Question for nickel Slinky users

[steamthief]

How many hours of use until you change them? I'm on my first set, and they still sound good to me, but it's also the first time I've had a bass with active eq (SR4) and I'm not sure if that's hiding what may be dead strings. I've had them on for 4 1/2 months.

[steamthief]

Please?

[pickles]

If you're not into that "first day zing" ... then slinkys last a very long time. When they finally go, you'll notice a lack of sustain and bad intonation. I can use them for months at a time as well. If you're still diggin the bass, don't bother changing strings.

[The Craw]

Typically at least 6 months for me.

[a.green.martian]

When I used slinkies I changed em every 2 to 3 weeks, but I was also playing them 2 hours or so a day, and worked at GC at the time so it wasn't out of my way to pick em up.

[steamthief]

Thanks, all. I've only been playing the Ray about a half-hour a day, 4-5 times a week, and the sustain is definitely still there, so the strings still have life. However, I played last night through headphones with my B100-R, and the lack of low end with these strings really stood out. I think I may try some Fat Beams.

[The Craw]

That's odd. I find they have tons of low end. And Fat Beams have more mids than the average roundwound but not more lows than Slinkys.

IMO you don't judge low end using headphones anyway.

[steamthief]

Originally Posted by The Craw

IMO you don't judge low end using headphones anyway.

Why so?

[The Craw]

Because you don't get full low end extension with a tiny driver, no matter what the headphone specs might say. So you really can't evaluate differences between brands accurately.

[steamthief]

Makes sense. Thanks for the explanation.