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GHS Pressurewound VS. SIT Silencers

#61
minimalist freedom said:
Thanks for quick reply. but lack of silk length is towards the nut. Isn't this the difference not had this problem before.
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Can you explain this "lack of silk length is toward the nut" comment? Because the strings look fine, and as long as there isn't any silk sitting ON the nut (which there definitely isn't), I guess I'm confused as to the issue.
 
#62
Jon Moody said:
Can you explain this "lack of silk length is toward the nut" comment? Because the strings look fine, and as long as there isn't any silk sitting ON the nut (which there definitely isn't), I guess I'm confused as to the issue.
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I just have never had some bare string wrap around the post, usually there is some length of silk leading away from post towards the Nut, if that makes sense.
also, there is black silk at ball end
 
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#63
Back in the nineties I fell in love with the tone and feel of D'Addario Half Rounds for my fretless, but they were made out of stainless steel back then and felt smooth, the slides and vibrato were effortless and the tone was punchy and full of creamy mwah.
Then, they went and started making the outer wrap in nickel and they are horrible now. They feel sticky, even after having finger grease on them, I hate the feel really and the tone got worse with an unmusical treble snap that is not compatible with my idea of fretless tone. I never understood why they switched from steel to nickel, it's a shame.
So, when my 90's stainless steel half round G string broke I cried, and a quest was bestowed upon me to search the internets for something that could take their place. Thus I found GHS's pressure wounds which I installed on my active Cort B4FL and although they aren't as good as the SS half rounds of olden days, they are pretty close. I just wish I had bought a lighter .40 set instead of the .44 G because that would have made the mwah come more easily. They feel nice, sound nice in passive and active, and they've been used for more than two years without grinding my fingerboard or losing their tone.
I think I might try the SIT silencers if I buy a used Ibanez SR400 fretless I've found for €150. If I do, I'll post my thoughts. Does anyone know if this Ibanez is a good deal?
I hadn't posted for many years, it's good to be back.
 
#64
nuno.ka said:
Back in the nineties I fell in love with the tone and feel of D'Addario Half Rounds for my fretless, but they were made out of stainless steel back then and felt smooth, the slides and vibrato were effortless and the tone was punchy and full of creamy mwah.
Then, they went and started making the outer wrap in nickel and they are horrible now. They feel sticky, even after having finger grease on them, I hate the feel really and the tone got worse with an unmusical treble snap that is not compatible with my idea of fretless tone. I never understood why they switched from steel to nickel, it's a shame.
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I agree completely. But before they were stainless steel they were nickel, and much better yet IMO. So I never understood why they were ever SS.
Yel_wink.gif
 
#66
nuno.ka said:
So you agree with me that the old SS were better than the newer nickels, but the even older nickels were even better than the not so old SS? I'm confused :D
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The original ones in the 70s were nickel, and far superior to any of the rest of the D'Ad Half Rounds in my book. Clear enough?
Or_wink.gif


But in all honesty, I thing that GHS PWs or SIT Silencers or Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats are all better yet for my taste in fretless tone and feel. I'm still in honeymoon phase with the PWs, and it's a brand new bass, so I might even be ready to give some roundwounds a go on this one. I am using the skinniest set of the Pressurewounds by the way. My luthier set the bass up specifically for them and there's no lack of mwah at all!
 
#68
michael_t said:
Were they actually pure nickel like the current ones or nickel-plated steel?

EDIT: On second thought, I don't think a nickel-plated steel round wire can be ground down to half-rounds without losing half of the nickel plating, can it?
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Pretty sure they weren't plated. They were really warm sounding and even easier on the hands than the SS ones.
 
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#70
nuno.ka said:
Yep, I think the next set of strings I'll try on my fretless will be GHS PWs .40-.96 light set.
I see the talkbass shop on ebay is selling them and ships to Europe. I presume it's the most trustworthy of ebay sellers ever.
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I'd think so. Buying direct from the TB shop via the TB website was certainly an excellent experience for me.

