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Semi flat wound strings...who uses them?

#21
AboutSweetSue said:
La Bella had some Quarter Rounds that were phenomenal on my Gibson SG. I really wish they still made them.
Click to expand...

I remember being intrigued by the LB QRs at one point. By the time I finally decided to give them a try, they had be discontinued.

Considering they were stainless steel, I wonder how they would compare with the Rotosound Solo Bass 55...

Solo Bass 55 • Rotosound Music Strings
 
#22
michael_t said:
As a general rule, half-rounds are slightly stiffer in feel than rounds of comparable gauges but not quite as stiff as flats like the Chromes.

The light set of the Brite Flats (45-56-77-98) do feel stiffer than the light set of the Pressurewounds (40-54-76-96), although the difference in the actual tension (as in pulling weight) is only about 5 lbs. What I do like about both of these sets is they're nicely tension-balanced overall.

PW L7200:

G 040 - 37.2 lbs.
D 054 - 36.5
A 076 - 39.3
E 096 - 34.2 (Total 147.2)

BF L3075:

G 045 - 38.3 lbs.
D 056 - 35.9
A 077 - 39.3
E 098 - 38.8 (Total 152.3)

Just for comparison...

D'A Chromes ECB80 (40-95)

G 040 - 37.83 lbs.
D 060 - 46.49
A 075 - 42.58
E 095 - 36.20 (Total 163.10)

D'A Half Rounds ENR70 (40-95)

G 040 - 36.90 lbs.
D 060 - 39.05
A 075 - 32.27
E 095 - 31.23 (Total 139.45)
Click to expand...
That's helpful info. ...also quite a difference. Funny how those tension specs don't always translate to "flexibility" specs. I realize there's much more involved in "feel", much of it subjective.
 
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#24
michael_t said:
I remember being intrigued by the LB QRs at one point. By the time I finally decided to give them a try, they had be discontinued.

Considering they were stainless steel, I wonder how they would compare with the Rotosound Solo Bass 55...

Solo Bass 55 • Rotosound Music Strings
Click to expand...
Are the Roto 55s new? I'm definitely curious to try them on the Gibson. The LBs had nice lows, solid punch, and they were gritty. Sounded fantastic with a pick.

I'm going to go ahead and try them. I've got a gift card burning holes so might as well.
 
#25
I have pressure wounds on my Fender Elite 4 string and I love them on that. Recently installed them on my Sire 5 string and I can't get them right to my ear, so going to pull them off of there and put them on a different bass. It's so weird how certain strings just work on one bass but not on another.
 
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#26
AboutSweetSue said:
Are the Roto 55s new?
Click to expand...

Apparently not...

From the Rotosound website:

The original pressure wound stainless steel bass string designed in the mid-1970s. Similar to our Swing Bass 66 strings but with a smoother feel.

Due to rolling, mass is retained and therefore its brightness. Our half wound Solo Bass 55 strings eliminate finger noise, reduce fret wear, work well on fretless basses and excel in the studio.​
 
#27
michael_t said:
Apparently not...

From the Rotosound website:

The original pressure wound stainless steel bass string designed in the mid-1970s. Similar to our Swing Bass 66 strings but with a smoother feel.

Due to rolling, mass is retained and therefore its brightness. Our half wound Solo Bass 55 strings eliminate finger noise, reduce fret wear, work well on fretless basses and excel in the studio.​
Click to expand...
Hmm, not too much a fan of the 66s' for their aggressive texture and noise (can't bear using them till they die down). But, I've been looking for NOS QRs for awhile. Maybe these will be a good substitute. Worth a shot.

Not sure how these avoided my attention for so long?
 
#30
As for the 55's... I recall lots of experimental "James Howe" products from the mid-70's, including the first "exposed core" round wounds. I do believe those may have been oval-roundwound as well. I can't recall the name - "Superwound" maybe? I fell for them hard but they were getting expensive and rare later in the decade. I ended up using Boomers for many years after that.
 
#31
Half rounds on my fretless.
Couldn't be happier with them.
Admittedly, at first they were kinda sticky feeling but now their broken in and they feel and sound great!
 
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#33
I've never liked any groundwound strings I've tried. To me they are sort of "worst of both world". Every groundwound I've tried was stiff, tonally "dead" but without the thump/bounce of a nice set of flats. Just a very poor compromise for my taste.

Now pressurewounds... that's a different story. I never really liked the GHS Pressurewounds much. They were a bit too aggressive in the upper mids for my taste. But this was on a P-bass and on a Nordstrand Big Singles equipped Ibanez, both very mid forward instruments. Just the other day I heard a clip here on talkbass with Pressurewounds on a J-bass and I liked the tone VERY much. I may have to give them another try on a J. I also found the GHS Pressurewounds a bit stiff so maybe I should try a lighter gauge.

But then there's the Roto 55s... I absolutely LOVE these strings for an aggressive, bright tone on darker sounding humbucker equipped basses. Insanely cool on a T-bird! The Roto 55s are more or less a better version of the Roto 66s to my ears. They are slightly less "dirty" sounding, slightly "cleaner" if that makes any sense, more detailed. I've also found them to retain their bright tone longer than Roto 66s, which may or may not be a good thing depending on what you're looking for. I happen to like the "dead" tone of Roto 66s too. There's something really unique going on in the mids, very powerful tone.

