I use DR pure blues 45-130 on my Roscoe century custom & my Modulus Quantum 5, & love them on those in particular. I use other DR strings on my other basses but those 2 get pure blues... love em !
Enjoy the benefits of a premium membership!
Upgrade Account
-
TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
Join free Log in
Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.
Anyone still using DR Pure Blues?
- Thread starter Stan_da_man
- Start date
I got a MusicMan bass about three years ago and I hated the way that Black Beauties sounded on it. I talked to one of the DR guys at NAMM who suggested Pure Blues - - and he was right. I put those on and I've never used anything else since.
The Pure Blues are the ticket for round-wounds for me.
The Pure Blues are the ticket for round-wounds for me.
Pure blues are my main strings for standard tuning. Very good for heavy tube driven sound and take overdrive and distortion really well. I think the mids are nice on the PRs, thus the good overdrive tone. Though I use DR Drop Down Tunings for my lower tuning bass. I wish DR did the DDT strings for standard tuning. Or, do they and I am missing something?
Pure Blues are my go-to roundwound and coincidentally I just installed a set on my G&L L-1000. I have Hi-Beams and Sunbeams on a couple of instruments but it’s mostly Pure Blues for me.
I just bought some from GC when I returned a used Keyboard I bought from musicians friend. I got for bass and guitar. I remember I liked them when I go them on sale years ago. My fender Special, tele and hybrid guitar and Fender Jazz needed new strings. Just strung up the Jazz and it is happy.
Deff my top two strings for 6 string Piccolo bass. Normally Nickle Low riders are my go to string, but seriously contemplating a set for the fretless jazz, I think they'll do nicely with the 10% Fralins.
Has anyone compared the tone of Pure Blues to D'addario XL Nickel's? Same ball park, I would think.
Apparently it's what Henrik Linder, from Dirty Loops, uses:
Henrik Linder: Songified!
I expect that since he's playing on 33-inch scale, the extra tension may also come in handy. Haven't tried them myself yet (though i do have Lo-Riders on a bass or two) - but probably should do, sometime soon
Henrik Linder: Songified!
I expect that since he's playing on 33-inch scale, the extra tension may also come in handy. Haven't tried them myself yet (though i do have Lo-Riders on a bass or two) - but probably should do, sometime soon
I primarily use .110 flat wound strings. The .110 Pure Blues are among my favorite round wounds. I use them, GHS .115s, or D‘Addarrio Balanced Tension .120s on standard scale basses. I use Low Riders in standard tuning on short scale basses. These sets are some of the only round wounds that don’t feel like a floppy mess to me. Pure Blues are stiff, middy, and dead from day one, all of which are good things to me.
No, not really. The Pure Blues are more harmonically rich and there's more girth to each note than is the case with the XLs. In short, they sound interesting. I find XLs to be rather bland, although they're incredibly consistent batch-to-batch. The only downside I've found with the Pure Blues is that there's quite a lot of finger noise when sliding along the strings. It bugs me when I'm playing by myself but I don't notice it at all when working with other players. It could be an issue in some recording situations perhaps.
I find it amusing that the original question was, "is anyone still using" them, when they've been around for only about 6 years! (Ed Friedland 's Bass Player review was in the May 2015 issue.)
Still???
(I'm the kind of person who you would likely hear saying, "Maybe I should try these new Sansamp things... I've heard good things about them...")
Still???
(I'm the kind of person who you would likely hear saying, "Maybe I should try these new Sansamp things... I've heard good things about them...")
Last edited:
Funny you should ask. I went from Pure Blues VW .040 to D'Addario XL nickel super light .035, (35" scale Cirrus) because I was looking for a lighter set. And I really liked the slinkiness of the .035 XL set, but I wanted to go a bit lighter. I think they were all of $13 on sale form Fret Nation.
I always liked the XL's on other basses. A great middle of the road, round, nickel string, and almost always easy to find.
Once I started ordering strings online from Fret Nation, I started experimenting and found the Pure Blues, Hellborgs, Low Riders, Sunbeams...TI flats...
I like the feel and sound of the Pure Blues better, and they seem to last longer. I'd say a good bit richer, and more mid present, and they feel a bit looser.
I've gone back to the Pure Blues .080, .060, .040, and added a Pure Blue .030 for my E-G set up on the Cirrus.
I bought some D'Addario XL .032 singles to play with if the .030 proves to be too light on the 35" Cirrus. The two sets are indeed,"in the same ballpark". I'd be happy with either, but my preference in definitely the Pure Blues
Pure Blues on my jazz, Sunbeams on my fretless. Fatbeams on my currently dismantled 5er. I dig them all.
All this talk got me to throw on a set this morning!
Whatever, it’s been humid up in the northwest. The Sunbeams were fading. (+ when I got my bass back from some upgrades the luthier didn’t give the E enough wraps and it was buzzing at the bridge.)
Whatever, it’s been humid up in the northwest. The Sunbeams were fading. (+ when I got my bass back from some upgrades the luthier didn’t give the E enough wraps and it was buzzing at the bridge.)
Thanks for sharing. As a fellow Cirrus enthusiast, I might just have to try the Pure Blues on mine. My go-to strings for that bass have been Fat Beams 45-105. Beautiful combination.
The Cirrus loves light strings. The original strings that came with my Cirrus were way too stiff, I feared for the truss rod trying to get a set up. (black silk, might have been stock Peavey strings) Threw those bridge cables in the trash. Went to the Pure Blues VW .040 set and had a pronounced back bow. I could hear my new Cirrus sighing with relief as I relaxed the truss rod to close to dead straight. The Pure Blues .040 and the XL .035 got me a great set up. Very little relief and it plays great, with that Cirrus hi fi, modern growl.
I've got Low Riders .075, .060, .040 and .030 on the Cirrus and I think I've gone a bit too far towards the light. But it sure set up great. Just not quite enough tension, muting is super sensitive, it's too easy to fret notes with left hand muting and I'm getting too much unwanted overtones. I might work through it with practice, but slightly stiffer setups have fixed the problem on other basses. The lighter the strings the lower the set up will go.
A big box of new strings just arrived from Fret Nation, and the Pure Blues are going on the Cirrus.
I've got Low Riders .075, .060, .040 and .030 on the Cirrus and I think I've gone a bit too far towards the light. But it sure set up great. Just not quite enough tension, muting is super sensitive, it's too easy to fret notes with left hand muting and I'm getting too much unwanted overtones. I might work through it with practice, but slightly stiffer setups have fixed the problem on other basses. The lighter the strings the lower the set up will go.
A big box of new strings just arrived from Fret Nation, and the Pure Blues are going on the Cirrus.
After years of Black Beauties on my jazz, I decided to try them out this summer. I like them! I haven’t really played them tons though, since that coincided with my experiment with LaBella LTFs on a couple a P and Lakland Decade. But I’m thinking the Decade would be better with a set of PBS as well.
My bubinga 4 string Cirrus does just fine with 45-105 Fat Beams. I like the added tension, but that's just me.
