Awesome! the RV-6 is the new one, sounds great. I have a used RV-3 from the '90s. The whole line is solid. Really versatile and you can just not use the delay settings if you don’t want them.
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Exactly.
Next up is to complete my Chorus selection and I should be good.
I may just get the Bass Clone off Ebay, and not use Amazon credit, it is only $65 free shipped on eBay. returns accepted, just pay return postage, but if I buy it fro eBay, I am settling on it, and won’t be looking around anymore.
TBH, I am about 99.9% sure that is what’s going to be happening.
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For anyone really liking/preferring the overall sound of rounds, but being worried about finger scraping noises and other such artefacts: consider playing rounds with a glove on your fretting hand!
Six-stringers are really cool - probably wasn’t strictly necessary for this tune, but I guess he was getting a certain sound out of that bass that he liked for the song - looks like he was playing mostly high up the neck here!?!
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Yeah, that’s his signature style he is known for, playing lead bass riffs trending higher in the range, way up the neck.
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so i got my half round strings on my short scale stingray a couple days ago. they are smoother under the fingers, but honestly not a huge huge difference to my fingertips anyways. also not a huge diff soundwise, they do seem maybe a little less bright but i might be imagining it? what i’m not imagining is they are a lot quieter to play, far less finger noise. if that’s important to you, you would probably want to give them a try. if not i really wouldn’t bother unless you have really sensitive fingertips.
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OK, I got my Stingray Ray34 Plek’d, and included is a set up and string change.
I left them with a set of Ernie Ball Flat wounds.
I have not had enough time to do a good review of the Plek, so I will create a thread for that when I get a chance to do a good review of it
First results are EXCELLENT, I love it, I am convinced it was money well spent, and that is as far as I will go with it until I make the thread about it.
BUT
I got these flatwounds on it and started playing away on them, and…
And… well…
Ummmm…
They are coming off as fast as the head cheerleader’s panties on prom night.
I am really not liking them. It feels like I was walking along on the sidewalk all nice and happy, then started playing on the flats, it is like the sidewalk froze over and i am walking on ice.
IDK, just don’t like the feel.
Sound I am not even considering, I just don’t like the feel.
I am gonna try to make it thru the week and see if I can change my mind about them, but I already have a set of rounds on the way.
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Yeeeeeaaaaahhh. They are definitely not for everyone. I have the same reaction (though I also don’t like the tone as well 
)
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My money would be on “no”…
I am with you there, but I am sure I will come back to them at some point… just not in the foreseeable future!
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It’s the stickiness I don’t like about the feel. Rounds are much less frictiony.
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At first glance, this seems counter-intuitive, but, yes, I would agree! My fingers crave that sensation they get from rounds; even half-rounds didn’t feel “right”…
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I guess some people like the corduroy feel of round wounds. Too each his own. I love the feel (and sound) of flats, but’s that my personal choice.
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Seriously?!? That’s the first time I’ve EVER heard that. Flats are as smooth as glass and my finger just glide across them. It’s rounds that are sticky to me.
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Yeah seriously - rounds have way, way less friction than the flats I have tried, which were smooth but grippy.
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Wow, I have never heard of that. I guess there may be some brands/designs of flats like that, but none that I’ve ever had.
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@T_dub TBH I didn’t care much for the Ernie Ball Slinky flats I tried either. I prefer the LaBella Deep Talking Bass flats… much nicer feel and better sound than the EBs.
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For me, it’s all about what best works for the music I’m playing. i keep one bass strung with rounds, and one strung with half rounds. When I’m trying to learn something new, I will always go to my bass with the half rounds since I find that they are easier to play and as such make it easier for me to learn a new song with since I don’t have to put as much focus on how I finger the strings as much as I focus on learning the notes. Once I learn the notes, I will always go to my bass with the round wounds to work on fingering technique and tone control. Once I get that to where I’m happy, I will then switch back to the half rounds and run through the song again as a comparison and then record with which ever one sounds the best to me…
Yea, all strings feel different I suppose, but my fingers are so damn calloused that for me it’s not so much the physical “affect” of how the strings feel against my fingers as much as it is the tonal “effect” that they develop within my ears… So, I suppose for me it’s more about matching the tones to the music instead of matching the strings to the fingers…
Keep on Thumpin’!
Lanny
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I personally don’t see what difference it makes what music I’m playing. I play whatever music on whichever strings I have on my bass. For me, it’s all about comfort and ease of playing. My go-to strings are flats or tape wounds.
I even tried a set of half wounds and took them off after a couple weeks.
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Playing exclusively with flats or exclusively with rounds (like I do) is, of course, fine, but we are not availing us of all possible tonal options on bass by doing so. I could play Jamerson lines on my Yamaha with roundwounds, but it will never sound like Jamerson. And that is partly because of the strings. I would have to do a lot of tricks with EQ’ing and sponges underneath the bridge and so on to get closer, while using flats might get me there much easier.
So, yes, you can play all kinds of music with either type of strings, but if you are going for a specific tone/sound on top of it, then the choice of strings has a big influence. I guess this is what @Lanny wanted to express.
Apart from tone/sound, comfort and ease of playing should be a deciding factor when choosing strings. And, if you (like me) decide to weigh comfort more and stick with one type exclusively, that is perfectly fine (tacitly accepting that our tonal variability is somewhat limited).
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@joergkutter very good points you made there…
The bottom line is, I gotta be me. I’m not going to try to sound like Jamerson or Entwistle or Wooten, or anyone else. I am Pam, playing bass on the strings that I like. The mission is to get the groove and the notes right. Once I’ve accomplished that, I’m satisfied.
I don’t think anyone is going to stop dancing because the bass player doesn’t sound exactly like the bass in the original song.
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Haha, no, I guess not! Especially not if it is original music. For covers, though… people have an uncanny way of picking out even small differences to the “original”.
I agree with you that “you are you” and should play as is best for you (is what I also do!). That said, I can see that it is not just the notes and the chords, but also the sound that characterizes a song or musical piece. Some genres wouldn’t work too well without distortion, for example, while for others too much distortion would be ruining. And so, I accept that if the intention of motown musicians was to have a thuddy, pulsing bass supporting the music, it is hard to suddenly replace that with a bright, punchy tone that cuts too much through the mix and takes center stage where it shouldn’t.
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