BTW, here's the new bass I have that set on:

MV4FL_77.jpg
 
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#72
nuno.ka said:
OMG! That looks amazing, it must sound sweet too. Congrats! What's the brand?
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It's from Marco Bass Guitars in Oregon. Marco and I are close friends and I designed some proprietary onboard preamps for him. I don't have any ongoing financial interest though; this stuff is more like a hobby for me. The pickups are a custom wind, sidewinder config with neo magnets, the whole thing is just a joy.
 
#73
Passinwind said:
It's from Marco Bass Guitars in Oregon.
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Well, again I say congratulations, that's a beautiful bass.
I have a Cort B4FL which sounds quite nice but I can't get the action as low as I want and the string gauge (.44) isn't helping. The neck is super straight, the bridge is as low as it gets, but still... no cigar.
I love ruler straight necks, super low action and light gauge strings on a fretless.
I'm thinking of selling it as is and buying an used Ibanez SR400 if it reveals itself a low action accepting creature, worthy of a new set of light gauge GHS PWs.
 
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#75
nuno.ka said:
Back in the nineties I fell in love with the tone and feel of D'Addario Half Rounds for my fretless, but they were made out of stainless steel back then and felt smooth, the slides and vibrato were effortless and the tone was punchy and full of creamy mwah.
Then, they went and started making the outer wrap in nickel and they are horrible now. They feel sticky, even after having finger grease on them, I hate the feel really and the tone got worse with an unmusical treble snap that is not compatible with my idea of fretless tone. I never understood why they switched from steel to nickel, it's a shame.
So, when my 90's stainless steel half round G string broke I cried, and a quest was bestowed upon me to search the internets for something that could take their place. Thus I found GHS's pressure wounds which I installed on my active Cort B4FL and although they aren't as good as the SS half rounds of olden days, they are pretty close. I just wish I had bought a lighter .40 set instead of the .44 G because that would have made the mwah come more easily. They feel nice, sound nice in passive and active, and they've been used for more than two years without grinding my fingerboard or losing their tone.
I think I might try the SIT silencers if I buy a used Ibanez SR400 fretless I've found for €150. If I do, I'll post my thoughts. Does anyone know if this Ibanez is a good deal?
I hadn't posted for many years, it's good to be back.
Click to expand...

I've been using either Half Rounds or GHS Brite Flats on my Rick 4001 since the early 80's. Have you ever tried Brite Flats?
 
#76
Arthur U. Poon said:
Is that fingerboard made of purpleheart? Very nice bass!
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Thanks. Yep, that's epoxy infused purpleheart. It just happened to be the only pre-built neck with an unlined board that Marco had kicking around for that model bass. It's a discontinued model and a few lucky endorsers and friends got the leftovers that were in pieces and collecting dust. I think he may keep doing a full double cut version though. He's much better known for his Jazz Bass variants in any case, which typically take a whole lot less time to build, apparently.

And to get back on-topic: the Pressurewounds have a really woody sound on this bass, kind of an early 70s Phil Lesh-ish thing I'd say.
 
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#78
Arthur U. Poon said:
Very nice!!!
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It's funny, I spent decades chasing that sound to no avail. Someone just more or less gives me a bass unasked for and there it is. I'm actually going to do an Alembic style outboard power supply for it, with the exact onboard preamp format yet to be determined. My open source "filter" one is an obvious choice, but I already have a fretted Marco set up with one of those.
 
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#79
Arthur U. Poon said:
I've been using either Half Rounds or GHS Brite Flats on my Rick 4001 since the early 80's. Have you ever tried Brite Flats?
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Hi Arthur, I've never tried GHS's brite flats but I already have a fretless 1 P pickup Yamaha RBX200F with a set of Chromes and it's not what I'm really into. I'm on a quest for a tone more like Mick Karn or Pino Palladino in his Paul Young days. I think the GHS PWs with the lighter gauge might just do the trick.
 
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#80
nuno.ka said:
Hi Arthur, I've never tried GHS's brite flats but I already have a fretless 1 P pickup Yamaha RBX200F with a set of Chromes and it's not what I'm really into. I'm on a quest for a tone more like Mick Karn or Pino Palladino in his Paul Young days. I think the GHS PWs with the lighter gauge might just do the trick.
Click to expand...

I haven't tried PWs on my fretless yet, but I definitely will. Thanks!
 

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