tell me about DR Black Beauties please

whereeaglesdare · #1 06-29-2008, 05:28 PM

going to my local music store tomorrow and have heard good things about these but before i spend all that money i wanna make sure that it's a worthy investment first. what i'd like to know from you awesome TB'ers is are they stiff like Lo-Riders or are they on the loose side? would you consider em good for metal? how long have they lasted for you? tell me allll about em please

thaks

kirkm24 · #2 06-29-2008, 05:47 PM

It depends on the sound you want. I had them on my bass for 10 minutes and took them off. They were too bright for my liking and they felt like plastic. If you like a brighter sound, you will probably like them. I prefer my Slinkys though and for the money, I'm a lot happier with them but that is my personal preference.

Dave Muscato · #3 06-29-2008, 05:58 PM

Strings... eh. I use Black Beauties because I like the feel of 'em, and they look cool. They sound good to me and they don't have a lot of string noise. I don't know if I'd characterize them as bright, not compared to MTD strings or anything like that. Try 'em out, see what you think. That's the best way to find out if they're right for you.

J. Crawford · #4 06-29-2008, 06:14 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Dave Muscato

Strings... eh. I use Black Beauties because I like the feel of 'em, and they look cool. They sound good to me and they don't have a lot of string noise. I don't know if I'd characterize them as bright, not compared to MTD strings or anything like that. Try 'em out, see what you think. That's the best way to find out if they're right for you.

+1

whereeaglesdare · #5 06-29-2008, 06:40 PM

my question now is how long have they lasted for you guys, especially the players that have an aggressive style of playing

J. Crawford · #6 06-29-2008, 06:42 PM

Ive never played them, but string life depends on how often you play, how hard you play, how much you sweat, etc. Its different for all of us. I have had my EB Slinys for almost a year, and theyre still perfect. My teacher, on the other hand, needs new ones every 3 monthes or so.

Big Hungry · #7 06-29-2008, 07:09 PM

They only bad thing I have heard about them is that the coating wears off if you use a pick a lot. I have a set of red devils waiting to be installed but I wanted to wait for a big show that hasn't come up yet.

theory028 · #8 06-29-2008, 07:30 PM

I've got the Black Beauties on my P bass. They sound a lot more calm than the strings that came on my LTD B-4E. Since my P bass has been in for a setup, I've been playing my LTD a lot more. I am starting to like the strings on my LTD a lot more than I used to. It's great having such different sounding instruments. I'm almost afraid to put my heavy gauge Elixirs on.

I took the DRs off to put on my new tuners and the coating did get scraped off in some spots, especially around the frets. It hasn't done anything bad to the tone or playability, but it looks funny. No biggie.

moomoocajoo · #9 06-30-2008, 02:20 AM

I wouldn't say they were uber bright either, but they are lively and take a while to get used to. I'm only now just starting to really enjoy them.

They look great and have lasted about 2 weeks so far and still sound new, so far so good...

dinghy · #10 06-30-2008, 03:00 AM

I have some on my ATK and they sounds pretty good, not as gritty as D'addys or the stock Elixirs but they still sound good. Not as aggressive as I was hoping. I'm not in love with the way they feel, I like the slick feel of Elixirs better, it helps me play faster. They do look good though, until the coating starts flecking off.

j0n0j0n0 · #11 06-30-2008, 03:20 AM

i had them on my lakland and loved them. The coating does rub off after a while but they dont lose tone from that. I think there great for metal styles, im gonna buy some for my thumb soon. Also if you have a 5 string the b string sounds great with them.

lmfreeman9 · #12 06-30-2008, 09:16 AM

I bought a used set of Pink ones here to try out on a Danelectro Hodad. Great mids.

CapnSev · #13 06-30-2008, 09:31 AM

To the OP: The tension is the exact same as the Hi Beams, loose and floppy.

alembic5 · #14 07-01-2008, 08:28 PM

They felt fine to me, and looked awesome... but mine were dead after one gig. Like un-usable dead. It was really strange. I seem to kill strings pretty quickly anyways, but not that fast. I pretty much only play Elixirs these days and LOVE them. I'm thinking it must be a chemistry thing with my body... but who knows!