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Another Boomers question - need some feedback
- Thread starter buldog5151bass
- Start date
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In addition to my previous post I might also add that if you like the Rotosound Swingbass 66 nickels and just want to go SLIGHTLY warmer there's also the Rotosound Rotobass strings. Both are nickel plated steel but the cheaper Rotobass strings are closer to "middle of the road" nickel plated steel strings from other manufacturers. The more expensive Swingbass 66 nickels have more of the characteristic, aggressive Rotosound mids and will stay bright considerably longer than Rotobass. Rotobass will still have an upper mid focus though (so probably closer to say D'Addario XLs than Boomers) but will mellow out considerably faster than Swingbass 66 nickels in my experience.
Boomer will definitely have more lower mids, if that's what you're looking for.
But with any roundwounds it's really a matter of brighter vs warmer/darker/mellower, not really "deeper". If you want a significantly deeper tone you will probably have to look at other things, like your bass, your pickups or your amp/cab.
Boomer will definitely have more lower mids, if that's what you're looking for.
But with any roundwounds it's really a matter of brighter vs warmer/darker/mellower, not really "deeper". If you want a significantly deeper tone you will probably have to look at other things, like your bass, your pickups or your amp/cab.
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GHS Pressurewounds are much stiffer than the strings the OP are referring to though. Personally I also find GHS Pressurewounds to be BRIGHTER than Boomers once they're broken in. Out of the box Boomer may be brighter but that won't last very long. Of course it's a different kind of brightness. With Pressurewounds it's more about aggressive upper mids than "zing".
Apart from the smooth surface I actually think GHS Pressurewounds feel LESS like flats than most roundwounds. The attack is completely different. They don't have the thumpy/bouncy feel of classic flats AT ALL. GHS Pressurewounds are more about a fast, presise attack and lots of sustain. Personally I think most standard roundwounds have a more similar dynamic response to flats than GHS Pressurewounds. The upper mids are also very bright and aggressive. GHS Pressurewounds really are in a category of their own and apart from the smoother surface I don't find them close to flats at all, except perhaps Rotosound 77 flats which are also brighter and less thumpy than most other flats.
I have been using Pressure wounds and I find them to mellow and lose any zing they had fast. They are still articulate without the High frequency harshness. It is easier to find your strings and stay with them than constantly knob twisting IMHO
Used Boomers in 45-105 and 40-95 for several years. Liked the tone - descriptions above track my experiences. Unfortunately, as also noted above, they were notably short lived and when they died, they really died. I ended up going back to NLRs as it’s actually cheaper over the long haul. NLRs last significantly longer and don’t degrade as much when they finally croak. As always, YMMV…
Fyi...
We have confirmation directly from Rotosound that the Swing Bass 66 Nickels and the Roto Bass are exactly the same strings except for the blue silk; there is no difference in terms of materials or construction otherwise. That would also mean no difference in tone.
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If you're looking for strings that have plenty of bottom but still have the upper edge, I would suggest you try a set of DR Pure Blues.
I haven’t tried NLRs before, but Bass Boomers are my favorite NPS strings, and I have Rotosound SB-66s on one of my basses.
Feel-wise, Boomers have a smidge more string tension than SB-66’s, but overall they feel very similar. In surface texture, Boomers feel slightly smoother, but that might just be that I’m more accustomed to them, but in this regard they’re also very close IMO.
Both sets have a strong, punchy low end. I feel SB-66’s have more high mids, whereas Boomers have more low mids. I feel SB-66’s have more high end than Boomers, both when they’re brand new, and after they’re broken in.
I feel both sets are excellent. And IMHO broken in, they’re more similar than they are different. Boomers have a darker sound, but in the live mix, I find them very audible. SB-66’s have a high mids punch that makes them cut through the mix beautifully.
I also feel each set has a sound that’s unique to them, that I haven’t found in any other set of strings.
I suggest that you buy a set of each, and try them out for yourself.
I really like this guy’s string shootout video. I think you might like it.
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That's strange because I have confirmation directly from Rotosound that they use different type of wire and are NOT identical. I asked them because I read here on talkbass that they are identical but my ears told me something different.
In my experience the Rotobass sets go dead (or mellow out, depending on how you look at it) very fast but the Swingbass 66 nickels take a very long time to lose the metallic zing/clank.
I trust my ears over any internet rumours and I stopped using Rotobass because they went dead too fast for me and not in a good way. I generally like warm/mellow strings but I didn't like the way Rotobass strings mellowed out. They just became totally lifeless.
The 66 nickels on the other hand are a touch too clanky/metallic in the upper mids for my taste and it took me forever to get rid of that metallic, zingy tone. They're good strings but if I want the classic Roto tone I prefer 66 steels. For nickel I prefer other brands.
Have you actually tried these strings yourself?
Of course I won't completely rule out the possibility that the 3-4 sets of Rotobass that I've tried were all from a bad batch AND that the Rotosound rep I talked to gave me incorrect information but it seems highly unlikely. Until proven otherwise I will say Rotobass and Swingbass 66 nickels are NOT the same strings.
Interesting... And thanks for the info. Now I don't know what to believe. Maybe I should just stay out of discussions on Roto strings.
Ooops! I’m sorry, stainless steel.
And just to clarify one of my comments; the reason I feel that the tone of Bass Boomers, which are NPS, and the stainless steel Rotosound SB-66’s are “more similar than different” is because both sets of strings produce a lot of midrange “information”.
