Roto Sound RS 66LD Revisited

[jallenbass]

Back in the early 80's RS 66 was my default string choice. Jaco, Entwistle and all. Put away the BG for 25 years to focus on DB. Upon reuniting with the BG I was strictly a flats player. For some reason in the last few months I decided to give rounds a try again. Fender and Ernie Ball were on hand so I tried Slinkies, 7250s and 7350s. All nice strings. No qualms at all. Today I bought a set of (stainless steel) RS 66s. Here's my signal chain:

Squier alder body with MIM 50's Fender Precision neck. Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder.

Streamliner 900 through a fEARful 12/6.

First thing that I noticed was that even though the Fender and EB strings were the same gauge the Roto Sounds put less tension on the neck. I had to loosen the truss rod and raise the D string saddle. The next thing I noticed was with the SL 900 controls all set at noon I was hearing a (dare I say it) warm tone. None of the aggression that others have reported. The feel was also very nice. None of the flesh ripping that I have read about.

I'm quite happy with these and am looking forward to seeing how they mature.

 

[kedo]

I've tried Fender nickel rounds, D'Adarrio nickel rounds, chromes, Roto flats (regular and SH sigs), DR Sunbeams, Hi-Beams, Lo-Beams, Fat Beams, Blue Steels...

I don't think I've found any of them to be bad, but I always go back to Roto 66. Just installed a new set about 2 hours ago.

 

[darkstorm]

Ive occassionally tried and briefly used other strings since I started with rotosound swing66 steels in the mid 70's. But allways come back to them as best strings.

 

[gen8hawaii]

Just put on my first set of rotosound swing 66 strings today and was pleasantly surprised. Great tone not as rough feeling as some have said. Only wished I tried these "old school" strings sooner. This would have saved me a bunch of looking for the tone I was after on my j bass.

 

[jallenbass]

Addendum - I did have to tighten the truss rod back to where it was with the other strings.

 

[iiipopes]

When I played Roto 66 on my custom bass, I was always complimented on my "big" tone I got from it. I now prefer flats, and the Fender 9050CL flats do the same thing for me in a flat, just a subdued form of the growl, that the Rotos did for me.

 

[bigmoosepi]

my favourite string too, but I EQ out almost all the treble. It's all about that midrange.

 

[Duke21]

Back in the early 80's RS 66 was my default string choice. Jaco, Entwistle and all. Put away the BG for 25 years to focus on DB. Upon reuniting with the BG I was strictly a flats player. For some reason in the last few months I decided to give rounds a try again. Fender and Ernie Ball were on hand so I tried Slinkies, 7250s and 7350s. All nice strings. No qualms at all. Today I bought a set of (stainless steel) RS 66s. Here's my signal chain:

Squier alder body with MIM 50's Fender Precision neck. Seymour Duncan SPB-3 Quarter Pounder.

Streamliner 900 through a fEARful 12/6.

First thing that I noticed was that even though the Fender and EB strings were the same gauge the Roto Sounds put less tension on the neck. I had to loosen the truss rod and raise the D string saddle. The next thing I noticed was with the SL 900 controls all set at noon I was hearing a (dare I say it) warm tone. None of the aggression that others have reported. The feel was also very nice. None of the flesh ripping that I have read about.

I'm quite happy with these and am looking forward to seeing how they mature.

The aggressive tone is the character of the 66 Stainless steel. The nickels 66 have this warmth as you describe. Still they are quite aggressive but not as the SS.