Announced at the 2025 NAMM show, Cory Wong’s new collaboration with Ernie Ball Music Man scratched an itch—namely, the itch for a humbucker-loaded guitar that could appease Wong’s rock-and-R&B alter ego and serve as complement to his signature Fender Strat. Inspiration came from no further than a bandmate’s namesake instrument. Vulfpeck bassist Joe Dart has a line of signature model EBMM basses, one of which uses the classic StingRay bass body profile. So, when Wong went looking for something distinctive, he wondered if EBMM could create a 6-string guitar using the classic StingRay bass body and headstock profile.
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II ReviewErnie Ball Music Man StingRay II ReviewDouble the Fun
Wong is, by his own admission, a single-coil devotee. That’s where the core of his sound lives and it feels like home to him. However, Wong is as inspired by classic Earth, Wind & Fire tones and the pop-punk of the early ’90s as he is by Prince and the Minneapolis funk that he grew up with. The StingRay II is a guitar that can cover all those bases.
Ernie Ball has a history of designing fast-feeling, comfortable necks. And I can’t remember ever struggling to move around an EBMM fretboard. The roasted maple C-shaped neck here is slightly thicker in profile than I expected, but still very comfortable. (I must also mention that the back of the neck has a dazzling, almost holographic look to the grain that morphs in the light). By any measure, the StingRay II’s curves seemed designed for comfort and speed. Now, let’s talk about those pickups.Hot or Not?
A few years ago EBMM introduced a line of HT (heat-treated) pickups. The pickups are built with technology the company used to develop their Cobalt and M-Series strings. A fair amount of the process is shrouded in secrecy and must be taken on faith, but EBMM says treating elements of the pickup with heat increases clarity and dynamic response.
To find out for myself, I plugged the StingRay II into a Fender Vibroverb, Mesa/Boogie Mark VII, and a Neural DSP Quad Cortex (Wong’s preferred live rig). Right away, it was easy to hear the tight low end and warm highs. Often, I feel like the low end from neck humbuckers can feel too loose or lack definition. Neither was the case here. The HT pickup is beautifully balanced with a bounce that’s rich with ES-335 vibes. Clean tones are punchy and bright—especially with the Vibroverb—and dirty tones have more room for air. Individual notes were clear and articulate, too.
Any guitar associated with Wong needs a strong middle-position or combined pickup tone, and the StingRay II delivers. I never felt any significant signal loss in the blended signal from the two humbuckers, even if I could use a bit more midrange presence in the voicing. The midrange gap is nothing an EQ or Tube Screamer couldn’t fix, though. And not surprisingly, very Strat-like sounds were easy to achieve for having less midrange bump.
Knowing Wong’s love for ’90s alt-rock, I expected the bridge pickup to have real bite, and it does, demonstrating exceptional dynamic range and exceptional high-end response that never approached shrill. Nearly every type of distortion and overdrive I threw at it sounded great, but especially anything with a scooped-mid flavor and plenty of low end.
The Verdict
By any measure, the StingRay II is a top-notch, professional instrument. The fit and finish are immaculate and the feel of the neck makes me wonder if EBMM stashes some kind of secret sandpaper, because I don’t think I’ve ever felt a smoother, more playable neck. Kudos are also due to EBMM and Wong for finding an instrument that can move between ’70s George Benson tones and the hammering power chords of ’90s Blink-182. Admittedly, the nearly $3K price could give some players pause, but considering the overall quality of the instrument, it’s not out of line. Wong’s involvement and search for distinct sounds makes the StingRay II more than a tired redux of a classic model—an admirable accomplishment considering EBMM’s long and storied history.
Ernie Ball Music Man StingRay II Cory Wong Signature Electric Guitar - Charcoal Blue with Rosewood Fingerboard
Along with contemporaries like MGMT and Passion Pit, Greenwich, New York, duo Phantogram’s experiments crosspollinating hip-hop, indie, and punk rock helped cement and elevate a new era of electronic-influenced alt-rock and indie music. At the start of the 2010s, you’d be hard-pressed to find a college radio station or dorm-room playlist that didn’t include a Phantogram hit.
Sixteen years after the release of their debut record, band leaders Josh Carter and Sarah Barthel, who started Phantogram in a town of just a few thousand people, are touring behind their latest full-length, 2024’s Memory of a Day. The tour included a sold-out stop at Nashville’s Ryman Auditorium—a different sort of barn than the kind they used to perform in back in Greenwich—where PG’s John Bohlinger caught up with Carter and Barthel. Courtesy of some help from their tech, the duo showed us how they’re pulling off their theatrical live experience.
