This took a lot of time and a lot of string winding but I really appreciate y'all watching! I hinted about this video a few weeks back on my Instagram, so if you want more teasers and other cool stuff, follow me over there!🤘 instagram.com/patrickhunter

Can we all take one minute to thanks Patrick, who went trough the pain and blood to change 8 time his strings. More than most of us, bass player will do in one lifetime!

8 sets of bass strings! He gotta be some tech billionaire

Those Fenders surprised me in how good they sound.

I like the focused tone of the Dunlops. Great clarity and definition in the notes

Dude, the Fender and Dunlop strings absolutely blew my mind here. I wasn't prepared for the volume difference, and I really enjoyed the sound of the Fender strings too. Normally an Ernie Ball or Kalium guy myself, but I might be venturing out to try Fender sometime now.

DUDE You and your channel are GREAT I love how humble and honest you are, and all the different basses and things you demo and you can really jam a Bass...

Amazing how different they sound, didn't expect that much. Thanks for the unprocessed direct sound Patrick, very revealing.

I thought this was going to be a terrible but that was a great demo! I have quite a bit of experience with a few of those sets and you captured the characteristics of the strings very well! The playing was very consistent set to set and style to style! This is by far the best bass string demo I’ve ever seen on KZfaq! Great work!

I will live and die with DR. They have never done me wrong and the brightness is fucking mint. Amazing tone for metal.

The fender strings I think was the only one that had somehwat of a difference, but for me it’s DR all the way

It's great to be able to hear each string in a mix with varying playing styles, really helps find what you're looking for based on what style you/band play from all perspectives. This video is priceless

Thanks so much for a very comprehensive overview of these strings. That had to take a long time and I appreciate it.

These are the kind of equipment vids that musicians need. Thank you! My two favorites were the Cleartones (surprisingly) and the DRs. I typically go with DR Sunbeams on most of my basses

For me the Ernie Balls and the Dunlop Super Brights stood out when played with a pick or finger style. Biggest surprise for me were the Fender strings, might have to give them a go when I go shopping for new strings! Awesome vid Patrick, it's really cool to hear these strings played back to back to really discern the minute sound differences.

Brilliant video, love hearing both the amp tone and the acoustic tone. Perfect way to compare strings.

Thanks for taking the time to do this video. I know it took A LOT of time stringing the same bass, recording each string sound, and then putting it all in order! Whew! I'm using Regular Slinkys. 45 to 130 5-string on a custom with EMGX series pickups and they sound great. It's either those or Fender. I was amazed at how close allot of the strings were except the Boomers which almost sounded dead compared to the rest but would probably sound good on a P-Bass?

Rotosound Swing 66 are my personal favourite bass strings.

I’ve tried quite a few of these brands over the years. These days I’m wanting more of a low mids punch, and not a lot of high end. I’ve found I prefer nickel plated steel roundwounds. GHS Bass Boomers are my favorites. My overall favorite of all strings are GHS Pressurewounds. Thank you for reviewing all of these different brands of strings. Your comparison is one of the best that I’ve found.

Dude- that had to have taken some serious patience. Thank you for putting time and effort into making this happen! On a related note, I tried to keep my listening as "blind" as possible so I didn't have any brand bias, and the Ernie Ball Hybrids got me every time. I've been playing with Ernie Balls almost exclusively since 2010 when I bought my Geddy Lee Signature J Bass, and no matter how many other brands I've tried out (most recently including D'Addario - which are not bad), EBs hit the most points for my playing style.

For me, since several years, it's Rotosound Swing Bass 66 and nothing else! Thanks anyway for taking the time to make that video Patrick!!!

I been playing ghs for 40 yrs. The fender strings are my next set to try. Thanks and cheers 🍻🎸👍🏼

Thank you for doing this. I have been using GHS for bass (and GHS guitar boomers for a couple years) for at least 20 years and like them a lot. They sound great when they are new and have a great warm tone when broken in. I was curious about the sound of the others, but after hearing them all, I'm going to stick with GHS for now. Thanks for all your hard work!

Just saw/heard this. Thank you so much for playing the same thing for each brand on each segment!