Of course, stainless steel roundwounds are going to overall sound brighter than NPS roundwound strings. And stainless steel SB-66’s do, but because of their prominent midrange, they don’t sound overly bright, to me.
Before I bought this set of Rotosounds, I hadn’t used them in many, many years. So my assumption when I bought them was that I was going to get a drastically different sound than what I get from Bass Boomers, but the overall tone of the SB-66’s wasn’t that much of a great departure from the sound of Bass Boomers, IMHO.
And I speculate that because each set has a strong midrange character, they’re very well suited for carving out a spot in the mix.
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Interesting... And thanks for the info. Now I don't know what to believe. Maybe I should just stay out of discussions on Roto strings.
I checked the Roto website to see if I could find any specs.
They describe these strings a bit differently with the packaging of the 66 nickels saying "Warm bright tone" and the packaging of Rotobass strings saying "great allround bright tone". Which of course means absolutely nothing.
Perhaps more interesting is the description of the 66 nickels:
"A nickel-coated version of our best-selling Swing Bass 66 strings"
"...hand made by highly skilled engineers on James How’s original machinery"
versus the description of the Rotobass strings:
"We took our popular Swing Bass 66 Nickel strings and simplified the design specifications..."
"manufactured on bespoke computer controlled string winding machines that have been developed by Rotosound engineers...".
It could all be meaningless marketing talk of course but it does more or less say that the 66 nickels are hand wound while the Rotobass strings are manufactured by a more automated process. It's been a while since I tried them but I remember thinking that in addition to having a shorter life the Rotobass strings felt different to other Rotos and more like other strings from other manufacturers like D'Addario XLs.
If I remember correctly the tapered ends of the strings (where the silk should have been) were a lot smoother on Rotobass than on Roto 66s. More similar to other brands. Roto 66s are very rough under the silk. It's been a while since I used them though so I might be wrong about this.
Still, my experience with Rotobass vs Roto 66 nickels is that they can't possibly be the exact same strings unless I got several CONSISTENTLY bad sets of Rotobass. Not that they were really bad strings, they just sounded/felt a bit different to me and had SIGNIFICANTLY shorter life than the 66 nickels.
I once did an almighty amount of Internet searching on this topic, which brought me previous posts from you. It is certainly true that Rotosound have changed their story on the difference between these two strings more than once. Sometimes what they've said simply hasn't added up. The last time they were asked, which was this year, they said the strings are the same (which, of course, doesn't mean they always were...)
To my regret, I never found another post like the long one of yours from a few years ago detailing the differences between the Swing Bass Nickels and the Roto Bass.
For what it's worth, I've a set of the 45-105 Roto Bass on my BB424 and like them very much. If my shoulder hadn't fallen out with that bass, I would have played them a lot more. The next time I buy Roto Nickels, I intend to get the Swing Bass version and see if I can detect any difference in feel or sound. If I can't, I'll be happy to have frittered away an extra 5 quid on some pretty silks, just the once
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I once did an almighty amount of Internet searching on this topic, which brought me previous posts from you. It is certainly true that Rotosound have changed their story on the difference between these two strings more than once. Sometimes what they've said simply hasn't added up. The last time they were asked, which was this year, they said the strings are the same (which, of course, doesn't mean they always were...)
To my regret, I never found another post like the long one of yours from a few years ago detailing the differences between the Swing Bass Nickels and the Roto Bass.
For what it's worth, I've a set of the 45-105 Roto Bass on my BB424 and like them very much. If my shoulder hadn't fallen out with that bass, I would have played them a lot more. The next time I buy Roto Nickels, I intend to get the Swing Bass version and see if I can detect any difference in feel or sound. If I can't, I'll be happy to have frittered away an extra 5 quid on some pretty silks, just the once
Just out of curiosity, does the Roto Bass strings you're currently using have those rough, loosely wound tapered ends (where the slik would have been) like on other Roto strings? Or are the tapered ends smoother, with the wrapping going all the way to the end like on most other strings (like say D'Addario XLs)? It should be very noticable. Roto 66s have a very characteristic "knurled" feel at the tapered ends and if you remove the silk there are no full wrappings underneath, just loosely criss-crossing wires.
As far as I can remember the Roto Bass sets I used had more "normal" tapered ends, like on most other brands of strings, and if that's the case they are DEFINITELY not the same strings as Roto 66. I might be wrong about this though as it has been a couple of years since I used Roto Bass.
Still, the difference in tone and life (particularly the latter) was very noticable to me and until proven otherwise I'm 99% convinced that Roto Bass and Roto 66 nickels can't possibly be the same strings. But like I said, if others get different results I won't completely rule out the possibility that my Roto Bass sets were from a bad batch. I purchased all the sets within a couple of months and from the same dealer so it's not completely impossible.
Here's the report of the most recent comment from Roto Customer Service:
Which is written in the present tense with no reference to the past.
Which is written in the present tense with no reference to the past.
My recent post you just quoted above is from my email exchange with a Rotosound customer support rep named "Jack" on April 14, 2022.
This matches my personal (and limited) experience. I bought a set of Rotobass thinking they were the same as the Swing Bass nickels, and found them to be extremely warm and dull sounding. Did not like. (At least, not for the reason I bought them. I can see desiring that very warm, dull sound for some applications.)
But as you suggested, perhaps it was a bad set.
So, who's going to buy a set of each and string two basses with a mixture of 2 strings from each set? 
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