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Best strings for a Gibson SG Bass?

Pier_

Pier_

Dec 22, 2013
1,820
1,750
Roma, Italia
#1
Hi there! I'm back with a topic about strings on the Gibson SG bass.

I'm a proud owner of a 2010 Faded working perfectly, light, "worn" and big sounding, and I'm using it with roundwound strings, because I have flats on my Jazz Bass. that's probably my favourite bass right now, with a big and chunky neck (and not that small sticks shorts scales usually show...), a wall of sound still with the right amount of mids to not get lost in the mix, and it's ultralight! yes, a bit neck heavy, but who cares when the overall bass is less than 3kg?

in the last months I've tried three different kind of strings:

D'Addario EXL160s, 50-105
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 50-105
Rotosound RS66LD 45-105

by far the Rotosound are the one I preferred for the overall sound, a bit brighter and with a more powerful E string (which helps when using only the neck pickup), but the tension is not my favourite (I had a long scale set used on another bass, and switched to the SG), too light for my actual taste.

the Ernie Balls were great, but "flattened" the overall sound, taking away some meat and basses with their focused hi-mids. great for a better definition, but not for the bottom.

the D'Addario are the ones I'm using, because they are in the right "midway" spot: the tension is good, the sound is big but still a bit bright without losing definition. however, the E string seems to lose some of it's life early, but by far I still haven't understood if it's only a feeling I have or it's true: let me explain; when playing at home, with a small amp, the E string with the D'Addario seems to have a little lower volume and definition compared to the other strings, in particular using only the neck pickup. but if I record the bass or play through a "gig" amp, this issue is totally gone.

what I think is that the D'addario's E has a good amount of bass frequencies that, in a small amp, get lost and gives the impression of a lower volume/dead string or something like that.

that's my short experience with the SG and strings; what about the other users?


PS: I fell in love with the SG years ago when I tried one in a shop, but never found the courage to buy one.
then I saw the 2006 McCartney concert with Brian Ray playing an Heritage Cherry SG, and BANG, I had to own one, and it was one of my best deals ever!
 
#2
Pier_ said:
Hi there! I'm back with a topic about strings on the Gibson SG bass.

I'm a proud owner of a 2010 Faded working perfectly, light, "worn" and big sounding, and I'm using it with roundwound strings, because I have flats on my Jazz Bass. that's probably my favourite bass right now, with a big and chunky neck (and not that small sticks shorts scales usually show...), a wall of sound still with the right amount of mids to not get lost in the mix, and it's ultralight! yes, a bit neck heavy, but who cares when the overall bass is less than 3kg?

in the last months I've tried three different kind of strings:

D'Addario EXL160s, 50-105
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 50-105
Rotosound RS66LD 45-105

by far the Rotosound are the one I preferred for the overall sound, a bit brighter and with a more powerful E string (which helps when using only the neck pickup), but the tension is not my favourite (I had a long scale set used on another bass, and switched to the SG), too light for my actual taste.

the Ernie Balls were great, but "flattened" the overall sound, taking away some meat and basses with their focused hi-mids. great for a better definition, but not for the bottom.

the D'Addario are the ones I'm using, because they are in the right "midway" spot: the tension is good, the sound is big but still a bit bright without losing definition. however, the E string seems to lose some of it's life early, but by far I still haven't understood if it's only a feeling I have or it's true: let me explain; when playing at home, with a small amp, the E string with the D'Addario seems to have a little lower volume and definition compared to the other strings, in particular using only the neck pickup. but if I record the bass or play through a "gig" amp, this issue is totally gone.

what I think is that the D'addario's E has a good amount of bass frequencies that, in a small amp, get lost and gives the impression of a lower volume/dead string or something like that.

that's my short experience with the SG and strings; what about the other users?


PS: I fell in love with the SG years ago when I tried one in a shop, but never found the courage to buy one.
then I saw the 2006 McCartney concert with Brian Ray playing an Heritage Cherry SG, and BANG, I had to own one, and it was one of my best deals ever!
Click to expand...
I use dr sunbeam short scale nickel rounds .45-.105 on my sg bass and I love them.
 
#4
I went through a lot of string changes when I owned one and the best I came up with were the labella hard rocking steels. They're not called that any more but they're steel rounds with a 110 E string. I'm pretty sure they still make them under a different name.
 
#5
Not the same, so serve with salt... I had an Epi EB-3 which took to Chromes better than any other bass I've owned. I did have to dial the amp's bass knob back to 9:00 if I wanted to hear any breath from the string- kinda pointless with a true Neck-Pickup bass, but it did sound really nice to my ears.

If they do an SS set of Chromes, I'd say that they're worth a try.
 
#6
Pier_ said:
Hi there! I'm back with a topic about strings on the Gibson SG bass.

