Strings to tame a Sting Ray ?

[Pyrrho Epoche]

probably “Of People Who Actually Have Put Over 90 Hours On A Set Of TIJF’s”.

obv., the vast majorities of both A) active TB members and B) bass guitarists living have never even seen any pack of TI strings in person.

I have a bunch of TI strings in my junk drawer--not really a fan of any of them, except the Powerbass. The Apex Trads and Cryos, that I am using now, even blow them out of the water.

 

[bassrique]

What Flats did Bernard Edwards (Chic) play with?

 

[Bald-N-Bassy]

Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats (aka Slinky Flatwound) are a great match for the Stingray. Bright enough to sound like a round, if needed, but their top end can be easily tamed. They're popular around here, especially with SR players.

Cobalt flats are my go to for SR basses. Theyre awesome. I use them on a lot of basses.

 

[J-Bass RMR]

TI Flats did the trick for me on my BFR Fretless, that I was ready to part with because of that brightness.

And yes, I tried Cobalt Flats, which are otherwise my most used string. Still just too much top end on the Stingray for my preference.

and +1 on using LPF in combination with the tone know to control the top end. It makes a big difference.

 

[2thAche]

I went from HiBeams to FatBeams and never looked back

 

[tb-player]

Tone knob.

 

[edmidlifecrisis]

My favorite strings for soothing a savage beast of a bass are Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats or GHS Pressurewounds. If you need to stick with roundwounds, DR Sunbeams.

This. GHS Pressurewounds all the way for me, especially for maple fretboards!!!

 

[PBandJazzBass]

La Bella LTF’s. I have them on my Stingray.

 

[P. Aaron]

Hello,

For years I loved my Sting Ray with maple fingerboard and fresh Ernie Ball regular Slinky strings for an aggressive and nasty tone I wanted for the type of music I mainly played.

Now I am seldom playing that genre, and for the others I play I feel I would like a smoother/rounder/mellow/more gentle tone. Not really a darker one; I still want some presence and brightness.
I got some good results by changing the EQ on the bass or outboard, but I would like to see what different strings may bring.

I play with fingers and pick, some slap.

Any suggestions?
I tried reading some threads in this Forum; am I in the right direction with DR Sunbeams or stabilized(*) Hi Beams?

Thank you!


(*) By “stabilized” I mean that, to my understanding from what I read, the Hi Beams are too bright when new and they deliver their best after some use.

Try the EB Cobalt Flats. Unless slap is a part of your repertoire. FWIW.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on a Stingray sound like they were designed specifically for a Stingray.

 

[jasper383]

Broken in GHS Boomers are quite nice on StingRays.

 

[JeezyMcNuggles]

Hello,

For years I loved my Sting Ray with maple fingerboard and fresh Ernie Ball regular Slinky strings for an aggressive and nasty tone I wanted for the type of music I mainly played.

Now I am seldom playing that genre, and for the others I play I feel I would like a smoother/rounder/mellow/more gentle tone. Not really a darker one; I still want some presence and brightness.
I got some good results by changing the EQ on the bass or outboard, but I would like to see what different strings may bring.

I play with fingers and pick, some slap.

Any suggestions?
I tried reading some threads in this Forum; am I in the right direction with DR Sunbeams or stabilized(*) Hi Beams?

Thank you!


(*) By “stabilized” I mean that, to my understanding from what I read, the Hi Beams are too bright when new and they deliver their best after some use.

Half rounds

Or Cobalt flats

 

[eddododo]

I don't know why many folks don't seem to get this, but all strings start out at their brightest. Fairly quickly, they lose some of that initial brightness, and then for a good long while, they are fairly stable at a reduced brightness - they are getting duller, but VERY slowly. At some point, they will become dull enough that you decide it's time to change them - they don't really "die", you just decided one day they aren't what you want any more.

