P Bass players - what do you look for in a roundwound string?

Gear
1

I recently tried DR Fat Beams and while I love the sound in isolation, I found they didn’t cut through in a band setting.

I play in a post-punk band and my guitarist uses big full chords with often sutble movement. There is SOME space for me to embelish but I mainly support and round out the sound (as I should!)

From my understanding, the P Bass has a natural midrange growl, which is why I went with one amongst other influences.

Now, my question for my fellow P bass or P pickup-having-bass players: Do you look for strings that emphasize or leverage that midrange punch or look to balance it out?

I THINK stainless steel has too much of a scoop for what I need…

3 Likes
2

Stainless is by far the brightest. Peter Hook uses them if you want post-punk cred :slight_smile:

2 Likes
3

Yep that’s true! Unless you are using gold strings, then it’s another level of brightness.

How is your tone knob working out for you. I’d think 9 o’clock on the dial should do the trick in general unless you are slappin’

3 Likes
4

For post-punk I would say wide open. General sound is bright bass into chorus or other modulation. Check out the bass coming in at this timecode:

Or here:

3 Likes
5

I play a P bass, but with flats, so not exactly the same, but I leave the tone open on the bass and adjust it through the amp EQ. Maybe using a preamp pedal with a wider range of settings could help you get the tone you want to get through in the mix.

And make sure you change strings regularly for roundwounds. That can make a huge difference.

2 Likes
6

Also this:

Because it’s really useful and because @Gio loves being quoted :grin:

3 Likes
7

From past experiences, and there have been many, I’ve found that when a guitarist or guitarists are consuming so much of the mids and you’re trying to compete with that you generally lose. Especially if they’re playing full distortion driven power chords. You need to find a different sonic slot for your bass.

The trick I’ve always used is to get under them sonically. A PBass can be very strong in the low mids. Go there. You could very easily use a brighter flatwound with a pick to do it or look to mellower rounds like a Pressurewound string and also use your pick. PWounds are very tonally dynamic. They respond very well to both the instrument’s and the amp’s EQ.

JMHO

6 Likes
8

I think that might be the issue…

We sort of fit in the post-punk label but the guitar is heavily overdriven with big chords.

So that scooped thing doesn’t work for my bass.

Thank you… this is confirming my suspicions!

1 Like
9

Hmm… interesting.

Hadn’t thought about the low-mid area.

I’m going to try some standard Daddario EXL strings to see how nickel fits.

I’ll see if the amp I’m using can boost those low mids as well.

2 Likes
10

I have the tone knob at about 80-90% normally.

I use it more to clean up some of the extra noise when I play.

2 Likes
11

So after listening to some music clips shared here…

I think post-punk might be a misnomer for us lol.

There are some elements but I’d say we’re more somewhere between A Place to Bury Strangers, and At The Drive In.

I’m not YET on these clips but check this out: HOUSE iN CRISIS - Musician in New Westminster BC - BandMix.ca

Avatars was dropped but feel free to check everything else.

What would you label us?

3 Likes
12

EB regular Slinkys.

1 Like
13

I get the stylistic fit here and imo you all should lean into it. Go nuts with the effects. Maybe even look at picking up some of Death by Audio’s pedals (the guitarist / singer owns the company) and see what you can do with them. I’d call this modern post punk. It’s totally there. I love what you all are putting down. This may be sacrilege on these boards, but I’d dial back the bass in the mix. Don’t really try to cut through (Avatars is a good example). Let the guitars run the show more and just be the platform that they do their thing on. Again, I really dig this. Please keep us up to date when you all have something to buy.

This is exactly the kind of music I’m wanting to do when I feel comfortable enough with my playing to find folks to play with. Thank you for sharing.

3 Likes
14

To elaborate - stainless are not scooped at all. They are super bright. Peter Hook uses them and playing in the upper registers to cut through the mix.

If you try and live only in the mids you’ll get drowned out by heavy overdriven guitars. You do want strong, boosted mids but the P will take care of that along with EQ; the stainless (or other bright rounds) will help cut through with more tone up in the highs.

2 Likes
15

Another example, you can hear how Will Heggie’s bass cuts through Robin Guthrie’s guitars here and mixes perfectly:

1 Like
16

I like what I was hearing. I wouldn’t call it post punk. There is a hard edge there, that, to me, doesn’t fit the post punk sound.

On the site it says, Alternative, Punk, Rock. That strikes me as a good description. It definitely has the feel of all three.

1 Like
17

Wow thank you!

We’ve gotten some pretty positive feedback so it’s nice to see there are some consistent acknowledgements happening.

I think “cut” might not be the word I should be using. Maybe “present”?

Essentially, there have been time with these strings specifically where I don’t hear myself properly and I don’t feel like I’d be missing necessarily if I dropped out.

I have looked at how the guitarist is EQing and he cuts his bass a little, backs off the mids a fair bit etc.

I think the Fat Beams might be too boomy ultimately despite my best efforts.

Funny enough, Avatars is the song we cut because we felt it didn’t fit amongst the others stylistically lol.

18

Hmm… interesting.

I think you’re right because it looks like steel naturally boosts highs and lowend which feels like it has a scooped mid.

Because I’ve dug into this so much now, I actually am looking at nickels that have more brightness to them and letting the P handle the mid mostly as you’ve said.

Good to know I’m on the right track.

1 Like
19

I see what you mean.

I think the issue is Guthrie plays in a higher register as well so this helps with this particular bass tone.

My guitarist tends to hang out lower, or at lest incoporates the lowend more with his chord choices.

Really helpful though because it has me thinking about how to compliment that best.

2 Likes
20

Yeah it’s hard to really fit it into a box. We have a ton of infuences as so much great music came out during our formative years. We’re in our 40s and personally I was a big grunge guy, and got into punk only recently really aside from a few songs here or there.

Biggest influence is probably The Mars Volta but went back to ATDI for a more punk feel to the bass. Apparently ATDI is post-hardcore (too many genres!) so maybe we’re somewhere amongst all that.

1 Like