Bass Strings Reference Thread

[ebe9]

(I am posting this in the hopes that the moderators will move it to resources if they see fit.)

I am continuously seeing threads posted in the bass forum as to what would be the best strings to buy, or what type of strings would best suit a certain type or genre of music. So hopefully this can be a resource thread to answer any questions arising regarding bass strings.

Hopefully the following questions should cover sufficiently which strings are good for what. (Please do not post if you see a certain string type has already been covered)


1. Name of String Brand (e.g. rotosound)
2. String Name (e.g. Swing Bass Series)
3. Type of Wound (e.g. Flat, Round)
4. Guage
5. Tone Treble (holding of tone in treble range)
6. Tone Mids (holdng of tone in mids range)
7. Tone Bass (holding of tone in bass range)
8. Style/s of music best suited to this Brand of Strings
9. Average Lifespan of Strings (please submit your average play time in hrs)


hopefully this covers enough info if not also include in your posts further questions that should be covered and i will include them.


thank you

(again to moderators, if you see fit please move this to resources)

[Panda Licker]

Brand : Rotosound

Type : Jazz 77s

Wound type : Flatwound

Guage : I used the Standard Guage, but there are a few others

Treble tone : Suprisingly, the treble is actually not bad considering they're flatwounds. They're Monel wound, so they still have a bright twang to them, but obviously not as much as a roundwound

Midrange tone : Not so bad, I'd give it a 7/10

Bass tone : Flatwounds are made for the lowend. So much thump its unbelieveable

Styles of music : Jazz, Classic Rock, Blues, just about anything else as long as you like the tone


Lifespan : A good set of flatwounds can last you a lifetime. You can play them until you snap them.

EDIT*
Oh, I felt I should say. Do NOT buy these strings if you slap a lot. They're good for about everything, but not slap.

Tapping can be a little hard too, but not impossible

[lbanks]

1.Maxim/Optima
2. Golds
3. Gold Coated Roundwound
4. Light
5. Tone Treble = Very bright and 'Zingy'
6. Tone Mids = Very strong mid-range presense
7. Tone Bass = Bass is of the 'Hi-Fi' type
8. Jazz-Rock/fusion, Funk
9. No change since I put them on the Alembic Orion last spring.(about 20 hours)
I have these on the Orion, a Conklin GT-4 and a Fender Jazz

[lbanks]

1. Thomastik-Infeld
2. Jazz Flats
3. Flatwound
4. Medium
5. Tone Treble-Subdued, but present
6. Tone Mids -Strong mids
7. Tone Bass -Strong bass
8. Jazz, Motown, Reggae, Country, anything that doesn't feature slap and poppin'
9. Average Lifespan of Strings -unknown, but expect at least 2 years
I have these on a Lightwave Classica, G&l Tribute L2500 and a Wishbass

[ebe9]

1. Warwick
2. Red Label
3. Round Wound (stainless steel)
4. Standard Guage
5. Treble tone: Bright, very twangy when new, warm and bright after a bit of use
6. Mids Tone: vibrant, and solid (mellow when playing of the bridge pickup)
7. Bass Tone: stong and consistent, maintains and holds the note well
8. Jazz, slap pop, rock, funk (very versitile with a good price)
9. Unknown (new on the bass) had them on for about 2 weeks (1-2 hours play time per day and so far the tone is still bright and sharp)

[Wintermute]

^^^
I can vouch for the lifespan. My current set still sound great, and I've had them since Chrismas, with one boil.

[neatobassman]

1)Ernie Balls
2)Super Slinkies
3)Round Wound
4)110-45
5)Nice pop tone. very bright.
6)Pretty good mids.
7)Very lovely low. can handle tuning down to D extremely well. Good slap tone.
8)mainly rock, but very good for slapping
9)over a year. I play about 1-3 hours a day on average.

[Khanzo]

1. Name of String Brand
Elites

2. String Name
stadium

3. Type of Wound
Round

4. Guage
50-110

5. Tone Treble (holding of tone in treble range)
does alright but not well

6. Tone Mids (holding of tone in mids range)
does well

7. Tone Bass (holding of tone in bass range)
does excellently and large guage detunes very well

8. Style/s of music best suited to this Brand of Strings
works well with things like ratm to muse and rhcp

9. Average Lifespan of Strings
lasted well over 10 hours a week every week for 6 months with just 2 boils

[bass_player88990]

could some one write a review for rs swing bass 66 string by rotosound??

