Hartke HSB545 Bass Strings (Light 5-String)

Feature:
These strings are nickel wound and polished well, theres not much finger drag, and they dont chew your fingertips up. they also dont have much finger-squeek.

Quality:
Ive been using these strings for at least 2 years, ive ordered at least a couple dozen sets. theyve been consistent in quality and price compared to other lower cost brands. I play hard (enough to get strings to bounce out of the nut) but have yet to break one.

Value:
Cant beat the price. the hartke strings are the same price as house-brand strings from another online marketer, but these sound brighter and last much longer.

Desirability:
These strings are where sound starts. you cant cover up cruddy strings with expensive gear.

Sound:
I play hard rock and funk bass onstage 3 to 4 times a week, not including practices. I change strings about every 2 to 3 weeks. I play hard with both fingerstyle and a pick and i expect strings to maintain bright punchy tone and timbre for at least a couple weeks before going mellow and whumpy. I have several basses with different pickup configurations, however, my main bass is a peavey dynabass with active eq. i run thru a boss me-6b. Ive also experimented with boiling these strings, and that gives them another couple days of good tone.

Ease of Use:
These strings last me about 3 weeks tops (your mileage may vary) before the sound looses its brightness. they're easy to install as most strings are, and i slip a little graphite under the nut just to keep tuning from drifting.

Support:
Ive never dealt directly with Hartke, however I once mistakenly ordered extra-light-gage strings instead of light-gage and called zzounds and they changed my order with no problems. ZZounds has excellent customer service, answered on the first ring in english.

Overall:
It took a lot of expensive experimenting with other brands to find this one, especially since i have so many basses to string up. I can easily use up a 3 pack set in a month, so I need strings that are economical yet balanced in high sound quality.

Feature:
The scale length is perfect for my 35 inch scale. I like the colored ball at the bridge end of the string. I don't have too much trouble telling them apart, but, for newbies it's a nice feature.

Quality:
These strings are the best deal I've found. The quality is far beyond what my expectations were. These to my ears sound alot like the Ken Smith stainless steel strings I used to play. At least with these I won't be needing a fret job every 6 months. I play hard and these have kept up great.

Sound:
I just bought my first 5 string after not having one for 15 years and needed a new set of strings. I shopped everywhere trying to find a bargain and found it here. These strings, for me, are right up there in sound and playability with any more expensive sets you can find. I've played just about every brand of string over my 25 years of playing trying to find the right combo of value and quality.

Ease of Use:
I didn't have to modify my EQ at all to suit these strings.