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What's Your String History?

#121
On my Fender Jazz bass:

Stock Fender NPS (.45 .65 .80 .100): I had them for a while and then a lot of high end went away so I thought I needed some new strings.

Ernie Ball Slinkys (.45 .65 .80 .100): They added more crunch and edge to my tone but the tone didn't seem very balanced from string-to-string.

Ernie Ball Cobalts (.45 .65 .85 .105): I didn't have these for long because one day I broke my D string while I was messing with its tuning.

Rotosound Swing Bass 66 (.45 .65 .80 .105): They added soooo much growl and edge to my tone that after I changed them out I thought my bass had lost its growl!!

DR SS Lo Riders (.45 .65 .85 .105): Those strings were some of the smoothest I've played! At first they had a bright, clear and refined tone, but when they broke in they reminded me of Rotos. They were good but the G string broke about two weeks later!

EB Cobalts (again, with the same string sizes as last time): They seem to have a loud, raw sound to them. They were so harsh and loud and I didn't really like them too much. Then they broke in and they were better, and then the winding on them became really dark. I've had them for 5 months and they STILL have an edge to their sound.

I think next time I'll try something different. Maybe pressurewounds...
 
#122
In the past, I use to use nickle-plated strings for there warm rich sounds. nowadays, I use stainless steel strings for a more punch and clarity. here are the bass strings I've used in the past.

GHS boomers bass strings
D'addario nickle wound bass string
Ernieball slinkys bass strings
D'addario flat wound bass strings
DR high beam bass strings
DR fat beam bass strings
Dunlop nickle-plated bass strings
Dunlop stainless steel bass strings

I currently use dunlop stainless steel strings for all my basses and they sound phenomenal for the price. I honestly would recommend these strings.
 
#123
I'm late chiming in on this but figured I'd share anyways!

Bought my MIA Jazz with EMG's new in '99 which came with Fender NPS

My tone search has since included...

Dean Markley SS Blue Steels 45-105
Ken Smith Slap Masters 40-90
Fender Flatwound 55-100
Fender Nylon Filament Roundwound
DR Fat Beams 45-105
Rotosound RS66LD 45-105
DR Hi Beams
DR Low Riders
Ernie Ball (Super, Hybris, and Regular) Slinkys
D'Addario XL 45-105
Elixir 45-105
GHS Bass Boomers 45-105
GHS Progressives BEAD tuning 60-120
Ernie Ball Slinky BEAD tuning 65-130
GHS Precision Flats 45-105
Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats 43-100

My search has completed with the TI JF344 set as they are by far the most musical flat I've ever heard. No matter how I, or the engineer EQ, these strings let me sit in the mix perfectly and feel incredible. I think a common turn off with TI's are the tension, but with a quick setup and some added neck relief, these things are spectacular live or in studio.

Mind you, many of the previously mentioned sets only lasted mere minutes on my bass, and this list makes me sick to see the amount of coin I've blown on strings over the last 13 years.
 
#126
I've just started experimenting with different strings over the past few years, but I have been playing for 35 years! So here's how it went down:

- GHS Boomers for a long time.
- Discovered D'Addario (rounds) and switched between them and Boomers for long time.
- Discovered flatwound and tried La Bella Deep Talkin' and used them for a very long time.
- Switched between La Bella and Boomers for a long time depending on the music I was playing.
- (experimentation phase started - flats)
- Tried just about every flatwound string out there.
- Ended up with 3 favorites that work on different basses: TI Jazz Flats for my RIC, and swapping Pyramid Gold Flats and Sadowsky Black Label Flats on various P basses. Those are my 3 favorite flats that I still use and swear by them (ditched the La Bellas).
- (experimentation phase started and still in progress - rounds)
- I have two favorites so far, DR Sunbeams for one of my P basses and EB Super Slinky Nickels for my Stingray. Love the feel and sound of both (ditched Boomers and D'Addario).

Edit: and just realized this is an old thread. Haha! But definitely a great question!
 
#128
madbassplaya said:
Peavey factory Strings
EBMM Slinkys (used over the years)
Elixirs
EBMM POWER Slinky's
Dean Markely Blue Steels
Hartke's
D'Addario Chromes
D'Addario Nickels (used over the years)
Fender 8250s
DR HiBeams
SIT Power Wounds
Dunlop Nickels
Ken Smith Burners
DR Sunbeams (currently using)

There have been more but thats all I can think of.
Click to expand...

To update this...

I stopped using Sunbeams because I wanted something higher tension. Loved the tone, but tension wise I prefered the D'Addarios. On Jason's suggestion (after hearing what I was after tonally) he suggested Boomers. I was floored by how much I enjoy these strings.

I now use GHS: Boomers, Progressives (my FAVORITE), and Pressure Wounds for my different basses.
 
