• 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.

D'Addario new for 2013 thread!

#161
I don't think a lot of people ever noticed the differences in tension unless they were benders until they looked at the D'Addario tension chart.

I could've told you the E in my 45-100 set was not as tight as I like, but I would not have assumed the D was over 50lbs and the E was twenty pounds less than that.

It is possible that if nobody ever released a tension chart it would be not such a hot topic these days.

It is also possible that other companies are closer in their sets than D'Addario, though it is also possible some could be worse.
 
#162
JimmyM said:
Joel, do you use a pick at all? My main beef with Elixirs was I could see that pick usage was going to wear out the coating. That's why I never tried D'addario's coated strings. But if they sound mostly like XL's, sounds good.
Click to expand...

I love to use a pick for the pounding single note/string stuff. Songs like "Killin' Floor" come to mind. I play that usually on one string per blues note, with the pick, following the guitar line. And whenever I have a song that needs some palm muting with more attack, yes the pick comes out of the pocket. I like to use either a Yellow dunlop (.73) for the driving note sound or the black nylon dunlop (1.0) for the palm mute sound. I play a lot of styles of music, so I can't use the pick all the time.

I haven't gotten the pick out much on these, but I hope get a month or longer on them so I can see if that happens. I remember elixer coating peeling off as well. I think D'addario coats the wire wraps before putting them on the string. Did elixer coat the whole string back then? I think if my memory is correct Elixer coated the string after it was made, not the parts before assembly. This might change how the coating peels off.
 
#163
3234718 said:
Is that the plus of balanced tension? I've never tried them. The idea sounds good. All the strings being equally tight, but then why aren't all strings balanced tension? What's a positive about unbalanced tension that's a negative about balanced tension? I like heavy gauge strings that are all pretty tight amd never really considered tension differences across the strings while playing.
Click to expand...
What's a positive about unbalanced? I can't think of anything unless you're just used to a certain gauge of string and can't use anything but that gauge. That's about the only complaint I could see people having about balanced tension. As for why they're not all balanced tension anyway, I have no clue.

Bummed...got a back order situation going on now. Don't know whether it's the 10 sets or one of the two singles I ordered, but my shipment is delayed. Hopefully not long, though. Should have kept my big mouth shut until after I ordered them. DOH!
 
#164
What I don't understand is why there is such a thing as unbalanced sets! This just makes so much sense. It's not like we just came up with the technology to measure string tension! Why wouldn't you want balanced tension? Why did it take so long to figure this out?

I'm never going back. 😃
 
#165
I am guessing tone? I can see where it used to be harder to get different gauges of strings to match tonally, less sophisticated wrap to core construction or something.

The thing is, on paper a difference of 20 lbs of tension seems like a lot, on your bass you might think, "well this one is definately more than that one, but not half again more."

Many will say the answer lies with cabinet technology. The lower notes would not sound as well unless a lower tension string was used.

Balanced tension might be the direction the industry goes, but for over half a century bassist managed to sound and play great.

Here's one to ponder: TI, Pyramid, and other high-end string makers package sets in roughly the same sizes and the non-balanced D'Addarios. Nobody ever complained about them, and they never published tension data.
 
#166
I don't think it's tone at all. If you can tell if a string is .005 thicker than another by only listening, then you should be studied by scientists.

And I would say that's not accurate that nobody complained before all this tension stuff started getting published (hats off to D'addario for that). A lot of players have put together custom sets of strings for themselves. A lot of players switch strings constantly looking for a favorite set. It isn't because they're happy with what they have. I think tension is a good part of it.

D'addario certainly isn't the very first manufacturer to offer balanced tension sets, but they did give you the tensions long before anyone else, and the more you know about your strings, the more you'll know about what makes them tick, and the more educated your future choices will be.
 
#168
I was told that with a certain type pf D'Addarios th 45-100 was extremely well balanced tonally, tension be damned.

I also agree that folks have been experimenting with this forever, but I bet if you look at percentages of custom sets worldwide from all sources compared to off-the-shelf sets it is still a very small percentage.

I have wanted to fiddle with the tension of my strings for a while, especially always feeling the E was not tight enough in 45-100 and even 45-105 sets. I think it is good a leader like D'Addario is looking at changing up some of their sets, but it might be years before Johnny-off-the-street even blinks at buying the same set of 45-100s he always has. Not every bass player is as obsessed as us TBers.
 
#172
FourBanger said:
I was told that with a certain type pf D'Addarios th 45-100 was extremely well balanced tonally, tension be damned.

I also agree that folks have been experimenting with this forever, but I bet if you look at percentages of custom sets worldwide from all sources compared to off-the-shelf sets it is still a very small percentage.

I have wanted to fiddle with the tension of my strings for a while, especially always feeling the E was not tight enough in 45-100 and even 45-105 sets. I think it is good a leader like D'Addario is looking at changing up some of their sets, but it might be years before Johnny-off-the-street even blinks at buying the same set of 45-100s he always has. Not every bass player is as obsessed as us TBers.
Click to expand...
Well that's little Johnny's deal. I love the balanced tension thing and won't ever go back to the old sets.
 
#175
Pick a set you like with even size spacing, then drop the middle two strings by one size, and you'll end up pretty balanced every time.

So instead of a set that increases by .020 each string you get a +.015 +.020 +.025 increases from smallest to largest.

After looking at the D'Addario chart this seems to work out to pretty balanced tension no matter which of their strings you are looking at.

I'll call it the 15-20-25 rule for quick and easy balancing.
 
#177
FourBanger said:
Pick a set you like with even size spacing, then drop the middle two strings by one size, and you'll end up pretty balanced every time.

So instead of a set that increases by .020 each string you get a +.015 +.020 +.025 increases from smallest to largest.

After looking at the D'Addario chart this seems to work out to pretty balanced tension no matter which of their strings you are looking at.

I'll call it the 15-20-25 rule for quick and easy balancing.
Click to expand...
You are pretty much dead on with that until you get out of the 40-45 G range. Don't know if you saw my earlier post but I tried to put together a balanced XL set starting with a 35 G, and the gauges I came up with were 35-45-60-80. Had everything but the 35 on hand so I tried it...too mushy for me but was pretty even. And just tried to put together an XL set with a 50 G...50-75-90-125. 125?!? I don't even use a 125 B string on my 5'er!

But for 40 and 45 G's you're pretty much dead on in every category of string I've looked at on that tension chart.
 
#179
You are right noticing it works best for 40 and 45 Gs, probably why it is not so genius as coincidence.

Trouble seems to be that the jump froma .045 to a .050 on the G is a huge increase in tension, so it throws the other strings off in a big way.

Personally a floppy E bugs me more than a balanced G would, so even if I started running a .115 E string I'd probably stay with a .045 on the other side, balanced or not.
 
#180
I recently ordered a pack of these new EXL220BT with a 130 B string and to my fingers, they feel WAY floppy :-(

I've never used 40-55-70-95 but I guess I didn't double check the gauge and thought that they'd be the equivalent to my norm of 45-105 with a 130 B string

Right now, I'm probably going to stick with my Sadowsky Blue Labels...I happen to like a "tighter" string tension and "if it ain't broke don't fix it"....but in the event that I'm totally clueless regarding "balanced tension sets" please feel free to she'd some light :-)
 

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back