Are dirt pedals better with duller strings? ...

[Jensby design]

Just personal preference.
Dull strings no.
Neck pick-up yes.

 

[nshuman]

Just personal preference.
Dull strings no.
Neck pick-up yes.

On my P-Bass though, I find no tonal difference between the neck or bridge pickup...

Seriously though, on the only bass I have that has two pickups, the difference between each is striking when it comes to dirt effects.

 

[hintz]

I guess I'm in the minority here, but I love bright roundwounds, I use dr black beauties cuz they last forever! I just play better when I can hear some chime whether dirty or clean, i want lots of mid and treble going through my tone, i leave massive low end to the sound guy!! I was real surprised though when I learned that Steve Harris uses flatwounds, who would've thought??!!

 

[EastCoastThump]

With rounds + dirt, I want either a cab w/ tweeter attenuator or (better) a parametric with both HPF and LPF.

 

[friendlybass]

Preference. For OD I like mellow tone but with fuzz it turns fatty. No me gusta

 

[Wolffgang]

I used to play with flat wounds. They weren't bright enough but I did really like the tone. Then I switched to ground wounds and pressure wounds. I liked this a lot better. The feel of the strings were nice and they lasted forever. Then I discovered circle K balanced roundwounds. I love these and I actually prefer the brighter tone I get from them. For a classic rock vibe I'd say try out GHS pressure wounds. I really liked them when I had them. Also liked the GHS flat wounds.

So much this, for me. I found the top end I was trying to dial out, with or without dirt, became something I liked the sound of once I tried Kaliums.

But I've also enjoyed dead rounds with OD as well. Never really bonded with flats or tapes, but rounds with some miles on them work well. But I also like using EQ and tone knob to dial out undesirable harshness.

 

[cnltb]

... like tapewounds or flatwounds? Less harsh highs; the dirt pedals add so much high end that I don't really enjoy the sound with fresh roundwounds. This is with blues and classic rock though, maybe metal players have a different take on this. What say you?

I think I agree but find that it depends on the individual pedal quite a bit.

 

[FaithNoMan]

I like harsh aggressive high mids and clear highs, like early Faith No More and Shellac. So I'm the opposite of the majority here.

Some pedals sound bad with new strings, but some have a voice that matches up to bright roundwounds perfect.

The Darkglass B3K is one such pedal. It also livens up old strings as well.

 

[sunbeast]

Different pedals definitely seem to go better with different strings- it often has to do with where the midrange character of the pedal resides. Flats are inherently scooped in the high-mids with a strong low-mid/upper bass thump and punch, and ideally a nice percussive top end to define the notes- different types of flats will have more or less mids, treble, and thump which will affect how they pair with different pedals (my fave for retaining a nice aggressive midrange without sacrificing the thump are Sadowsky's). Rounds have a fairly wide spectrum of sounds as well, though they tend to be MUCH more pronounced in the high-mid region than flats, and with significantly less low-mid thump as a generalization.

Using pedals I currently own/love as examples- Pedals that are super strong in the high-mids like the B3K/B7K/Aguilar Agro/SSBS Mini/TAFM can sound kinda neutered and sometimes even nasally with the inherent scoop of flatwounds. Pedals with a nice low-mid punchy focus really shine with flats though- my Darkglass VMT and W&C TFR sound fantastic with flats. Some pedals just seem to sound good with any strings, like the Tronographic Rusty Box or the Fairfield Barbershop.

In my band the bass really needs that hard punchy attack that flats do so well, so I've been through a ton of pedals to find the ones that work best with flats for me!

 

[Oneirogenic]

I've experimented a lot to find strings that play the best with all my effects. The La Bella white tapes have been my favorite for my dirt pedals, specifically the BDDI whose highs when the drive is cranked can be too much with rounds. I noticed my Swollen Pickle sounds good with any strings. But so far broken in hi-beams have been the only strings that with the best with all my pedals.

 

[MCS4]

My answer is "sometimes." For me it's definitely true that too much high end gives some dirt pedals an unpleasant character, but the presence of that high end depends on more factors than just strings. My Zon is more prone to this than other basses and wearing in the strings helps a lot. On other basses with less high end presence there's not nearly as much of a difference between old and new strings in terms of interaction with dirt.

 

[FretNoMore]

I've been listening to a bunch of pedals again now and this has been something of a revelation for me really. I didn't think the strings would make that much of a difference, it hasn't been much of a factor for me earlier, but with the tapewounds and dirt pedals I now think I'll have to make some changes to the pedalboard.

For instance the Barbershop that just didn't work for me at all sounds better to me now. The Carl Martin Bassdrive which has been my favourite sounds dull. I think I'll kick the Bassdrive off the board and bring back the Empress Multidrive again, which also will make room for one more pedal, probably the TC HoF. Out goes also the TC Alter Ego V2, I like the cleaner Flashback better, vintage delay with darker strings sounds too muddy.

This has been interesting. To me anyway, sorry if I bored you guys with my musing.