[mrchuckles1030]

1. Ernie Ball
2.Regular slinky
3.round
4. 50-105
5. Treble sounds really good when they're brand new, I've found the brightness fades after a while, but all notes still sound crisp & clear
6. average mids, nothing special
7. good bass tone, has a slight snappiness to it, and sounds good
8. great for punk or jazz, good for most rock or any kind of fast styles, tunes down really well up to drop C. The lower you go past drop C on a 4 string, the muddier it gets, but sounds great in drop D or C
9.I've had these for about 6 months playing about 5 hrs. per week, and they still play great. :thumb:

[CabbageStabbage]

I'm looking for different brands of strings that can:
1) Give a growly tone, with nice midrange, think Symphony X
2) Give a nice trebly tone, without being too tinny, think Rush

I will use them on a bass with a single coil pickup (That I will get after christmas)

By the way, I'm not looking for strings that give BOTH a growly and a trebly tone, I'm looking for 2 different brands of strings for each kind of tone.

Thanks! :thumb:

[Panda Licker]

could some one write a review for rs swing bass 66 string by rotosound??


1. Rotosound

2. Swing 66 Stainless steal
Roundwound

3.45-105 (Standard Guage)

4. Treble - Insane ammount of treble. The Stainless steal winding makes them really REALLY bright.

5. Mids - Good mids. About as good as any string I suppose

6.Bass- Terrible bass. Everything comes out so bright and crunchy. Thats why I stopped playing them.

7. Metal, some rock. Deffinatly not Jazz

8.I played them for a month before I finally had enough of the treble tone (I should state that I like really low thumpy sounds and I play flatwounds a lot, so it could just be me.) During that entire time they kept that new string sound. So if you like that, these are the strings for you.

[bassist-bmxer]

1. fender

2. stainless steel flatwounds

3. .65-.100

4. treble- alright, not great though, but they are flatwounds

5. mids- pretty good

6. bass- great! really nice low end thump

7. jazz, classic rock

8. have had them for about a week and they havent changed much atall so pretty good so far.

[Thunder Fingers]

I'm looking for different brands of strings that can:
1) Give a growly tone, with nice midrange, think Symphony X
2) Give a nice trebly tone, without being too tinny, think Rush

I will use them on a bass with a single coil pickup (That I will get after christmas)

By the way, I'm not looking for strings that give BOTH a growly and a trebly tone, I'm looking for 2 different brands of strings for each kind of tone.

Thanks! :thumb:

GEddy Lee: Rotosound Roundwounds

[Bass+Fingers+Amp=Groove]

DR HI BEAMS:
http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=265219

and

Rotosound Jazz 77
http://www.musicianforums.com/forums/showthread.php?t=199192

[Linkin_X1.0]

i got an esp b-50 4 string i got 2 questions
1.could i a possibly get a bead tuning with 5 strings set?
2.if not what strings should i look for?

[Kayetan]

1. DR
2. Black Beauties
3. Round Wound
4. ......
5. Tone Treble-Clear treble, not too bright though
6. Tone Mids-descent
7. Tone Bass- Great, nice growl
8. Great for slapping, when they were new they felt very light and easy to slap with. Generally good for rock. These string have a great growl when they're new
9. Ive had these for maybe 5 months and they've lost a lot of tone. they still sound pretty good, but they dont have the great growl that they used to.

[Kayetan]

1. Fender
2. Nylon Tapewound
3. Tapewound
4. ....
5. Tone Treble- not too great, yet they still have slightly better treble than flatwounds.
6. Tone Mids-good
7. Tone Bass-great, very mellow sounding
8. I use these strings on my fretless bass and they are excellent for jazz. They are slightly brighter than flatwounds and probaly better if you want a Jaco-esque tone. they are good because they dont really wear down the fretboard as rounwounds do. they make a fretless sound very much like a double bass.
9. i havent had these too long but id imagine that they would last a long time, since they are supposed to have a dull tone when you buy them, so there isnt much brightness to lose.

[raining_blood]

1.Ernie Ball

[sublimeisnice]

Sorry, I am not a bassist, im asking this for someone else but, does anyone know of light gauge strings, that are still really good and bassy, not bright?

