So for the sake of background my main bass is a 5 string, just 28.6" scale, Ibanez Mikro Bass, that I tuned to G# standard tuning, that is one half step bellow the upper 4 strings of a 6 string bass in regular B standard tuning, plus a high E, and strung accordingly with Elixir nickel-plated roundwound Nanoweb guitar strings, of the gauges: .080 - .062 - .046 - .036 - .026.
But I felt like the lowest .080 G# string was lacking some definition, so I decided to try out an Elixir stainless steel roundwound Nanoweb bass string instead of the nickel-plated guitar string of the same gauge.
But while it definitely improved definition I also felt like I lost some upper mids content snap, bite and clank.
I assume the latter might very well be due to the fact that this is a string meant for bass, and not guitar as my usual strings are, and therefor constructed somewhat different, with more focused fundamentals, rather than an effect of the fact of it being stainless steel wound.
So there is definitely more going on here than simply being wound with a somewhat different material.
And I'd imagine if one was to swap a nickel-plated bass string out with a stainless steel wound string of the same brand the result would probably be somewhat different, and more like comparing different sorts of apples, than apples and oranges, or something along those lines.
But as said this at least does give me a more focused low G# string, and I feel perhaps overall more mids content, but while losing some upper mids content, that gives me the snap, bite and clank that I otherwise like.
Not sure yet what my conclusion will be in terms of whether it is an overall improvement or not, that is which I prefer, but thought I'd at least share my experiment and preliminary thoughts about it.
But I felt like the lowest .080 G# string was lacking some definition, so I decided to try out an Elixir stainless steel roundwound Nanoweb bass string instead of the nickel-plated guitar string of the same gauge.
But while it definitely improved definition I also felt like I lost some upper mids content snap, bite and clank.
I assume the latter might very well be due to the fact that this is a string meant for bass, and not guitar as my usual strings are, and therefor constructed somewhat different, with more focused fundamentals, rather than an effect of the fact of it being stainless steel wound.
So there is definitely more going on here than simply being wound with a somewhat different material.
And I'd imagine if one was to swap a nickel-plated bass string out with a stainless steel wound string of the same brand the result would probably be somewhat different, and more like comparing different sorts of apples, than apples and oranges, or something along those lines.
But as said this at least does give me a more focused low G# string, and I feel perhaps overall more mids content, but while losing some upper mids content, that gives me the snap, bite and clank that I otherwise like.
Not sure yet what my conclusion will be in terms of whether it is an overall improvement or not, that is which I prefer, but thought I'd at least share my experiment and preliminary thoughts about it.
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