Rotosound Flats Rule!

[Jason Hollar]

Well, I finally broke my G string tonight -- right at the beginning of a funky slap & pop solo on Superstition...I made it through on the bottom four strings just fine though!

I was hoping to get a few more months out of my strings, but the end came tonight.

A brief history: I'm playing a Yamaha TRB 1005, active 5-string bass, with a 35" scale, strings tuned down a half step (for the blues/rock Stevie Ray Vaughn, Hendrix sound).

I just counted and found I got 80 gigs, several rehearsals, and a couple of studio sessions out of this first set of Rotosound strings. All that plus many undocumented hours of personal practice time on the bass between shows.

FYI -- my main blues/rock gig requires a fairly strong sound coming from my hands to my amp. The band I work with plays long sets and most of the material is upbeat. About half of the stuff I play is fingerstyle -- and that's the shuffle blues tunes and funky Motown & R&B songs. About 30% is played with a pick, straight-forward rock tunes with heavy pick play and several bass solos. The other 20% or so I play slap & pop - and I'm not shy when it comes to digging in on the instrument.

I just wanted to put this out there for anyone considering a good set of flats for a rock/blues/funk gig. I love mine! By the way, I'm using the 45-130's.

I'm going to put on an older set of Ernie Ball flats probably for the rest of the summer. I have a brand spankin' new set of Rotosounds ready to go -- but I might wait until I get my axe set up again in about two months -- when my repair guy gets back off the road.

Peace -- good luck -- hope this helps someone if they've got a bad case of GAS for new flatwound strings.

[evan_phi]

do they make a set of flats for a 6er?

Edit: found out for myself.

nope.

[LoveThatBass]

Rotosound 77's are the best sounding flats for about two weeks until they start to go dead. That is my one gripe with them.

[thebassclef]

I've had my rotosound flats for about 4 years now, and they still sound great.

[Jason Hollar]

Like I said,

I got a good 6 months out of them.

I could tell they were losing some of the top end, but I'm really going for a thumpy Motown kinda sound anyway.

Depends on the bass. My Yamaha has a powerful pre -- and the Eden Nav pre or SWR head that I use has no shortage of high end!

I can usually tell by how I set my EQ just how far gone my strings are.

BTW -- I just put on my new set of Rotos (started to not like the Ernie Balls afterall) and man, do they kick!

[clanner]

would you say down the road that they are punchier that Thomastik Infeld jazz flats? I'm wondering so that when I replace the strings on my G&L I can get a replacemnt that are more readily available than the TI's (had to get these through the mail, but it was free)

[Tiwaz]

Originally Posted by evan_phi

do they make a set of flats for a 6er?

Edit: found out for myself.

nope.

Yes, RotoSound makes flatwounds for 6 string basses, I use them myself.
RS776LD (steel) and RS886LD (Nylon).
Great strings indeed

[::::BASSIST::::]

What's the bottom like on these?

[Jason Hollar]

Well, I can't say for sure how the Rotos compare to the T.I. flats regarding punch. I never actually used a set of the Thomastiks simply because the gauge is much lighter. I find the Rotos to be a heavy, tight feeling string, which I like.

I also think the string has a great deal of bottom end. More importantly, it has a clarity I haven't found in other flats I've tried. They sound killer through my Navigator pre/Crown K1 1,000 watt amp/SWR Goliath III cab!

An interesting note: the texture of the Rotosound string is kind of like a half wound or "ground wound" string...but not quite. It's not near as smooth feeling as the Ernie Ball or D'daddario Chromes.

That being said, I'm still delighted with these strings. I also have a four string set on my Modulus Vintage Jazz.

I've also heard really good things about the Labella flats. I might try them sometime in the future...but for now, I'm sticking with the 77's.