[FUNKEH]

Hey,

FWIW, the Dec 2004 issue of Bass Player Magazine gave a pretty exhaustive review of strings - brands, cores, metal types, coatings, windings. Me thinks it's required reading and an essential reference, FWIW. :thumb:

BTW, Fodera Nickel Plated steels are one of the best balanced strings reviewed.

Regards,

DML

[wishiwaskurt210]

rotosound
swing bass 66
round wound
105-45
there tone was standard nothing special
the life span wasnt anywere near good i played on them for about 2 months before i broke every string .i dont slap or pop so they should of lasted alot longer .

[Thumb_bass]

1. Ernie Ball
2. Super Slinky
3. Round Wound
4. 50 - 105
5. great
6. nothing special
7. great
8. metal, slap
9. a long *** time, i play usually about an hour or 2 a day

[Nac mac feegle!]

Hey,

FWIW, the Dec 2004 issue of Bass Player Magazine gave a pretty exhaustive review of strings - brands, cores, metal types, coatings, windings. Me thinks it's required reading and an essential reference, FWIW. :thumb:

BTW, Fodera Nickel Plated steels are one of the best balanced strings reviewed.

Regards,

DML

http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?sectioncode=21&storycode=4037
thats the review

[bassplaya927]

1.GHS
2.Black Nylon roundwounds
3.medium guage suits best
4.treble: eh, it was okay...nothin to the ernie balls, though, but not bad
5.mids: pretty good, very consistant, really cut through with the right dialing
6.bass: three words: sub woofer mayhem. these things are LLLLLLLOW like mad
7.they are best for jazz and smooth rock, though if you want, they can hold their own in the hard rock world...not too good with drop d, but thats okay
8. lifespan...hmmm...well i'd say great! took me about 11 months of nonstop play to finally snap the A string. they do lose a little of the brightness after about 5 months, but thats like all strings

[groundzero]

1. Elixir
2. Nanoweb Bass 5-String Medium strings (Extra Long)
3. Roundwound
4. 45-65-85-105-130
5. Treble: Very bright, and because of their coating they stay bright much longer than other strings.
6. Mids: Nice.
7. Bass: Very, very nice.
8. Metal and slap due to the very bright tone, but they will work for many styles because they don't have any glaring weaknesses.
9. Very long. I play about an hour per day, and they have shown very little signs of deterioration over the past few months. Their coating keeps the dirt off and lets them stay bright longer than any other strings I've tried.

[needleboy]

1. Elixir
2. Nanoweb Bass 5-String Medium strings (Extra Long)
3. Roundwound
4. 45-65-85-105-130
5. Treble: Very bright, and because of their coating they stay bright much longer than other strings.
6. Mids: Nice.
7. Bass: Very, very nice.
8. Metal and slap due to the very bright tone, but they will work for many styles because they don't have any glaring weaknesses.
9. Very long. I play about an hour per day, and they have shown very little signs of deterioration over the past few months. Their coating keeps the dirt off and lets them stay bright longer than any other strings I've tried.

groundzero, i'm thinking bout those, but the 4 string pack. meaning, gauge 45-65-85-105. so i wanna ask you, how does the E string (105) sound? low enough?

[bass&cookies]

1.ernie ball
2.hybrid slinky
3.roundwound
4.45-105
5.really bright, great slap
6.pretty decent
7. nice and crunchy, downtunes better than super slinkies
8. punk rock, metal, hard rock
9. 2 hours a day for several weeks, still sound surprisingly well

[groundzero]

groundzero, i'm thinking bout those, but the 4 string pack. meaning, gauge 45-65-85-105. so i wanna ask you, how does the E string (105) sound? low enough?
Sounds just fine to me.

[Nac mac feegle!]

1.rotosound
2.RB45 nickel set
3.roundwound
4.standard guage
5.decent highs, but not as good as ernie balls
6.nice mids
7.great lows
8.rock, metal, jazz and funk
9. lasted about 6 months with about an hour of play a day.
much better all around than swing 66, and cheaper too.

[bassforums>guitar]

Can anyone do a review for Blue Steels? I'd like to know about the light and the XM guages

[Jude]

What about adding 'price' to the list? Seems like a pretty important factor.