What's your best B?

[FishDub]

Amazed by how good the low-B is on my ultta-affordable Schecter Stiletto Studio 5, while the other best B-strings for me have been (not sure of model years):

Ken Smith BRMW? 6
Yamaha BBP35
Peavey G-V
U.S. Peavey Cirrus
Roscoe SKB3005
Carvin/Kiesel Icon
Spector Euro LX
U.S. MTD Saratoga
Warrior Dran Michael
Modulus Q5

No, I didn't notice a difference with Dingwall, or Sadowsky glory, but that's just me. The above basses bring the B in spades, so no need.

What say you?

I will second the Q5 and the Beast/Grendel basses @lowdownthump ..The best Bs I have played were the Yamaha BBN5A and the TRB Patitucci bass(1st edition)

 

[JMarkD]

With a 35" scale Modulus Q5 and Q6. With 34" scale basses Alembic Essence and Fender Roscoe Beck with honorable mention to an old Steinberger L-2(5). A bit floppy and the strings are pretty tightly spaced.
I agree with others that string gauge can make a huge difference.

 

[Matty Koff]

I have my 55-02, my Sire P7, and an Ibanez TMB505. The 55-02 has the best B string out of the three hands down. The 35" scale also makes the other strings tighter but, nothing that hinders my playing. That B string tho.

 

[songwriter21]

I've had a couple of 5's but I have only kept one - my Variax 5 string.
And getting rid of basses/guitars is a hard thing for me to do.

Those were so underrated...felt great, and the modeling was fantastic.

I tried flats on my LEJ5. TI jazz flats. They were so amazing on my 4 string J that I was hoping they'd be great on a 5. I read that they weren't... and everyone is right. The B is not great. I took them off after a few months of trying and set them aside. I have a Jazz with flats, but not yet a P. I'll grab a basic/vintage-aimed P at some point on the the normal 4 strings on that bass and probably pitch the B string at that point, lol!

Speaking of strings, what is everyone using on their best B basses? I have D'addario NYXL 45-130s on my Ray35. (my best B bass)

Elixir .45-.130 M on one Carvin B5 (gigging workhorse), Dunlop nickel Super Brights .40-.120 on the other B5 (backup), and nickel DR Lo-Rider .45-.130 on my Schecter (studio bass).

Like most of you, I’ve gone through a TON of basses trying to find the right B for my. I’m strictly a 5 string player and gotta say the best for me is without a doubt the Stingray 5 Special HH. My Bongo 5 HH is very close second.

For me I’ve found the key is having 18V and a flexible preamp (also an amp/cab with tons of power on tap).

I’d have to say Spector is definitely up there as well. They have a really wide/full foundation, I guess you could say the tone has girth to it. The B strings are also great all the way up the neck.

I also owned a Modulus Genesis and Sweet Spot which were great but not as strong throughout the neck as the SR special or Bongo.

I absolutely hated the Low B on my Schecter Studio 6. I found it lacked clarity and wasn’t really usable above the 5th fret. A close runner up was my Jazz V. It sounded good in recordings but super loose and easy to bend the note out of tune (totally could be controlled by adjusting technique, but I wasn’t interested in working on that since it’s not an issue for me on other basses).

I think Ibanez 5rs always feel great and the B sting is usually great all the way up the neck but there preamps/pickups are usually mid/treble forward so you loose that thunder.

I did change to a Schaller roller bridge, so that is what did it for me. Didn't care for the crap action of the stock one.

My 34" scale fretted 6 string I built has a killer low B and my 34.5" scale fretless 5 also has a rock solid low B. I find that strings can have an affect on how good a low B sounds.

Very much so, and imo, way more than the scale length.

 

[jim nolte]

My 34.5 Fbass BN5, it isn’t because it sounds monstrous or anything it just blends seamlessly with the other four strings, I don’t listen to a lot of five string bass music, country or gospel, but the other day I was listening to a Gospel station and to my ears the B string stuck out like a sore thumb on many of the songs, have no idea what is popular in basses in that genre but not my cup of tea.

 

[songwriter21]

With a 35" scale Modulus Q5 and Q6. With 34" scale basses Alembic Essence and Fender Roscoe Beck with honorable mention to an old Steinberger L-2(5). A bit floppy and the strings are pretty tightly spaced.
I agree with others that string gauge can make a huge difference.

After years of experiencing different brands, gauges, and materials, I say that core type makes a bigger/more important difference than gauge. Core material is like the truss rod to me, and the gauges are like adjusting the bridge saddles...start with the core and material type, then experiment with gauges.

 

[ThunderV]

Stingray 5.......none of my other fivers come close

 

[kumimajava]

Plenty of awesome low-b's out there that i've tried - curiously not that dependent on scale-length:

- Curbow all-rockwood petites (6 and 5 string), at 34"
- very early Le Fay Panton 5, at 36"
- Freedom CGR Dulake at 34"
- Mattisson FatBoy 6 at 33"

 

[socialleper]

Spector Euro 5 basses.
35" scale is where it is at for B strings.