#130
From first to last (best as I can remember):
1. GHS Bassics for about a year (Nice basic tone, hence the name)
2. D'addario (forget which ones but they went dead in 2 weeks and I haven't bought 'em since)
3. DR Neons (Bought 'em cause they looked cool. Tone was average)
4. GHS Super Steels (Crazy bright, but that's the sound I wanted at the time)
5. Fender Stainless Flats (Still keep those on my Washburn)
6. Rotosound Swing Bass 66 (Much hate as they get, I still use 'em. I dig the tone on my Jazz bass.)
 
#132
On my ESP/LTD which was the only bass I used for 3-4 years:

Ernie ball slinkies (Went from light to medium then heavy)
Elixers (First medium then heavy)
Some flatwounds that were an inch too short but I used them anyway. Forget the brand
Back to Ernie Ball slinkies heavy
D'addarios nickel heavy
Ernie ball cobalt heavy (way too much tension, couldn't tighten truss rod enough with these.. medium would have been better.)
GHS precision flatwounds M3050 for the last 4 months or so.

Now I realize that heavier strings don't mean heavier tone :P
 
#133
I've had three basses now.

Affinity P: never took the stock strings off.

VM Jaguar: stock strings, D'addario Nickels, D'addario Chromes

Mikey Way Mustang: stock strings now and will change to Chromes as soon as the mailman delivers them. :bassist:

I don't know how Chromes will sound on the Mustang, but if I like them as much as I did on the Jaguar they will probably remain my go-to strings.
 
#134
ernie ball nps 45-105
daddario xl nickle (40-95, 45-100, 45-105, 50-105, 55-110)
GHS precision flats 45-105 (probably my favourite flatwound string)
Rotosound rs66ld
Daddario nylon tapes 50-105
Daddario chromes (40-95, 45-100, 50-105)
Rotosound rs77 45-105

Top 2 strings would probably be GHS Precision Flats and Rotosound rs66 with Rotosound rs77 coming as a close 3rd. I may or may not try some GHS boomers later.
 
#136
GHS Boomers (early 1990's)
Ernie Ball Slinky (late 1990's)
Dean Markley Blue Steel & SR2000 (early 2000's)
DR Red Devils/Black Beauties (current)

I also dabbled a tiny bit testing out D'Addario, Rotosound & Dunlop over the years and just never got comfortable with them.
 
#137
Ernie balls, then D'Addarios, back to Ernie balls and in high school my friend recommended DR strings. I use the High Beams now. I tried in between Dean Markely, Fender, rotosound and sadowsky but always go back to those DR strings. I sometimes use their flat wound set which is awesome as well.
 
#138
In the 80's I played Rotosound stainless steel roundwounds. Something changed with them in the 90's and I no longer liked how they sounded. I've gone on a huge journey since then trying to find my string, I've played every major string brand and some more obscure one's too. I eventually settled on DR Hi Beams for my fretted basses and DR Sun Beams for my fretless.
 
#139
bassist4dalord said:
Here we go! Not in order, but it works. Could probably list what bass they were on, but if you need to know, just ask me. (5) indicates they were on a 5-string, but it's likely I've had them on a 4, as well.

D'Addario:
Nickel Rounds (5)
Chromes Flatwound (5)
Black Nylon Tapewound (5)
Phosphor Bronze Acoustic (ABG)

DR:
Stainless Steel Lo-Riders

Ernie Ball:
Slinky (5)
Power Slinky

Fender:
9050M Flatwounds
7250 Nickel Rounds

GHS:
Precision Flatwound (5)
Boomers Nickel Rounds

Rotosound:
Swing Bass 66 Stainless Steel (5)
RN66LD Nickel-Plated Steel Rounds

SIT:
Power Wound Nickel Rounds (5)
Click to expand...

Update time!

I've since had La Bella DTF on my 5er and Fender 9050 45-100 flats on my Schecter Raiden Special-4.

I just ordered a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats for my Schecter; that will be BEAD.
 
#140
Hmm... Since the beginning.

Ok, I'm gonna try but I started playing back in 1981, so here we go.

I used D'Addario XL's when I started, and for quite a few years didn't switch for quite a while. Probably the first ten to fifteen years I stayed with the XL's.

After that came DR Low Riders, and the occasional XL set.

Then came the Black Beauties. I seem to remember the coating being different when they first came out. I tried a set recently and hated the rubbery feel, and slides were kinda painful.

Then came my flats adventure. Tried Roto 77's first but they didn't really do it for me.

Next up was Chromes. Started using them on my main player a couple years ago and there it was, the sound and feel that I was after. I should add that this was the ECB81 set.

Recently I was attempting to get my backup P, a MIM model, to sound closer to my main MIA P. Went through a couple sets of XL's on the MIM before giving flats a chance on that bass.

Since the MIA has the ECB81 set, I figured that maybe going with a heavier gauge on the MIM may reduce the difference with the MIA. So I went with the ECB82 set on the MIM, and couldn't be happier. Now all my basses wear flats, and I love the sound and feel.
 

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