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Music Mantogram
Carter is endorsed by Ernie Ball Music Man guitars, so all three of his road axes are variations on his current favorite Cutlass model. This one, first among the trio, is finished in black with a gold pickguard, and like its stablemates, it bears the Phantogram logo inlaid on the first fret. Carter removes the vibrato bar and uses his hand to pull the bridge up to nail the warbles. Aside from that, this one is all stock, and strung with Ernie Ball Paradigm .010s. While he sometimes grabs a pick, Carter plays most of the set with an acrylic nail on his index finger.
Brown Sound
This first backup Cutlass is finished in brown with the woodgrain peeking through and a burgundy tortoiseshell pickguard. It has a Seymour Duncan single-coil-sized humbucker in the bridge position for a hotter output than its black counterpart.
Step It Up
This natural finish Cutlass has had the same pickup mod as the brown one, but this one stays tuned a half-step up for special deployment.
Clean Business
Carter uses a wireless system to run to this Neural DSP Quad Cortex at his feet. His tech has set it up to emulate many of the pedals Carter uses in the studio. Carter appreciates the tactile and flexible nature of the system; it can take MIDI programming so Carter can focus on performing, or it can be rigged up to function like a traditional pedalboard. He uses a mix of amp emulations, including AC30-, 5150-, Fender tweed-, and Jazz Chorus-style patches.
A Boss volume and expression pedal alongside the Quad Cortex give Carter some extra control over the setup.
Josh Carter's Pedalboard Playground
While Carter carried a compact stomp station for tour, he’s addicted to stompboxes and uses them for inspiration when writing and sound building during studio sessions. Here’s what a small selection shared from his collection:
“The most prominent pedals I used for years onstage before switching to the Quad Cortex were the Line 6 DL4, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, Boss
DD-6 Digital Delay, Boss OC-3 Super Octave OC-3, Fulltone OCD, Wampler Ego Compressor, and Route 66 American Overdrive.
My go-to studio pedals are the MXR Joshua Ambient Echo, Line 6 DL4, Death By Audio Reverberation Machine, Electro-Harmonix Holy Grail, Chase Bliss Generation Loss MkII, Chase Bliss Mood MkII, Boss DD-500 Digital Delay, Chase Bliss Audio Automatone CXM 1978, Old Blood Noise Mondegreen Delay and Reflector Chorus.
And some honorable mentions for pedals I’ve been really digging as of late would be the Neon Egg Planetarium, Roland Space Echo, and various vintage & new spring reverbs.
Silver Stunner
Sarah Barthel initially played keys in Phantogram, but she learned bass and mimicked her synth parts on the instrument so she could move about freely and interact more with Carter. This custom-made sparkle-finish Fender Mustang is the perfect size for her, and she just recently started playing it with a pick. She runs into a Quad Cortex, too, but the Fender Bassman stack lurking behind the bass serves as an onstage monitor.
Jazzmaster
Barthel isn’t confined to the bass, either. At some points in the set she jumps onto this prized Jazzmaster, which she’s had for 15 years.
Jared Dines had been writing for Canadian metalcore outfit Oni—fronted by Jake Oni—for a few years before Jake invited Dines to join him onstage. Dines had just two days to learn the entire set before rehearsals began. But Eric Palmer can one-up him. He was teching for the band when Jake conscripted him—with just one day to pick up the set before a performance. Palmer rose to the occasion, and he and Dines have formed Oni’s two-guitar tornado for the past year.
Ahead of their gig at Nashville’s Brooklyn Bowl in December, Dines and Palmer walked PG’s Chris Kies through their spartan, one-guitar rigs—no backups, no mercy.
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Eric Palmer is used to playing 7-string axes, so this limited-run 8-string Jackson Concept Series MDK8 HT8 MS Modern Dinky didn’t take long to get used to. The Korea-made flamethrower has a basswood body, a 3-piece maple/wenge/mapleneck, and a compound radius ebony fretboard (12" to 16"). It also boasts a dual scale length—25.5" to 27.5"—and is loaded with Fishman Fluence Modern pickups, which feature two voicings selected by a push-pull switch. Palmer had this one upgraded to a 5-way switch to access split-coil sounds, and he got rid of the tone knob. “All gas, no brakes,” as PG’s Perry Bean would say.
Petrucci Power
Jared Dines also needed an 8-string for Oni, so Ernie Ball sent him this Music Man Majesty 8, a John Petrucci signature model. It’s got Fishman’s Powerbridge piezo system, which sees action on the song “Control.” Dines attached his own string clamp behind the nut to halt noise.
Double Quads
Dines and Palmer both rely on Neural DSP Quad Cortexes on this Oni tour. Their units are mounted on Temple Audio pedalboards, and both guitarists use the Architecture: Gojira X patch for their heavy sounds, and a Roland Jazz Chorus sound for cleans. Both Dines and Palmer employ a MIDI switching system that they pulled from Aaron Marshall’s Rig Rundown, and run their signals from direct to front of house.
