Coated, yea or nea

ok, so i have an epiphone thunderbird, not my first choice for a giging bass, for shows i use my jazz bass. im tired of buying strings for a thunderbird that i only use for 2 reasons
1. taking to bass lessons
2. using in my schools marching band

SOOOO.... i was thinking about using some DR red devils or black beauties to keep my string expense to a minimum, i dont use the bass professionally, so why not go with the coated? comments. concerns? thanks! -Pat, the only bassist in his schools band program with so much pressure on him, who is pretty much irreplacable. and humble!

[bassbully]

I put a set of peacock blue DRs on my aguve blue P-bass for the old S&G's and they are nice. Great tone and feel.

[fretlessguy]

They would cost more initially, but if they last as long as most say, then it would save you time for changing strings and spending more money on more strings sets in the long run.
As for me, I do not care for coated strings and actually enjoy changing strings and setting up basses and guitars. it is a stress reliever for me.

[bassbully]

I really dont see them lasting any longer than most strrings if a player wants a fresh new string sound all the time. I like rounds as they mellow and love em when they go dead.

[davec]

they look cool and sound pretty good....

[Buskman]

Can't speak personally for the DR's, but I gave the Elixirs a shot and didn't care for 'em. Sounded decent, but felt like I was playing on strings covered in saran wrap! To each his own...

Hey, brutal bassist - if this particular bass is only being used for lessons & marching band (and the Jazz is for shows), would you really need to change strings that much anyway? Just wipe them down after each use and they should last a good long while. IMHO, of course.

[xshawnxearthx]

imho they stopped making the best coated strings out there. the poly web coated elixir strings. now they only have the thinner coating which flakes too easily.

so glad i don't use coated strings anymore. get so much better mileage without the cost.

[Marley's Ghost]

Elixirs felt greasy to me. Now that there are so many smooth rounds out there, I voted nay. Not worth the extra mileage IMO.

[Fuzzbass]

I highly recommend Elixir nanowebs, they last a long, long time. I suppose they're a bit slippery, but I had no trouble adjusting. Coated strings have a somewhat different tone than uncoated, but I like the Elixir tone: slightly broken in, but still crisp. And as noted, the tone stays crisp for a long time.

I haven't tried the coated DRs.

[infinitetoast]

Nay. Of the two basses I purchased recently, one came with Elixer strings and the other DR black beauties. The elixers feel and play like plastic, the black beauties felt like they had dried paint on them and did not play nicely to my fingers. The DRs also didn't have that same 'shine', both aesthetically or audibly.

[ErnieD]

Thats the sound I hear when I really dig in or pop my G string. When playing regular fingerstyle the G string sounds OK, but man if I dig in or try to pull/pop that string, it just bites the note and does not ring out, at all. These are Red Devils on a maple board 55-02D. They feel better than other SS's Ive used, so that's cool. The coating kinda gives me good string control, sorta sticky, in a good way, for me.

I had Sunbeams on that bass before and never heard a note quite like that, like its real compressed. Its setup well to me, with med-low action. After using nickels & flats, I have not used SS rounds on any of my basses in some time. But I thought the red coating would like cool with the maple board, and it does look cool, though the coating is starting to peel off here and there.

I still have the Sunbeams, only used a short while laying around somewhere, gonna find em and put em back on. I dont recall the G string doing that when I did use SS strings or is it a combo of the maple board & SS's? I tried it and prolly wont do colored strings again, though my Peacock blue Cirrus 5 might look pretty groovy with blue strings. Should never say never. So yea then nay, for my vote.

[pjmuck]

I personally like Elixirs. They last a long time and still have plenty of bite and brightness to them, at least for my taste.

Stay FAR away from Cleartone though!

[awakefie]

I like Elixirs. I like the feel and they seem to last.

[xxbassdemonxx]

I have the same Elixers on my Schecter as what came on them originally, and they flaked apart on me, and it feels as if they were covered in dry elmer's glue, but they do sound pretty great.

[Ampeg SVT]

Originally Posted by pjmuck

I personally like Elixirs. They last a long time and still have plenty of bite and brightness to them, at least for my taste.

Stay FAR away from Cleartone though!

Whats wrong with cleartone?
do they not retain their brightness like Elixers?

[SuperDuck]

I tried Elixirs - they just were not my bag. I know a lot of people like them, but looking back I wasn't too much of a fan of the tone or feel.

[JZQuantum]

I tried the D'Addario coated strings recently and they squeaked like crazy when I played them with the plucking hand, sounded like a mouse or something.

I tried Elixirs when they first came out, but were waaaay too bright for me. They also flaked, exposing the metal on most of the string.

[Bassamatic]

I always try the Elixirs first on a new bass - if I had to choose only ONE string it would have to be the Elixirs for sure. They are amazing on my P, Jazz and Cirrus basses, not so good on the Spector, for some reason, or the Ibanez SR-1000.

Besides the great tone (give them a couple of days) they last loooong time and do away with most of the finger noise.

They also give GREAT service and quickly replaced one that didn't seem to sound the same as the rest.

[WoodyG3]

I put the DRs on a bass that was slightly bright for my tastes with regular nickels. It mellowed the tone just a tad, and I like the feel of the strings just fine. I would recomend them. I haven't tried Elixirs, though.

[Craig_S]

I use Elixir's on my Stingray 5. They sound great. They are pretty slippery, though. You get used to it. I tried the D'Addario blue coated strings on my Jazz Bass and absolutely hated them.