I'm a proud owner of a 2010 Faded working perfectly, light, "worn" and big sounding, and I'm using it with roundwound strings, because I have flats on my Jazz Bass. that's probably my favourite bass right now, with a big and chunky neck (and not that small sticks shorts scales usually show...), a wall of sound still with the right amount of mids to not get lost in the mix, and it's ultralight! yes, a bit neck heavy, but who cares when the overall bass is less than 3kg?

in the last months I've tried three different kind of strings:

D'Addario EXL160s, 50-105
Ernie Ball Regular Slinky 50-105
Rotosound RS66LD 45-105

by far the Rotosound are the one I preferred for the overall sound, a bit brighter and with a more powerful E string (which helps when using only the neck pickup), but the tension is not my favourite (I had a long scale set used on another bass, and switched to the SG), too light for my actual taste.

the Ernie Balls were great, but "flattened" the overall sound, taking away some meat and basses with their focused hi-mids. great for a better definition, but not for the bottom.

the D'Addario are the ones I'm using, because they are in the right "midway" spot: the tension is good, the sound is big but still a bit bright without losing definition. however, the E string seems to lose some of it's life early, but by far I still haven't understood if it's only a feeling I have or it's true: let me explain; when playing at home, with a small amp, the E string with the D'Addario seems to have a little lower volume and definition compared to the other strings, in particular using only the neck pickup. but if I record the bass or play through a "gig" amp, this issue is totally gone.

what I think is that the D'addario's E has a good amount of bass frequencies that, in a small amp, get lost and gives the impression of a lower volume/dead string or something like that.

that's my short experience with the SG and strings; what about the other users?


PS: I fell in love with the SG years ago when I tried one in a shop, but never found the courage to buy one.
then I saw the 2006 McCartney concert with Brian Ray playing an Heritage Cherry SG, and BANG, I had to own one, and it was one of my best deals ever!
Click to expand...
Not much too add other than when I tried Daddario's the E string went dead very quickly and lost definition, was the nickels, the steel version might last longer
 
#7
Gorn said:
I went through a lot of string changes when I owned one and the best I came up with were the labella hard rocking steels. They're not called that any more but they're steel rounds with a 110 E string. I'm pretty sure they still make them under a different name.
Click to expand...

La Bella has unfortunately discontinued a vast majority if not all of their short scale rounds. Deep Talkin' Rounds - with a .110 E - were my absolute favourite for decades.

DR Hi-Beams (045-105) would be my forced choice for rounds on these basses nowadays.
 
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#8
GHS SHORT SCALE BALANCED NICKELS - Medium (32.75" winding)


medium.jpg


I love these strings on my SG Standard and DC Les Paul Bass.
 
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#9
shoulderpet said:
Not much too add other than when I tried Daddario's the E string went dead very quickly and lost definition, was the nickels, the steel version might last longer
Click to expand...

In the last months I tried the EPS170, prosteel, and they make this bass come alive like no other!
The E string is still clear sounding and with lot of sustain, the overall volume and clarity are better, and I switched to them also on my Thunderbird, that now sounds better.
 
#13
My Sg is anything but mellow with these strings. It has lots of growl also. All you have to do is adjust the volumes between the 2 pickups and dial the tone towards the treble side and you can make it bite your face off. Mellow is not a term I would use. Mine is a 2019 with the original bridge. I will admit when I had the earlier year with the Babitcz bridge (not sure if I spelled that right) it sounded totally different. So much that I didn’t like it and sold it. It had D’Addario strings on it and sounded terrible. At least I couldn’t get what I wanted out of it. Very happy with my new combination though.
 
#17
I tried a number of different strings on my SG bass, including D'Addario EXL165 nickel rounds (good - a little twangy); LaBella Deep Talkin Flats (great classic thump - not a lot of top end); Ken Smith Short Scale Burners (probably my favorite roundwound on this bass, good balance from bottom to top); D'Addario Chromes (Hated these, took them off within 48 hours) and my current favorites - D'Addario ETB92S - Black Nylon tapewounds. These are a real surprise. Nice low end with some of that flat wound thump but still enough top end zing to be really satisfying. They are great for string bends and feel a lot more like ground wound strings on your fingers than traditional tapes. These strings brought my SG bass alive. And they have lasted a good 2 years now with no complaints. I recommend them.
 
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#18
I played the ETB-92S for a long time on my DIY shortscale RD like bass which is supplied with thunderbuckers. I really liked them, but for my present project they are too dark. On that bass i've enjoyed the LaBella Gold White Tapes which unfortunately are not available for the short scale any more. But the normal White Tapes are, and i can imagine they would sound really good with the pickups of the SG bass. A lot brighter than the ETB92 and as smooth and as long living as those.
 

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