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Strings - which ones have the most 'thump'?


silverfoxnik
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Hi Folks,

As some of you will know, my main bass for the past 4 or 5 years has been a Fender Roscoe Beck 5 string and though I've hada a few variations on the theme, the one I have now I acquired from Happy Jack 2 years ago and it's just great for me!

AFAIK, Jack got the bass from NJE and when Jack had it, it still had the same set of strings on it that NJE had put on it and those sounded really great to me - very even in tone across the strings and they had a lot of 'thump' to them (if that makes sense??)..

..Anyway, I recently changed the strings on it as they were a couple of years old and even though I like a quite 'old skool' tone, I figured I should put some new ones on and give the bass a set-up.

Because I had no idea what strings were on it when i got it from Jack, I wasn't sure what strings to choose, so after a bit of dithering around, I went with some Ernie Ball Super Slinkys (0.45 - .130) from Stringbusters and though they're quite bright and 'zingy' sounding etc, etc, they just don't have that low-end 'thump' to them to my ears and what's more, the B string isn't quite as well defined as it was before. And this doesn't really change, even if I dial in some lows or low-mids on my amp to compensate.

So, I'm wondering what other strings the good folk on Basschat might suggest, particularly bearing in mind my more' old skool' preferences...

Thanks as ever for looking.. :)

Nik

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I assume these were rounds as you went for Slinkys as replacements? Status Hot Wire strings are quite thumpy IMHO, either the rounds or the half-rounds (which are not as slidey as flats in case you are not a flats fan). They are also cheaper than most US made strings :)

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[quote name='Clarky' timestamp='1336985510' post='1653431']
I assume these were rounds as you went for Slinkys as replacements? Status Hot Wire strings are quite thumpy IMHO, either the rounds or the half-rounds (which are not as slidey as flats in case you are not a flats fan). They are also cheaper than most US made strings :)
[/quote]

+1 on this, Nik. If that were still my bass (and I do still miss it) I would go for Status Hotwire half-rounds.

Much as I love flats, I don't like a flat on a B-string; the Hotwire half-rounds retain a fair degree of definition while still supplying the thump.

I used them on my Alleva Coppolo KBP5 before it went to Clarky. It now lives on the Isle of Wight I gather.

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I put a set of Slinky's on my G&L (four string) and hated them at first but two or three gigs later during the little bass break on Brown Eyed Girl :blink:, I realised that they suddenly sounded very nice. It wasn't just down to the excitment of yet again playing that song, they actually did sound good and with plenty of thump.

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Thanks for all the replies Folks; really helpful as usual and I'm looking at the different strings on-line now..will let you know how I get on.

Spot-on Clarky - I had rounds on last time and went for the same with the Slinkys..

Bigwan - I can assure you your old RB5 is being well looked after! :)

Gary mac - thanks for that though I have done a couple of gigs with the Slinkys and still feel as though something's missing for some reason.. Must be my age...

Cheers

Nik

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