New Strings

Michael J

Michael J

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So today I got some DR Sunbeam Lite Lite instead of my favourite Foderas because of price and shipping times, and I am SOLD on Sunbeams! They are the most articulate strings I have ever played, and they have a slighty higher tension and more zing than the Foderas, but more than that they GROWL! These things make me want to get my baby a leash and rename her Rex!

Triple recomendation to everyone!
 
They are the next strings i'm gonna try mainly for my fretless though...and some fatbeams for my fretted but we'll see :)
 
Mike, are those steel or nickel? I need strings today.
 
Nickle.

We gotta meet up at somepoint here... ive been busy tho...
 
It's interesting to see this posted. I just put DR Sunbeams on my $$ NT and absolutely love them. I'm still using the DR Hi Beams on my $$ BO for the brightness, but love the (tone) warmth of the nickel strings...
 
I've recently converted to the Sunbeams as well. They feel so nice and sound mellower than the stainless steels.
 
Mmmmm, as soon as I tried nickle strings I never liked steel strings again.

I would describe the tone colour as a "Soft Edgey Growl".
 
Doc said:
Mmmmm, as soon as I tried nickle strings I never liked steel strings again.

I would describe the tone colour as a "Soft Edgey Growl".
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+1 on the nickel, they have a lovely zing without the harshness of steels and have the warmth that i love in a bass tone.
 
The Sunbeams have a stainless steel core and nickel outer windings => best of both worlds maybe? I will try DR High-Beams next time, but will definately try sunbeams sometimes!
 
Indeed it's funny to read this.

I thought about putting Yellow Labels on my old 4 string Thumb BO: just to try out nickel strings................. 8)
 
Ok well since this is a string topic I'm not completely off :lol:

So, I need new strings and I really want some coated strings for once. Elixir is great but expensive for me right now, so thinking 'bout the DR Black Beauties - They are cheaper as it is + on sale at my store. Sort off. Anyways. Anyone have experience with the DR BB? And last question (Not too technical here), you know when you play a passive bass and it makes a lot off noice or fuzz when not touching the strings? Just wondering if the coating on strings will PREVENT you from removing that noise by holding your fingers on the strings? Did that make any sense? Ahhh well... :roll:
 
I really like Black beauties(and not just the ones walking around the house :wink: )They look great on Thumbs imho and they take just enough high end off for smoothness. Unfortunately they are hard to find for 5 string basses and DR wont sell to the public. Whats worse is the stores here have a minimun 6 pack order requirement at somewhere around $45 a pack! Ouch. Far as I remember the coating did not act as insulation.
 
The Black Beauties are nice strings (I tried them on my $$, though I prefer the Black Label and EMPs). BBs have that DR Marcus Miller kinda sound, but in black. I may have to try them on my Thumb sometime, since I can't find EMPs around here anymore... With the highly-figured Bubinga Pomelle and black hardware, that look sounds quite intriguing. hmm...
 
I run BB's on my Thumb and the set on there right now is about 1 1/2 years old. They still sound great and stay in tune for a week or two. The only problem I've ever had with them is that the sets don't seem to be consistent one-to-another. I've had four or five sets and some of them seemed dead out of the box while this other one has lasted forever. I'd buy them again though whenever I kill this set (if I ever kill this set). ~M~
 
Sounds like I'm in the minority, but I didn't care for the DR coated strings (Black Beauties). I thought they sounded really "muted" or "dull", and the black coating started flaking-off after about a week (no, I'm not a pick player). Maybe that tone is desirable for some, and maybe I was just unlucky and got one of those sets avionix543 mentions, but I'll be sticking with the Sunbeams and Hi Beams.
 
EVOLVEBASS said:
Sounds like I'm in the minority, but I didn't care for the DR coated strings (Black Beauties). I thought they sounded really "muted" or "dull", and the black coating started flaking-off after about a week (no, I'm not a pick player). Maybe that tone is desirable for some, and maybe I was just unlucky and got one of those sets avionix543 mentions, but I'll be sticking with the Sunbeams and Hi Beams.
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Probably the worst set of "flaking" coated strings I ever tried were the DR Bootsy Collins strings. They left a white, powdery, metal flake that was worse than a bad case of dandruff all over my fretless Corvette! :shock: :evil:
 
Indianerdaniel said:
And last question (Not too technical here), you know when you play a passive bass and it makes a lot off noice or fuzz when not touching the strings? Just wondering if the coating on strings will PREVENT you from removing that noise by holding your fingers on the strings? Did that make any sense? Ahhh well... :roll:
Click to expand...


I doubt it, unless the coating is an electrical insulator.

As for strings. I got a 2 pack of D'addario 5 string sets for 30 bones, they sound great. For that price you can replace them as oftem as you like. 25 bucks for the 2 pack of 4 string sets.
 
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