hey NAD — i require bass nerd help

[einride]

so esp put roundwound strings on my fretless, which is kind of dumb as it's going to scratch up the fretboard

do you have a particular brand/type of flatter wound strings to recommend for a more rockin' fretless sound? i don't want no smooth jazz.

i went to both local music shops and neither of them stock 5-string sets of flatwounds or anything like that :<

 

[einride]

i'm thinking ghs pressurewounds but they are apparently impossible to find

 

[NAD]

I have an unhealthy obsession with Thomastik Jazz flats on several of my basses, including one fretless. They don't do that smooth/dull thing like a lot of flats, they are far more aggressive and mid-rangey. Here is my green bass with Thomastik flats:



And here is the fretless with the Thomastiks in a solo context:



They aren't cheap in the US, but I'm thinking you might get a better deal in Euroland. The good news is, if you like them, they will sound the same for years. I play the green Nordy constantly, so far I have about 18 months and 24082048524 hours on those strings, still sound fantastic. Extremely low tension, and for me that's good, but can be a turnoff for others.

Rounds on a fretless aren't the end of the world, although I'd probably stick with nickel plated strings instead of steels if you're concerned about chewing up the fretboard. I have a set of DR Sunbeams on my other fretless, they work fine but really I only went with them because I had a set laying about, and that's not one of my main basses anyhow.

D'Addario Half Wounds are very fucking cool on fretless, I think those are somewhat similar to the GHS Pressurewounds, although I was just told the GHS are brighter (yet die quicker).

For a nice cheap alternative flatwound, D'Addario Chromes are nice. They are quite bright for flats, and die very gradually. After a few years they will be pretty thuddy sounding, but they do stay lively much longer than typical flats.

 

[dorian gray]

Nerdiest post ever.
I read every word.

 

[einride]

I have an unhealthy obsession with Thomastik Jazz flats on several of my basses, including one fretless. They don't do that smooth/dull thing like a lot of flats, they are far more aggressive and mid-rangey. Here is my green bass with Thomastik flats:



And here is the fretless with the Thomastiks in a solo context:



They aren't cheap in the US, but I'm thinking you might get a better deal in Euroland. The good news is, if you like them, they will sound the same for years. I play the green Nordy constantly, so far I have about 18 months and 24082048524 hours on those strings, still sound fantastic. Extremely low tension, and for me that's good, but can be a turnoff for others.

Rounds on a fretless aren't the end of the world, although I'd probably stick with nickel plated strings instead of steels if you're concerned about chewing up the fretboard. I have a set of DR Sunbeams on my other fretless, they work fine but really I only went with them because I had a set laying about, and that's not one of my main basses anyhow.

D'Addario Half Wounds are very fucking cool on fretless, I think those are somewhat similar to the GHS Pressurewounds, although I was just told the GHS are brighter (yet die quicker).

For a nice cheap alternative flatwound, D'Addario Chromes are nice. They are quite bright for flats, and die very gradually. After a few years they will be pretty thuddy sounding, but they do stay lively much longer than typical flats.

thanks a lot buddy, this is very helpful and exactly the kind of info i was hoping for. i will see what i can do.

not sure if the strings that came with the bass were nickel or steel plated. they've kind of left some very light marks on the fretboard already though so i'm a little concerned.

i'm also really happy to hear that many of these strings last for months or years because FUCK replacing bass strings all the time. i'm poor as hell

 

[einride]

oh btw, a 5-string set of thomastik jazz flats is 135 dollars. lol if you think anything ever is cheaper in sweden than in america

 

[NAD]

Nerdiest post ever.
I read every word.

Yeah, it's pretty bad really. You should read my work emails, I honestly get paid to engage in a fucking hobby 50% of the time.

thanks a lot buddy, this is very helpful and exactly the kind of info i was hoping for. i will see what i can do.

not sure if the strings that came with the bass were nickel or steel plated. they've kind of left some very light marks on the fretboard already though so i'm a little concerned.

i'm also really happy to hear that many of these strings last for months or years because FUCK replacing bass strings all the time. i'm poor as hell

You can generally tell nickel plated since those are shiny chrome, whereas steels are more dull/metal looking. Rounds will start to mark a fretless board pretty quickly, unless the finish quality sucks balls it shouldn't become an issue beyond some minor aesthetic concern. Shouldn't, of course, is always open to exceptions! But I wouldn't worry about it much really.

