DR high beams and her strange 1st cousins.

pickles · #1 03-22-2006, 09:35 AM

I've been a DR high beam fanatic for about the last 5 years. They just have a great feel under my fingers and respond *just* the way I'd like them to. When I want them to bark they bark, when I want them to growl they growl, and when I want sweet warmth, they are there for me too. Then, once they break in, the highs back off and you're left with an amazingly growly string that lasts for months, and always with that same great feel.

Now, out of curiosity I've been trying fat beams and sun beams (the strange 1st cousins I spoke of) and found them both to be ... strange. The fat beams are great when you put them on, very very snappy and crisp, but when they wear in they get thunky instead of growly especially on the low strings. And the sunbeams are just too gushy for me, they have too little attack and impact, even when brand new. Whats wierd is that I found rotosound swing bass 66 to be closer to a high beam than either of the strange beams.

So, I just really hope that DR NEVER EVER changes the formulation high beams. My $0.02.

Indi86 · #2 03-22-2006, 03:51 PM

Are the DR Extra Life's just hi-beams that are coated? The bongo I tried had the red ones on it, and they were sweet. Not to mention that they come in hot pink now.

seansbrew · #3 03-22-2006, 05:54 PM

I think it really depends on the bass that they are installed onto. I am a big DR fan and have used them all. My favorite strings for my Modulus Quantum are the Marcus Millers sig set. They seem to last forever. They have a nice round midrange with plenty of highs and lows. I also have the same strings installed on my Spector, which really bring out the midrange. High beams do nothing for my Modulus. They sound thin and tinny. Poor midrange and they seem to die fast.
But when I played Warwick basses High beams and Rotosound strings were the best. They really made my Warwick growl. When I would dig in the sound was really gritty and nasty (that's a good thing).
The first time I installed Rotos on my Modulus, I was so disapointed at the sound. I guess the materials, pick ups and everything else that goes into a bass make the difference. One set of strings that sounds good on one bass might not sound good on another. When I used to play a Musicman bass, those cheap Carvin nickel steels sounded awesome, and they were very inexspensive. I will use whatever string sounds good on a bass, I could only hope that they will be inexspensive.

BassManPatsFan · #4 03-22-2006, 07:04 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by seansbrew

I think it really depends on the bass that they are installed onto. I am a big DR fan and have used them all. My favorite strings for my Modulus Quantum are the Marcus Millers sig set. They seem to last forever. They have a nice round midrange with plenty of highs and lows. I also have the same strings installed on my Spector, which really bring out the midrange. High beams do nothing for my Modulus. They sound thin and tinny. Poor midrange and they seem to die fast.
But when I played Warwick basses High beams and Rotosound strings were the best. They really made my Warwick growl. When I would dig in the sound was really gritty and nasty (that's a good thing).
The first time I installed Rotos on my Modulus, I was so disapointed at the sound. I guess the materials, pick ups and everything else that goes into a bass make the difference. One set of strings that sounds good on one bass might not sound good on another. When I used to play a Musicman bass, those cheap Carvin nickel steels sounded awesome, and they were very inexspensive. I will use whatever string sounds good on a bass, I could only hope that they will be inexspensive.

I don't know about your DR and modulus experience, but I will 100% back you up saying that DRs sound GREAT on Warwicks. The Hi-Beams that I usually put on my Corvette are the perfect set of strings for this bass (IMHO).
Funny you mentioned Roto, because I used to be in love with Rotosounds on my Warwick until I found a few incosistent packs and switched to DR. Most likely, I will never look back. I've actually had some Peacock Blues on my 'vette for a few months, and although I love the look, I remember liking the sound of the plain old Hi-Beams that I had before. It's hard for me to A-B them, but it seems like the coating does have a great effect on the strings' tone. Either that or I got a bad pack of strings. That's probably not it, though.
-Alex

seansbrew · #5 03-22-2006, 07:30 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by BassManPatsFan

I don't know about your DR and modulus experience, but I will 100% back you up saying that DRs sound GREAT on Warwicks. The Hi-Beams that I usually put on my Corvette are the perfect set of strings for this bass (IMHO).
Funny you mentioned Roto, because I used to be in love with Rotosounds on my Warwick until I found a few incosistent packs and switched to DR. Most likely, I will never look back. I've actually had some Peacock Blues on my 'vette for a few months, and although I love the look, I remember liking the sound of the plain old Hi-Beams that I had before. It's hard for me to A-B them, but it seems like the coating does have a great effect on the strings' tone. Either that or I got a bad pack of strings. That's probably not it, though.
-Alex

I had bad packs of Roto's as well. I remember putting on a four string set where the A and G strings were dead. I put the old strings on just to make sure I wasn't hearing things. Not trying to hi-jack but the best strings I have ever put on my MOdulus were called Northern Lights. They were made by EBS. I got them on blowout special. They lasted for months and had a sweet balanced sound. I wonder if they still make em?

pickles · #6 03-22-2006, 07:32 PM

I always used high beams on my Q5. They sounded overly bright and tinny for about a week, then sounded fantastic for about a half a year. IME. IMHO.

Same results on P and J basses, and Warwick.

RSchuster · #7 03-22-2006, 09:16 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Indi86

Are the DR Extra Life's just hi-beams that are coated? The bongo I tried had the red ones on it, and they were sweet. Not to mention that they come in hot pink now.

They come in Hot Pink?!?! I need some of those . . .

Yeah, Rotosound strings are amazing, soundwise, but they tend to die really really fast, if they aren't already dead in the pack. I think this is a very common problem that Rotosound has, which is unfortunate, because I'd buy RS55 Solo Bass strings all the time if they lasted as long as the DRs I use now. I currently have Nickel Lo-Riders on my bass, which sound great, but are too high tension. I really liked Hi-Beams, and might go back to them, but I also wanna try Sunbeams and see if they work. I'm something of a tone-freak, so I've spent tons of money buying different varieties of the same basic string . . .