Flats to Rounds on a stingray classic 5

[justinc]

Hi all

I've been using chromes on my stingray classic for a while now (actually I use chromes EADG and an oldish round for the B)

Anyways love the chromes (theyre about 6 months old) for finger tone, but they lack the snap I'm after for slap bass

So I'm on the hunt for some rounds to fill the shoes... Couple of caveats:
1. They have to be able to fit a stingray classic 5
2. Coming from flats I don't want to destroy my fingertips
3. They will still be played with the fingers 80% of the time, 15% with a pick and 5% slap... So I'd like to have good mid presence, even if I need to scoop it with EQ

Anyway I thought I'd check opinion, been thinking perhaps DR sunbeams, maybe Fodera lite rounds or maybe even TI rounds

I have swapped some DR fat beams on that bass now, and I think I can cope with the roughness but I'm worried about the scoopedness

Any ideas?

 

[atracksler]

Im a dyed in the wool flats player, when I got my ray35, I immediately bought a set of Sadowsky flats, which sounded great but it also made the ray sound a lot like my other bass. I switched back after one rehearsal to the Ernie Ball Slinkies (in the green package .130, I think) and they put the sting back in the ray.

Recently I took a chance on the Circle K .142 balanced set, and they are phenomenal. They sit very well in the mix. Im very impressed. (and this comes from a flat wound guy for the last 25 years)

 

[JLY]

I did not like flats on my SR5
It took the Sting out of my fretted Ray (sorry for the poor pun)
I put the Slikies on and it was a beast again!

 

[Mystic Michael]

Any ideas?

Yeah, several in fact...

* You didn't specify either nickel rounds or stainless steel rounds, although most of the makes you mentioned are nickel rounds. Does that mean you don't have a preference?

* Trying to find the right compromise between "mids for fingerstyle" and "scoop for slap" might be a bit of a tall order. Generally any string you pick for superior performance on one attribute may be lacking on the other. Either that, or you select a string which is decent on each attribute, but not outstanding on either one.

* If you think that Fat Beams are rough, then your head must still in Flatland. IME, all DRs are some of the smoothest non-flatwound, non-tapewound strings around. That's probably because they're compression-wound, not roundwounds - although for some reason they seem to get lumped in with roundwounds around here.

The bottom line is that if even DRs are too rough for your taste, yet you still want a set of roundwounds (or at least non-flats, non-tapes) - plus you want some midrange-intensive strings that still sound great for slap - then you may be tryng to thread two or three needles simultaneously.

I'm not saying that there's nothing out there that meets your criteria. Just that there may not be many options for strings that perform exceptionally well on both ends of the continuum, on two or more sets of opposite criteria.

MM

 

[justinc]

I've used xl chromes on my ray for the most part with great results... For finger style... Eventually.

To clarify, In order of priority, I'm looking for:
a round that won't chew my finger tips
and can be worked to produce those growly mids with fingerstyle
and sound good with slap (where older chromes are just dull)

 

[justinc]

Actually the fat beams seem to be working out really nicely on my fingers... They are VERY modern, rehearsal tonight so I'll get a better idea then I expect, both tone per play style and how they treat my hands over a 3 hour gig.

 

[Tall Steve]

Little late reply since you've already bought some DRs, but I came off Chromes to LaBella Deep Talkin' Rounds on my Std SR5. They sound thunderous. Nice and growly in the mids with the low-end presence of the Chromes and a more balanced low B. The 760RM set I have may be a little thick for slap. Then again, I haven't had to play slap in a while. I might just be rusty . They finally went dead on me recently after about a year of heavy gigging (I cleaned them in the tube about once a month).

 

[justinc]

Thanks Steve

How are they on your fingers?