Favourite Fretless Non-Flatwounds?

[thefitz]

Hello all,

I've been searching on this site and haven't found anything too terribly definitive. The question I have now is to all fretless players - what experiences have you had with strings that aren't flatwounds? I only use roundwounds on fretless basses (except for tapewounds every now and then, but those are just nylon-covered roundwounds ), and am wondering if anyone had any experience with the following:

- Rotosound Swing Bass 66 Nickel (these are my current Go-To strings for fretless... once the current set dies out and I actually try them, of course!! Love them on fretted basses)

- Rotosound Solo Bass 55 Pressurewound (I'd like to try these, but they're $9 more expensive than the above strings)

- DR Sunbeams (I've never been impressed with DR strings, and probably owned 5 sets. Never Sunbeams though - Tony Franklin's choice. $8 more expensive than Roto Nickels)

Does anyone have any input on these strings in terms of tone, life, mwah factor, and fingerboard wear? Does anyone have any other suggestions?

 

[Emzyo]

Just bought Rotosound Swing Bass 66 nickels couple days ago and love em!

 

[Teobass88]

I've bought a set of Elixir's NanoWeb and it's arrived just today! I will set it up on 1th September because I'm going to change PUps and obviously my Thumb will need a total set up, of course with new strings!
I've heard a lots of different opinion on these strings...when I will have them on I will post mine!

 

[golem]

`

I very much favor flats, but my excuse for having
so many basses us that I dig variety. So... I do
have RW's on a coupla FL's. The one worthy of
mention is the Peavey G-Bass, which is wearing
TI Power Bass strings. These are medium guage
nickel plated strings with an intriguing midrange
plus a solid bottom without a lotta boom.

Hard to find a parallel to to the G-Bass in the
Wick lineup, though: Basswood body with a
Graphite and Pau Ferro neck, one "sweet spot"
humbugger, powerful 3-band EQ. But OTOH,
as someone who seldom likes ANY RW's, I
really DO like these.

 

[thefitz]

Yeah - I just don't like the sound of flats on modern, active basses. I can just hear the muted, flat aspect of the strings... I can just hear their laboured response. On a fluffy ol' P-bass, however...

Also, does anyone have experience with the Rotosound TruBass 88s? I've tried Fender Nylons on some passive basses and thought they were 100% better than flats... any experience on a (5-string) bass that's active?

 

[DiMarco]

I have DR Lo-Riders on the fretless atm (it arrived with a pack of those strings) and I really like them a lot. Easy on the hands and tons of tone. I haven't tried any other strings on the Dolphin FL yet though so I have nothing to compare with.

 

[seungkoo]

Trying out a set of emps on my new fender blacktop precision I defretted today! Well I'll try tomorrow or Sunday after all the epoxy is cured.

 

[JSmith]

Not in your list but I'm using good old Black Labels on my new (to me) FL Corvette and so far I'm impressed. I'm questioning why I hadn't used these strings sooner on my other 'wicks. They aren't harshly bright but have good solid bottom and a nice midrange bite.

 

[jogi]

I´m currently using the stock Red Labels on my Korean Star Bass FL and loving them, but most people seem to disagree on that. On my fretless 5 I have SIT Silencers. Kind of a pressurewound string, with the round wire inwards towards the core and a flat outer surface. For me, they work well in terms of balance and tone, which seems to be a problem with flatwound low B strings.

 

[ridgebackdk]

yamaha 45 rounds,always on my fretless stingray,,they are bright last ages and have a realy nice feel to them,good sustain and i find they really suit the stingray,,photo after 16years of use,yes there marks but thats to be expected using rounds but its not that bad give the life its had..

 

[Eberbachl]

DR Sunbeams.

Really... a gorgeous string and very definitely worth a try to see if you like them.

 

[Leronious]

I just picked up a fretless neck for my corvette (not installed yet). I'm also considering rotosound trubass 88s. I usually prefer daddario nickels but I would like to try some nylon wraps.

 

[golem]

Yeah - I just don't like the sound of flats on modern, active basses.
I can just hear the muted, flat aspect of the strings... I can just hear
their laboured response. On a fluffy ol' P-bass, however...

Also, does anyone have experience with the Rotosound TruBass 88s?
I've tried Fender Nylons on some passive basses and thought they
were 100% better than flats... any experience on a (5-string) bass
that's active?

I have 88's on a number of basses. One in particular is "almost a
Warwick" .... a backward way to describe a Spector LOL ! It's a
5-string, and the B-string is a more extreme case of the weird
feel of the whole string set: Very unyielding, like playing nylon
rods instead of flexible strings. One need not bend the strings
down behind the fret anywaze, as these play just fine although
the feel is weird, like they "lay across" the fret rather than bend
much AT the fret. Makes the action feel higher than it really is
[which is actually quite low].

I also have these strings on a Turner Ren5, which being FL has
a more normal feel. On the Ren they sound kinda URB-esque,
which is the designed-in tone of a Ren anywaze.

I have a pair of Ibnez BTB 5's, one each FL and toofy, and
acoarst the FL feels normal while the toofy has that Roto 88
"nylon rods" effect.

Tonewise [other than that URBy Ren5] the Spector tone is
irrelevant to Wicksters, as this one has Spector's Tone Pump
EQ-pre, which is designed for a deep explosive attack which
it delivers regardless of string choice. The BTB's are "normal"
active basses and the 88's deliver a warm tone, kinda middy
at flat EQ but plenty of bottom is there to be brought out if
you EQ for that. As you might expect, the "high end" is not
particularly high. There's some strength to the upper mids,
which sounds great on the FL, but can get kinda glassy or
honk-ish on the toofy, depending on EQ, technique, and
which notes and which strings are being played.

I really prefer LaBellas, but all these 5-strings are 35 inch
scale and around here it was hard to get extra long sets
of 5-string LaBella nylon flats so I use the Roto 88's.