Yes, the Ken Smith Compressor 125B is taperwound at the ball end. The only thing to keep in mind is the tapered portion is 2.5".
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Who makes the best low B string ?
- Thread starter BassikBrad
- Start date
Yes, the Ken Smith Compressor 125B is taperwound at the ball end. The only thing to keep in mind is the tapered portion is 2.5".
I've got some DR Lo-Riders on my Ibanez SR and it does the trick. It's difficult to get a real snappy sound out of a 34" scale bass as compared to a 36" scale. That's just the nature of the beast. To achieve the same resonance in a shorter space, the string has to be looser - therefore 'flubbier'. The B on my Ibanez's is always 'meh', so I'm looking at a fanned fret for my next bass.
- Jan 26, 2014
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- I teach lessons and perform live music in and around San Diego CA. Sometimes I even make money doing it!
Agreeing with the folks leading toward DR 125's. I go as thin as I can find for B's, DR 125's haven't disappointed yet and I have a 34" scale 5 string (longer scales tend to be more forgiving for B strings).
My son's Ibanez SR-1205E (34") is wearing the DR SS Lo-Rider 125B right now, and I have to say it sounds pretty good with plenty of punch and clarity. I also have a set of the Fat Beams with a 125B on order for him to try. Hex core vs. round core... we'll see how it goes...
I think the thickness and material of the core also plays into it, so it is likely not entirely the string diameter.
That's exactly my point... The gauge alone doesn't determine how well a low B performs on any given bass as so many different factors are at play.
Thanks for pointing that out. That's about .5" longer than the MTD taper-core B. A 2.5" taper would still clear the bridge pickup, but not by a lot. A taper core can affect how a string oscillates, so now I'm a bit concerned about the main string winding ending that close to the pickup. Also, the MTD B doesn't appear to be an exposed core; there's a very thin winding. Not sure about the Compressors. Might try them anyway, since my curiosity will eventually get the better of me.
Try La Bella white tape-wound… they're quite different sounding. It's still a low B, so all the problems associated with being on the edge of our hearing range are still there, but there's a lot more overtone in the timbre, particularly with the brass-wounds.
On my Six-string Ibanez I use Rotosound LD666s at the moment and am pretty happy with them especially for the 130 B string.
I used to use d'Addario Prisms until they were discontinued; I loved those strings.
I used to use d'Addario Prisms until they were discontinued; I loved those strings.
I know you know better than this =)
Lengthening the scale is obviously the primary factor in improving the tone of low tuned strings. This is why Dingwalls and Kalium Quakes sound so good, why the low strings on grand pianos sound better than on uprights, and why all stringed instruments are longer the lower their register is.
Longer scale bass guitars do not have less stiff necks if they are designed correctly, because the neck is strengthened to maintain the necessary stiffness.
A longer scale allows a smaller gauge to be used for the same tension, which means the string is more flexible due to being thinner, but also more flexible due to being longer (flexibility is affected by length relative to gauge).
Staying with 34" and increasing gauge increases tension, but also increases stiffness, which is the primary cause of the problems of B strings. The only escape from this dilemma is increasing scale length.
Remember 34" was chosen by Fender for E1, not B0, 34" is simply very short for B0.
Whatever you do to a longer scale bass neck to make it stiff, if you just lop off a bit, the shorter neck will always be stiffer if made with that same construction. Sorry, no getting around that.
Low strings on uprights sound better because the stings are a lot longer than on an upright. Wen we talk about 35 vs 34 inches (or even 37), we're talking marginal differences - a 37 inch scale is 9 percent longer than a 34, and a 35 is only 3 percent more than a 34. A well made B string (of the decent gauge) on a 34 can easily sound better than a poorly made (or wrong gauge) string on a 37. Yes, a longer scale helps some , but it's not the whole ballgame by any means.
In a wound string, the windings are there to add mass - the stiffness (what there is) is provided by the core wire - that is precisely what wound strings exist - to reduce the stiffness, so the majority of the restoring force is provided by the tension, and thus the harmonics aren't out of tune with the fundamental - if you use a solid wire, the string is dispersive, which means that vibrations travel at different velocities at different frequencies (you don't want that).
Making a wound string heavier (which is typically done by increasing winding size) doesn't mean the core has to grow - the core meeds to be a certain size to not break under tension, and as we've learned, a B string doesn't have more tension than the other strings - in fact, most have LESS tension (THAT is most of the problem). Measure the core wires on a set of strings and you'll find that they don't vary much from the G to the B.
I've had better luck with .130's as opposed to lighter Low Bs. Agree with those who say Low B quality is more about the bass than the string. My Ibanez ATK 5-string has a .125 on it and it sounds good. I wouldn't go any lower than .125.
I'll keep those in mind for future reference. My B strings shipped so I'm looking forward to installing them in a few days. I suspect 2.5" would be ok for a string-through installation.
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I was thinking of trying the KS Compressor 125B on my Yamaha along with the PW L7200 at one point, but decided against it when I found out about the length of the taper as this bass doesn't have the thru-body option.
Here's how the exposed core on the Progressive B looks:
I like Bass Boomers, both because I like those strings in general and because they seem to run higher in tension than most other rounds, which is particularly helpful for the B string. I actually ran through a handful of different strings and gauges recently for the B string (also sometimes detuned to A) with my newer Kiesel 5-string as well as a Sire fiver that I tried but sent back to the store, and to me the Boomers were noticeably a little tighter compared to anything else at the same gauge.
I should chime in here in general to put in a plug for my current favorites which, obviously, are the GHS Pressurewounds. I play light gauges which makes it tough to find 5 string sets that work, hence the questions here.
Strings I've tried and eventually dismissed would include D'Addarios and Ernie Ball. I played the Ernie Ball Slinkys for a long time, nothing wrong with them and they were better than the D'Addarios, but not craving that round-wound clank these days.
I have a set of LaBella Deep Talkin' Flats on one of my four-strings and have really been loving those, as well.
Strings I've tried and eventually dismissed would include D'Addarios and Ernie Ball. I played the Ernie Ball Slinkys for a long time, nothing wrong with them and they were better than the D'Addarios, but not craving that round-wound clank these days.
I have a set of LaBella Deep Talkin' Flats on one of my four-strings and have really been loving those, as well.
Interesting thread. I'm new to five-stringers and still searching for a B string that gives me the tension and tone that I want. Right now, I'm using Rotosound 66 45-130, but uptuned to C standard. Pretty good, but I would like to find something similar in terms of tension and tone that I can tune to B. Nickle-coated, rather than stainless steel, would be a bonus. I've just ordered some Ernie Ball Power Slinkys 50-135. We'll see.
Have you tried the PW 128B (non-tapered) with the L7200? In terms of tension, they actually match up perfectly!
G 040 - 37.2 lbs.
D 054 - 36.5
A 076 - 39.3
E 096 - 34.2
B 128 - 34.0