KILLER video. SUPER helpful. Probably the BEST bass string comparison video I’ve ever seen. 👍⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️👍

Firstly top work Patrick, I love this sort of test, I was really surprised that the differences were so subtle, or was that the limitations of my Sonus sound system? I would have loved to have seen a visual of the level of the different frequencies each set of string hit. (I know I'm a nerd) Also I imagine the strings would react differently with an active bass. Keep up the good work. Cheers Stu

I've used nearly all of these and many others too, and my favorite is the Fenders. People make fun of me but I love them and have them on all my basses. To me they sound best here too. The bassier strings might seem more impressive in a youtube comparison, but the bright midrangeyness of the Fenders works really well in a band. It puts you in your own little space where you can be heard without competing with the kick drum or cymbals. Excess low end in a string does nothing for you. In fact lots of people are running high pass filters now to cut lows and get a better sound in the mix.

This is a really great video. Would love a Volume 2!

Great demo! I appreciate being able to hear all those different types of strings in one place! Really like the Ernie Balls, Cleartones and Fender strings. I liked to the Rotosounds too. The rest sounded a little more dull to me.

Finger style: the Dunlop nickel wounds stood out for its gritty bottom end. The DR High Beams also stood out for powerful but clear low end. Slap style: The GHS Boomers stood out for its big bottom coupled with a somewhat muted high end. This works well for slapping because you don’t want to overdo the high end.

Great vid. Nice to hear plenty of different types of strings on the same instrument and with the same settings, just to hear differences (thank you for playing the same lick in each segment!). I've been curious about Cleartone strings but never bought them as they were usually more expensive than other types I knew I liked. But I may try some on my Jazz next time I change out strings. Of all the strings played, I think I liked those the most. They're clear and open sounding, but maintain the audible girth you'd want from a bass. As usual, thanks for uploading 🦾

Super awesome demo! Thank you!

For me the d’addario XT just stay super fresh and lively, than the other strings I’ve played (rotosound, fender, Ernie ball) the swells in the midrange work really well for me in the context of my band and they respond super well dynamically, which is arguably the greatest quality a string can have in my opinion

E-balls, Rotosound and DRs are the most clear and consistent! E's and DR's are my usual choice. Rotosound surprised me, will try them. Thanks for the video!

Awesome comparison video man!! I play pretty hard and broke a lot of strings. I have been playing Ernie Ball Hybrids for years simply because they lasted so long. A while back I tried some DR Black Beauties out of curiosity and love them. They sound great, are silky smooth on the fingers, look cool and most importantly have been durable.

Wow, the Ernie Balls, DR's, and Fenders are my favorites! The EB's have that little high end boost that puts them over the rest when played with a pick. You worked hard on this video, thanks a ton!

I've used Rotosound 66's at .50-.110 for years, and I don't see myself changing, but I will say that the DR's for me sounded really good and I've always personally liked their Drop-tune guitar strings, so I might pop some of those on my other bass to see how I like 'em.

Holy Shnikes. Hunter has never played Rotosound? Y'all were made for each other.

Thanks a lot for your comparison, it was really helpful 🙏

Thanks, It's good to listen it. Good job man!

Ernie Balls have the most color, and a defined high-mid range that adds a ton of presence to your sound. Love the clarity - they're the best by a mile for me.

Those Dunlops in particular just sounded so aggressive and I love it

Great comparison, thanks. Been looking into DR. This gives me a path to tread.

Excellent comparison video. Dunlop user myself. Was impressed with the Fender in this setting.

I really loved the GHS bass boomers. Nice and smooth.

Ernie Ball is made for Rock n roll! The gritty gnarly midrange they delivered for the pick style was just unsurpassed

Thank you for taking the time to make this video! I was recently blown away by how dull the Daddario XT's sounded right out of the box, the regular XL and NYXL are MUCH, much better. It's interesting here to see that some sound better for certain styles than others. For pick, I loved Ernie Ball and Rotosound. Slap was Dunlop hands down. The Fender's were surprisingly good too!

Thank you for this Patrick...those Fenders really jumped out at me too !

I’m a loyal EB string guy but in this video the Fenders stood out for me!

Very surprised by the video. Here's some of my initial takeaways. 1. the cleartone strings had the most mids, hence the perceived "volume" boost. 2. EB Hybrids and Fender have the most articulation/cut. 3. the GHS was the most rounded or flat on the top. 4. The rest of the strings were pretty similar. Keep up the great stuff Patrick.

