This is meant to be an ongoing review of the new coated strings from EBMM. For the record I am playing through a EBMM Stingray with two humbuckers and favor a very crisp and hi-fi sound similar to Mark King or Marcus Miller. Believe me when I say dead strings are not something I like.
For the past three months I was using Elixers on my bass because uncoated strings were dead within a week for me. I always loved the fresh slinky sound so when I saw that EBMM released a set of their strings with a coat I had to try them. The elixers are very nice because they don't change tone over time at all but they're just a little dull for my tastes.
SO...here is my review of EBMM new coated bass strings. I'll also be adding a percentage scale for brightness. 100% is fresh stainless steel roundwounds and 0% would be dead flatwounds. I'd say the Elixers stayed around 80% the whole time I used them.
DAY 1/2: Just string em up. WOW. Really hard to believe that these things are coated. Unlike Elixers they aren't very slick at all, almost as rough as uncoated stainless strings. The tone is significantly brighter than the Elixers and I'm in tone heaven. I dare say that they sound almost as bright as stainless slinky's when I first put those on...
Brightness rating: 95%.
Now I'm hoping that this lasts for another two months. I'll put up part two in a week (as long as I'm not an idiot and forget).
DAY 7: Just played em for an hour and a half today. I'd say I've put around 15 hours into them since I first put them on. There was a noticeable drop in clarity but nothing worth crying about. They're still brighter than elixers and brighter than what uncoated slinky's would be for me by now. One thing I particularly like about these is that they're very even across the whole spectrum. The E sounds very similar to the G, where as with the elixers I always thought that the E sounded slightly duller than the rest. Another thing to note is that there has been zero peeling. I almost never play with a pick but made myself play about 2 hours of pick just to see if they would peel (and because I'm starting to suck with a pick again). So far so good. Brightness rating: 87%.
Apologies everybody! I've been very busy with a new bass, vacations and all that stuff. Now, it's been a little over a month and I've played em almost everyday. So we'll call it...
DAY 30: An interesting evolution. The thicker the string the less tone loss. The E sounds brand new. The G is just barely duller than the elixers. The A sounds essentially new and the D sounds a little faded. Hmm...When plugged in I find it very easy to EQ it now because although the G sounds slightly darker when not plugged in it sounds very even when compared to the E through the amp. Do I love these strings because they last a lifetime? No. Do I love these strings because they sounds like a new set of stainless roundwounds for many weeks? Yes. Am I a convert from Elixers? Hell yes. Although the Elixers do last longer, the EB's sound brighter out of the box and sound about as bright as the Elixers after a month of play. On top of that, the E string on the EB's sound years better than the E on the Elixers, and I tend to play in the lower registers more often. Brightness rating: 82%.
CONCLUSION: My opinion? Best coated strings on the market. With a fresh set you could easily pass these off as uncoated, both in feel and sound. After a week they still sound great and after a month they are very competent and retain most of their brightness. Another plus is that they cost only $30 for a set. That's cheaper then some uncoated strings. If I'm too lazy to take them off then I'll most likely do a day 45 update. Otherwise I say go out and buy a set!
