For a while now I've been wanting to upgrade from my Yamaha TRBX174 to any kind of Music Man Stingray style bass. My acquisition of a 1979 Ibanez Roadster Bass and the opportunity to play numerous other basses like it has opened my eyes to the world of the Stingray bass. I really prefer the neck dimensions and pickup placement of the Stingray to that of a Jazz or P bass, the bass just feels good when I play it. So I've been looking for nice yet relatively inexpensive addition to my collection, and I've had my eyes on two specific models: The Sterling Ray34 and the Ibanez ATK200.

My budget is very limited, like $400 or lower, so I'm looking for used basses as a used Ray34 is around $400-$500 and a used ATK200 is around $250-$350. My plans for whatever bass I'm going to get are to convert it to fretless, get a new pickup, and start playing some metal with it. My question to all of you on /r/bass is this: Should I spend a little more for the Ray34 or save some money on the ATK? My past experience with Ibanez basses (excluding the Roadster) has been kind of a hit-and-miss type thing. Some have played pretty well and others I didn't really care for, so I'm a bit worried about saving money from buying the ATK and being unhappy with it compared to spending a little more for a bass I have played before and I know I already like. As I stated before, my budget is tight. So which one do you guy suggest I go with?