But the Roto55s are different to any other pressurewounds. Unless I'm very much mistaken the windings are flattened in the opposite direction and have the pointy bits OUTSIDE. They certainly feel that way (but take this with a grain of salt, I'm not 100% sure about this!) If this is the case I guess it makes them "more roundwound" rather than semi-round... They definitely feel very rough compared to every other pressurewound strings I've tried. Certainly not something I would use on a fretless (whatever Rotosound says...). I have a feeling they would EAT the fingerboard, lol. But I personally think the Roto55s are the best strings Rotosound has ever made.

As always (and particularly when discussing strings!): YMMV!!!
 
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#34
Deleted member 271037 said:
I've never liked any groundwound strings I've tried. To me they are sort of "worst of both world". Every groundwound I've tried was stiff, tonally "dead" but without the thump/bounce of a nice set of flats. Just a very poor compromise for my taste.
Click to expand...

I used to think half-rounds were only half of what was good about rounds or flats. Took me a while to start appreciating their uniqueness. They're certainly an acquired taste. Not for everyone.

Deleted member 271037 said:
Now pressurewounds... that's a different story. I never really liked the GHS Pressurewounds much. They were a bit too aggressive in the upper mids for my taste. But this was on a P-bass and on a Nordstrand Big Singles equipped Ibanez, both very mid forward instruments. Just the other day I heard a clip here on talkbass with Pressurewounds on a J-bass and I liked the tone VERY much. I may have to give them another try on a J. I also found the GHS Pressurewounds a bit stiff so maybe I should try a lighter gauge.
Click to expand...

I do agree the mid-forward character of the GHS Pressurewounds may not work equally well on certain basses. Also, they work better in certain band mixes than others. I do like them on my J than on my P for sure. My Yamaha with alnico humbuckers that tend to be darker and "polite" also seems to benefit from the Alloy 52's responsive nature.


Deleted member 271037 said:
But the Roto55s are different to any other pressurewounds. Unless I'm very much mistaken the windings are flattened in the opposite direction and have the pointy bits OUTSIDE. They certainly feel that way (but take this with a grain of salt, I'm not 100% sure about this!) If this is the case I guess it makes them "more roundwound" rather than semi-round... They definitely feel very rough compared to every other pressurewound strings I've tried. Certainly not something I would use on a fretless (whatever Rotosound says...). I have a feeling they would EAT the fingerboard, lol. But I personally think the Roto55s are the best strings Rotosound has ever made.
Click to expand...

I find this very interesting... "Hyper-rounds" or "uber-rounds" might be better terms for the Solo Bass 55 then? ;):D

I was suggesting earlier in this thread they might be a viable alternative to the now-discontinued La Bella Quarter Rounds, but apparently not according to your experience.
 
#35
michael_t said:
I used to think half-rounds were only half of what was good about rounds or flats. Took me a while to start appreciating their uniqueness. They're certainly an acquired taste. Not for everyone.



I do agree the mid-forward character of the GHS Pressurewounds may not work equally well on certain basses. Also, they work better in certain band mixes than others. I do like them on my J than on my P for sure. My Yamaha with alnico humbuckers that tend to be darker and "polite" also seems to benefit from the Alloy 52's responsive nature.




I find this very interesting... "Hyper-rounds" or "uber-rounds" might be better terms for the Solo Bass 55 then? ;):D

I was suggesting earlier in this thread they might be a viable alternative to the now-discontinued La Bella Quarter Rounds, but apparently not according to your experience.
Click to expand...

Well, I haven't tried the LaBella Quarter Rounds so I can't really comment on that but I have a hard time seeing the Roto55s as an alternative to anything other than the Roto66s :D. If you like Roto66s there's a good chance you will love the 55s. If you don't like the Roto66s the 55s are probably not for you AT ALL.
 
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#36
Deleted member 271037 said:
Well, I haven't tried the LaBella Quarter Rounds so I can't really comment on that but I have a hard time seeing the Roto55s as an alternative to anything other than the Roto66s :D. If you like Roto66s there's a good chance you will love the 55s. If you don't like the Roto66s the 55s are probably not for you AT ALL.
Click to expand...

Thanks for your perspective.
 
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#37
Or to put it another way: The Roto55s are all about that unique Rotosound stainless steel vibe and quite similar to the 66s, only perhaps slightly "cleaner", less "dirt", more detail, if that makes any sense at all... Whether they are worth the extra cost compared to the 66s... well, to ME they are but to be honest they're quite similar sounding to the 66s and will cover the same ground.
 
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#40
AboutSweetSue said:
La Bella had some Quarter Rounds that were phenomenal on my Gibson SG. I really wish they still made them.
Click to expand...

Those were truly exceptional strings. It's a shame they were discontinued, but I think it speaks to the demand of this type of string. LaBella is a small company compared to GHS and D'Addario and can't afford the dead weight of the folks aren't buying. I remember buying one of the last sets from BSO (at the time) and by the time I wanted another set for a different bass, they had been 86'd. Somewhat OT, but Labella's Deep Talkin Rounds were also amazing and unique in that they were constructed literally the same exact way, with the same machines since the 70's. They were probably the last real connection to what a vintage round would have played and sounded like.
 

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