Cobalts

[husky123]

I really liked the tone too but I could not get any mileage out of them. I mean, I must've bought 6-7 sets. The E would go dead in a week...honestly. But when they were fresh, man they sounded good.

 

[Brattbugg]

I noticed that my Cobalts went dead today after 3 weeks and 5 shows. When I did a search ,I found this thread. I was horrified to hear about the chewing up of frets. I checked out my bass and low and behold they are chewed up. This sucks because I LOVED the tone when they were new, but this is unacceptable. Looks like I'm restringing tomorrow!

 

[nozkcb]

Update: I've had the strings on for about a month and used the bass on a handful of gigs. The brightness is still pretty good but I'm defiantly loosing some zing on the E string.

As for the fret ware others have noted, I can't say that I've noticed it yet but, I have a fairly light touch and don't do much slapping. Also, I can't say I've put a lot of hours on the strings yet either.

Bottom line for me: They're cool sounding and defiantly changed the character of my 494's sound, but at nearly double the price of other good strings, I don't think I'll be buying another set unless the price comes WAY down.

I just put a set on my Lakland 494 where I've replaced the stock Barts with Nordstrand's and the strings so far are GREAT sounding! Clear, punchy, bright (but not too bright) and more. . .umm . . pronounced sounding.

A few things I'm not sure about is the rolling effect I get when bending strings. The string itself kind of rolls like a wrapped nylon string does on a classical guitar. It's not bad necessarily, just different.

With the sound so far, I'm willing to learn to get used to it and will just "roll with it". ha.

I'll post an update once I get a few gigs under my belt to see how the strings hold up. I'm a notorious string killer!

 

[chadhargis]

Well, I ordered up a set of Cobalts from BSOL and put them on my Am Dlx Jazz V. The B string broke at the witness point when I put them on, but Jason sent me a replacement ASAP.

I couldn't bond with the Cobalts. They are supposed to be higher output, but for some strange reason, I lost output. They have a very scooped sound. Probably good for slapping, but I'm a miserable slapper. They have a nice "clangy" sound, so if you're playing aggressive music, they might make you happy.

I'm mostly a "meat and taters" player. I like a big, full, round, balanced tone. Twisted every knob on my bass and my BDDI and couldn't get the tone I wanted. Couldn't get the action as low as my tried and true "go to" string, D'Addario Nickel XL's.

Finally gave up after a week and put a fresh set of XL's. That familiar feel and tone I like is back.

The Cobalts aren't bad strings, just not my cup of tea. I didn't play them on a gig, so they may sound good in that setting.

 

[MoeTown1986]

You're not the only person who didn't like them. They were my cup of tea and then some! Everything I was looking for in a string.

Big props to BSOL for hooking you up after a faulty string though.

 

[MoeTown1986]

I myself have had mine almost 3 weeks now. I've played 4, 3 hour long, sweaty gigs with them and practiced at least an hour daily and my Cobalts still sound new and zingy. Even the B string. All others B's (DR fat beams, hi beams, and dunlop stainless's) would be dead by now. I haven't noticed any unusual fret wear either?!

 

[BassManMike73]

Well, I ordered up a set of Cobalts from BSOL and put them on my Am Dlx Jazz V. The B string broke at the witness point when I put them on, but Jason sent me a replacement ASAP.

I couldn't bond with the Cobalts. They are supposed to be higher output, but for some strange reason, I lost output. They have a very scooped sound. Probably good for slapping, but I'm a miserable slapper. They have a nice "clangy" sound, so if you're playing aggressive music, they might make you happy.

I'm mostly a "meat and taters" player. I like a big, full, round, balanced tone. Twisted every knob on my bass and my BDDI and couldn't get the tone I wanted. Couldn't get the action as low as my tried and true "go to" string, D'Addario Nickel XL's.

Finally gave up after a week and put a fresh set of XL's. That familiar feel and tone I like is back.

The Cobalts aren't bad strings, just not my cup of tea. I didn't play them on a gig, so they may sound good in that setting.

Also playing a Jazz and while I love the Cobalts on my guitar, on bass I used them for a solid 3 months, and just prefer the XL's. They definitely sounded cool though, I never expected a string to make that much of a tonal difference.

 

[petro_bass]

Decided to buy a set a few weeks ago. I liked the sound on my 15 for an aggressive growly modern rock sound, but nothing to go crazy over. Really just doesn't work well with my 2-10's with tweeters. Even with passive pickups and no pick I ended up with a piercing attack sound and I have to really eq the highs out to get a "classic rock" sound.

I'd recommend them for a more rock / metal genre, but the price and makes me shy away from them.