I usually change rounds every 6 months when playing a lot. Flats I change every several years, but honestly a decent set of flats can last for decades, provided you still dig the tone. Some of the old skool guys never change their strings, we're talking 40+ years on a stock set. Fuckin' hardcore.

oh btw, a 5-string set of thomastik jazz flats is 135 dollars. lol if you think anything ever is cheaper in sweden than in america

Ugh, that's worse than here, haha. I know in Europe music gear costs a buttload, but I figured since Thomastik is in Austria maybe pricing would be better! Alas...

 

[einride]

now leaning towards d'addario half rounds, at least you can get them here and for a half decent price

i saw some demo vids on youtube that sounded pretty nice



like this, i think this definitely sounds ok

 

[NAD]

Yeah those are pretty cool. They are like a mellow set of nickel plated rounds, but not quite like flats. I'll probably get a set for one of my un-fret'd basses eventually.

 

[neal]

hey Dr Bass, how about some good fuzz and wah pedals that wont break the bank? been jamming on bass with some dudes on some stonery/post-metal kinda stuff so thats the sound im lookin fer, nice and stoney.

 

[NAD]

That is the best bass fuzz and everyone should own one, no joke. I have spent many thou$ands on bass fuzzes and that's #1 ever. It's based on the old Maestro Brassmaster, check out the original demo tape here:



I've used that one in stoner, synth-pop, funk, rock, metal, solo, noise, fuckin' EVERYTHING. In fact I should stop buying other pedals and just stock up on a fleet of those.

A cheaper alternative that is quite versatile, it can cut and also melt into a mix is this one:

http://www.smallsoundbigsound.com/products/team-awesome-fuzzmachine/

Many bassists use one of the million of Muff variants on bass, personally I fucking hate them all because they bury always bury me in a mix, but many many many others have had good results. Wren & Cuff makes a variety of good Muff pedals, although I always think they sound 10,000x better on guitar than bass, but what do I know?

There's also the Dredge-Tone Angler which isn't very expensive and cuts like a motherfucker, and the dude is near you: http://www.dredgetone.com/

The two best heavy/stoner fuzz pedals I've come across are these, but there aren't very many of them around. So fucking good, but uncommon:

They are thick thick thiiiiiiick without ever burying me in a mix. That makes me grin with fuzzy feedbacky delight.

 

[NAD]

Oh yeah I don't know dick about wahs, haha. I've only used one and it broke on me nearly a decade ago.

 

[refraction]

Check out the devi ever Aenima

 

[NAD]

I need to give more of her her stuff a whirl some day. I only ever tried The Legend of Fuzz and the volume control was so fucking stupid I never looked at any of them again.

Oh yeah I forgot to mention the MXR Bass Fuzz Deluxe. That's probably the best cheap bass fuzz I've come across recently. I owned a few but kept selling them because I liked the Japanese Twins mentioned above better, but the MXR is like $120 at any Guitar Center, so yeah. Definitely easier to attain.

EDIT: Not that I condone giving any money to Guitar Center, but still.

AND GOAT DAMMIT the Wounded Paw Attack Goat. Those are fucking RAD and cheaper than the alternatives for spitty grindy nasty fuzz.

 

[Hell Mike]

Had this problem with my Explorer since forever

Fixed it today, took about five minutes (not counting looking for runaway tools, finding a new screw about the right size, and keeping dangerous tools safely away from children who managed to tip the hardcase over themselves anyway because it's not a tool. Counting all of that, it was probably like an hour.)

 

[NAD]

Yay! Did you make one of those body harness things?

I don't know why but Gibson headstocks always weigh 40 pounds.

 

[Hell Mike]

I got an Epiphone but still had the same problem. For whatever reason the old screw started to fail me a while back and completely gave up on me during our last rehearsal, so half of it I had to play and sing sitting down which is not ideal imho. The screw started coming loose ages ago, and multiple fast-fixed glawed on the hole until it was too big, so when I HAD to fix it, I just moved it a bit forward to change the balance a wee bit. I can not for the life of me understand why they made it the way it was for starters, after the first three basses or so they should have figured it out, one would think. I still need to make the old hole pretty in some way but that's for later. It's very small and pretty hidden anyway.