String gauges

As with guitar strings, the light/medium/heavy designations can differ from manufacturer to manufacturer. D'addario says 45-100s are "regular light," 45-105s are light/medium, 50-105s are medium, 55-110s are heavy. At DR, 40-100 is Lite, 45-105 is medium, 50-110 is heavy.

Click the link in the bass strings thread I made a few months ago - you'll see ratings which suggest that treble and bass response can really vary from brand to brand, even with the same gauge strings. My trials with Fender, DR, and D'addario strings tell me that their ratings are pretty accurate.

As far as action goes, I've got mine at ~5/64" at the 12th fret, and that seems to work fine with no fret buzz and is comfortable to play.

Just my opinion, but you're going to have trouble getting deep bass from a 10" speaker. Tight and punchy, yes, but not that deep growl. However, you might look into the Aphex Bass Exciter, which will beef up your low end without overdriving the amp. http://www.aphex.com/demo1402.htm
Click the footswitch button to toggle it on and off. The demo is no exaggeration - it will make a small amp sound much bigger. It also has settings to enhance the high end, which gives an added spaciousness - not reverb, but more of an expansion of sound. Hard to define. I use one at home, and it makes my Fender Rumble amp sound almost as good as the Eden 210 I use at church. Got mine on ebay for about US$45.

Cheers,

Thanks for taking the tme and trouble, Slej...... followed the lnk you suggested. the sound want is diametrically opposed to that......on the home page....but thanks for trying, anyway.....

What I'd really really like is a bass tuned an octave down from a normal bass tunng - REALLY deep - but don't suppose I could get one wthout spending lots and lots of money.....and I'm down to peanuts again - going to have to save up for strings....

Does such a bass exisy?

:D :D :D

Vic

Did you turn the Aphex demo on with the toggle switch? It should sound DEEP - it really seems to add a ton of low-end frequency.

How 'bout a sub-octave pedal?
http://www.musiciansfriend.com/product/Ashdown-SubOctave-Plus-Bass-FX-Pedal?sku=155164

Still, I think your amp's speaker will be an issue in any case. Maybe add a cab?

Hey Vic! Nice to see you back on bass too!

I have to agree with what Sledg said about gauges and how each manufacturer labels them. I think though that when most bass makers string their basses up to sell, they put on the .045 sets. So it's a good bet that .045s is what you bass came with. It's like most electric guitars ship with .010s or .009s - more toward .010s though I think.

That said, I think the low-down thumpy sound you're after has a bit to do with flatwound strings as opposed to the bright, zingy roundwounds, and when you're talking Taxman, then it's more toward a shortscale bass. I noticed I got that sound the moment I put flatwound Rotosounds on my Jay Turser Beatle bass, which I guess would be obvious (Beatle Bass, Beatle song), but before I changed the strings (it came with shortscale roundwounds), it still had that bright sort of tone.

And that was exactly the sound I wanted to play not Beatles tunes, but Hawaiian music of all things. Almost more of an upright bass sound.

Thing is, I also put flatwound Rotos on my Squier P-Bass Special, and got similar results. Not as deep and 'woody' as the Turser, but I think that's because of scale-length, pickups, etc. At least to me, the short-scale creates more of a low fundamental tone (or at least emphasizes it), and though mine's a copy of what Macca uses, it still gets real close.

On both, I use the .040-.095 (or .100) sets; one medium-scale length (because the Turser's just a tad bit longer than a Hofy), and the 'regular' length for the Squier.

As far as action: if the neck is pretty straight, I usually look at the nut first (on a new instrument) and check, when I hold the string down at the 12th fret, if there's a lot of pressure needed to then press the string down at the first fret; sorta like when you check the same thing on a guitar. A lot of the times the nut slots aren't really worked on a lot and they're high. I've been lucky for most of my instruments; the nut slots are usually the right depth.

So if it's still a bit hard to play, I go to the other end and lower the saddles a bit - just a half turn at a time - until I start hearing buzzes, then crank each one back up a half turn. On basses I don't like to have it too low because sometimes during a song I'll get a little 'overenthusiastic' and really play hard, and then things buzz and clank (especially playing finger style), and...so I check the action again.

That other suggestion is cool too. I saw that Aphex pedal in the catalog and thought it might be good to check out, though I never really got around to it.

I'm thinking though, in general, maybe try a set of flatwounds. Going from rounds to flats is really quite a dramatic change in tone - like having a completely new instrument.

Take care

Yeah, flats for Taxman, definitely, but would you think the same for the Stranglers tune? I'd think nickel rounds, with a scooped EQ setting.

I wasn't familiar with The Stranglers so I listened to a bit of Peaches on Amazon.com. Not the best bass sound from the clips or my speakers, but...it sounds like, at least on that song, they've got a synth bass (maybe an ARP Odyssey?) doing the bass part.

That said, yah probably rounds with the mids scooped, but I could probably get close enough even with flats, but with the upper mids pushed up and played with a flatpick, probably more towards the bridge. That's the thing I like about flats as well; they're not totally 'dull' or 'flat' sounding, but they don't have that extra crispiness in the higher frequencies that make the bass sound (sometimes) like a big, oversized guitar. You can boost the treble but it won't have that zingy sort of tone; more like 'thick high-end' I guess you could say, especially when played with a flatpick. Like it's trebly when you set the amp that way, but still 'thick' sounding. Sorta like the opposite of 'Woman Tone' on the guitar, is another way to look at it.

