What are the best strings for rock music?

[HeyBartenderman]

I have two basses, a Nate Mendel Fender P Bass with "unknown" round wounds, and a Fender American P Bass 2003 with LaBella Flatwounds. I use my flat wound bass for classic rock(Led Zeppelin, etc, style songs), but want to get new round wounds for my Nate Mendel bass for more modern rock. Any recommendations?

 

[JRA]

i have no experience with your bass, i'm not that persnickety, and i don't play much rock, so i'm sure others will have more timely/'modern' suggestions, but roto 66 swing bass strings have been used by lots of rock players since the '60s. they must still be relevant as every music store 'on earth' carries them. like a lot of string sets, they're cheap enough to try.

string set brands and models may behave consistently, from set to set (we hope!), but i think sets can sound really different with various pickups. i generally use rotos and TI jazz rounds, but i've recently tried some DR lo riders and a set of ernie ball super slinkys and i like them, too. i'd probably like any decent round wound...i like 'em all! i'm easy!

good luck and have fun figuring out your favorite round wound(s)!

 

[bholder]

Yes.

 

[GTHintz]

Well I'll give you my 3 favorites. Dean Markley Blue Steel, Ken Smith Rockmasters, Dr loriders. All stainless. Roto swing bass you can't go wrong either. If you like the gauge difference check out the Billy Sheehan signature set. If you think you have to have nickel I'd suggest sit power wound or the Signature David Ellefson set. Personally I think stainless sounds better especially on a pbass. Let us know what you try first.

 

[scott sinner]

For modern rock, a broad term, but I definitely think of the potential therein of needing to be a little brighter in the mix, so some I like for that are the
DR LoRiders or DR Fat Beams. SS will be the brightest, Nickel still fairly bright. I use some of each, depends on the bass specifically, but I've tried them on a wide variety of basses and they've been good on all, it just becomes a question of great for the particular bass.

 

[michael_t]

I use my flat wound bass for classic rock(Led Zeppelin, etc, style songs), but want to get new round wounds for my Nate Mendel bass for more modern rock. Any recommendations?

For SS rounds...

DR SS Lo-Riders
GHS Super Steels

For NPS rounds...

DR Nickel Lo-Riders
GHS Boomers

 

[Killing Floor]

The ones that feel best in your opinion because those are the ones you'll want to rock. Experiment. No right or wrong strings.

 

[chadds]

"Metal" strings.

 

[eriky4003]

I love a lot of the strings mentioned above - which means these strings will be quite bright sounding (crisp highs). I'll throw Dunlop Super Brights into the ring. If you look around this site you'll find the name is a tip of the hat to the designer who worked at DR and helped develop Hi-Beams but these string are not super bright as their name suggests and are probably a small step down from the highs you'd get from Lo-Riders, Fat Beams and Rotos.

 

[HeyBartenderman]

Thanks for all the great info!
Last night I ordered a set of the GHS Bass Boomers medium. Next time I’ll try a set of stainless steel strings!

 

[Lenny JG]

+1 on Ken Smith. Also Newtone has been good to me lately. That's just rounds though

 

[michael_t]

Last night I ordered a set of the GHS Bass Boomers medium.

If I were to set up my P bass for "modern rock", I would put the Boomers on it for the thick low-mid punch with some grit and grind. Don't expect anything zingy bright or sparkly out of them, though.

 

[GTHintz]

Thanks for all the great info!
Last night I ordered a set of the GHS Bass Boomers medium. Next time I’ll try a set of stainless steel strings!

You definitely want to try both and see what fundimental you like better. Most guys prefer one over the other.

 

[Windreaper]

Bought couple packs of SS rotos (RS665LB, 35-120) for testing a while ago. New packaging, not sure what else has changed: Very supple strings, a bit more grabby than say, D'Addario XLs, but not too rough. Not very zingy out of the pack, but rather pleasantly present in the mids. Very reasonably priced, so give them a try, they're quite different from most steels I've tried.

 

[GTHintz]

Rotos have meat. Especially when you play them a bit they get very thick sounding. I played them for years.

 

[tindrum]

Rotos have meat. Especially when you play them a bit they get very thick sounding. I played them for years.

Yeah they have a grind in the lower mids that makes them perfect for rock music. Fat and “snarly” I’d say.

 

[GTHintz]

Geddy hasn't stuck with them for 40 years for nothing.

 

[GIBrat51]

The best? I'd go with the ones Paul McCartney uses; "Shiny metal ones..."

 

[KevinDBassist]

These .

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Dunlop Super Brights

D’adderio Prosteels