Dean Markley Blue Steels... suck?

i dont like bright strings
for me, this thing you are describing would be great....... if i played roundwounds...which i dont because i hate them

i play dean markley blue steel medium-light flats and they are amazing, i love them... great tension great "dead" sound....

(i think they are blue steel they been on the bass for over a year tho)


you should never pay more than 30$ for roundwounds, IMO... unless you are getting them for a 6+ string bass

 

Blue Steels are all I've used for years. I've never gotten a bad set or been unhappy with them. I have seven basses strung with them right now and change them every six months or as needed.

 

Luis, sorry to hear that this happened, but, the thing I like most about Blue Steels is that they aren't too bright to begin with, and that they seem to mellow out very slowly, as opposed to just dying quickly.

I don't know what happened to your set.

When I first got my Jack Casady bass, I replaced the strings it came with to Rotosound 77 flatwounds. I liked the way it sounded, but, wanted to experiment with different strings, so I tried a set of D'Addario slowounds, and loved them. Then, I read a lot about the Dean Markleys here, and tried a set - WOW!

The thing that I liked the most was that they were not as bright as the D'Addarios, but, had a fuller, warmer sound (same gauge - medium) and they sounded so much more balanced all over the fretboard.

I've only had good experiences with Blue Steels.
I also have them on 3 of my basses, and all the sets are behaving the same; they're aging very well.

The only thing I can suggest is to call or e-mail Dean Markley and complain; they may send you another set or two for free.

Again, sorry to hear that you had this bad experience with them, but, what you described almost sounds like someone switched the strings in the package.

Good luck. Let us know what happens.

Mike

Here's the Dean site: http://www.deanmarkley.com

 

I tried a set of them a long time ago. I thought they were rather dull & dead right out of the package.

 

When these strings first came out way back when I didn't like them at all... can't recall the specifics. Fast forward to last year when I bought a used Brubaker with Blue Steels installed. The thing that amazed me about them (besides the great tone) was how long they last. I'm only on my second set with that bass in over six months and they still sound very lively.

 

The set I tried was, at least, 10 years ago (maybe 15), so I guess they could have changed.

 

Sorry to hear of your problem with Dean Markey's I myself love the nickels. I just bought two sets of nickels and a set of steels this week. Both nickels have been installed already and the steels are spares.

 

Luis,

Perhaps, despite the strings being the "brightest strings you've ever played" my own speculation is the 'nickel' strings are a softer metal than DM Blue Steel Roundwounds. The 'softer' metal is not as bright and may have gotten too warm sounding for your liking??

As a few others have already pointed up; I too have been using DM's Blue Steels for several years, and have had no reason to go elsewhere.. I play 4-string bass/s and the cost of strings - .045 to .105 gauge, is usually around $20 or so U.S. (if you're fortunate enough to attend one of the two U.S. N.A.M.M. shows - Anaheim, CA or Nashville, TN - you buy them at the DM booth for $5 a set) How can the extra string for your 5-string bass add an additional $20 to their price tag may be worth an investigation??
I would suggest, if you're not completely turned away from the DM's, to look into the "Blue Steel" Cyrogenic Roundwounds... michael s.

 

One of the givens in the string business has always been: Steel strings are the brightest, but don't stay that way very long due to their succeptability to corrosion (which could be what some of you are experiencing with the Blue Steels).

Nickel strings, although not as bright initially, tend to have a longer life/tone consistancy due to the outer nickel layer (they're still steel inside) not being as succeptable to corrosion.

 

I played SS Blue Steels for years, and I also thought that they were very bright out of the package, and then fairly quickly lost that "brand new" sparkle. Of course, they still sounded pretty good even after going "dead", and they did maintain this tone for quite some time. However, for whatever reason, I started breaking them a lot, and I had several bad sets in a row (one broke while I was putting it on!, and two others had buzzes right from the get go).

So then I tried SS DR's (Hi Beams), and I have never looked back. Didn't sound quite as sparkly right out of the box, but kept their high end longer. And I have never had a DR string break on me. Now, having said that, there are some other folks who have had exactly the opposite experience. No idea why. But for me, the DRs are working well, so that's what I intend to stick with.

Tom.

 

Like Brad I tried 'em when they first came out and thought they were dull... maybe DM sent a bad batch to Maryland? Anyway, I'll have to try 'em again. I think they're the OEM strings for Mike Lull basses too.

 

I also tried Blue Steels when they first came out, and felt that they sounded great right out the box, but went downhill pretty fast. Haven't tried them recently to see if that's changed...

 

I love my Blues too and pretty much use them exclusively. I did use D'adarrio nickels for quite awhile but they never fade slowly. It's either all twang or nothing. I went with Blues and, for me, they're always right on.

 

I'm amazed at the polarity of the opinions of
these strings! I've used the SS Blue Steels since
they came out- I find them to be extremely bright
out of the package, hold their tone longer than
any other strings I've tried, and bounce back
after boiling (OK- Ive since been converted to the alcohol soak) better than any string.
Your problem must be with the Nickel versions.

 

I just (re)tried a set at a gig this past weekend. I was surprised to see that they now cost less than DR's! When I first switched to DR's something like 4-5 years ago, they were half the price of Blue Steels. Now, I see that the price of Blue Steels has dropped significantly, while the DR's have edged up in price a bit. At any rate, they sounded great, and were much brighter out of the box than the DR's. We'll see how they hold up.

Tom.

 

I had the same complaint about the Blue Steels as well a few years back. I remember when I first put them on, I was blown away, but later that week, I was wonderring where all the brightness went. I just bought, well actually was given 5 sets of Nickel DM's, and I am having the same problem with them as well. Sounded great the first day, now they sound like crap. The only DM string that I have liked so far has been the Will Lee signatures.

 

I use blue steels on my electric guitar, and man, "only" 3 weeks of brightness is a shock to me. Most guitar strings don't last more than a couple days. I only use blue steels because they don't usually break on me, so that point's almost moot on a bass.

 

I seem to remember someone coming on about Dean Markley strings before - did a bit of looking and found that one of TBs members works there. See this thread....his name was JeffL, but he hasn;t posted since January this year!


http://www.talkbass.com/forum/showthread.php?threadid=65114


Maybe you could email him directly!