I’ve been using Rotosound RS-66’s since high school, back in the 70’s. The repair guys that used to tweak my 4001 said Chris Squire used Roto’s and that’s all it took! I’ve used Thomastick Infield, JB-344 FW’s, whenever I wanted an upright sort of tone, expensive but worth every penny and they last forever! Great string review, thanks for posting!

Thanks so much for doing this! I’ve been wanting to switch it up for a while but can never decide. Usually I use DR strings but I was really feeling the Rotos man!

The two best overall strings for that bass I gotta go with the Cleartones or Fenders. They sounded good no matter what style you played and cut through the best

The harmonics really sing with the DR and that’s why I’ve played them for many years.

Wow- EXCELLENT review! FINALLY, a sensible controlled comparison, done with three styles of playing. It's amazing how many comparisons there are- none of which are as logically done as this one. The unprocessed direct sound, and the- as- we-play-live bass amp sound was perfectly done. I've used all of these sets, except for the Cleartones. And that's kind of ironic- as all the strings sound similar.. BUT, the Cleartones are the single standout set. They have a seriously noticeable bump in the mid-mids. If you are looking for that- those are the best choice here. Personally, I do not care for that myself. As far as what I've experienced with these sets- P.S., I'm 70 now, and playing since 1967... is this. Another caveat: I do not play hard, or have excesses of sweat, or acidic things that kill strings quickly. What does make a nice set of strings, is simply usage/ metal fatigue. A weekend of gigs will make me want to take them off. I played a tour with a rock legend at one time- and was using Ken Smith and Dean Markley Blue Steels. Those got replaced after every show. Expensive, but it made a difference. Currently, I use Ernie Ball Stainless, and a lot of flats- almost all are D'Addario or Ernie Ball. I also love the S.I.T. stainless rounds... on my 5 string basses. Ernie Ball, and D'Addario are my favorites here in this test. GHS Boomers, never pleased me- they were only used because of lack of availability of my preferred sets. They don't last very long, and take on a thuddy, weird tone, and poor feel with age. D'Addario XLS- and stainless Ernie Ball Slinkys -longest lasting rounds for me. Dunlops- nice strings- now overpriced, and died kinda fast in my experience. DR, nice strings- but didn't like them enough to switch from EB and D'Addario's. Rotosounds- the originals.. I switched to D'Addario rounds when Carl Thompson made me a bass in 1976. I use a couple of different RS77 sets- flat, I love 'em. Fender rounds. Sounded nice, and died way too fast. I didn't like that. Ironic- I have many basses strung with fender 9050 ML flats. Great strings.

Lots of work to make this video! Thanks for doing it!

What is crazy to me is how with certain styles you don't hear a difference and with others it's blatantly obvious

The Cleartones clearly weren't 36% louder.

Thanks for going through all this effort. Must have been laborious to do. The test of a good set of strings is how they sound after a week or even a month or two@

This had to take forever to shoot. Thank you for your hard work.

I thought you would talk a bit of the feel of each brand. I think that makes a difference when I choose my strings. I think Ernie & Rotosound are the best with a shoutout to Dunlop, cool video!

Thanks, liked the Roto 66 strings best. Guess we gotta wait on the longevity test? Gotta tip for the rest of us poor bass slingers! Get a Tupperware bowl about 6" diameter. Fill a couple inches deep with 91 % isopropyl alcohol. Take yer dirty old strangs off and roll them up. Put them in the bowl, lid it. Sit down, smoke one, put in a movie. And shake the bowl up occasionally. Movies done, dry them off with a clean t-shirt, slap them back on. They'll sound new. Ya can pretty much keep doing this until they break! Bowl of alchohol will last indefinitely. Anyway, have fun!

Brilliant idea, great video Patrick!! I mostly played D’addaio’s but recently switched to Optima (gold!) and DR black beauties for my Stingray. DR’s were the best allround strings imo

First of all, Thank You for all your effort making this video. Very much appreciated. For the feedback your expecting, I am Not a Fender strings fan for guitar, and I Never used them for my Pbass. The Fender strings you showcased, gave the authentic Fender bass tone. Now, it seems I have to try them. I used Roto Sound Bass strings since 1985 and they Always did me well. But I just purchased my first Jass bass ( G&L ) I am so use to the PBass I need time to get use to the Jazz Bass and the strings were the first thing on my mind. I'm thinking of the Fender strings for my first shot at this. Thanks for helping me with that.

