[sami]

There's a nifty bass store in my area and I'm going to stop by for strings soon.

I'm wanting to buy something that's not found in GC (like DR and D'Addario) and I've never heard of some of these brands (didn't know Hofner made strings). Any opinions? My band plays fast thrashy stuff on a 5.

Bass Guitar, Used Bass Guitars, Strings for Bass Guitar, For Sale Bass Amps - Bass Emporium

 

[eleven59]

I'd recommend researching them before you buy for sure, rather than just buying something because it has a cool name. Maybe ask the guys at the shop too, they should know what each is good for. Rotosounds are one that I've heard good things about, and are widely used. Thomastik-Infelds I've heard are excellent, but I've mainly only heard about their flatwound strings (that might be all they make) and those wouldn't be great for thrashy metal (unless you're in Iron Maiden, and I still don't know how he does it :lol: He uses Rotosounds though). At any rate, anything drastically different from DR or D'Addario is not going to work well for thrashy metal, and anything that does work well for thrashy metal is going to be very similar to DR or D'Addario.

 

[Leona]

^ Screw that. Try the ones with the coolest names. How else will you know?

 

[F1Filter]

Well it's going to depend on what kind of tone you're looking for and what kind of feel/tension you want.

Funny enough. Over the years I've tried out most of the brands on that page. For a while I was really digging the R.Cocco strings. But TBH, I eventually tend to gravitate back to Rotosounds. Mainly because I like a bright, SS string with good tension. It doesn't hurt that Rotos also tend to be the cheapest out of the bunch.

 

[sami]

SS?

I like bright. I have my 8x10's tweeter turned off because it's too bright but I have my treble settings pretty high.

 

[eleven59]

Stainless Steel. My custom SIT Strings sets were Stainless and they definitely seemed to last a bit longer and had a nice bright/articulate/powerful tone.

 

[Josh]

Actually, the Roto flats that Steve Harris plays do sound really bright and clanky for about a gig or so, then they mellow out. He changes his strings before each show too, from what I've heard.

 

[Josh]

Also, I am an Elixir whore. They stay bright and "new" sounding for ages and are slick feeling so sliding around is nice and easy. It sucks that they don't make a string that fits my Dingwall

 

[sami]

Oh yeah, I should also add that my band tunes to standard C# so my lowest string will G# on a 35" scale.

 

[jacksonplayer]

For flatwounds, Thomastik-Infeld are my favorites, but they aren't for everyone. They are more "pliable" and less stiff than typical flatwounds, and a lot of jazz players prefer them for that reason. I've gone back to roundwounds, though, and I've used the Ken Smith strings occasionally, though lately I prefer the DR Marcus Miller "Fat Beams". Those things really sing for me.

I don't like stainless steel strings because they tear the fuck out of my fingers and don't have as much give. They're great if you really pound the daylights out of them, but that's not my style. For Stanley Clarke style plucking and such, they're just too stiff. The tone is nice, though.