EBMM StingRay Special Club

[Dusky Bass]

I’m struggling to find a set of strings I’m happy with on my Special 5H. […]

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

FWIW I recently put on a set of the La Bella IMA Super Polished (steel) and after wiping them down and spending a few days on them, I'm really diggin' em. At first I was worried about the feel of steel and they felt a little grabby on my fretting hand and rubbery in my plucking fingers. But, after wiping them down and putting a few hours on them they seem to 'come to life'. In no way are they flats or meant to be similar to them. IMO, they now feel really nice and do not have the string noise you mention. They also seem to very mildly knock down some of the top end growl and clank (to me, this is great). I can slide my fingers with much less noise than the previous set of nickel La Bella High Beams I had on it. My goal was to see if I can get a little more thud and a tone that can learn towards a range from early Motown to modern R&B. Right now, I think this does the trick while still keeping the Stingray sound.

For reference, my fave strings are the La Bella Low Beams (nickel). They don't have the grabby string noise and work very well on my Jazz V. I was going to put them on my SS5 Special, but decided to give the IMA Super Polished a try - and I'm glad I did. HTH, and keep us posted on what you land on!

 

[Dusky Bass]

Any HX Stomp owners in here that have a preset for the Stingray Special 5 you care to share? I've tried to create one a few times, but seem to come back to something very basic that isn't quite capturing a gap between having thunderous lows and taking out a little 'honk honk' from the D & G strings...

 

[Element Zero]

I’m struggling to find a set of strings I’m happy with on my Special 5H. Specifically what is causing all my hangups is that my cover band is playing the song Virtual Insanity, and there is a lot of sliding around on the neck in that bass line. With roundwound strings, this bass really seems to amplify the scratchy finger slides, but otherwise the tone is great. With flats, the scratchy finger slide noise is minimal, but the tone is lacking depth. I’ve tried the following:

Rounds:
D’Addario ProSteels
EB Cobalt Roundwound
Dunlop Nickel
D’Addario XT

Flats:
EB Group V
D’Addario Chromes

I know the first thought is that technique is my issue, and maybe that is true, but I’ve been playing bass in bands for 30 years and this is the first time that I can remember this finger noise really bothering me out of the hundreds of different songs I’ve played over the years on a dozen different basses in that time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

I couldn’t be happier with the stainless steel Elixirs on my Special 5H fretless. Lots of attack but not much squeak. ProSteels and Cobalts are REALLY bright strings. GHS Pressurewounds might do the trick. Sound more like round wounds but feel more like flats. Had a set on my old Fodera for 6 months.

Have you given thought to a set of Super Slinkys? I ADORE my ‘00 SR5 with them.

 

[cholyoke]

I’m struggling to find a set of strings I’m happy with on my Special 5H. Specifically what is causing all my hangups is that my cover band is playing the song Virtual Insanity, and there is a lot of sliding around on the neck in that bass line. With roundwound strings, this bass really seems to amplify the scratchy finger slides, but otherwise the tone is great. With flats, the scratchy finger slide noise is minimal, but the tone is lacking depth. I’ve tried the following:

Rounds:
D’Addario ProSteels
EB Cobalt Roundwound
Dunlop Nickel
D’Addario XT

Flats:
EB Group V
D’Addario Chromes

I know the first thought is that technique is my issue, and maybe that is true, but I’ve been playing bass in bands for 30 years and this is the first time that I can remember this finger noise really bothering me out of the hundreds of different songs I’ve played over the years on a dozen different basses in that time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Those are some bright rounds.