Fenders and Ernie Ball stood out to me, but I know from past experience that I kill a set of Ernie Ball's in like 2 weeks... which is not enough life to me. Currently use D'Addario XT but gonna give a set of Fenders a try.

This was the best string comparison video I have ever watched. You're playing is so consistent from set to set! Next up: Flatwounds? Tapewounds?

I consistently liked the Ernie Ball and the Fenders. I can't tell you how much I appreciate this video! Other videos play and talk play and talk and you just played them one after another so we could hear the difference side by side, thank you so much!

For my style of pick play EB's Roto's and DR's have great articulation and "zing". The Fenders and Cleartones were interesting, they have a good tone that will work on specific P Bass sounds. The others were neutral and didn't do much for me personally. Great vid, thanks!

For me the Dunlaps is my pick in this test. I've always been a D'addario guy. Both for there tone and lifespan. However there are strings that sound better out of the box but two weeks later that great tone is gone and I'm left with something that doesn't compare to the D'daddarios. That's my only issue with Ernies; they die quickly. Not to a cool vintage tone either; but lifeless. Until then they sound great! I just don't have the $$ replace them constantly. Many commented that Fender had the stand out sound but I have to dissent. Although not my favorite; Cleartone in my opinion had the most unique tone of all.

Dang, the Fender set is *bright* . Piercing, even. Loved Dunlops and D'Addarios. Round sound, pretty good and tight bass, not boomy. GHS had huge bass, but sounded a bit too boomy.

Used as many as I could find over the years of playing and recording. Love EB, ended up concluding the DR were the best all round I’ve used 👍🏻

I liked the fender,GHS boomers and rotosounds. I appreciate the effort you put in giving us a great sound comparison!

I think my favorites were the GHS boomers, the rotosound and the Ernie balls. How about doing a tapewounds comparison video? I’d really like to see that one

Patrick, nice job. I felt that the Ernie Balls had the most zing and clarity of all the roundwounds, and the DRs and Rotosound (you said Rotostring at the beginning😀) came in 2nd and 3rd, respectively. For roundwounds, Ernie Ball wins hands down.

Big fan of Roto Sound, have used them for years. After watching this though, I think i'll be switching to Earnie Ball. Thank you for taking the time and effort to make this video!

Great video, especially the fact that you didn't stop and talk about each string between tests -- easy to compare. I thought the Fenders sounded the best.

Damn those Fenders pack a punch 👊

First, thank you! This is awesome. Cleartone has to be the worst looking packaging. I wanted to dismiss them because they look so cheesy, but there was a noticeable volume difference. For me though, those Dunlop were very surprising for their tone! I'd funk that set. Fender had such a nice growl with pick though.

Thanks for another strings vid, and with a very consistent play/shooting method and also of course 8 different sets of strings. Your vid surprised me. 6 sets of nickel and 2 sets of stainless and while stainless are famous for brightness, in your video, I really couldn't discern the difference in those two sets. Last October I had a flu and listened to ALL the strings videos in my most of a week in bed. I had the time and the phones and right then a super keen interest. I REALLY wanted some of those EB Cobalts. They have this special midrange bite. I was told by one store owner [activate cheesy voice], "There are only a couple different string factories in the world and what everyone gets are the same strings, just stuck in different bags so you think you're getting something special with a logo. I got 2 packs of Chinese strings in the store, $16 apiece, do you need 4 or 5? I have one baggie of each." While thoroughly understanding the dude was F O S, and having a severe snobbery against junk made in China, I laid out my Hamilton, Lincoln, and Washington and went home to string them on. Well shit, they sounded great. I later got a set of Cobalts for my other bass and decided that Is struck gold. With Nickel and Stainless being the popular two types of strings, the Cobalt are an entirely different beast with higher gain that almost overdrove my amp. Wish you had included them. So back to your vid, one store owner [not the cheesy voiced bser] told me that Fender doesn't make their own strings, but that Dunlop makes them and they are repackaged with that cursive F on the bag. Well those two sounded distinctively brighter in your vid, enough to remind me of this claim. I'm always interested in knowing WHY things work differently. In comments, someone said they liked one sound with more bottom. I would reason they all must have had the bass frequency, but others had the treble frequencies masking out the bass, and of course I want to know why. Flats are famous for not having the treble, and especially for lasting for years if cared for which would spell even less treble overtones. Again, why? String manufacturers have to be one of the highest profit companies in musical instrument gear. They only have to make a single class of product, only a few tools and materials, especially compared to making guitars, fewer steps in turning out completed product, far less training to get factory workers to put out a saleable product, and then in some cases, people throw out their strings after a single show or a couple of weeks! For 6 string, cheaper than two drinks at the bar. Just make more and ship them out!

