Any love for Black Diamond strings?

[JohnnyB53]

I got a set of Black Diamond Black Coated roundwounds for my fretted bass but I just moved them to the G&L ASAT fretless, and YOWZAH! What a great string! Their tonal balance is beautiful--strong fundamental with a very focused, rich-sounding set of harmonics with no anomalies or out-of-beat overtones or overdone snarl. The sound is a nice contrast from the TI Flats I had on the fretless before, which where rich and full sounding, but slow and on the floppy side. The BDs have a quicker response, but still provide an excellent "uprighty" sound.

The BD Blacks are higher tension, so I was able to lower the action on the fretless. The string kickback is quick and well controlled. I've also found that I play more accurately with them than I did with the TIs. The round windings must help anchor my finger to the spot where I'm stopping the string. Whatever is at work there, my intonation is better and I get less tone drift. They're a faster string all around, as would be expected from a higher tension string.

Best of all is how you can get a clean, clear tone with the advantages of a round wound while the fingerboard is protected by the coating. I tried them back-to-back with the same-gauge coated Auroras. Players looking for a more trebly modern sound may prefer the Auroras, but not me. The BDs had a much stronger low E fundamental, and as I said before, the BD's overtones line up to provide a rich, powerful, focused sound. To my ears they simply outclassed the Auroras, and pretty much everything else I tried. They have tremendous range--smooth and phat for traditional blues, jazz and rock, yet enough upper overtones and fast response for modern playing as well.

Black Diamond has been around since 1890, 75 years longer than most of the strings we are currently familiar with.

If these black coated strings are any indicator, their long experience has counted for something. These strings just seem to perform on a different level than most strings I've tried.

Anybody else?

[madbassplaya]

when i used to play acoustic guitar some, i used their strings. i used them for an odd reason though, my guitar was blue and had silver tuners and i hated the way gold strings looked on the silver tuners.

the strings were relatively cheap at my mom and pop store that only carried a few sets of about three brands and they lasted a while too, so i don't know why i've never thought about ordering a set of bass strings from them.

[JohnnyB53]

Originally Posted by madbassplaya

when i used to play acoustic guitar some, i used their strings. ... the strings were relatively cheap at my mom and pop store that only carried a few sets of about three brands and they lasted a while too, so i don't know why i've never thought about ordering a set of bass strings from them.

That's exactly how I remember them--they were carried by every mom & pop store in the late '50s/early '60s to service every kind of string in school programs before the rock 'n' roll craze completely took over. I think one reason people embraced Ernie Ball, D'Addario, Fender strings, and others was because they weren't Black Diamonds, and the new brands represented a newfound freedom of choice.

For all the hoopla surrounding the latest innovations of newer string companies, however, Black Diamond hasn't stood still. They are producing some harmonious, toneful strings and are still worth a look & listen. I like their black coated roundwounds better than almost every other string I've tried except TI, and even then I like the BDs better for my current application on a fretless.

[madbassplaya]

very cool. how would you describe the tone of the coated rounds/what bass are you using them on?

[JohnnyB53]

Originally Posted by madbassplaya

very cool. how would you describe the tone of the coated rounds/what bass are you using them on?

I am using them on a G&L ASAT semihollow fretless. Tonally the BDs sit about midway between flats and uncoated rounds. They are not as woofy as the flats; they have a strong fundamental tone, but I no longer have to use the amp's EQ to roll off the low bass. The BDs sound just right. Up the tonal spectrum, the BDs have a broader, airier set of overtones, more than flats, but not as snarly as uncoated stainless rounds.

What's really special about these strings, however, is not just what they do as much as how well they do it. They produce a really focused sound, yet it is airy and complex with a strong fundamental tone and a well-ordered set of overtones that sing together. The sound is very focused, distinctive, and yet sits and blends well with ensemble playing.

Add to that the physical characteristics--they are higher tension than the TI Flats, so I was able to lower the action and the strings snap back to position faster, making it easier to play quicker, smoother, and with more accurate intonation.

They still deliver plenty of mwah for a fretless. In fact, setting the ASAT to the neck humbucker in serial passive mode, it's spooky how close I can get to an upright sound from about the 5th fret on up. It sounds more like an upright than '70s jazz recordings of a real upright using a contact pickup instead of a free-air microphone, and I'll definitely stack it against any number of boutique piezo cedar or spruce-topped electrics (if the online sound samples are any indication).

Like most roundwounds, they do take about 20 playing hours to settle in. When I first put them on a fretted bass they were a bit clacky and sensitive to fret buzz, but the settled down.

[tornadobass]

I tried the coated rounds on my fretless Jazz clone and they've worked great...I like them better than the Chromes before that. Good feeling string that's clear but not overly zingy like an uncoated round. And there's still plenty of sustain.

My G&L L-2500 has their 5 string nickel rounds and my G&L L-1000 has their flats. I'm happy with all their electric strings (haven't tried stainless rounds, though), so much so that I've become an endorser.

BTW, the BD flats seem somewhere between TI flats and Chromes...a tighter string than the TIs, but also different than Chromes in a way I can't quite describe.

I should add that today's Black Diamond strings are not the same as what we all grew up staying away from. There has been some good R&D since the name was picked up by SuperSensitive.

[Lorenzini]

I'd like to find out more about them.

I know Adam Blackstone, one of the current modern, young r&b greats, uses Black Diamonds. When most guys are using DRs, DAddarios, etc, Adam still calls BD's the best string ever made.

Anyone used their stainless steels?