I use Ernie Ball Regular Slinky or D'Addario XL170 strings on my Stingray and Big Als and EB Cobalt flats on my Bongo. I don't find the cobalt flats to be overly bright. Sometimes turning down the treble cuts the scratchy slides.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

I’m struggling to find a set of strings I’m happy with on my Special 5H. Specifically what is causing all my hangups is that my cover band is playing the song Virtual Insanity, and there is a lot of sliding around on the neck in that bass line. With roundwound strings, this bass really seems to amplify the scratchy finger slides, but otherwise the tone is great. With flats, the scratchy finger slide noise is minimal, but the tone is lacking depth. I’ve tried the following:

Rounds:
D’Addario ProSteels
EB Cobalt Roundwound
Dunlop Nickel
D’Addario XT

Flats:
EB Group V
D’Addario Chromes

I know the first thought is that technique is my issue, and maybe that is true, but I’ve been playing bass in bands for 30 years and this is the first time that I can remember this finger noise really bothering me out of the hundreds of different songs I’ve played over the years on a dozen different basses in that time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

EB Slinky Flats ( Cobalt)

 

[Brandon Shea]

I’m struggling to find a set of strings I’m happy with on my Special 5H. Specifically what is causing all my hangups is that my cover band is playing the song Virtual Insanity, and there is a lot of sliding around on the neck in that bass line. With roundwound strings, this bass really seems to amplify the scratchy finger slides, but otherwise the tone is great. With flats, the scratchy finger slide noise is minimal, but the tone is lacking depth. I’ve tried the following:

Rounds:
D’Addario ProSteels
EB Cobalt Roundwound
Dunlop Nickel
D’Addario XT

Flats:
EB Group V
D’Addario Chromes

I know the first thought is that technique is my issue, and maybe that is true, but I’ve been playing bass in bands for 30 years and this is the first time that I can remember this finger noise really bothering me out of the hundreds of different songs I’ve played over the years on a dozen different basses in that time.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Gotta try EB Cobalt Flats. Your choice is pretty easy since you're on a five string, just look for set 2816. Prices went up recently (go figure), but Walmart still has them for $10 cheaper than anywhere else I've seen.

They're pretty amazing strings; I have a set on my StingRay and my Sire V7. They really do have the brightness of rounds, and all that finger noise you're struggling with will be a thing of the past. I think they mellow out nicely after a couple months, too.

 

[Tony G]

Thanks for all the suggestions everyone. I probably should just put cobalt flats on my Special 5H, but I’ve already got those strings on my Special 4HH and my Nordy vJ5 and I feel determined for some reason to make my 5H “different”. I might give the Elixirs a try next, but the La Bella Super Polished is interesting too. Who knows, I’ll probably spend hundreds of dollars and just come back to cobalt flats, lol.

 

[Nebadon2000]

I am a Cobalt Flat endorser on my Special 4H but I also bought a Takamine ABG and the Bronze Strings were incredibly annoying
Did some research and tried GHS Pressurewounds for ABG; they work great got rid of string noise by 90%, sound and feel great

GHS has them for Electric Bass may want to put them on your list

PS: I didn't by EBMM Slinky Cobalt Flats to lessen String noise and had no problem with Slinky Rounds that came with Bass
In my playing since 1975 always used rounds but until recently never played Bass Solo at home much other than acoustically to fiddle around and pass time
string noise never really bothered me [before ABG] much just didn't focus on it as learned with slight scratches and hiss on LP's

All my thousands of Gig's, untold hours of rehearsal's with tracks, recordings and live local, regional and national bands listened to I don't ever remember being able to hear string noise from Bass, Acoustic Guitar yes but that is part of the sound

 

[Bevan777]

here’s a little clip of me playing my Stingray Special

 

[Element Zero]

here’s a little clip of me playing my Stingray Special

Nice playing! Game gets played almost nightly here at my house.

 

[DigitalMan]

Just can’t put down my BFR fretless. It’s just such a joy to play. I never thought I’d be able to navigate a blank fingerboard as well as I’ve learned over the last 6 months. It’s not that I find it “easy”, but rather it’s easy to pay attention to the notes and fairly quickly hear how far out sharp or flat I am and adjust accordingly. I still stare quite a lot but I’ve been forcing myself to play in lower light situations and focusing on muscle memory and hearing.