Super helpful man. Thanks!

Playing with pick and fingers the ones that stand out for me (according to brightness) are: 1.Ernie Ball 2.Fender 3.DR 4. Rotosound. With slapping: Dunlop, Ernie Ball, DR, Fender and GHS sounded better, without any particular order. Do you still have the Harley Benton Basses? I think they come with Harley Benton strings. It would be interesting to hear about them.

Look at moneybags over here spending a whole house mortgage just to test out bass strings!! In all seriousness I liked the Fender and DR set the most

Thanks for the test. They seemed surprisingly pretty similar. The Ernie Ball and Fender especially had the same kind of sound, more harsh. I like the Dunlops, GHS and Rotos. Classic.

Damn I think I am a Rotosound guy. Thank you for this video. I know it probably cost you a small fortune, but it takes an equal mixture of bravery and dedication to do this, and I congratulate you. Keep the quality content up man! love the vids.

y'all should try ernie ball slinky cobalt flatwounds, most of the tone of a roundwound but oooh so smooth on the fingers

I suppose the Fender has the best price/ vaule ratio: it costs roughly half of the others.

Makasih mas petriiik,beh jan nggonta ngganti senar bass nganti ping 8,,langsung tak subrek laik en serr

That is a huge effort to compare eight one this consistently. Many thanks

Rotosound are the cheapest & best value (in uk anyway), don’t hear too much difference between them & Dunlop, D’addario- all sound fine. Surprised at how bad the Ernie Ball & Fenders sound. GHS has a mellow tone, almost flatwoundy but I thought the DRs sounded really great here 👍🏼. Might have to check those out when I win the lottery. Good vid.

While I watching this, I had an evil idea. I make a video doing a similar shootout with different strings, but I hide which clip is for which string (String A, String B, etc.). People pick their favorites in the comments and then I later reveal that I didn't in fact even buy new strings and that every clip was the exact set of strings and they had making themselves hear differences that weren't even there. Anyway, here's Wonderwall.

Really impressed with the Dunlops! Think I'm going to get a set of the brighter 5-strings

I love when bass strings have the silk ends, looks so cool. wish EB would do it, most of these sounded similar enough that you wouldn't notice a difference without an isolated test, so I may just start buying GHS simply for aesthetic.

Fender must have sold a lot of bass strings after this video came out. I had zero expectations from them but they sounded the best by far. Now they are my go to for rounds. Thanks Patrick!

I liked the DR's the best; Rotosound #2. Fender was the worst.

Been playing Rotosound all my life, but the Ernie Ball sounded best to me in all categories. Thick with definition. Definitely giving them a try. Thanks for upload.

AMAZING!!!! Please do a test for 5 stings as well 🙂You're the best!

I wanted to hear Patrick's opinion after running the test. I thought the Dunlops were kinda dull except when slapped then they really came alive and sounded great. The Fenders sounded terrible all they way though, thin and harsh. I thought the Slinky's and the DR's sounded the best. The DR's had more mid and a fuller sound. The D'Addarios were pretty neutral as were the RotoSounds but they were a bit brighter. Clear Tone had a noticeable Mid-scoop. The GHS were "Boomy" but muddy except for the slap.

Dunlop Stainless Steel all the way. Marcus Miller’s signature string of choice, gets a fantastic bright tone that cuts through the mix

Cool video! I'm currently using ernie balls, but am going to try the ghs boomers next time!

Great video. Thanks!