Here we go again - Best half-round or pressurewound strings

[WG Plum]

I love the La Bella gold white tapes on my fretless ('79 Music Man Sabre) but I think I want to go a different way. I know I don't want full rounds so I'm looking at half-rounds and pressure wounds. I want to get a slightly sharper sound out of the bass, but there are a fair amount options.

SIT Silencers, D'Addario ENR72 (I like a bigger E string), GHS Pressurewounds, for example.

Anyone using any of these and can you comment on their tone? I want to maintain the nice low-end I get out of the La Bellas, but get a more focused tone (recent thread on Lou Reed, and his bass players, is inspiring the potential change).

Thanks!

 

[bholder]

I like pressurewounds. I really dislike half rounds because of the "grabby" sharp edges.

 

[WG Plum]

That's good to know, I've never tried half rounds, but I am familiar with the pressurewounds. Part of my love for tapes is how smooth they are, which is something I find really helpful with fretless for proper gliss.

 

[michael_t]

GHS Pressurewounds (Alloy 52 "rollerwound") are my #1 go-to. Smooth and slick (as in no stickiness) with plenty of the roundwound tone with extra punch and crunch. I also use the Ken Smith Compressors, which are also made by GHS. Very little difference between GHS and KS, except for the gauges I use.

GHS Brite Flats (Alloy 52 half-rounds/groundwound)... I tried them four different times and never got over the sticky feel. The tonal quality was too far into the flatwound territory for what I needed.

SIT Silencers (nickel-plated steel semi-flat) felt more like a half-round with the same sticky feel as the Brite Flats. Back to the GHS PW. I do love the SIT Power Wound Nickels, though.

D'Addario Half Rounds... Never tried them, never will.

Rotosound Solo Bass 55 (stainless steel pressurewound)... Tried them once, they felt like any other stainless steel rounds. Not nearly as smooth as the GHS PW.

 

[NKBassman]

I love the La Bella gold white tapes on my fretless ('79 Music Man Sabre) but I think I want to go a different way. I know I don't want full rounds so I'm looking at half-rounds and pressure wounds. I want to get a slightly sharper sound out of the bass, but there are a fair amount options.

SIT Silencers, D'Addario ENR72 (I like a bigger E string), GHS Pressurewounds, for example.

Anyone using any of these and can you comment on their tone? I want to maintain the nice low-end I get out of the La Bellas, but get a more focused tone (recent thread on Lou Reed, and his bass players, is inspiring the potential change).

Thanks!

I can't compare them to anything else on your list, but FWIW I love GHS Pressure Wounds. I'd say they have a distinctly roundwound vibe overall, but thicker in the lows and mids, and less zingy on top than a typical RW.

You could also look at the new La Bella Ian Martin Allison (IMA) signature strings. I might try those out, next time I feel compelled to change my strings on my main P4.

 

[jallenbass]

GHS Pressurewounds are the only strings on which I can hear what I'm doing in almost any situation.

 

[WG Plum]

Back to Pressurewounds! Hopefully my set from Penizon will arrive in time tomorrow for me to install them before I head out to play. Thanks all!

Curious about that Allison set though...

 

[bholder]

I like Ken Smith Compressors, but I think they're really just GHS pressure wounds in custom packaging & engage

 

[NKBassman]

I like Ken Smith Compressors, but I think they're really just GHS pressure wounds in custom packaging & engage

I have heard this too, but can neither confirm nor deny...

 

[Passinwind]

I love the La Bella gold white tapes on my fretless ('79 Music Man Sabre) but I think I want to go a different way. I know I don't want full rounds so I'm looking at half-rounds and pressure wounds. I want to get a slightly sharper sound out of the bass, but there are a fair amount options.

SIT Silencers, D'Addario ENR72 (I like a bigger E string), GHS Pressurewounds, for example.

Anyone using any of these and can you comment on their tone? I want to maintain the nice low-end I get out of the La Bellas, but get a more focused tone (recent thread on Lou Reed, and his bass players, is inspiring the potential change).

Thanks!

I have experience (only) on fretless with the D'Add HR, GHS PW, and SIT Silencers. The original HRs used to be much nicer many years ago (like late 70s), each iteration has been worse IMNSHO.

