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Steve Harris strings equivalent (not flats)?
- Thread starter Nicolas75
- Start date
You won't get that tone with anything else, IMHO.
Roto flats are pretty unique.
Roto flats are pretty unique.
You could use Roto rounds and nobody would know except you.
try cobalt flats they are suprisingly round wound like and actually seem to last either that or cobalt rounds.
Roto 77 flats are fairly bright when new, but not quite as bright or roundwound-like as Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats...
Maybe slightly broken in Cobalt Flats can get you there?
I know how to do this but you need to follow what I say exactly. The hardest part is acquiring a lock of his hair. Do whatever is necessary. Then you must perform a ceremony where you mix his hair, your blood (roughly 4 ounces), and the string set of your choice into a fire while playing Number of the Beast. The fusion of these materials will create a set of strings that is immortal and imbued with the sound of Steve Harris. The strings will never age and will serve you until the end of time. There is no other way.
Have you got all the other gear that Steve uses and/or has used? Do you have the same attack and compressor settings?
My dude, the strings aren't going to make a lick of difference. Hell, I get a pretty convincing Harris tone through my LTD B-206SM with D'Addario ProSteels and a Darkglass X7 into a dinky little Cube-30 or 800W 8x10
My dude, the strings aren't going to make a lick of difference. Hell, I get a pretty convincing Harris tone through my LTD B-206SM with D'Addario ProSteels and a Darkglass X7 into a dinky little Cube-30 or 800W 8x10
you should have never divulged the true secret behind obtaining celebrity tone. Now everyone will know this.
Seriously I just bought Elixir Stainless Steel strings in 45-105 and it does the trick to me, remember to pluck the strings between the split-coil pickup and the bridge. If you pluck just above the pickup it's not the same tone. Try this :
Press down the A string on 7th fret and with your plucking hand, play the note constantly, while being above the pickup and then continue plucking (alternating fingers with regular rhythm) and while you continue plucking, move your plucking hand to the right towards the bridge and you'll the different.
A good (good, not BIG) part of Harris' tone is the placement of the plucking hand. Also glossy maple board is very important for the clank. AND: most necks cannot sustain the heavy gauges of the Harris' signature set. I tried on two D profile necks and they fail in the short term. You need a U shaped neck for the Man's strings.
Press down the A string on 7th fret and with your plucking hand, play the note constantly, while being above the pickup and then continue plucking (alternating fingers with regular rhythm) and while you continue plucking, move your plucking hand to the right towards the bridge and you'll the different.
A good (good, not BIG) part of Harris' tone is the placement of the plucking hand. Also glossy maple board is very important for the clank. AND: most necks cannot sustain the heavy gauges of the Harris' signature set. I tried on two D profile necks and they fail in the short term. You need a U shaped neck for the Man's strings.
Get the Rotosound flats, and just don't change them every gig.
Clank is largely technique and e.q.
I have a set that is over 10 years old, and it has plenty of clank, if I play with clank.
And keep in mind that Steve Harris's bass tone sounds like complete and total garbage isolated. It only comes into its own in a mix. Also, he plays very lightly, with very low action.
Clank is largely technique and e.q.
I have a set that is over 10 years old, and it has plenty of clank, if I play with clank.
And keep in mind that Steve Harris's bass tone sounds like complete and total garbage isolated. It only comes into its own in a mix. Also, he plays very lightly, with very low action.
I use DR Lo-Rider when available or GHS Bass Boomers. I get about 75 -100 hours of home play, about 40 to 50 hours when gigging, and a fresh set for recording sessions. You may be able to tweak out a little more time with Boomers.
It's always been said that his action is low and he plays very lightly, yet I've seen videos of his British Lion concert where he plays the same bass as in Iron Maiden but the angle of the camera helped me seeing (cause Harris was close to the camera in the crowd) and his action wasn't that low and he was bumping those strings lol
The Tech21 Steve Harris DI box includes an emulator of the speakers that he always uses. Listening to the demos of that, and comparing it with the Ed F demo of the Steve Harris Precision strung with Steve Harris flats, makes me think that its the speakers are the identifying ingredient to his tone.
He plays through a wall of Electro-Voice EVM-12L, doesn't he?
FINALLY some advice that makes sense. Doing this this afternoon.
If the goal is to sound as close as possible to his tone, I would not consider using anything other than flats. I would rather use old flats than new rounds for that purpose. As others have suggested, the playing style and "clank" is more important than the newness of the strings, and IMO the natural sound of flats is more important as well. However, if you just want a nice bright tone than any good set of rounds would do.
Here's an option if you want to maximize flat brightness on a budget... buy a set of flats that are on the brighter end (Chromes, Fenders, etc.), and replace them on whatever time schedule results in the same cost as whatever you were willing to spend on rounds. To use made up numbers, if you were willing to pay for new rounds every two months, but the flats are twice as expensive, then you could go with the flats but change them every four months for the same cost. Toward the end of each of these periods you can try to add back in a little high end through EQ and/or pedals if desired, although you might not even need to bother.
Here's an option if you want to maximize flat brightness on a budget... buy a set of flats that are on the brighter end (Chromes, Fenders, etc.), and replace them on whatever time schedule results in the same cost as whatever you were willing to spend on rounds. To use made up numbers, if you were willing to pay for new rounds every two months, but the flats are twice as expensive, then you could go with the flats but change them every four months for the same cost. Toward the end of each of these periods you can try to add back in a little high end through EQ and/or pedals if desired, although you might not even need to bother.
