Stainless steel rounds, to get that low mid grunt and high sizzle.
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Strings- How bright? Or not at all?
- Thread starter zontar
- Start date
I've never thought too much about strings.
When I did, I realized that I usually was sad when a set went too dead to continue playing and needed replacement, because I hate the zing of a fresh set.
I tried flats exactly once in my life, at the age of 16. They were super sticky and uncomfortable and when I said as much to a fellow musician, they explained that this is due to the nature of flats, where you have sharp angles instead of rounds. They did not tell me that this feeling will be gone after a while. I swapped the flats out and went with Elixir strings for the next twenty years, ususally only changing them out when the coating came off and small white ribbons dangled from the strings. Then I tried flats again, and it felt like I was finally coming home. Those were the strings I always wanted. I was playing mostly reggae and funk influenced music at that time, so the tone sat super well. Coming back to metal, I refused to go back to rounds. I added a little drive to my clean signal and a lot of drive to my dirty signal, to regain some top end, but ultimately, I'm playing with a bass heavy, well rounded sound that works surprisingly well. For me personally, this has become the one thing I'm dead set on. You can ask me to bring a 4, 5 or 6 string bass, even in weird tunings, all good. I'll bring it. But it's gonna have flats on.
When I did, I realized that I usually was sad when a set went too dead to continue playing and needed replacement, because I hate the zing of a fresh set.
I tried flats exactly once in my life, at the age of 16. They were super sticky and uncomfortable and when I said as much to a fellow musician, they explained that this is due to the nature of flats, where you have sharp angles instead of rounds. They did not tell me that this feeling will be gone after a while. I swapped the flats out and went with Elixir strings for the next twenty years, ususally only changing them out when the coating came off and small white ribbons dangled from the strings. Then I tried flats again, and it felt like I was finally coming home. Those were the strings I always wanted. I was playing mostly reggae and funk influenced music at that time, so the tone sat super well. Coming back to metal, I refused to go back to rounds. I added a little drive to my clean signal and a lot of drive to my dirty signal, to regain some top end, but ultimately, I'm playing with a bass heavy, well rounded sound that works surprisingly well. For me personally, this has become the one thing I'm dead set on. You can ask me to bring a 4, 5 or 6 string bass, even in weird tunings, all good. I'll bring it. But it's gonna have flats on.
D
Well, there are different kinds of brightness. I'm not a fan of excessive "zing", which I personally think of as unwanted string noise, but I do like strings with a strong upper mid presence, like TI Superalloys. Even after the initial "zing" has mellowed out, these strings are still what I would describe as bright, but it's more of a "clanky" brightness that I can control with my fingers/attack.
My choice of strings is usually also very different for live gigs vs recording.
I generally don't like strings with a lot of "zing" but I love strings with a strong upper mid presence for live gigs. I makes it easier to hear myself on stage and cut through the mix.
For recording it depends MASSIVELY on the song/genre. This is where I often use broken-in pure nickel rounds or flats, for a fuller/warmer tone that "sits" nicely in the mix, rather that "cuts through" the mix.
And just to be clear: I'm not saying "zing" is a bad thing for all players. Far from it. It's just not right for the type of music I generally play.
For guitars I tend to like warm sounding strings with bright guitars and vice versa. For example pure nickels with Strats and something like TI PowerBrights or Rotos with darker sounding Gibson- or Gretsch-style humbucker equipped guitars. I also massively prefer flats on bright 12-string electrics. But there are definitely exceptions. Sometimes a bright sounding Strat is what the song calls for, and flats on a humbucker equipped hollowbody can be pure magic!
So basically, it depends on the genre, song, arrangement...
My choice of strings is usually also very different for live gigs vs recording.
I generally don't like strings with a lot of "zing" but I love strings with a strong upper mid presence for live gigs. I makes it easier to hear myself on stage and cut through the mix.
For recording it depends MASSIVELY on the song/genre. This is where I often use broken-in pure nickel rounds or flats, for a fuller/warmer tone that "sits" nicely in the mix, rather that "cuts through" the mix.
And just to be clear: I'm not saying "zing" is a bad thing for all players. Far from it. It's just not right for the type of music I generally play.
For guitars I tend to like warm sounding strings with bright guitars and vice versa. For example pure nickels with Strats and something like TI PowerBrights or Rotos with darker sounding Gibson- or Gretsch-style humbucker equipped guitars. I also massively prefer flats on bright 12-string electrics. But there are definitely exceptions. Sometimes a bright sounding Strat is what the song calls for, and flats on a humbucker equipped hollowbody can be pure magic!
So basically, it depends on the genre, song, arrangement...
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My favorite bass tone is Duff on Appetite for Destruction. I play a mix of Modern and classic country music and go for a much warmer tone when doing the later. I’ve recorded on probably 30 songs in the last 2 months and used my roundwound P bass on two, everything else has been Flatwound P bass and two songs I used a short scale hollowbody with Tapewounds.
Live I find if it’s bright on stage or in your ears it’s always warmer out in the audience which is the whole point, so that’s helped me.
Live I find if it’s bright on stage or in your ears it’s always warmer out in the audience which is the whole point, so that’s helped me.
