Classic rockers string choice

[Guest MoJo]

One of the bands I play with plays a lot of Lizzy, DC type covers. I tend to favour flatwound strings on a P-bass for this band.
I believe Phil Lynott used to play with flats as did Cliff Williams and of course, Steve Harris.
I was wondering what type of string other guys 'n' gals playing this type of material prefer.

[dannybuoy]

I guess it depends on the tunes you are playing, as there are plenty of classic rock tracks that feature rather prominent and agressive roundwound tones. If you are playing a mixed bag and only want to take one instrument, it's easier to approximate the flatwound sound via the tone control than to try and coax a roundwound clang from flats!

[artisan]

Nickel wound Elixir's for me in my Sabbath tribute band,great tone & easy players.
Never been to keen on flat wound strings & I have tried lots of brands over the years.

[casapete]

Nickel wound D'Addarios for me in my ELO tribute band.

As dannybuoy says, the brightness can be tamed with the tone control, but I can't
get flats to sound 'ringy' enough.

[Cat Burrito]

Having spent nearly 20yrs on flats, I'm another convert with [color=#282828][font=helvetica, arial, sans-serif]Nickel wound D'Addarios too. I found flats are great for old soul, country, reggae and roots but to play more classic rock it needs to cut through a bit more. I believe Steve Harris changes his flats for every gig to keep the brightness. If they work for you, great. I'm a big believer in you can play anything on anything. [/font][/color]

[lojo]

Cobalt flats ?

[dudewheresmybass]

I use swing bass on all my instruments, whether for the classic hard rock covers band. Ozzy tribute, or thunderstick.
Gives me the growl I love which sits better in the mix for me

[Coilte]

TI Jazz Flats for me. As flats go, they are on the bright side, so I find them ideal for classic rock.

[bassbiscuits]

I use both, because as we all know, its hard to cover everything with one bass (which is why we keep buying them!)

Two out of my three basses have flats, so I guess I'd say flats overall, but rounds perfectly good too.

I use Ti flats, La bella flats, and D'Addario EXL165 nickel rounds.

[Dood]

D'Addario rounds, either Nickel or Steel. Sometimes I like to change things around a bit. The NYXL's are ace and despite being discontinued I have FlexSteels in my drawer which I also really like. Oh and the Balanced Tension Nickels.

The only exception being for my unusual instruments that need strings that are outside of D'Addario's catalogue, in which case Newtone Strings here in the UK are amazing for custom work and are my go-to when it's time to order more. The customer service is superb too.

[BigRedX]

The vast majority of interviews with bassists published in International Musician and Recording World magazine during the 70s would contain a section where they would describe what they did when they got a new Fender bass which would almost always involve removing the bridge and pick-up covers and replacing the standard fitted flat-wound stings with Rotosound round-wounds.

[Cosmo Valdemar]

I'm happy with Rotosound Roto Bass. I played the SS Swing Bass set for years but after a dalliance I realised I preferred the feel of nickel version. Roto bass are just unsilked nickel Swing Bass, but a lot cheaper.
I didn't notice any major differences tonally if I'm honest.

[Steve Browning]

[quote name='Cosmo Valdemar' timestamp='1504093600' post='3362611']
I'm happy with Rotosound Roto Bass. I played the SS Swing Bass set for years but after a dalliance I realised I preferred the feel of nickel version. Roto bass are just unsilked nickel Swing Bass, but a lot cheaper.
I didn't notice any major differences tonally if I'm honest.
[/quote]

I use Jazz Bass (flatwound) strings on all mine bar one and that is strung with Nickel Swing Bass. I find the nickel strings to sound more 'organic' although that sounds horribly pretentious!

[bassmachine2112]

Dunlop super bright steels for me for everything.