On my basses the GHS have a bit more low mid grunt bias, the Silencers are very even and a bit brighter. I prefer the minimal added fight/stickiness from the Silencers, which does mellow out a lot over several months. Even with the stickiness the wrap texture/wind gauge is finer and actually slightly easier on my fingers than the GHS, somewhat counterintuitively. But both feel great to me and do still give some string noise, which I absolutely do want, especially for my slide bass schtick. So for me it's boiled down to GHS with single coils, SIT with sidewinding buckers, but I could happily use either one on both basses, or swap my current pairings. My set of GHS PWs have been on two basses ands are over five years old, and still sound plenty bright and very good. They didn't work well on the first bass because the nut wasn't cut right for them, so they sat in my shop for a few years before I thought of trying them on my second bass, which suddenly became too bright for rounds when I put some new pickups in it.

 

[NKBassman]

I have tried D'Addario Half Rounds actually, once, a long time ago, and couldn't get them off my bass fast enough.
They were dull and lifeless, the worst of both worlds between flats and rounds.
hated them.
I actually tucked them away in the closet and left the set there for a few years, and eventually tried them again thinking maybe my tastes had changed... nope.
hard pass.

 

[michael_t]

I like Ken Smith Compressors, but I think they're really just GHS pressure wounds in custom packaging & engage

A few differences in specs; otherwise, they're the same Alloy 52 rollerwound.

GHS PW = 37.25" winding length, black silk only at tuner end. Non-tapered B.
KS Comp. = 38" winding length (except for low B at 37"), purple silk at both ends. Taperwound B.

Slightly different gauges for factory sets.

I use the PW 40-54-76-96 (L7200) in EADG and 44-62-84-106 (M7200) in DGCF. And 40-58-80-102 in Compressors.

 

[ardgedee]

You could also look at the new La Bella Ian Martin Allison (IMA) signature strings. I might try those out, next time I feel compelled to change my strings on my main P4.

I've seen positive comments about the LaBella Super Polished strings, but people don't seem as enthused about the IMA sets. There are separate threads about each of them here, worth reading.

Haven't tried either yet but the Super Polished intrigue me.

 

[NKBassman]

I've seen positive comments about the LaBella Super Polished strings, but people don't seem as enthused about the IMA sets. There are separate threads about each of them here, worth reading.

Haven't tried either yet but the Super Polished intrigue me.

The gauges on the standard sets seem more my speed than the IMA custom gauges, just by looking at the numbers. Wouldn't know until I try, though.

 

[FullumMusic]

I'm a fan of the La Bella Super Polished (standard; haven't played the IMAs but i prefer thicker gauges.)
They sound like nicely broken in but still lively Rounds with a nice broad-spectrum tone, minus a lot of that full-round twang and brightness.

 

[logdrum]

I have them on my fretless 5 with 35 scale. The original bands I play with likes the tone, The G string is not too my liking. B string is tight. I have a filter preamp Lusithand and I can't find the setting so the G and the rest are balanced tonally

 

[burgerdj]

+1 on Pressurewound. I also really like EB Cobalt Flats. Both feel great, and the EB Cobalts have a great top end for a little slap and pop. Both sound great when you dig in. I wanted to love half-wound but every set I tried felt gritty and then once the grit was gone, so was the tone.

 

[JPJ]

GHS for Fender-style basses and Ken Smiths for everything else due to the difference in winding length (as mentioned above). I have some prototype LaBella super polished, but have not tried them yet, so can't comment.

 

[Altitude]

Pressurewounds, to me, present very much as a roundwound string - both in terms of feel and sound. I have a set on my Jazz bass right now; they sound great if you’re after a roundwound tone but with a touch (like 10%) less high end and a bit of a high mid bump. Great string if you’re in a cover band.

I like Half-Rounds more than a lot of people do. The grabby edge thing goes away. What’s left is a string that is definitely flatwound in character but maybe 30% brighter. Patitucci uses these on his 6 string basses. People are turned off by the initial feel, perhaps understandably.

Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats are another worth mentioning. They have a flat winding like a flatwound string but they leave tiny spaces between each wind, which exposes the core and gives the string a very appealing tone that is somewhere in the middle of round and flat. Those little spaces in the windings do collect skin and dirt though, so these strings go dead fast. Some people like that. The other thing is the feel - if Half-Rounds are grabby then Cobalts grab, snatch, run away, and don’t come back. They feel so sticky to me that they affect my playing, more so when my hands sweat. I could run a set on a studio bass but I didn’t like them at a gig.

These days I have LaBella 760s on my P-bass, Pressurewounds on my J, and Pure Blues on everything else. (No idea what’s on my upright, whatever it came with)

 

[RGerhart]

+1 for the GHS Pressurewounds. Great strings.