I highly prefer the even envelope and sustain of round wound bright strings, and I can get a punchy low to mid sound via technique and eq., using fingernails if I want highs to cut through, they are there. I'm just not crazy about steels that are very rough feeling. I just tried a set of EB cobalt rounds on my 5st 35" Lakland and they are Great for a bass sound, feel good, and of course it helps if the bass has adequate fundamental freq. On a P or semisolid I'm using cobalt flats because they are bright enough and the envelope thump fits semisolid basses that ring a bit more than solid bodies. Only flat I use is LTFs on a Sterling Ray because of the punchiness of the Ray bridge PU, but most flats are too stiff unless they are over 7 years old.
In general, I prefer round wounds. With Fender basses with FOH support, I start with a tone much like a grand piano, then I add in low mids around. 165hz. I’ve been using this setting for decades. No complaints from band mates, soundmen or sound engineers.
By default, no zing or clank, but still on the bright side with some strong mids too. Also a bit of bounce to the bass rather than thud, I play active basses so I can tweak the treble to add more or less, as I can with the bass, so it's more about the character of the highs and lows than the amount.
This in practice usually means NPS Rounds and strings in similar tonal territory. I am curious to try G&L Pressurewound at some point since people describe them as sounding like this as well.
That said having one clanky/zingy bass for when you do want that sound can be helpful, much like say having a bass with a vintage thumpy sound.
This in practice usually means NPS Rounds and strings in similar tonal territory. I am curious to try G&L Pressurewound at some point since people describe them as sounding like this as well.
That said having one clanky/zingy bass for when you do want that sound can be helpful, much like say having a bass with a vintage thumpy sound.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
Tastes change. Back in the 80s, I used SS rounds, and changed them as often ad I could afford. Now it's nickel rounds (and half wounds on my fretless), and I don't change them until I really hear them sounding dead - months later.
This ^^^
And this ^^^
I used to love the zing of super bright strings. Still kinda do. But mostly what I want these days is sweetness on the top end, a nice punchy midrange, and low end that doesn’t overpower everything else. I have a set of 3-year-old D’Addario XL nickels on my Tobias that are perfect for that bass. My MTD wears MTD steels, and my P bass wears GHS Pressurewounds. It’s taken some time to experiment with different strings on each bass and find what works best.
Passinwind
I know nothing.
- Dec 3, 2003
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I am fretless-only on bass and not especially interested in playing rock, but solo a lot, so pressurewounds tend to in be the sweet spot. As long as treble boost actually does something I’m not super picky though. I consider a good tweeter absolutely mandatory to bring out what my amp and preamp designs bring to the table, FWIW.
On guitar I gravitate to old school jazz and blues tones, which I can readily cop with any of the usual NPS suspects.
Yes, and thus why I asked ”How bright?”, which I suppose could also be “What kind of bright?”
Thanks for playing
Every type of string follows the same basic curve - they start out the brightest they will be, some of that brightness fades pretty quickly, then they settle in for a relatively long period where they are relatively stable - they are always getting a bit more dark over time but it's very slow in most cases.
The trick is...you should always buy strings that, out of the pack, are too bright for you. You will read on here sometimes folks that say they bought strings that sounded good at first, but they "died fast". That's not really what happened - they bought the wrong strings - they mistakenly assumed that the strings would not change in the initial period. No strings do that - they all lose some of their brightness quickly. If you buy strings that you like right out of the pack, unless you like changing strings every day, you have bought the wrong strings. You want strings that are too bright to start with.
I've been playing bass for a long time. I like brighter strings than I used to. Give me stainless rounds, I'll be happy. I always change them at least a week before a gig, and I play them a lot that week, to get them to where they not too bright. Doing that (and spreading the playing time among multiple basses), I can get a year out of a set of strings.
I do have one bass that is brighter sounding than my other basses. That one gets nickel rounds. They get changed a little more often.
The trick is...you should always buy strings that, out of the pack, are too bright for you. You will read on here sometimes folks that say they bought strings that sounded good at first, but they "died fast". That's not really what happened - they bought the wrong strings - they mistakenly assumed that the strings would not change in the initial period. No strings do that - they all lose some of their brightness quickly. If you buy strings that you like right out of the pack, unless you like changing strings every day, you have bought the wrong strings. You want strings that are too bright to start with.
I've been playing bass for a long time. I like brighter strings than I used to. Give me stainless rounds, I'll be happy. I always change them at least a week before a gig, and I play them a lot that week, to get them to where they not too bright. Doing that (and spreading the playing time among multiple basses), I can get a year out of a set of strings.
I do have one bass that is brighter sounding than my other basses. That one gets nickel rounds. They get changed a little more often.
I don't care too much about brightness of strings. The only really important thing is that they "play clean". No warbles, no out-of-tune overtones, and so on. Which unfortunately seems very difficult for the manufacturers. At least half of all strings I've bought have had some sort of issue related to this. 
Bright but not harsh.
La Bella's Deep Talkin' Rounds were the perfect strings for my ears and fingers alike, but they were discontinued years ago.
Since their untimely demise it's been a mix of mostly Stringjoy, DR Sunbeams and La Bella White Nylons on my SS basses and GHS Contact Core Super Steels on my fiver.
I'd be delighted to use the aforementioned GHS set on most if not all of my basses if they made them available in short scale...
La Bella's Deep Talkin' Rounds were the perfect strings for my ears and fingers alike, but they were discontinued years ago.
Since their untimely demise it's been a mix of mostly Stringjoy, DR Sunbeams and La Bella White Nylons on my SS basses and GHS Contact Core Super Steels on my fiver.
I'd be delighted to use the aforementioned GHS set on most if not all of my basses if they made them available in short scale...