Learning a bunch of tunes via the Moises app and have been discovering how many songs aren’t quite in tune. Could be analog/digital conversion stuff, but I can’t simply rely on the side dots. I really have to listen.

Plus. Man. That EQ is something else. Running basically flat on my amp at home but a tiny bump at 1800 KHz ish and a tiny cut at 5K ish. Thumpier tone sounds incredible in series with the mids on the BFR cut all the way with bass boosted just past detent and treble cut just past detent. Parallel with mids boosted a bit more than detent with bass at detent and treble boosted a bit sounds absolutely incredible and cuts like a surgeon with a chainsaw. Low action about as low as it’ll go and the board nearly completely flat with higher tension Elixir stainless steels and it’s just magic.

M A G I C I tell you.

Ordered a set of Chromes for my wife’s ‘00 Stingray. Didn’t even tell her. She’ll be pleasantly surprised next weekend when she busts it out when we choose our songs for church. I am not a big fan of flats however, there’s a set of chromes on her old Fender Blacktop P that’s have been on for nearly a decade and they’re perfect. Just perfect so we’ll see how the old Stingray likes them. Cobalt flats sounded weird. As did TIJF’s. Never tried LaBella’s or DR or Dunlop. Had a set of chromes for my old Pedulla Pentabuzz and I liked them a lot on that bass but I missed the growly mwah. She’s like a deep not aggressive tone. She always turns the treble all the way off on her bass and complains that the Super Slinkys that I LOVE on that bass are “too rough on my delicate lady fingers” lol.

Have y’all seen the price of some flats lately?

Moises’ ability to bring songs into tune is almost as good as the ability to separate instruments.

 

[Element Zero]

Moises’ ability to bring songs into tune is almost as good as the ability to separate instruments.

I haven’t messed with that. Can you do it on the free version?

 

[DigitalMan]

I haven’t messed with that. Can you do it on the free version?

I don’t think so. The free version IIRC can change pitch in semitones, but can’t correct gradually. The paid versions can adjust in 1Hz increments so if it detects 443 for example you can change it to 440 and it will remember that setting on a per-song basis.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

here’s a little clip of me playing my Stingray Special

 

[Surely_Bassy]

How goes it, my Special friends? Hope you're all doing well.

So, there's a 2021 DarkRay available at a pretty nice price, but I'd have to sell my 2024 Jackpot Special 4H to fund it. I'm considering it, but having trouble with the decision. I guess my main concern is losing what makes the Special, well... special. What do you all think?

 

[scubaduba]

Personal preference. But for me I would keep the special. That’s my preference. I like the 3 band EQ on the special and the way they sound. Not so much the Darkglass.

 

[Pet Sounds]

How goes it, my Special friends? Hope you're all doing well.

So, there's a 2021 DarkRay available at a pretty nice price, but I'd have to sell my 2024 Jackpot Special 4H to fund it. I'm considering it, but having trouble with the decision. I guess my main concern is losing what makes the Special, well... special. What do you all think?

This is just me, but I'd keep the Special and use a pedal if you need that sound.

 

[Surely_Bassy]

Personal preference. But for me I would keep the special. That’s my preference. I like the 3 band EQ on the special and the way they sound. Not so much the Darkglass.

This is just me, but I'd keep the Special and use a pedal if you need that sound.

Thanks! That's how I'm leaning. Usually when I get gear lust, I have to figure out what else is going on. Turns out I'm stressed out about work.

 

[Pet Sounds]

Thanks! That's how I'm leaning. Usually when I get gear lust, I have to figure out what else is going on. Turns out I'm stressed out about work.

I may be wrong/silly to think this way, but I worry that special built-in contraptions will break down at some future date and replacement parts won't be readily available.

 

[Surely_Bassy]

I may be wrong/silly to think this way, but I worry that special built-in contraptions will break down at some future date and replacement parts won't be readily available.

That's a great point, too!