 

[Matty Koff]

forgot to mention I had an SRH505F for a year. Being my first fretless I ended up selling it. I think it might have been the added tension of flatwounds more than anything, but the B string was pretty impressive on that thing.

 

[Afc70]

I tried flats on my LEJ5. TI jazz flats. They were so amazing on my 4 string J that I was hoping they'd be great on a 5. I read that they weren't... and everyone is right. The B is not great. I took them off after a few months of trying and set them aside. I have a Jazz with flats, but not yet a P. I'll grab a basic/vintage-aimed P at some point on the the normal 4 strings on that bass and probably pitch the B string at that point, lol!

Speaking of strings, what is everyone using on their best B basses? I have D'addario NYXL 45-130s on my Ray35. (my best B bass)

Currently I’m using the DR pure blues 45-130 on my Modulus & Tobias & love them… I’m a big D’addario fan as well & I’ve used several sets of their nickels with great success.
Edit: 125 low b’s work fine too, I tend to run 130’s.. I tried a 135 low B & I didn’t like it, a 130 is as big as I’ll go on the low B’s

 

[J-Bass RMR]

I've paired down to 2 Fives:
A fretless Carvin LB75F I got in the early 90s.
I played around with different gauge Bs I'd order separately when I 1st got it - don't remember if I settled on .130 or .135 back then.
Now it's got Bill Lawrence pickups, and just "standard gauge sets work fine. Currently strung with Pressure Wounds. (I'm a lot better at set-up now too, which helps tremendously)
The other one is a '98 Roscoe Beck. Great pickup design - especially for the B string. It now has Cobalt Flats, and sounds great.

Best B string I ever had was a MusicMan Stingray 5. I never got along with the tone of that bass but the B was crystal clear, authoritative, and not overbearing or muddy.

Same; Very good B string. Gorgeous neck- played incredible, but couldn't really get along with the tone.... Got that bass the same time as my Roscoe Beck.
That Stingray was one of the few basses I've ever sold, but I'd be curious to hear how it would sound with flats (which I wasn't into back then).

 

[rashrader]

I’ve always found that a B String is only as good as the setup of the bass and the tension of the string itself.

 

[Kevorargh]

I've been through a whole host of 5 strings - Nashville/Gibson Tobias Growler (pretty good), Warwick Corvette Proline 5 (my favorite for a long time), Lightwave Sabre 5 (pretty good), MTD Kingston 5 (pretty good), Steinberger Synapse 5 (good), Steinberger XQ25A (pretty good), and the Ric 4003/s5 (horrible). What surprises the hell out of me is that my current 5 is a Epiphone Toby 5 crappy cheap bass which has a surprisingly good B string and good playability overall.

YMMV

kevorargh

 

[Ric5]

I have 14 5 string basses

2 SG 34" scale parts basses
1 SG 32" scale parts bass
2 Rickenbacker 33" scale basses
1 Rickenfaker 34" scale bass
1 p-bass 34" scale parts bass
1 jazz 34" scale parts bass
2 jaguar 34" scale parts basses
1 fenderbird 34" scale parts bass
2 fake stingray 34" scale basses
1 mouradian 34" scale parts bass

The 2 34" fake stingrays have the best low B ... there is something about that design and 5 strings.

Also years ago I had a cheap Ibanez 5 string that had a great low B

one bass that should have been better was my Schecter 35" 5 string bass ... the B was good but not great ... I sold that one

 

[BtaylorTheRogue]

Best: my dingwall

Good: my Ibanezes (1 BTB, 1 SR)

Acceptable: my tbird, my SRC6 tuned B-C

Bad: my 4 string tuned E-G

 

[TheReceder]

I own one b string. A Godin Freeway 5 that I made a trade for.

It's sat in the case for more than 5 years. It is my favorite B string... It's always been there for me just in case I needed it....

Kind of like my Gym Membership.

 

[bass12]

I've had 5s by the following makers:

- MTD (535s and a Saratoga)
- Sadowsky (Jazzes and a Modern)
- Status
- Rob Allen
- Mike Lull
- Modulus
- Pierre Laporte (34")

The only ones with B strings that I felt were lacking were the Sadowsky Jazzes (the B on my Modern is great).

Edit: I forgot about my 2002 Warwick Thumb NT 5. The B on that bass was only part of the disaster (I have played other Thumbs that had decent Bs).

 

[RGerhart]

Definitely my Skjold JP 5 string has a killer B string, even though it's a 33" scale. Something about it...

After that, the one that has consistently beat most of the many 5s I've played is my Lakland Skyline 55-02. Still one of the best sounding, easiest playing 35" scale 5s that I've played.

 

[Medicine Man]

My modest collection of fivers is ruled by a Q5. Honerable mention Ray HH 3 band.