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- vmabus #0
- tellheryousawme #1
- Jazzbrew #2
- PaulNYC #18
- aproud1 #4
- Idle Plucker #5
- Awesome Sauce #7
(post pics, please)
Will do! You know, I don't normally do the club thing, but with the Portamento en route, and my recent acquisition of a Rumble 100 v3, I'm starting to change my mind about a few things.
Rob
5 months down the line and my Portamento is mellowing up nicely. Still plenty of "soft" top, but a fuller sound from the magnetic pups. I'm moving to them more than the piezo at the moment, but still using that acoustic sound when I want to imitate a string bass.
I'm still diggin mine too. Going to go back to some flatwounds though. The Labella withe nylons are great and easy to play but I can't get the woody almost upright tone I could get with flats.
Just placed my order through Sweetwater for mine.
Crossover I saw yours and was tempted, but the ability to put payments off for 6 months with PayPal credit was too tempting. Plus I'm so picky about fretless basses I need something I can return if I don't like it. Good luck with the sale though
Crossover I saw yours and was tempted, but the ability to put payments off for 6 months with PayPal credit was too tempting. Plus I'm so picky about fretless basses I need something I can return if I don't like it. Good luck with the sale though
I'll let you know how it goes. The biggest problem I have with most flats is they require at least a few weeks to break in. That requires patience.
I've found that out of all of them, GHS Precision Flats need the least amount of breaking in. But they are also the darkest and thumpiest of all the ones I've tried, so you may or may not like that.
Just placed my order through Sweetwater for mine.
Crossover I saw yours and was tempted, but the ability to put payments off for 6 months with PayPal credit was too tempting. Plus I'm so picky about fretless basses I need something I can return if I don't like it. Good luck with the sale though
Thank you. I'm picky in general... took a chance and was pleasantly surprised (understatement). If the 5'er didn't have 16mm spacing I'd be all over it.
Best of luck with your's; hope it's a keeper!
- vmabus #0
- tellheryousawme #1
- Jazzbrew #2
- PaulNYC #18
- aproud1 #4
- Idle Plucker #5
- Awesome Sauce #7
- fourstringdrums #8
Have never tried the GHS flats. Flats for me are more about the mids. Not a fan of dark and thumpy. I have a Squier TB precision for that. I've tried many other brands but find certain flats work better with certain basses. I've tried a lot of different pairings but am going to try some Labella low tension flats on my portamento.
The D'Addario flats seem to work well on mine. Tried some Picato on one of my other basses (all 5-ers, so messing with strings isn't cheap, particularly if I like a set, buy some spares, then change my mind
) but they were very dark, so I left the Portamento as it arrived. Even put some on my GWB35, but they're a bit stiff on that. They do sound good, though.
Let me know what you think of those. I've been curious as well. But for now I'm just going to give the Chromes a try. I actually like GHS Brite Flats on the Stingray HH Fretless that I'm selling. It was a good cross between more of a woody upright tone and some zingy mwah when you want it. They're sticky at first but they smooth out pretty quickly.
Well mine arrived today. I haven't had much of a chance to play it since I'm in an apartment and I picked it up late.
My first impressions are that it's by far the most comfortable and most satisfying playing fretlesses that I've owned. It's very even all over the board and from string to string. Maybe it's the lighter E & A's which is new for me, but I find that they have a good amount of mwah on their own and match well with the D & G. Usually those strings are thumpier with less mwah than the D & G no matter how I adjust the string height. I had to straighten the neck a tad, but it was easy to dial in comfortable action. The only thing that I have to get used to in terms of playability, and it's probably because the strings are new, but there is a fair amount of finger noise, especially if my technique sucks and I accidentally bend a string. It scrapes and squeaks along the fretboard. I suspect as the strings break in and I get used to playing it and adjust my technique, this will get better.