Like I have one bass, the 5-string, which I keep roundwounds on just in case I ever need that clanky, metallic rock sort of tone. It's a 34" scale like the Squier, but the pups are different; still single coils though. Yet, if I try to mimic the sound of the Squier by turning the tone knob down, I still get don't get that flatwound sound. It's like a muffled version of those crisp Dean Markley Blue Steels I put on it a few years back. So when I play it I have a certain sound in mind that would fit with what I'm about to do, and I just leave all the controls wide open.

I originally had roundwounds on the Squier (DM Blue Steels), but those flats! When I put them on it was like this entirely different instrument. And depending on the musical setting, with both the Turser and the Squier, I can usually tweak the amp settings and then decide on either flatpick or fingerstyle, and make the sound fit. The rounds are kind of a 'one-sound' type thing to me (I played them for years on my old Ric, which itself is more or less a 'one-sound' type bass some people say), at least; I find flats to be more adaptable.

It's cool to at least try once.

While we're on the subject, I even tried stringing the Squier with tapewounds and found that they were still to bitey and trebly, and that's because they're basically a roundwound with the top layer being nylong tape. I actually took apart the little bit I trimmed off at the tuner and unwrapped the whole thing. Same as some other online guy found; core, roundwound, then plastic tape. Sounded that way too, plus with nothing metal touching your fingers, the string-grounding issue got even worse.

Those I played for maybe two days before switching, and I switched the the Roto flats and have never gone back.

I've even tried GHS half-flats or ground-wounds or whatever they call them, and it was surprisingly similar. No finger noise when sliding between notes, but there was still that high-end clank that's so good for certain rock things. Not quite flatwounds; more or less roundwounds.

I'm still thinking of keeping the 5-string in rounds though; I just like having the option for that all out hi-end bass sound, but I think I'll go to the Rotosound .040, or even .035 set, but probably the nickel wound instead of the stainless steel.

Well, I just looked; don't see the .035 five-string sets in nickel. Maybe the five-string .040 set then :)

LOL, now that you mention it, the Stranglers bass line does sound like a synth. :D So there you go, Vic!

I had flatwound 45-100 D'addario Chromes on my Mustang bass and loved the feel, was sorta mixed about the tone. Good thuddy lows, really warms mids, but I'd get a strange ringing harmonic. Interestingly, when I was changing them out for a nickel round set, I replaced the E string first and noticed a big increase in amplified volume from the nickel round. It's almost like the pickups were more sensitive to the nickel rounds than the stainless flats.

However, I now have stainless rounds (DR Hi-Beams), 45-105 and didn't notice the difference when I changed them. These are bright strings when new, but also have good lows. I generally keep the tone knob down about 30% to cut some treble, and sometimes will turn it down as much as 75% for slower songs where a darker tone is more appropriate. The only problem I have with the Hi Beams is they have a round core which results in fairly low tension. On a short-scale bass, the E string sounds a bit "pillowy." Not as much as the stock 40-95 Fenders, but still not as tight as I want.

I tried the D'ad half-rounds and hated them; the bottom strings were okay, but the G string sounded way too twangy and bright compared to the others. I took them off after a day.

I was talking to the folks at Birdsong about the strings they use on their 31" basses, and they told me they've found that high-tension strings can help tighten up the bottom end on the short-scale models. They have custom sets made for them. The next set I try will be D'ad 50-105s, which I believe are the biggest and highest-tension strings I can get to fit the Mustang. If I had a normal or long-scale bass I'd probably go lighter.

Well - I got the rotosounds on, they sound a little bright, but by turning the compression up and the middle and treble down, I've got pretty much the sound I want - I think these strings are a little thicker than the ones I took off. Now I'm off to record my riff for Guess That Bassline....

Anyway thanks for your input guys, think I'll try flatwounds next time....

:D :D :D

Vic

Oh and by the way I saw the Stranglers live a few times back in the late 70's and early 80's - Jean-Jacques Burnel, the bass player, managed to get a fabulous bass sound on-stage - can't remember what he used, but it was the first time I'd ever seen a bass player use pedals.....

:D :D :D

Vic

Hey, it was so interesting looking up JJ. I found this PDF interview from the Ashdown site.

I think he got that early sound through a P-bass, playing through guitar amps and playing INCREDIBLY LOUD!

I'm still not that familiar with their stuff, but that's the kind of bass players I like!

It's like, "Never you worry mate, you'll have no difficulty hearing me..."

EDIT: Here's the link: http://www.ashdownmusic.com/press/releases/jj/stanglers.pdf

Jean Jacques Burnel has always been my favourite bass player and my inspiration to play.

I promoted a Stranglers concert 2 years ago (and warmed up for them with my band). I was involved with renting bass equipment and a replacement bass for Jean.

He uses a Fender Precision and Ashdown amps. He's not particular about anything else. If he uses effects (I didn't notice), he brings them with him.

He tunes the amp with a lot of middle and much less treble and bass.

I happened to use a borrowed Ashdown amp at a gig a few months ago and was totally blown away by the sound. Amazing amp! Afterwards I could see why Burnel wouldn't use anything else.

I always been very pleased with my Gallien-Kruger, but less so since I tried an Ashdown.