Musicman StingRay HH 5 Black (pre-owned)

The StingRay is the bass that proved active electronics belonged in a working instrument, and the 5-string carried that punch onto a low B without losing the bark that made the original famous. This one is a 2007 build from Music Man’s San Luis Obispo factory in California — the classic pre-Special generation, with the iconic oval pickguard and that unmistakable Music Man humbucker voice.

The HH layout is where it gets interesting: two humbuckers and a 5-way selector turn the one-trick growl machine into something you can cover a whole set with. Finished in black with a black pickguard and chrome hardware, it’s about as classic as a StingRay 5 gets.

The body is ash, and on a StingRay that’s the whole point — it’s where the punchy low-mid bark and the tight, fast attack come from. Under a solid black finish you don’t see the grain, but you hear it: a focused, slightly aggressive midrange that sits forward in a mix instead of getting buried.

The neck is select maple with a rosewood fingerboard, bolted on with Music Man’s 6-bolt joint for a rock-solid neck pocket. The maple keeps the response quick and snappy; the rosewood board rounds the top end off just enough to take the glassiness out and add a touch of warmth — a friendlier feel than the all-maple StingRay necks, without losing the attack.

It’s a 34″ scale, so strings and setup are completely standard — no long-scale hunting. The low B comes back tight and usable, exactly what you’d expect from an ash-bodied, bolt-on 5 built in California.

This is a 2007 instrument and it’s all original — black body, black SR5 HH pickguard, chrome hardware, and the original SKB hard case it left the factory with. Nothing has been swapped or modified, which matters on a Music Man: the pickups, preamp and bridge are the real thing.

Cosmetically it shows the honest, light playing wear you’d expect from a well-kept bass of this age — it’s been played, not abused. The electronics work as they should and it’s set up and ready to go. Want exact notes on the frets or finish before you commit? Just ask and we’ll get you close-up photos.

Two Music Man humbuckers with alnico pole pieces feed a 3-band active preamp — volume, treble, mid and bass — with a 5-way selector tying the pickups together. The bridge humbucker on its own is the classic StingRay growl: aggressive, punchy, instantly recognisable. Roll toward the neck and inner-coil positions and it warms up and fattens out, covering ground a single-pickup StingRay simply can’t reach.

The active 3-band EQ lets you shape the tone at the bass instead of leaning on the amp — scoop it for slap, push the mids for fingerstyle cut, or fatten the lows for a rounder feel. It’s a genuinely versatile control set wrapped around a sound that never stops being a StingRay.

If you’ve always loved the StingRay punch but found a single humbucker too one-dimensional, this is the answer. It’s a USA-built workhorse that’ll handle rock, funk, pop and studio work without complaint — and at a pre-owned price, it’s one of the smarter ways into a real Music Man 5.