Way back when (in the days of Cesar), I used to periodically boil the Rotosounds on my Fender Jazz (but only once per set of strings). Make sure you keep the ends with the wrappings sticking up out of the water. It's amazing how much gunk is on strings, even when they look clean.
For me, the strings would sound almost new for just a few days and they'd feel slightly rougher with more resistance when playing glissando.
My string of choice in modern times used to be DR; now I prefer the burnished tone and supple feel of Curt Mangan Nickel roundwounds:
http://www.curtmangan.com/shop/index.php/bass-guitar/nickel-wound.html I played the NAMM show a few years ago during my pre-Alembic days. We were in the Starr Labs booth in conjunction with an up and coming electronic drum manufacturer so our drummer used their stuff. But between them constantly asking us to stop so that convention goers could also play their drums and the fact the drums were glitchy as hell (and our drummer plays left-handed so the configuration had to be altered back and forth), we only played sporadically
Anyway, at one point I wandered away and stumbled into the Curt Mangan booth. In spite of all the big name guys walking around, I was treated like royalty and they had a full array of basses strung with their strings and a couple of Mark Bass amps to play through. I loved the tone and explained I was playing at the show. They gave me two sets of strings to evaluate and I told them I'd change strings that night and after the next day's performance give them some feedback. Later, while my band mates were asleep in the hotel room I put them on my Spector. Even unamplified, the instrument was so loud it woke them up! The tone and clarity was great when we performed and they've been my string of choice ever since.