So, given that life cycle, if you put strings on that are "just right" at first, unless you have a deal with unlimited free strings and a roadie to change them every day, YOU HAVE BOUGHT THE WRONG STRINGS!!!. If that is your initial reaction, in not too long, when the initial zing dies out, you'll be running around telling everyone that "those strings die fast". No, they don't "die fast" - you bought the wrong strings.

The right strings, when you put them on, are too bright. You turn down the tone controls on your bass and your amp or pedalboard, you play them for a while, and then....a week or two later, you turn the knobs back to their normal positions, and... the strings sound great. Congratulations! You have bought the right strings - by buying strings that are too bright initially, you now have the benefit of enjoying that long, relatively stable period, and the strings sound good for a good long time.

I never play a gig with new strings - I always make sure they get played at least a week before I play a gig (this means I need multiple basses (reason #42 for why you need another bass). That way, I am never trying to coax the sound in my head out of a bass that is too bright - if you end up in that situation, you tend to play timidly, which is not a good thing.

Anyway, the short lesson here is: When you try the right strings, you won't know it for a while - you need to leave them on long enough to have them settled before you know if you've go the right strings. If they sound too dull or just right when you first put them on, however, you know you don't have the right strings.

I had a pedal I built that was a low pass + a cut-only Peaking eq.. you could move the peak frequency around to suit the bass, but it was a range of ~2k-10k

The idea was that you would tame the string/fret attack clank acutely with the peak, and tame the general extra brightness and other parts of string noise sizzle with the low pass

It worked well for its purpose, but I seldom ever had brand new strings and gave it to a friend who obsessively changed his strings but hated the day one sound (I know, I tried to talk to him lol)

 

[Wood and Wire]

They are expensive. And I was just told by a friend who plays at some orchestras in Europe, the Thomastik Spirocore which the DB side says they keep it for 10 years or so, do get change every year or at least every 2 years by people who play the bass (and probably their only bass ) a lot, like bowing it daily. And it makes sense. My friend said that past 1 year, his Thomastik Spirocores just sound dead when you are bowing. Maybe okay for plucking.

The idea of DB players owning a stovetop cauldron, large enough to boil their Spirocores, is a pretty funny mental image.

 

[bmusic]

Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats (aka Slinky Flatwound) are a great match for the Stingray. Bright enough to sound like a round, if needed, but their top end can be easily tamed. They're popular around here, especially with SR players.

+1!

 

[Yahboy]

I been use Ti flat ,LTF4A and GHS3025 on cheap SUB Ray4 .

Ti flat are work best to tame the brightness meanwhile fuller up the G string . Great string to string tonal and output balance.

LTF4A sound on mellow side, but the G string sound less full as the rest.

GHS3025 are the worst, unbalance tonal and string stiffness between EA and DG.

 

[RickDeckardCain]

I've been using flats on my Ray35 for years, and over Xmas, I received a set of TI JF345, so I decided to make some quick and dirty recordings of the sets of flatwounds I had laying around my house. I had year-old Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, year-old D'addario Chromes, two year-old but barely used LaBella 760FS-B, and brand new Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats JF345. I uploaded them to my soundcloud, so you can take a listen here and see if any tickle your fancy.

 

[Wood and Wire]

I've been using flats on my Ray35 for years, and over Xmas, I received a set of TI JF345, so I decided to make some quick and dirty recordings of the sets of flatwounds I had laying around my house. I had year-old Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, year-old D'addario Chromes, two year-old but barely used LaBella 760FS-B, and brand new Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats JF345. I uploaded them to my soundcloud, so you can take a listen here and see if any tickle your fancy.

not a viable link, unfortunately.

but colour me interested, when you get it fixed.

 

[Chickenwheels]

A big thing for me is playing technique and setup. I keep the pickup as low as possible on my ‘Ray as it sounds much smoother. Playing softly closer to the fingerboard gives up some nice, plump low mids. I use Extra Slinky and they’re as mellow as I make them.

 

[RickDeckardCain]

not a viable link, unfortunately.

but colour me interested, when you get it fixed.

Sorry about that.