D'Addario new for 2013 thread!

[FourBanger]

I had tried the 45-100 set of Half Rounds on my previous Yamaha but becasue of the tension imbalance between the 65 D and the 100 E I did not give the strings enough playing time to judge them otherwise.

Now I am trying to decide to orders myself singles and make a 40-100 set or a 45-105 set. Always gravitated towards 45-105 for rounds,mshouldI stick to that for the half rounds?

If nothing else I'll go with another set of Boomers and put off the decision until I have more than one bass to play with.

I am trying to like D'Addario because of all the positives I hear about them, but in my limited experience they have had the worst balance in their sets, so it might be a good thing they are addressing it.

 

[matante]

I had tried the 45-100 set of Half Rounds on my previous Yamaha but becasue of the tension imbalance between the 65 D and the 100 E I did not give the strings enough playing time to judge them otherwise.

Now I am trying to decide to orders myself singles and make a 40-100 set or a 45-105 set. Always gravitated towards 45-105 for rounds,mshouldI stick to that for the half rounds?

If nothing else I'll go with another set of Boomers and put off the decision until I have more than one bass to play with.

I am trying to like D'Addario because of all the positives I hear about them, but in my limited experience they have had the worst balance in their sets, so it might be a good thing they are addressing it.

I've said this a hundred times but I'll say it one more time. The 45-100 set of D'Addarios is absolutely balanced in terms of sound. It is not balanced in terms of feel, but ultimately it is the sound that matters. Listen with your ears, not your fingers.

 

[SoVeryTired]

Listen with your ears, not your fingers.

But play with your fingers, not your ears. It takes a long, painful time for ear calluses to build up.

 

[FourBanger]

I've said this a hundred times but I'll say it one more time. The 45-100 set of D'Addarios is absolutely balanced in terms of sound. It is not balanced in terms of feel, but ultimately it is the sound that matters. Listen with your ears, not your fingers.

No matter what I did to setup the bass, bridge, pickups, everything, amp EQ and all that, the softer E always got lost. It was not tonally balanced to me. Say it all you want, but it was not the case on my bass with my fingers through my amp heard by my ears.

After trying different setups for a while I chalked it up to the lack of tension compared to the other half and took them off. Where I needed my neck for the 65 was not the same as where I needed my neck for the 100. If I tuned the E up even to F it sounded out and came through much better.

 

[CaballoViejo]

I've said this a hundred times but I'll say it one more time. The 45-100 set of D'Addarios is absolutely balanced in terms of sound. It is not balanced in terms of feel, but ultimately it is the sound that matters. Listen with your ears, not your fingers.

So what? Your comment is pointless unless you can say with certainty that a balanced-tension set would not sound just as good as an unbalanced one. Can you?

 

[matante]

So what? Your comment is pointless unless you can say with certainty that a balanced-tension set would not sound just as good as an unbalanced one. Can you?

My comment has nothing to do with balanced tension sets. Read what I wrote.

 

[FourBanger]

You seemed to imply that if I put together a set with closer tensions, aka a balnced set, it would not sound as good as the factory set.

 

[CaballoViejo]

My comment has nothing to do with balanced tension sets. Read what I wrote.

Baloney. You read what you wrote.

You seemed to imply that if I put together a set with closer tensions, aka a balnced set, it would not sound as good as the factory set.

Yep. That's exactly what he was implying.

 

[matante]

So what? Your comment is pointless unless you can say with certainty that a balanced-tension set would not sound just as good as an unbalanced one. Can you?

You seemed to imply that if I put together a set with closer tensions, aka a balnced set, it would not sound as good as the factory set.

I'm not attacking balanced tension sets at all. I'm saying that balanced tone depends on how the company makes their strings. D'Aaddario 45-100 are very balanced tonally, but someone else's 45-100 may not be. In either case, the question is whether the manufacturer has taken the time to make a tonally balanced set. That's the most important factor, not whether or not they all have the same tension.

 

[FourBanger]

But who can say a custom 45-105 set of the D'Addarios won't sound nearly as good as the 45-100? If it won't then I'm hesitant to give them another try. Surely somebody's 45-105 half rounds will balance tonally.

