hear that in your samples.

I love the stingray but I’d have to grab the precision

I used to play P Bass many years ago and then switched to the Stingray but after watching this video, I'm going to buy another P Bass, nice video!

Old NASHVILLE cat here weighing in... it’s simply a situational call for passive vs active. No question two iconic legends! The P growls w perfection in the mids. The Stingray really cuts through through with that circuit. Hard call on this one! Maybe Pino Palladino will pick up on this debate.

I think a comparison of a Music Man Sting Ray vs. an Elite or Ultra P-Bass would have been better. That way it would have been active vs active. I know there are a ton of active basses out there that offer a passive mode, but I am not sure if the Sting Ray offers that option to make it passive or not. Active pickups really have their own unique sound so it should not be compared to passive.

P bass all day. Love that passive tone

When you asked which one grabbing when you run on stage helped me decide which one to buy today. I am between buying both of these. I’ll get the music man first then the fender. But want both in the collection.

My mother neighbord ask her for the recipe of her chilli. My mother gave her the recipe but she hide the most important ingredients and procedure. The neighbord cook the chilli similar to the one my mother cook but not with the same perfection. Leo Fender did the same with Sterling Ball. They get a product similar to the Fender but not quite the same.

The Music Man is the workhorse of punk/ska bass!

P-Bass absolutly!!!!! It just ROCKssss

I used to have a different Stingrays but now I'm a P Bass guy. Sounds fuller, no battery, and no clanky treble from the pre amp.

I choose the P-Bass. Rationale: The Stingray, IMHO, offered better note clarity, but the P-Bass (for me) is easier to listened to over a longer period especially when used in a variety of music. And if you do chords with flats, the P-Bass steps way out in front. Be well.

Stingray but I love them both

I can't consider a Stingray until they make a passive pick-up only version. That's always been a deal breaker for me.

I do love both but if I was running on stage and need a quick minute decision, P-Bass only because I’ve ALWAYS played a lot on P-Basses. I’m too used to them.

I miss the old American Deluxe P Basses, that came with a P and a MM. Fender now offers their American Ultra, but it’s only a P with a single J.

Jazz bass for me.

totally incomparable. have both. both are used for different kinds of music

Near end of demo the Achilles heel of Precision bass shows up as a big fret fart. A FRETLESS WONT DO THAT. If I had to choose between fretted necks going into direct inject to house, pick the preamplified battery bass and curb your enthusiasm as you always must with any bass in an on platform scenario. Best solution - ask to borrow an Italian vintage double bass to get rid of pick noise AND nasal intonations.

I’d go with the P-Bass. The simplicity and the fact that one would be hard pressed to dial in a bad tone with a P-Bass makes it my go-to, especially if running headlong into the unknown.