DR Jonas Hellborg signature strings

TylerDurdenPSSC said:


Where does he come up with this stuff!?

.......
Click to expand...




"Ask ye NOT how the Philospher King comes up
with The Stuff. But rather, ask ye how The Stuff
came up with the Philosopher King."


Golem, PhK UP.​


 
i compared the jonas hellborg strings to the warwick red label strings in the clip section.

here's the link:
 



I did say ... excooz me, I did Decree ... earlier that
I would get a set, so .... as it was written so now it
is done. So far, I have swapped the JH E-string onto
my Streamer Std "$$" cuz that ax can easily swallow
an increase in briteness and/or punch.

I played it for 5 minutes and took it off, not an easy
task cuz the leader on the 'E' is like welding rod ....

Until now, I've encountered "piano-like" tone where
"like" would be the overwhelmingly operative part of
the term. If I wanna play piano, I do have a coupla
Yamahas, thankee. To me, bass is bass, or spozed to
be bass ... realizing acoarst that my opinion is in the
vast minority.

For those wishing to upgrade from "piano-like" tone
to "very-very piano-esque" tone I suggest you get a
set of JH strings. Or wuss out like me and get a KB.
Anywayz, my intent to try the JH strings on a very
JH-like ax and rig is now derailed. I have the tube
amps at hand, and fretted basses similar to his sig
model Wick. And I also know that a fretted mag PU
semi acoustic ax will bring out truck-loads more of
the sounds that made me remove the E-string from
my Streamer. IOW, if it can do THAT to a Streamer
Std, I'd never wanna hear it on a more articulate
ax ... not with frets anywayz.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


If someone had handed me a Streamer Std with JH
E-string on it for trial, I'da played it 5 minutes and
never bought the set. But since I already have it on
hand I'm tryna talk me into trialing it on a FL. Since
at the moment ALL of my FLs sound just wunnerful,
it's not easy to talk myselves into this.

Nevilthelesch, I'm focusing on mag PU FLs cuz I do
like the way nickel alloy works with those. The idea
of hearing these strings thru a piezo is unappealing,
to put it mildly. If you've read me this far you may
be thinking I'm really into muddy, chocklit pudding
tone .... and want everything to sound like a 50 yr
old Fender wearing its original strings .... so, if you
might get to thinking that, tell me why I play:

MM Sterling with DR Red Devils on Moses neck ?
Fretted piezo ax with brass RWs ?
LightWave with brass RWs ?
Peavey-Modulus with TI PowerBass RW ?

Clearly, I don't wallow in mudd and I enjoy really
hearing my strings. One thing I noticed in my 5
min with the Streamer is that cranking up the low
EQ on the JH E-string was, uhmmn, impressive ...
reeeeaalllly impressive .... to the ears. My mind
got upset cuz I never play much bass boost. I do
NOT use extreme EQ, as I DO like to hear the real
sound of my strings ... and wood. I usually cut the
bass EQ and boost the mids !

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


So I'ma thinkin, "Try the JH on the Sterling-Moses."
A tiny tweak away from center detent is a lotta bass
boost on a Sterling, so I can lie to myself ... excooz
me, I can philosophize ... that I'm barely using any
EQ at all. There's almost no materials effects in the
tone of that bass. Resonant freq of the neck is way
beyond human hearing [and beyond any PUs], and
it's an alder body ... a rather neutral 'tone wood'.

And MM PU's just loooove nickel. No narsty brass
frets, neither. And MMs have those fat tuner pegs,
so when I find I still hate these strings, it will be a
lot easier to unwind the "welding rod" leader from
tuning peg ! Thaz "leader" singular. I don't expect
to get beyond the E-string, same as last time ....


​
 
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lol i just said Phk Up out loud....finally got the joke.

Anyways, back to the original subject, i would be interested to get some Hellborg strings, are they stupidly expensive? I've never seen them before.
 




Mine were $30 USD, which is about 40% more than
most of the rest of the DR strings, or about 25%
more than DR Flats. DR are not known as expensive,
but more like about one step up from the lowest
rung on the price scale. About same as D'Addarios.​


 
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hmm, i will have to keep a look out for them. Recently put a new set of Dean Markleys on so wont be changing for a month or two, but next time i think i will definately have to give them a try.

Cheers for the info, Golem
 
and i just realised i passed my 1 year anniversary of being on the forum without even noticing

neva mind, hopefully they'll be many more years to come!!
 
Something is Rotten in Denmark.





One can hardly think the word "Specifications"
without also thinking the ubiquitous phrase
"Specifications subject to change without notice."

But anyhoot, here's a little clip from the spec's
for the Helborg bass, as seen today, on the page:


Black hardware
Just-A-Nut III
Weight*: 4,6 kg
Warwick EMP-strings: 045" - 105" (38200M)
Warwick "User Kit" and certificate of authenticity
RockCase® for acoustic-bass

Sooooo...... apparently the JH sig model bass does
NOT ship with the JH sig model strings. I can't say
that I'd disagree with that policy ! As I mentioned
above, the disagreeable tone of the DR JH string I
encountered on a mellow $$ solid body bass would
be exacerbated by an ax of the genre that includes
the JH sig model Wick.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


Perhapzzzz ... the JH sig tone really IS EMP 105s
on a mag PU fretted hollow body .... and the real
purpose and design goal of the DR JH sig string is
to provide a string that SIMULATES his sig tone of
"EMP 105s on a mag PU fretted hollow body" when
that DR JH sig string set is played on the type of
bass that represents 99.99% of all Warwicks that
are already in use, meaning dual PU solid bodies.

