Ibanez btb406 vs sterling stingray for studio bass

[teamSKDM]

so ive been researching over the last few weeks to figure out wheres the best place to put my 400$ into a bass for uses in my home studio. pretty much brought me down to these two entry level basses. the btb406 is attractive due to 35" scale length and stainless frets (only on the btb406 not 405 and other models) at around 400 dollars or less. the stingray 5 however has the better pickup which has a much brighter clearer clankier tone. ill be playing in drop G so my question for the more experienced players would you rather go with longer scale length of the ibanez or the better pickup and overall tone of the stingray for low tuning like drop G ? on a good day you can find both of these for as low as 250$

also feel free to throw other suggestions in the price range although these two are hard to beat for the money

 

[MaxOfMetal]

Buy both, sell the one you like least for what you paid.

 

[Crungy]

I'd go for the BTB for drop G. I like Stingrays and how they sound but it's also kind of a one trick pony tone wise. The BTB will have more tonal options as well.

Beyond those basses, you'd have to do a lot of searching to find a great deal.

 

[nightsprinter]

Between the two, I'm going BTB. Those Sterling Rays have had some issues with shearing tuners, stuck truss rods, etc according to Talkbass.

Also consider an older Peavey such as this - https://reverb.com/item/81928375-peavey-grind-bxp-5-string-bass-guitar

Schecter is known for decent 35" scale basses @ cheap used prices too.

 

[Veldar]

Scale length will be your friend unless you are really into the stingray sound

 

[teamSKDM]

Between the two, I'm going BTB. Those Sterling Rays have had some issues with shearing tuners, stuck truss rods, etc according to Talkbass.

Also consider an older Peavey such as this - https://reverb.com/item/81928375-peavey-grind-bxp-5-string-bass-guitar

Schecter is known for decent 35" scale basses @ cheap used prices too.

never realized those grinds were also 35" , hopped on market place and immediately found a neck through with dual humbuckers locally for 300 , could probably talk down too.

 

[GenghisCoyne]

I had one of the first gen grind basses when I was a wee fella. Very comfortable, super light, kind of dull sounding. If it's for studio stuff you can spend time getting it to sound how you like though so I'm a +1 for grinds. Get them before Peavey starts making the new cirrus and inflates the brands overall price

 

[dax21]

Peavey is a good choice here.
That being said, my opinion is that 35" matters over 34" when you go down to A. Anything below that, getting your touch to be consistently light to avoid intonation issues and to maintain clarity, proper gauge fresh strings and post-processing all play way bigger role than that one inch of difference. That tuning has inherent issues that none of the mentioned basses can circumvent without you adjusting your approach.

 

[Crungy]

Oh shit I didn't realize the Grind basses were 35", good call! I'm sure the OP could get a great deal on that too.

 

[nightsprinter]

I believe you could upgrade the monorail bridge pretty easily on those Grinds if I were to guess. Seems like a moddable platform overall.

 

[Crungy]

I believe you could upgrade the monorail bridge pretty easily on those Grinds if I were to guess. Seems like a moddable platform overall.

Possibly pickups as well, unless it has odd sized soapbars or jazz pickups depending on the model.

 

[teamSKDM]

thank you guys for the helpful input. i sat on it overnight and decided im going to get the btb406 as my first bass and eventually upgrade to the btb805 37" multiscale when the funds are available.