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Strong fundamental but not dull and thuddy

ToneMonkey

ToneMonkey

Sep 27, 2003
1,798
2,093
70
Eugene, OR
#1
First off, I'm so thankful for a place I can post this question and get a well-considered answer. You guys are the best.

I have two basses: and active J and a passive P, both 4 string.

I've been craving a more fundamental-centric string for both basses, but I don't really care for dull and thuddy flats. I've tried flats, and at least for now, it just ain't me.

But I also am pretty fed up with the zingy round thing. I haven't done much slapping for a good 10 years, but yet I still play strings that I more of less settled on back when I was doing a lot of that.

I want something that will sit well in the mix with a strong fundamental, work well with all PU settings on both basses (especially one that will have a good lower mid presence and growl with the J bass bridge) and just sound more "right" to my ears.

Strings that I feel are too bright are Rotos, Cobalts, Labella SA 52s. I have a new set of pressure wounds on my J, but they are rippin' bright right out of the package. We'll see how they play in.

Any ideas? Half rounds? Something else?
 
#7
Thanks t77mackie. Good info there.

joelb79... trying to wrap my brain around what kind of setup issue I might have. My instruments have been professionally set up and intonate perfectly. Pickup height seems correct (I have spent time with ears and a screwdriver dialing that in by ear). Not sure what you could mean. Maybe I'm missing something.

It sounds like I should give pure nickel a try. I loathe them for guitar, but they might be just the ticket for the bass tone I'm after. Does anyone have experience with the Fender pure nickel or the TI Jazz Rounds? Kinda polar opposites in cost. I don't mind paying TI dinero if it's what I'm after.

I'm thinking that, whatever I end up settling on, I might just get into rotating sets from my J to my P. I do want a somewhat brighter more modern sound on the J, but for the P I want a more played in sound, but where the harmonics still line up (my peeve with well worn strings is that the harmonics start to sound off to my ears - usually time to change when I hear that).
 
#10
I'm in a similar situation, although I'm really considering trying flats again, or half-rounds. I've tried Roto77s and Chromes and didn't really dig the feel or the tone of the strings. Didn't have the sustain or definition of roundwoods, at least on my P-Bass. So far, my favorite string for a mellower, deeper sound on my bass has been the Sunbeams. I kind of dig the feel of roundwounds on my fingers and feel I can dig in a bit more...they have this "zizzle" that I like.

I'm currently playing Fat Beams (Marcus Miller). I was playing Sunbeams for a while until they died on me. After a while I just couldn't get a good "fundamental" out of them and felt like I was instinctively muting the strings constantly to get rid of the "zing". I've come across the same problem with the Fat Beams, which had less fundamental (to my ears), had more tension. DR makes good strings and so they have kept definition, clarity, a good responsive feel, but the fundamental seems to have decayed on them.

I tried D'Addario Half Rounds and they did not work for me. Just way too much tension, felt like I couldn't get a good grip on them, felt like I was fighting against the bass rather than playing it. With the Sunbeams, however, the feel of them was looser, but at the same time they still felt responsive...I didn't have to hit the string to get a good fundamental note.

Currently considering trying GHS Pressurewounds or Precision Flats or maybe Fender 9050L (not sure if I have the model number right)....still undecided. If it doesn't work I'm going back to my good old Sunbeams for sure. But I do want to try something else.
 
#11
Epac: Yeah, I may give the Pressure Wounds a good long tryout before I try something else. I was just practicing with them and kind of liked what I heard. It might be that new PWs will work out on my J and when they wear in a bit, I might rotate them to my P. I'll have to see if that works out and that will take a few months to play out. The D'Addario Nickels are pretty cost effective (~$20 or so for two sets).
 
#12
ToneMonkey said:
joelb79... trying to wrap my brain around what kind of setup issue I might have. My instruments have been professionally set up and intonate perfectly. Pickup height seems correct (I have spent time with ears and a screwdriver dialing that in by ear). Not sure what you could mean. Maybe I'm missing something.
Click to expand...

I'm rethinking my suggestion; but something about pressurewounds being rippin-bright out of the package didn't sit right with me. Those strings just have a lot of upper mid presence that tends to make them bright, but they don't sizzle like other strings, and when they break in some they go do a little more thud than others.

What I was thinking was that having the pickup height set wrong could be causing some of the issue. Recently I brought my action up and added more relief to my basses and that gave me a tone more growl and punch that was missing before; and strings I hated before sounded betters setup with higher action. I also tried lowering my pickup height and found that some punch is given up by too much pickup height, and extra sizzle and lows were added.

I dunno, just something in me says check the setup before you dismiss strings as being too this or that; because certain setup issues accentuate sounds in different ways.
 
#16
+1 in nickel. I keep straying and trying other brands/kinds of strings. I even started a thread recently asking for suggestion to try out. But I just keep coming back to D'Addario XL nickels. One of the main reasons is one of the requirements on your list. They respond to control knob tweeks very well. (That being said, no offense but have you tried turning your tone knobs to the left a little. That tends to take some of the bright away. Just sayin'.) Anyway, give them a try. The upside is that they are available everywhere. They aren't the "cool" or "hip" strings to play. But they sound great with lots of low-mids, and respond to my every tweek very well.
 
#17
I'm really starting to really warm up to the Pressure Wounds. They're bright but don't have the "clank" I get sometimes with other strings on my J bass if I inadvertently dig in too much. Yeah, I know that's a technique issue and I'm working on it ;-)
 
#20
Epac said:
I'm in a similar situation, although I'm really considering trying flats again, or half-rounds. I've tried Roto77s and Chromes and didn't really dig the feel or the tone of the strings. Didn't have the sustain or definition of roundwoods, at least on my P-Bass.
Click to expand...

Did you try them at a gig (or at least a practice), or did you just try them at home? Flats really shine at a gig.... less so at home.
 

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