Tonally, the amount of options is staggering, but every combination is usable. I love the piezeo. On its own it has a nice woody, full tone. I'll probably prefer either the piezo or the neck pickup (which I usually favor), but even I may find the bridge pickup useful. It doesn't seem to be as farty and nasally as some. I did notice that the bass and treble controls are very sensitive. The treble especially doesn't take much to turn it up too much and then it gets a bit hissy.
I did have a problem with the jack where I thought I had it plugged it all the way and I wasn't getting any sound. I realized it's a stiff jack and it wasn't clicking. Then trying to pull the cable out is a bit tricky, but it might loosen up over time as well.
I'm very satisfied with the purchase. I tend to buy fretlesses, keep them for a bit and sell them (I'm selling one now actually). But I think there's a good chance I may hang on to this one. It wasn't expensive but it gives a lot of bang for the buck.
My first impressions are that it's by far the most comfortable and most satisfying playing fretlesses that I've owned. It's very even all over the board and from string to string. Maybe it's the lighter E & A's which is new for me, but I find that they have a good amount of mwah on their own and match well with the D & G. Usually those strings are thumpier with less mwah than the D & G no matter how I adjust the string height. I had to straighten the neck a tad, but it was easy to dial in comfortable action. The only thing that I have to get used to in terms of playability, and it's probably because the strings are new, but there is a fair amount of finger noise, especially if my technique sucks and I accidentally bend a string. It scrapes and squeaks along the fretboard. I suspect as the strings break in and I get used to playing it and adjust my technique, this will get better.
Tonally, the amount of options is staggering, but every combination is usable. I love the piezeo. On its own it has a nice woody, full tone. I'll probably prefer either the piezo or the neck pickup (which I usually favor), but even I may find the bridge pickup useful. It doesn't seem to be as farty and nasally as some. I did notice that the bass and treble controls are very sensitive. The treble especially doesn't take much to turn it up too much and then it gets a bit hissy.
I did have a problem with the jack where I thought I had it plugged it all the way and I wasn't getting any sound. I realized it's a stiff jack and it wasn't clicking. Then trying to pull the cable out is a bit tricky, but it might loosen up over time as well.
I'm very satisfied with the purchase. I tend to buy fretlesses, keep them for a bit and sell them (I'm selling one now actually). But I think there's a good chance I may hang on to this one. It wasn't expensive but it gives a lot of bang for the buck.
Glad you got it and glad you are having a similar experience that most of us share.
I didn't have any issues with the jack but have been using the same two instrument cables for about 10 years. Did you try a different cable?
Regarding the tone controls. I usually find myself turn down the piezo tone and keeping the bass and treble flat or close to it. I do all sorts of combinations of pickup levels but the times I've played it live it a pretty dense and loud mix. Full drum kit with a fairly hard hitter, Mic'd percussion and two guitar players of the louder is better mindset. So small tonal variations weren't very noticable on stage. Honestly it helped discover the magic of the precision bass but thats a different thread.
Now that the loud band is broken up I'm looking for a new project when I can explore more of the available tones from my Portamento.
I didn't have any issues with the jack but have been using the same two instrument cables for about 10 years. Did you try a different cable?
Regarding the tone controls. I usually find myself turn down the piezo tone and keeping the bass and treble flat or close to it. I do all sorts of combinations of pickup levels but the times I've played it live it a pretty dense and loud mix. Full drum kit with a fairly hard hitter, Mic'd percussion and two guitar players of the louder is better mindset. So small tonal variations weren't very noticable on stage. Honestly it helped discover the magic of the precision bass but thats a different thread.
Now that the loud band is broken up I'm looking for a new project when I can explore more of the available tones from my Portamento.
No I haven't tried another cable yet. But it's fine if I had to deal with it.
Did you keep the Chromes on? They really are noisy and I don't think I care for that. I have some GHS Brite Flats coming in, so I may try those. By chance I put on a GHS Precision Flat string I had on another bass and they're not noisy at all, but I think they might be too dark, the Brites may be a good compromise.
