Pressurewounds disappointment -- should I wait them out?

[nightchef]

I recently bought a used Yamaha BB735, and the roundwounds that it came with were getting a bit dead, so I thought I'd replace them ahead of a gig next week. I prefer flats on my P, but for this instrument and this gig, I didn't want to go that route. However, I also didn't want the aggressive clanginess and string noise of rounds, so I thought I'd try something in between--smoother and thumpier than rounds, more open and lively than flats. I had read good things about GHS Pressurewounds, so I ordered a pair and yesterday put them on.

Yikes. My first impression is that these have all the worst qualities of both flats and rounds. They're as lacking in clarity as bad flats, yet full of aggressive piano-like inharmonicity like rounds. There's an insistent high overtone that I can't dial out, like a finger cymbal, and it's driving me nuts. I don't even notice any decrease in string noise vs. the rounds I just took off. (The pickups on the Yamaha behave like condenser microphones -- they magnify every slightest thing your hands are doing.)

Finally, the B string is dead as a doornail, with completely indecipherable pitch. The only way I can tell if it's in tune is by the absence of beats when I play octaves with upper strings. (The rounds were much better in this department.)

I see four possibilities:

1) I got a bad set;
2) They're a bad fit for this bass;
3) I need to let them settle in;
4) I just don't like them.

Any thoughts?

 

[michael_t]

GHS Pressurewounds with their unique tonal character aren't for everyone or for every bass.

It sounds like they're simply not a good match for your tonal goals. Move on...

I did try the Ken Smith Compressors (equivalent of the PWs) on my BB435 and decided they weren't quite the right match for what I wanted to get out of this bass. It now wears the DR Nickel Lo-Riders, which still provide the punchy warmth but with smoother mids and a crisp (though not overly bright or zingy) top end.

GHS Pressurewounds vs DR nickel Lo Riders

 

[Killing Floor]

I think #4.

But that’s totally Ok. There isn’t a best string set. Now you know you don’t like whatever brand set you installed. No other way to find out.

Not all PW or flats or rounds are the same. But the chance of getting a defect set is a lot smaller than you’d think.

If you want to roll the dice on strings that feel smoother than Rotosounds (example) but have uniformity of output and are brighter than flats, more mellow than most rounds, I’d recommend TI Jazz Rounds. But there’s no best and we all have different preferences.
Good luck.

 

[MrAB4003]

I prefer flats on my P, but for this instrument and this gig, I didn't want to go that route. However, I also didn't want the aggressive clanginess and string noise of rounds, so I thought I'd try something in between--smoother and thumpier than rounds, more open and lively than flats.

I think you're looking for the La Bella Gold White tapewounds! These are some of my favorite strings and they fit what you want to a T. If not these, then try the Copper White tapewounds.

 

[MartinB]

There's definitely a fair bit of initial "zing", but it wears off quickly. The reduced finger noise benefit is definitely over-sold; there's less than rounds, but if rounds are 100 on the finger noise scale, and flats are 0, then pressurewounds are like 70. They will settle into a nice punchy tone and stay consistent for a long time, but it sounds like they may not be the strings for you.

 

[smeet]

I tried GHS Pressurewounds twice, on different basses. They are honestly the only strings I’ve ever tried that I actually hated. Worst strings ever. High tension, super rough and lumpy to the touch, inharmonic, very little actual note in the tone, it’s mostly out of tune harmonics and ugly clank. Do not like.

OK, I feel better now. Specifically I feel better than Pressurewounds sound.

Sorry about that, I’ll stop now.

 

[winston]

@smeet - Haha if you don't like Pressurewounds be sure you never try D'Addario Half Rounds. They're everything you don't like about PWs turned up to 11. They felt "creepy" to me somehow like they were a portal to the zombie world trying to pull me in fingers-first with their stickiness...Seriously I had a weird visceral gut reaction against them and almost felt violated after playing them.

I like PWs but don't love them - but I think that's more because I find myself gravitating towards round core strings. I got a set of GHS Balanced Nickels at the same time as the PWs, and much prefer those for both feel and mellow tone. PWs are definitely more on the roundwound tonal spectrum, and I find them to be at least as grabby and almost as noisy as full rounds.

 

[cxc]

@smeet - Haha if you don't like Pressurewounds be sure you never try D'Addario Half Rounds. They're everything you don't like about PWs turned up to 11. They felt "creepy" to me somehow like they were a portal to the zombie world trying to pull me in fingers-first with their stickiness...Seriously I had a weird visceral gut reaction against them and almost felt violated after playing them.

