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- Aug 20, 2012
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How do people like Rotosound Swing 66 strings?
- Thread starter light blue bass
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I love JJ Burnel's tone on the early Stranglers albums and I've been tempted to put some 66's on my p bass. But I worry about their reputation as finger shredders, fret eaters and short lifers. I tried them on a friend's bass and they were like cheese graters on my fingers. Apparently, though, they had more of a reputation for eating frets back when most frets were made out of softer metal in the 60's and 70's (?)
Me likey a lot.
I've been using them since the late 80's. Jeez I'm old Great customer service with Rotosound as well.
AMEN.
(This coming from a 35-90 guy. Your options in this gauge are limited. I may do another try with SIT, but I have a 35-90 set on a 1980 Jazz Bass and I do not think any other string sounds like that.)
Yes, he certainly does. He uses these; SH77 Steve Harris Signature Flatwounds. Rotosound's Monel (nickel alloy) 77 flatwounds are a totally different animal, compared to Roto 66 rounds. 
I use the Roto Jazz Bass 77 Monel flats, too. I have a set of 45-105s on this Gibson Thunderbird, in fact; and, mighty nice strings they are, too - unlike those abominable Roto 66s....
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Started using Rotosound again after 30 years or so ago, RS66 95-40. Flats on my other basses made me feel like I should have 1 bass with rounds and after using almost every brand of round wound available over the years I decided to give Rotos another chance. I installed them on my beater Frankensquier P bass today and I’m very happy so far with the tone and tension. No dead strings, after tweaking the action a bit they’re sounding and feeling great. Last time I bought these was the 80s after a string of sets with dead E strings I moved on. Glad I came back, hope the love affair lasts.
I started playing bass around 3 years ago and one of the first rounds I tried were Rotosound 66, among other common brands (D'Addario, Ernie Ball, Dunlop etc.). I didn't have any experience or reference to understand how good or not they were, but I remember I liked them.
During the last years I changed many type of strings in order to understand the differences and find what worked best for my style of playing. I've found home with nickel rounds and stainless steel flats and that's what I used for the last year. I tried many different brands of course but my "formula" has been the same.
Due to recent changes of needs, I wanted to try stainless steel rounds again and Rotosound was the first brand that came to my mind. At the end of the day, it's a classic.
I've put a set of 45-105 RS66 on my Fender Jazz and immediately noticed how much different they are compared to my other strings.
The good: tone is focused, tight, extremely bright and snappy. Good balance between strings volume, tension is on the lower side (imho, please discuss?) and definitely not super stiff, frequency spectrum seems uniform. Playing with harmonics is on another level with these strings and stainless steel in general. With proper technique and EQing you simply get EVERYTHING with these strings.
I must say that coming from Sunbeams I needed to get used to the Roto's EQ, because it's different and can be deceptive. Sunbeams are a little bit mid scooped with plenty of lows and a good amount of highs, while the RS66 sound more "flat", with less accentuated lows and more highs, which can be easily harsh depending on the bass, EQing etc.
During the first couple of days I couldn't hear my J bass very well when practicing and playing over songs, but now I assimilated that sound and it works pretty well in the mix.
The bad: bad/dull E string right out of the package. As far as I know it happens pretty often. I wrote to Rotosound and they'll send me a new set for free, which is something I really appreciate. Now that the strings are mellowing out the difference seem to be less prominent, but the E is still dull.
They're really abrasive under the fingers. I didn't test other stainless steel rounds recently so I can't make a comparison, but they're rough to the point I developed some callosity on both my hands in a couple of weeks. It didn't happen in the last 25+ years playing guitar, except when I was playing acoustic only. It didn't happen even when I switched to bass, to be honest.
Honestly, I don't mind the pain and callosity. Eventually they will disappear and my hands will adapt perfectly, I'm pretty sure about that. But i must say they're rough.
I'll avoid comments like "too much treble!" and "too zingy!" because that's what you get with stainless steel. I'm acquiring a new taste, let's see how it goes.
During the last years I changed many type of strings in order to understand the differences and find what worked best for my style of playing. I've found home with nickel rounds and stainless steel flats and that's what I used for the last year. I tried many different brands of course but my "formula" has been the same.
Due to recent changes of needs, I wanted to try stainless steel rounds again and Rotosound was the first brand that came to my mind. At the end of the day, it's a classic.
I've put a set of 45-105 RS66 on my Fender Jazz and immediately noticed how much different they are compared to my other strings.
The good: tone is focused, tight, extremely bright and snappy. Good balance between strings volume, tension is on the lower side (imho, please discuss?) and definitely not super stiff, frequency spectrum seems uniform. Playing with harmonics is on another level with these strings and stainless steel in general. With proper technique and EQing you simply get EVERYTHING with these strings.
I must say that coming from Sunbeams I needed to get used to the Roto's EQ, because it's different and can be deceptive. Sunbeams are a little bit mid scooped with plenty of lows and a good amount of highs, while the RS66 sound more "flat", with less accentuated lows and more highs, which can be easily harsh depending on the bass, EQing etc.
During the first couple of days I couldn't hear my J bass very well when practicing and playing over songs, but now I assimilated that sound and it works pretty well in the mix.
The bad: bad/dull E string right out of the package. As far as I know it happens pretty often. I wrote to Rotosound and they'll send me a new set for free, which is something I really appreciate. Now that the strings are mellowing out the difference seem to be less prominent, but the E is still dull.
They're really abrasive under the fingers. I didn't test other stainless steel rounds recently so I can't make a comparison, but they're rough to the point I developed some callosity on both my hands in a couple of weeks. It didn't happen in the last 25+ years playing guitar, except when I was playing acoustic only. It didn't happen even when I switched to bass, to be honest.
Honestly, I don't mind the pain and callosity. Eventually they will disappear and my hands will adapt perfectly, I'm pretty sure about that. But i must say they're rough.
I'll avoid comments like "too much treble!" and "too zingy!" because that's what you get with stainless steel. I'm acquiring a new taste, let's see how it goes.
After using D'adario, GHS boomers and DR hi beams for over a decade I just switched back to Rotosound swing bass.45-105. It's like eating a meat sandwich after being a vegan for 10 yrs. The Tone!!! and just love how they feel.
They are a fantastic string! Especially for bright, twangy, piano like bass sound. But..........they are fret eaters and they loose that special sound quite quickly. IMHO YMMV
