which strings do you use for your Peavey T-40?

ishouldbeking · #1 06-09-2008, 03:23 PM

Recently scored my first T-40... loving it so far. It came with a half-dead set of god-knows-what strings... (possibly ghs, not sure though), and it sounds good enough. Unfortunately at my last rehearsal i noticed the strings were starting to die... time to throw something new on there, probably get a setup while i'm at it. I'm a pick player and I typically use daddario nickelwounds on most of my basses... I was considering throwing some DR Lowriders on there instead though, since i've heard stainless works well with the t-40.

Here are my concerns though: the frets are fairly worn down. I don't have money for a re-fret anytime soon, so i don't want to grind them down too quickly. And my other concern: i keep my t-40 in "rickenbacker mode", both tones wide open (in singlecoil mode), bridge volume at max, neck volume at 9. Since there's not a wide range of tone control before humbucker mode kicks in, i'm worried that stainless strings might be too bright, and with only a little degree of tone control the brightness might be untameable? However, I do enjoy the "new string" sound of brand spanking new nickelwounds... i gather stainless strings are more apt to deliver that tone? The only stainless I ever tried were Rotos back when I was playing a stingray... harsh on the fingers and a bit too thin when paired with that bass, IMO. But the DR's seem promising. Or even Labella Hard Rockin Steels.

Anyway, i'm just curious what you all use for your T-40's and why. Thanks!

ishouldbeking · #2 06-15-2008, 02:06 PM

anybody?

dubstylee · #3 07-05-2008, 09:15 AM

I use fender 9050s flats on my T-40, it sounds old school as can be with this setup.

lug · #4 07-05-2008, 10:27 AM

D'Addario Pro Steels. Probably a bit brighter than what you are looking for. Sounds like:

http://www.box.net/shared/static/07p0atmj7s.mp3

If you get these, make sure you get the SuperLong scales, the regular long scales come up a tad short.

fishhed · #5 07-05-2008, 12:38 PM

HI I had the same deal, put DR Hi Beams on it. I tend to use the humbuckers more so cant speak to your tone, but it is kind of bright for that old school bass, if you want traditional tones go with something with more thud.

I am actually happy with it as the bright helps me cut through the mix in my band - everyone plays rhythm guitar with open strings on neck pickup with the bass turned up and it makes a muddy mix if my strings dont have some mids.

Michael

ishouldbeking · #6 07-06-2008, 02:30 PM

I think i've got my t-40 string situation squared away, but not without incident. I swapped out the mystery strings that were on there and threw on some Daddario nickel roundwounds (my standard go-to string)... and it was terrible, at least for what I wanted. Suddenly i realized that those strings did feel a little rough, and i remember thinking... hmm, these calluses sure are getting rougher. Whatever was on there was most defintely stainless, and i didn't even realize it. Not sure which exact strings (possibly budget rotosounds since there's no silk wrap, maybe GHS, maybe something else), but I needed more top end than the daddarios could provide so i went with medium gauge DR Lo-Riders (the stainless variety). No complaints so far. They're not quite as bright as rotos, but they fall into a happy middle ground between nickel rounds and harsh rotos, which works quite well for me. So far so good, and I hear nothing but good things about longevity with DR's...