 

[CaballoViejo]

I'm not attacking balanced tension sets at all.

Your initial comment gives the impression that you think some people here are putting feel before tone, and I seriously doubt that's the case.

Balanced tension certainly makes good sense, and I realise that you're not saying it doesn't.

I have balanced-tension strings on my U-Bass - Pyramids - and they're by far the best strings I've had on it, for both even tone and even feel.

Ditto for the progressive-tension strings - ZOG flatwounds - that I put on my Squier Jag SS.

 

[JimmyM]

I think you'll find they work better live where the band is somewhat setting your dynamics. In practice, especially if your used to a tense D you'll notice it and overshoot, but live things just fall into place and you'll like them more.

You were right about that for the most part, but I'll admit to some growing pains along the way with them on the gig tonight. The G felt slightly tougher to deal with than the D and the E felt tougher to deal with than the A. However, I just measured the action in better lighting than I had today, and noticed the G and E are jacked up a little higher than the others should be. I always try to keep the lower and upper pairs even with string height, and they're not. About to go rectify that. I think that will make up for the weirdness I felt.

As for tone, not an issue whatsoever. If you think you hear a difference between the BT 40-95 set and the regular 40-95 set, I'd suggest that you're listening with your fingers. I couldn't hear any tonal differences.

Anyway, let me get to tweaking and I'll let you know what happens.

 

[JimmyM]

As expected, a more proper setup made a tremendous difference. I don't think I have the setup 100% yet, but it's tweaked and now I can really feel how even the tension is. And I'm liking it. I don't overshoot the D now. Yes, I dig this. It really is almost identical in tension across the board. It wasn't the D being looser making me overshoot it...just wasn't up high enough. Funny how those little things make all the difference.

Well kids, let that be a lesson...do your setups in a well lighted area. I am digging this balanced tension thing a lot. The D string flows with the rest of the set. The second I touch one one of my other basses, I can feel the D string's tension irritating me while the balanced set's D doesn't. I'll allow for this being the honeymoon stage but as of now I think it's pure true love. The D always annoyed me and now it doesn't, and that's what I always wanted out of a set of strings. Don't know why I'm paying more for two thinner strings...I guess that's the price that early adapters pay for new packaging But I have this feeling I'm going to switch to it and suck up the extra couple bucks. I'm really hard pressed to see any downside.

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

List Price is the same balanced or not...

Dealers set pricing from there... Some sell above list, some sell at list, many discount...

 

[Jaco Taco]

Balanced Tension is going to be the standard in the future. You heard it hear first!

 

[JimmyM]

List Price is the same balanced or not...

Dealers set pricing from there... Some sell above list, some sell at list, many discount...

Ya, but they don't come in a twin pack that saves you $2 or $3

 

[SLaPiNFuNK]

We are fortunate enough that they package twin packs for their most popular gauges.

If they start selling a similar number of units of balanced tension strings maybe they will release a twin pack.

You can also contact your friendly music accessory reseller and see if they are willing to work out package deals for larger quantity orders. Some are open to doing that kind of thing...

 

[JimmyM]

We are fortunate enough that they package twin packs for their most popular gauges.

If they start selling a similar number of units of balanced tension strings maybe they will release a twin pack.

You can also contact your friendly music accessory reseller and see if they are willing to work out package deals for larger quantity orders. Some are open to doing that kind of thing...

Well nowadays that would be you, Jason And if tonight goes as well as I think it will, I'll likely buy a box of them from you. Honestly, this is so good with the balanced tension that if I ran D'addario, I'd start phasing out the old sets and go totally in this direction.

 

[AnUndeadDude]

I just measured all of my XL Nickel's in inventory... all except the .110's are 37.2"... I imagine the .110's will be soon if not already when I order more.

Im looking to put a set together for my 35 inch 5 string and would like to use a .110, have you got any with the longer wind in yet?

 

[JimmyM]

So after tonight's gig, I'm convinced that D'addario should ONLY sell sets of all their strings with balanced tension and phase all the other sets out. This is the total way to go. I can't imagine anyone not liking it, especially those who use big thick strings that get really tense. Going to go full throttle with it and get a box of them and convert all my basses to it, or at least all the long scale basses that use XL's.