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Well I just discovered stainless....a little help..

Dredmahawkus

Dredmahawkus

Nov 4, 2012
1,543
217
Boston
#1
I just discovered stainless....I wouldnt use them for fear of eating frets....but I think I am in love! I had a set of the old fender before they changed them to d'addarios and I love them on my jazz! I just bought a SVT2 non pro...my dream amp....and its voiced way lower then my mesa 400. Nickel strings are sounding a tad muddy with it. So I gave the Stainless a shot and they sound great! They are much more defined. I am really digging them....except the E string is a touch lacking. Can anyone recommend a good stainless I can try preferably taper for a string through jazz that has a nice low yet musical and even toned?
Every review I seem to read like lo-riders great low lacking highs....SR2000s great mids and highs lack lows.
Is there any that has a nice low and well balanced? smooth on the fingers and a bit higher tension for faster playing and lower set ups?

I am really digging the focus they have with this amp! It almost makes a geddy sound where its vintage yet clear and cuts through....I cant stop playing Rush!
I would try roto66s but I hear they destroy frets!
Has anyone tried GHS contact core super steels? they sound good!
I hate to buy more strings I have like 30 packs! like 10 to try! but they are all nickels and I have to have more steels for this bass and amp! I just cant get over the tone! I cant stop playing them!
 
#3
I've tried a lot of stainless strings including hi and lo beams and settled into fat beams. My experience that there is no perfect string but there is the right string for each bass. Have fat beams on my grendel. Chromes on the fury and white nylons on the boulder creek.
 
#4
Yeah you are right I have many many basses....and certain strings feel and sound different on each....and its a pain finding the right one! I really like Fender strings before they changed them...the 8250s they used to make that actually tapered with the saddle before d'addario started making their strings were great on string through bodies! like they were made for each other! I have a set of them on my string through now....but I took em off to try the stainless old fenders and I cant put them back on! these set up just as nice and low..dont feel too rough and sound great! much more defined!

I really like roundcore strings too! are the fatbeams stiff or floppy? I tend to like them on the tighter side.....roundcore are usually less tension.
 
#6
Roto66 stainless are my faves.
I play pretty hard even to the point of needing frets replaced in the past NOT using stainless strings but these have been my standard strings on my epi's for awhile and have not noticed any fret wear I would call excessive. Especially considering how satisfied I've been with the tone and playability.
 
#7
I wish I tried stainless earlier! I really love the tone! its just as warm as nickel but its much more defined and clear....I am not sure how it would sound with a solid state amp....you might need nickel to warm up the tone...but the SVT is so warm you need something to brighten it up!
Not only does every string sound different on every bass...but the amp makes a huge difference as well! My mesa 400 is all tube but its a much brighter amp!
Yeah I have to try roto66 sometime! Geddy uses them!
I just ordered some fatbeams to try next from bassstringsonline.
 
#10
I will get labella next....I really dont like super bright....I am more into vintage fat tone...but the SVT2 is so vintage sounding there isnt much I can do to change it...so just a touch of brightness is what I am looking for!
I just read about labellas and they sound great! I really like .110 E strings too.
 
#11
Yeah! LaBellas have very metallic highs, or so I think anyway. I've played the Deep talkin' rounds 45-110 or whatever the size is of that g-string, and that's an awesome set! Takes some time for it to mellow out, but it stays articulate/half-bright and with greeeat lows!
 
#12
Dredmahawkus said:
I really dont like super bright....I am more into vintage fat tone...but the SVT2 is so vintage sounding there isnt much I can do to change it...so just a touch of brightness is what I am looking for!.
Click to expand...


With that criteria, our GHS Contact Core Super Steel may not be what you're looking for. They are a bright, articulate and focused steel string and I use them all the time for chording and solo type playing, and opt for either the regular Super Steels or Progressives for a more warm sounding steel sound.
 
#15
Dredmahawkus said:
I just discovered stainless....I wouldnt use them for fear of eating frets....but I think I am in love! I had a set of the old fender before they changed them to d'addarios and I love them on my jazz! I just bought a SVT2 non pro...my dream amp....and its voiced way lower then my mesa 400. Nickel strings are sounding a tad muddy with it. So I gave the Stainless a shot and they sound great! They are much more defined. I am really digging them....except the E string is a touch lacking. Can anyone recommend a good stainless I can try preferably taper for a string through jazz that has a nice low yet musical and even toned?
Every review I seem to read like lo-riders great low lacking highs....SR2000s great mids and highs lack lows.
Is there any that has a nice low and well balanced? smooth on the fingers and a bit higher tension for faster playing and lower set ups?

I am really digging the focus they have with this amp! It almost makes a geddy sound where its vintage yet clear and cuts through....I cant stop playing Rush!
I would try roto66s but I hear they destroy frets!
Has anyone tried GHS contact core super steels? they sound good!
I hate to buy more strings I have like 30 packs! like 10 to try! but they are all nickels and I have to have more steels for this bass and amp! I just cant get over the tone! I cant stop playing them!
Click to expand...

