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Looking for a better B string

#86
Playing D on the B string of my 34” through my rig is is as clear as playing the open E string. Get below that and the tone starts to progressively loose clarity and definition; those lower notes are just ok and the lack of clarity means the punch is also being lost. That doesn’t happen when I go through my little PreSonus recording interface and into my Sennheiser HD280 headphones where the notes remain tight and clear down to the low B. What you’re hearing your bass through might be something to consider too.

PS My rig is worse at bedroom volumes than with a band around it, but at its best never sounds as good as my B string does through my Sennheisers.
 
#87
Altitude said:
The accumulation of organic material (skin, oils, dirt) along the spaces on string windings has a surprisingly noticeable effect on the tone of roundwound strings.

B strings are susceptible in particular because the windings are larger than any of the other strings, creating more and easier places for skin gak to hide. For this reason a lot of players notice all their other strings sound fine but their B string sounds different, "dead," or "floppy".

Good news and bad news.

The bad news is that all roundwound B strings behave like this more or less. There's no brand of string that's immune; you could swap strings and initially be thrilled with the outcome, but soon after you play that bass a while the new B string will start to sound like your current one, more or less.

More bad news. If you're the kind of player who likes the sound of dead roundwounds, there's no getting away from this phenomenon. The dead rounds thing is sort of incompatible with 5 string basses if you are sensitive to this issue.

The good news. You can soak the strings (or just the B, I suppose) in denatured alcohol for a day or two, put them back on the bass, and they will have picked up most of the vibrational harmonic activity they lost when all the grease from your chicken tenders got on them. And you can do that as often as you want. I have ten year old roundwound sets I've been rotating onto basses the whole time.

BTW, the construction of flatwound strings sort of minimizes this effect, and the deal with "coated" strings is that they also prevent accumulation of dirt and gak along the windings to some extent. Those, however, do not respond well to solvents.

Good luck out there.
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Totally agree with this. B and E-strings tend to go dead quicker, so if you sweat a lot or have a lot of acidity in your hands, there's not a whole lot you can do about it other than to go to coated strings which are usually not as bright as their regular counterparts to begin with.

I haven't heard a better B-string than my 37" scale length Dingwalls. I've had a couple of Laklands that had great sounding B-strings (at a 35" scale length), one of which was modded with Lace Aluma pickups. I have also found that the 34" Sandberg VM5 also has a great B-string.

With the exception of Dingwalls, I prefer the playability of 34" scale length basses. Plus, I feel there is a trade-off on 35"s in that what you gain in B-string clarity, you also make the G-string sound thin and tinny.
 
#88
Smallmouth_Bass said:
there's not a whole lot you can do about it other than to go to coated strings which are usually not as bright as their regular counterparts to begin with.
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Yeah, I think the coating itself deadens the vibrations a bit, with the objective that its presence keeps it from getting too much worse.
 
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#89
Smallmouth_Bass said:
Plus, I feel there is a trade-off on 35"s in that what you gain in B-string clarity, you also make the G-string sound thin and tinny.
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This is why Dingwall multi scale is the optimal solution for 5 string BEADG bass:
37” B string that’s as crystal clear as any 34” E string, graduating to a solid sounding 34” G string.

Every string is the optimum length for clarity and the tension is balanced across all strings in a way you just don’t get on any parallel fretted, fixed scale instruments
 
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#90
A b string at a 34 inch scale is quite a compromise. FWIW, I once tested different B string gages from the same manufacturer (Kalium) on my 34 inch Stingray and lo and behold, the thicker the string, the clearer and brighter the sound. The difference was striking... 118 and 120 B's sounded muted and chocked, but the 128 and certainly the 136 rang out nicely... especially on fretted notes. I play mainly flats now and Chromes and EBMM groups and cobalts have worked quite well.
 
#91
cdaniel said:
By "exposed core" do you mean "taper wound"? My B and E are currently taper wound on both basses.
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I should probably be able to give you a better answer, but all I can say is..... I use Dunlop Super Bright Nickel wounds with a tapered B. The Nickel tapered B seems to be much more articulate than the regular B on my Fender. I don't need the tapered B on my other 5 string basses. The Dunlop Nickels actually work very well on most of my basses. Even my acoustic bass. I put my well used strings on that bass. It amplifies and records very well.
 
#92
Happy to report that additional string trees and a .130 DDT string from DR made a noticeable difference on my 2001 American Deluxe V. Looking forward to a live rehearsal listen tomorrow....
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#95
My '11 fretted Martin Keith Elfin 5 has the outer coils of the Citron pickups in JazzBassLand® for when I want that sound, using just those coils (the inner coils are not used in that configuration through the use of a special switching blend pot system).

Talk to Martin and conjure up your own Elfin 5 to suit you. It also has a 34 1/2" scale length which adds to a mighty B string tone.

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