SS vs Nickel Lo Riders for Upper Mid Grind?

[Mobile Sprout]

So I've been a user of DR SS Lo Riders on my Jazz bass for a while now. I mainly play hard rock and metal on this thing. I chose SS because I assumed it would have a more defined better high end than the nickels.

What I want in this band is that grindy, upper mid heavy, "raspy" sound that players like Flea and Justin Chancellor get. Reading up on them I see they actually use nickel plated strings (well, Flea for sure. JC possibly). Did I have this entire relationship wrong? Do nickel plated (or pure nickel wound) strings actually have the grind & "rasp" I'm looking for?

[PSPookie]

Nickel Lo Riders have great low mid growl, but I'm not sure they would be my pick for a high mid grind.

You're on the right track with the nickel thing though. Maybe D'Adario or EB Slinkies . . .

[Mobile Sprout]

Hmm, they actually don't make Nickel Lo Riders in the gauge I want (heavy) anyway, so those are out.

Anyone want to weigh in on which nickel rounds are the "grindy-est"? D'addario? Slinkies? GHS boomers?

[stflbn]

Depends which "grind" you're searching for. It's about as confusing of a description as "growl" is...

[Metal Mitch]

Originally Posted by stflbn

Depends which "grind" you're searching for. It's about as confusing of a description as "growl" is...

+1... there's no grind in the high mids anyway. Unless you're talking about fret buzz

[Mobile Sprout]

Err.. I still don't have a good word for what I want.

Right now I play SS DR Lo Riders. They have lots of highs, and I can dial in various nice rock sounds with them (GK 1001RB-II and a Sansamp pedal). However, when I listen to Flea and Justin Chancellor, there is some extra component there that I'm unable to emulate. It's this cutting, treble/upper-mid "rasp" that they both seem to get. "Modern rock rasp"? After messing with my settings so long I got the impression that this sound I want goes beyond EQing.

Meanwhile, I recently restrung my strat with D'Addario XLs, and suddenly noticed they had this pronounced treble that almost reminded me of those rock bass players. So then I got to thinking - Maybe this is really a string choice issue, and I should be using nickel wound strings.

That's about as best as I can explain things. For an example of this sound listen to "By the way" by RHCP or any newer Tool track. Is "rasp" the best word? "Biting Upper Mid Throaty-ness"?

[kirkm24]

Originally Posted by Mobile Sprout

Err.. I still don't have a good word for what I want.

Right now I play SS DR Lo Riders. They have lots of highs, and I can dial in various nice rock sounds with them (GK 1001RB-II and a Sansamp pedal). However, when I listen to Flea and Justin Chancellor, there is some extra component there that I'm unable to emulate. It's this cutting, treble/upper-mid "rasp" that they both seem to get. "Modern rock rasp"? After messing with my settings so long I got the impression that this sound I want goes beyond EQing.

Meanwhile, I recently restrung my strat with D'Addario XLs, and suddenly noticed they had this pronounced treble that almost reminded me of those rock bass players. So then I got to thinking - Maybe this is really a string choice issue, and I should be using nickel wound strings.

That's about as best as I can explain things. For an example of this sound listen to "By the way" by RHCP or any newer Tool track. Is "rasp" the best word? "Biting Upper Mid Throaty-ness"?

Hmmm, DR Lo Riders in both Stainless Steel and Nickel have a pretty thick midrange presence. The only difference between these is that the Nickels are a little warmer but in terms of mids, they are very similar. Maybe you need to consider a whole different line of strings?

If you want upper mids and trble bite, I would suggest Hi Beams (more treble) or Fat Beams (more upper mids) but if those are too lose and floppy feeling than I would suggest D'Addario Pro Steels.