I like PWs but don't love them - but I think that's more because I find myself gravitating towards round core strings. I got a set of GHS Balanced Nickels at the same time as the PWs, and much prefer those for both feel and mellow tone. PWs are definitely more on the roundwound tonal spectrum, and I find them to be at least as grabby and almost as noisy as full rounds.

I, too, hated DA Half Rounds when I first tried them, but they grew on me over time. Stickiness eventually goes away with use. I’ve never tried Pressurewounds - have a set sitting around for almost a year - can’t decide which bass to test them on…Jazz or PB?

 

[michael_t]

I’ve never tried Pressurewounds - have a set sitting around for almost a year - can’t decide which bass to test them on…Jazz or PB?

You should try them on the Jazz. They sound better on a J than on a P...at least to my ears.

 

[GTHintz]

I recently bought a used Yamaha BB735, and the roundwounds that it came with were getting a bit dead, so I thought I'd replace them ahead of a gig next week. I prefer flats on my P, but for this instrument and this gig, I didn't want to go that route. However, I also didn't want the aggressive clanginess and string noise of rounds, so I thought I'd try something in between--smoother and thumpier than rounds, more open and lively than flats. I had read good things about GHS Pressurewounds, so I ordered a pair and yesterday put them on.

Yikes. My first impression is that these have all the worst qualities of both flats and rounds. They're as lacking in clarity as bad flats, yet full of aggressive piano-like inharmonicity like rounds. There's an insistent high overtone that I can't dial out, like a finger cymbal, and it's driving me nuts. I don't even notice any decrease in string noise vs. the rounds I just took off. (The pickups on the Yamaha behave like condenser microphones -- they magnify every slightest thing your hands are doing.)

Finally, the B string is dead as a doornail, with completely indecipherable pitch. The only way I can tell if it's in tune is by the absence of beats when I play octaves with upper strings. (The rounds were much better in this department.)

I see four possibilities:

1) I got a bad set;
2) They're a bad fit for this bass;
3) I need to let them settle in;
4) I just don't like them.

Any thoughts?

Hope you get it sorted before you have to go out and play. Id probably either go back and get the old strings or buy that same string but not open your tone knob very far and give them time to get played in. The least bright rounds ive tried are probably Sadowsky blue label and while not cheap they did hold up very well and might work for you. They weren't really bright but they did have a great low mid fundamental and i did like the b string. I like more zing so they weren't my favorite but i liked everything else they brought to the table.

 

[nightchef]

I tried GHS Pressurewounds twice, on different basses. They are honestly the only strings I’ve ever tried that I actually hated. Worst strings ever. High tension, super rough and lumpy to the touch, inharmonic, very little actual note in the tone, it’s mostly out of tune harmonics and ugly clank. Do not like.

OK, I feel better now. Specifically I feel better than Pressurewounds sound.

Sorry about that, I’ll stop now.

Don’t be sorry. I feel affirmed.

I was playing them again yesterday and realized that if I were playing with a pick in a metal band, I’d probably like them more. They do have punch, of a sort. If you have them on your bass, your playing will not fly under the radar. The sound is thick and assertive. But it’s ugly. There’s no other word for it.

One other thing: the difference between these strings and the ones I took off proves definitively for me that B string clarity is not just a matter of the instrument, and strings do have something to do with it. The B string notes on the old set were pretty decent; you couldn’t hear much (if any) fundamental, and there was a fair amount of piano-ish inharmonicity, but the tone was respectably full and coherent and you could tell what note was being played. Certainly, you could tell that a note was being played. With the Pressurewounds, the B string notes are basically just incoherent rumble with a vague hint of pitch kind of floating in and out of the sound. It’s not just that it’s hard to hear the note; it’s hard to hear that you’re even supposed to hear a note.

They’re coming off today, for certain. Maybe I need to give up on the halfway-between-rounds-and-flats thing, and just find a set of rounds that I like better. I’m thinking of trying some DR Pure Blues and/or D’Addario XLs (which are the Yamaha factory strings). As a fallback, I can always put the old ones back on.

EDIT: Or maybe I should come at the question from the other end, and try a set of bright-ish flats like Chromes.

 

[nightchef]

Update: went to GC undecided about whether to try DR Pure Blues or D’Addario Chromes as my next experiment. Saw a set of MarkBass Groove Series that hadn’t been on the GC website. Did a little quick phone research, saw nothing bad and a few things good, and thought, ***, let’s try them.

Got ‘em home, put ‘em on, and…wow. These sound great. Maybe a little too bright, but all rounds are a little too bright when you first put them on. It’s the right kind of too-bright, though: crisp and hi-fi rather than clangy. The sound isn’t scooped; the midrange is very much there, but it’s transparent and smooth—I’m not hearing anything ugly in there. And there’s a nice evenness to the low/low-mid: every note seems to have a workable balance of fundamental and lower harmonics. Nothing boomy, nothing thin.

