Another Boomers question - need some feedback

[GIBrat51]

Would you say the Boomers have a tone closer to traditional flats? That's what I am going for - more thump. But I still want a touch of the round wound top end. Thanks.

While I'd have to agree with @michael_t (like I generally do), on this particular question I'd have to say - it depends. My first experience with Boomers - hex core Boomers - was with the old set that came to me on an '81 headless, aluminum-necked, 31" scale Kramer "The Duke" Deluxe bass. On that bass, with it's Schaller "Twin J" pickup, the tone was to die for. Several years later, I put a set of hex core Boomers on my then-new '13 Gibson Thunderbird. I'd really liked the 'Bird's factory rounds, but Gibson didn't sell them by the time I needed replacements - didn't sell bass strings at all, in fact (yes, I know they do - now.) Looking for suitable substitutes, several people - including always-helpful fellow members of the T-Bird Owner's Club here - turned me on to hex core Boomers. I swear, those strings are made for a T-Bird... However; about 2 years ago, now, the Boomers on the Kramer Duke finally died. I was going to replace them with the backup set I had in my string stash, but; for several reasons - some involving nerves in my hands, - I had been replacing all my bass's strings with flats. My T-Bird now wears Dogal R44's; very smooth; very "mellow, low-mid/midrange forward" flats - but, no; not much like Boomers at all. However... after experimenting with other strings a time or two? I settled on short scale DR Legends for the Kramer Duke. My fingers are much happier with their smoothness, but; even better? They sound very, very much like the Boomers I took off of it. I can't say how much the scale, and/or the bass itself (it is pretty unique, after all) have to do with the resemblance to the Boomers; and, I certainly can't say they'd do the same on your bass. But, in this instance? Yes, Boomers do sound like flats. And, yes; DR Legends do have a pretty decent top end - probably regardless of the bass they're on, but for sure they do on the Duke, anyway...

 

[Deleted member 271037]

I'm sorry that I've made this thread go a bit off the rails with my comments about the differences I hear between Rotobass and Roto 66 nickel

As my final contribution to this thread (I promise!) I just want to show you all this video:



The Rotobass stings clearly have completely different taperede ends (at the headstock where the silk would have been). They're exactly like I remembered them. The tapered ends of Rotobass are smooth and not like the rough ends of Roto 66 nickels at all. Of course this may just be a silk vs no silk thing but it does suggest to me that the contruction and the manufacturing process must be different. This is also suggested on Rotosound's own website where the 66s are said to be hand made and Rotobass made on computer controlled string winding machines.

Will it matter at all if they're wound on a different type machinery? Well, DR certainly seems to think so if the story they're telling about the FAT-Beams are true (basically that one of their winding machines made HI-Beams that had a fatter tone or something to that effect).

And then there's the person from Roto who told me (by email) that they used "different spec wire" for Rotobass. This was a couple of years ago though. Maybe they've changed the specs. But my impression of Rotobass at the time was that they had a noticably different tone to the 66 nickels and significantly shorter life. My initial thoughts were that they must have outsourced the manufacturing of Rotobass to someone who made them cheaper but it says on their website they're made in the UK.

Whatever the reason, Rotobass didn't have the Roto-feel to me and I almost exclusively used Roto 66s from the mid 90s to mid 2000s so I'm very familiar with them. Maybe they're different now....? The price difference between Rotobass and Roto 66 nickels is certainly a lot smaller than it used to be!

Now, back to the Boomers...