I also noticed that the JH sig ax is 32" [medium]
scale, and the DR JH set is marketed for general
use, implying that it's a 34" set, which it proved
to be when I strung it up. The huge heavy main
winding [only winding] of the E-string fell just
shy of wrapping onto the tuning peg, which if
that were to wrap onto a small peg would be a
sad thing indeed.
​


 




OK laznite I did NOT trial them on the
Moses-Sterling. It crost my mind that
I have a fretted bass kinda similar to a
Helborg SigWick, that happens to have
BOTH fat pegs and a quick-load bridge
... so it was just begging to get in on
the fiasco.

Said bass even has a low impedence
humbugger [like the JH sigwick], so I
figgered I just HAD to try it. It had a
much better voice than the previous
trial, on a Streamer Std, but not good
enuf to make me go past the E-string.
The other 3 strings remained non-JH,
and sounded soooo much richer that
it woulda been criminally insane to
replace them.

It still took a lotta EQ to get that JH
E-string to sound like a bass string,
but not as hugely much EQ as with
the Streamer. Maybe it's something
about the low-impedence humbugger,
altho I thought it sounds better at its
high-imedence setting [it's variable].

I will not be trialing these any further,
at least not on any basses for normal
playing. Sometimes I put together a
shrill psycho ax for annoying geetards,
but I haven't been hanging at geetard
oriented jams for longsome time now.
​

 
man, my E string on my proline with the hellborgs is the best I have ever heard. I can't understand why you are having problems with it...
 
Everything golem said just makes me want these strings! after listening to the clips they sound like they'll sound amazing on my SSI. - i'll order a set tomorrow and report back.
 
Michael J said:
man, my E string on my proline with the hellborgs is the best I have ever heard. I can't understand why you are having problems with it...
Click to expand...

really ?
isn't your e-string dull compared to the other strings ?
it doesn't have the ZING that the other strings have, no ?
 
Where can I read about these strings? On the Products > Strings page I see no info...
 




As I said, I had no further intention of trying
to "mainstream" these strings ... that at best
they might adorn some 'special needs' bass.

So laznite I were thimkin, "Whereowhere is
that hot rod J-bass, that project bass, thaz
always the victim of exspearmints but never
wins my heart ?" Did take a while to find it !

OK. It's got the JH strings on it. First off, it
really did sound better with the strings that
were already on it, some unidentified RW's
that very likely arrived as OEM strings on a
new bass once upon a time, in a galaxy far
faaarrr awaaay ......

BUT ... 3rd time being the charm ... or is it
just finally the absence of frets ... I'm finally
hearing what sounds like an electric bass. I
still hear a bit too much "anvil", a too steely
voice. String oughta sound like string, not
like tines. At least I can say that it's some
kinda sound I might play. Usually, Ms Diva
plays electric grand [KB] but sometimes we
play a venue with a real piano, and I think
these strings on this ax will rawk with piano.

Aftrawl the truth is in the mix. The diva duo
will play as a trio in a coupla days, with our
sometime fiddle & geetar man, at a big old
historical site. I'll ask Ms D tonite if there's
gonna be a real piano for her. Maybe this ax
can get out for a romp !

​


 
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So my set arrived today, and besides having to widen the tuning post a little, they seem ok.

My first impression was that i love the feel of them, and they are the perfect tension for me. They have this complete lack of coloration to the string, what michael said about them is true they have a crazy transparency to them. Chords sound so f'cking amazing that for some solo bass stuff they will be my go to strings.

This is coming from an EMP background, i do like the emp midrange tone and zing, but my SSI didn't really suit that tone, these with the clear tone fit with the maple perfectly. - and the more i play the more the tone developes which is a nice change to the tone degrading.

They'll be staying on my SSI i think for a long time to come!
 
iuserneim said:
really ?
isn't your e-string dull compared to the other strings ?
it doesn't have the ZING that the other strings have, no ?
Click to expand...

Nah, the great thing about the Hellborgs is all the strings have consistent sound, tone, volume and brilliance. At least for me.
 
So about 8 hours into putting these on my bass i can't put it down fro more than 30 mins :/

I'm playing my SSI passive and just tweek the pickup pan for the tones i want, and only engage the pre for a little boost on the treble and mids for a snappier growlier slap tone. I think the best thing is that you can really dig in with these strings to get a growling tone or be really gentle for a piano like brilliance.

I'm really stunned, i'm in love, i may have to splash out on another set and some sunbeams for the Low b i think for my thumb....i'll see how the hellborg strings develope first before spending the £60 just to string my thumb up with them!
 
Where can I read about these strings? On the Products > Strings page I see no info...
 
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