Best of all, the B string sounds really clear and coherent—every note is intelligible. And it’s surprisingly un-floppy. It matches up reasonably well with the E in tension (at least feel-wise; no idea what the numbers would say). Between the tonal clarity and the solid feel, this is by far the most usable B string of the three I’ve tried so far on this bass (the other two being the new Pressurewound and the old/dead D’Addario XL).

It’s early; tomorrow I may hear or feel issues I didn’t notice on first blush. But so far I feel like I’ve found the right strings for this bass. Who knew?

 

[LBS-bass]

I love them on my Fender, hate them on my Sire. Take them off and try on a different bass if you have one. They are not one size fits all, for sure.

 

[MrAB4003]

I think you're looking for the La Bella Gold White tapewounds! These are some of my favorite strings and they fit what you want to a T. If not these, then try the Copper White tapewounds.

I know this is a zombie post, but I've had a huge change of heart regarding the Gold Whites! I switched all my basses with those strings back to Rotosound 55 pressurewounds.

Yikes. My first impression is that these have all the worst qualities of both flats and rounds. They're as lacking in clarity as bad flats, yet full of aggressive piano-like inharmonicity like rounds. There's an insistent high overtone that I can't dial out, like a finger cymbal, and it's driving me nuts. I don't even notice any decrease in string noise vs. the rounds I just took off. (The pickups on the Yamaha behave like condenser microphones -- they magnify every slightest thing your hands are doing.)

I personally disagree about pressurewounds. I appreciate the piano like clarity of them, especially on my Ric 4003. I also like that there's less finger noise and roughness to the touch than rounds. OK, flats are quieter and smoother, but I still want some brightness that's not always present in flats.

OP, hopefully you like the MarkBass strings that you installed over the summer. Any updates on those?

 

[nightchef]

OP, hopefully you like the MarkBass strings that you installed over the summer. Any updates on those?

Yeah, they’ve held up pretty well. I did a recording with them recently that I liked a lot — they’ve deadened a bit since July, obviously, but they still have some vibrancy to them. The reason why I chose that bass for the recording is because I wanted a low C — and the low C comes out beautifully on the recording, not boomy but deep and distinct. They’re good strings.

 

[poochiecheeks]

Yikes. My first impression is that these have all the worst qualities of both flats and rounds.

I think you hit it on the head the first time. This was my experience as well unfortunately.
Brite Flats were somewhat better if you think of them as flats and not rounds, they feel great after a while.

 

[Root 5]

@smeet - Haha if you don't like Pressurewounds be sure you never try D'Addario Half Rounds. They're everything you don't like about PWs turned up to 11. They felt "creepy" to me somehow like they were a portal to the zombie world trying to pull me in fingers-first with their stickiness...Seriously I had a weird visceral gut reaction against them and almost felt violated after playing them.

I like PWs but don't love them - but I think that's more because I find myself gravitating towards round core strings. I got a set of GHS Balanced Nickels at the same time as the PWs, and much prefer those for both feel and mellow tone. PWs are definitely more on the roundwound tonal spectrum, and I find them to be at least as grabby and almost as noisy as full rounds.

Wow. I love Half Rounds. They feel
almost like flats, have a deep fundamental tone and have useable brightness when required. A rub with isopropyl alcohol gets rid of the sticky feeling.

 

[Rich-Cincy Kid]

I, too, hated DA Half Rounds when I first tried them, but they grew on me over time. Stickiness eventually goes away with use. I’ve never tried Pressurewounds - have a set sitting around for almost a year - can’t decide which bass to test them on…Jazz or PB?

I’ve tried PW’s on my AVRI ‘62 Fender Jazz but found that they just didn’t get the sound I like (again strings chosen say as much about the player than the strings). For my taste, I love my Half Rounds on my Jazz, wouldn’t use anything else. I do use PW’s on my Pedulla. Love ‘em for that bass! Thanks all for letting me say my 2 cents worth.

 

[Slade N]

like Cobalt Flats, PW need to break in...for anyone wanting to try them, play them a long awhile before you cast final judgement

 

[LoTone]

I have been playing GHS Pressurewounds for over 10 years and I have never experienced the symptoms you are describing. I think you just have a bad set which is another thing that never happened to me.

That being said, Pressurewounds are, all in the mids, strings. You get low mids and high mids and not much else. They have a natural frown frequency response. Some people like this and other people don't. Not great for anything that needs a scooped sound like slapping or tapping for example.

Also, I have two Yamaha BBs, a 714BS and a 1024x, I have found that Elixir nanoweb strings work well on these basses.