String Recommendations for 5-String Bass

[Overgeared]

I’ve just picked up my first 5-String bass, a Schecter C5, which I’m loving. As I play Rotosound 66s on my Jazz (standard gauge), I put the equivalent 5-string set on the C5, but the feeling when I pluck is different. It’s difficult to describe, but when my fingers come to rest on the string below after plucking a note i get this kind of dead thud feeling in my finger, and i seem to hear a similar overtone. Needless to say I don’t get any of this on the 4-string.

 

My question is, is this caused by my technique, in which case what changes need to be made to accommodate a 5-string, is it just because it’s a longer scale, or is this the strings, in which case what strings would you recommend I try out, and in what gauge, for 60s/70s/80s rock?

 

Thanks

[Jakester]

I've played 5-string 35" scale pretty much exclusively for the last few years and (apart from a few forays to try the new kid on the block) have tended to always use DR strings.

 

My faves are DR Pure Blues, Sunbeam or Nickel Lo Riders. They do 'go off' pretty quickly from the initial brightness but then they tend to stay where they are almost indefinitely thereafter. I have played the stainless Hi Beams and Lo Riders but found them a little too stiff for my liking. Also got some DR Legends flats on my fretless and love them.

 

Could your issue be a slight harmonic sounding on the B when you complete the finger stroke? I had this on another guitar and found it was just the new pickups/EQ making what was always there more prominent i.e. it was a technique issue but only noticeable on a new bass with 'better' pickups. You could try and EQ it out, or use a Fretwrap or similar, or just work on the note technique so it goes away. 

[chris_b]

I swapped to 5 string basses nearly 30 years ago.

 

I spent many years with DR, both LO-Riders and Hi-Beams rounds. Then I had a few years with D'Addario NYXL's.

 

For flats I use TI's.

[BigRedX]

Everyone's string preferences are different, so a thread like this can only be a series of recommendations, and unfortunately the OP will have to work their way (expensively) through them until them find a set that suits them.

 

IME Rotosound are incapable of consistently making good string sets that aren't standard gauge for 4-string 34" basses, so even if you've been getting on fine with their sets on your Jazz they probably won't suit your 5-string. Plenty of people on here like DR strings. I've not been able to get on with any of the ones I tried. My recommendations for good 5-string sets would be Warwick Red Label, Warwick Black Label if you want a taper-wound Low-B or LaBella Steels although I believe they are changed the design since I last tried some. I stopped using the LaBellas because while the last set I had were better than the Warwick Black labels they weren't twice as good despite the fact they cost twice as much.

[fretmeister]

That thud is technique and because the fingers are coming to rest on the B string the thud is lower pitched. Many B strings tend to be a bit floppy and that means they move more when a finger comes to rest on them. More movement = more signal.

 

A tighter B string may well help but avoiding coming to rest on a string at all is a good thing to practice.

 

It will be there on your 4 strings too - but probably at a frequency and volume you are not noticing at the moment.

[chris_b]

Do you have a heavy hitting, or digging in, technique? If you get a thud when your fingers come to rest on the B string, maybe the pickup is too high and the string is hitting  the pickup. If you are damping the strings correctly you shouldn't be hearing any sound out of the B string in that situation.

Edited 3 hours ago by chris_b