First thing you need to bear in mind is that most of these evaluations are subjective. Unless a TB member offers his/her explicit criteria for the evaluation he/she makes for a particular make & model of string, it's almost impossible to determine whether that person hears things similarly to the way that you do. The unqualified evaluation is therefore of very limited value.

A few other observations:

* Why do you think you need a tapered set of strings? There's no consensus as to their value, even for the "B" string in five-string and six-string sets, let alone for the "E" string in four-string sets. Unless you have a very good reason for it, you may be arbitrarily ruling out all kinds of great options, without ever realizing it.

* I simply don't agree that stainless steel Lo-Riders "lack highs". And I don't recall having ever read a review of them that stated so.

* If you truly want "smooth on the fingers and a bit higher tension for faster playing and lower set ups", you're talking Lo-Riders - because Lo-Riders are all of those things. Hi-Beams and FatBeams, while beautiful strings, have a round core that makes those models more flexible and lower tension than hexagonal core Lo-Riders, and therefore, not as suitable for lower playing action.

* While Rotosound Swing Bass 66 steels have a reputation as fret eaters, that reputation was earned "way back in the day", during the mid-to-late Sixties, when the great majority of frets were of a much softer alloy, suitable only for use with flatwound strings of the day. Today's fret alloys - especially the stainless steel alloys - are much, much tougher and more resilient than the allows being used 40-50 years ago. Rotosound steel roundwounds are still very abrasive to the touch - but they do far less damage to frets these days.

* Don't put too much stock in terms such as "vintage", "modern", etc. While those terms may have had a consensus meaning years ago, when they were first being used, by now they've been so overused for so many years that those same terms are used to characterize so many different kinds of tones - in some cases opposite to one another - that again, unless you're able to carefully qualify the criteria of the person using those terms, they mean very little.

* Finally, don't allow yourself to be too impressionable about other peoples' opinions - not until they've earned their credibility - and your respect. You know what they say about opinions... :rolleyes:

MM
 
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#17
DR Stainless Lo-Riders sound they are exactly what you are looking for. They are bright without being zingy and have plenty of low end response. They are by far my favorite bass string.
 
#18
You may want to give Labella Deep Talkin rounds a spin. They feel more like nickel strings and are very smooth on the fingers, with their direct opposite being Roto's. They are also unique in their construction in that they utilize a smaller core wire with more outer wraps, resulting in a string that isn't overly tense, yet isn't floppy either. They're VERY well balanced an are not overly zingy with a lot of fundamental. After trying them, they're the only SS round I'll likely use again. When I asked Jason at BSO for a roundwound set that would have a more "vintage" RW sound (Pink Floyd, Little Feat) he directed me to these, which according to him are made the same way in construction and materials as they were many years ago. I've never really played another string like them and wish they would offer a nickel version.
 
#19
I ordered some fat beams to try first.....I like stiffer roundcore strings like old fender 8250....If there was ever a perfect feeling string those are them for me....and they sound great too for the first couple weeks then lose their definition. They have a great warm tone and not floppy at all for roundcore....I am hoping the fatbeams feel similar.

I really like Fodera nickels....I should try a stainless of them too....although the nickels have good bite for a nickel so I would be affraid the stainless would have way too much brightness.

I was a little reluctant getting the fat beams....I tried a set of sunbeams on this bass and they sounded really flat with no life.....then I tried some neons and the E was really weak and dead.....its too bad because the rest of the strings sounded pretty good...better then I was expecting!

As for taper/exposed core....I rarely use them...but when I do get some I feel they get a better break angle off the bridge and allows for lower action.

I wish Fender still made strings in mexico! I would be so all set with their old stainless. the E is a touch weak just a touch...its not boomy......the D is a touch louder then the rest of the strings....but other then that they have a nice warm tone with some zing and no finger noise at all....although I am not sure I get finger noise when I play anymore cuz I havent noticed it in a year....but it seems stainless would have more of it!

Let me tell you....when playing those old Fender stainless with a plain ole MIA jazz bass and an ampeg SVT2 non pro....it made me smile playing! you ever get a tone and it just makes you happy you sound like that! everything I played sounded perfect!
I havent checked the intonation since I first put them on but it has to be perfect...every note up and down the neck sounds wonderful!

I am going to try labellas next.

Oh I just thought of another thing....the smoothness doesnt bother my fingers at all...I have been out of work for like 6 months and playing bass 6 hours a day! my fingers are like rocks!They dont get chewed up at all anymore no matter how long I play. I just like less grippy strings....like Fodera are a bit too grippy the first week but smooth out nice.
The Fender stainless sound great but are a touch too grippy. old fender 8250 are perfect feel!
When I play super fast the grippyness slows me down a bit and I fumble all over myself...like trying to nail the intro to spirit of radio...which these Fenders are driving me insane trying to nail! Yet no grip like flats kinda screw me up too! I like smoother feeling rounds I guess.
 
#20
Dean Markley Helix SS are phenomenal. Thick, defined tone, plus exposed core on the e and a for better vibration and lower action. I love them on my peavey foundation (essentially a jazz copy). The first batch I got were bad, but Dean Markley's customer service was stellar with replacing my bad sets. Great strings, great company.
 

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