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Dr black beauties, who likes them?
- Thread starter rockscott
- Start date
I love BB's, and Rotosound Nexus black coated strings as well...it doesn't hurt that I think they look killer too 
I bought a Short Scale Jag with them on it and I was turned off by how zingy they were - until I used the bass in a show - and wow they sounded good live!! So glad I didn't take them off, except to upgrade the pickups. Perfect for when you want to be "Out There".
How do the Roto Nexus' sound compared to the BBs? I'm interested in trying them, but they are more expensive than the BBs. Plus have got my sound down with my bass-strings-amp-board so if ain't broke why fix it?I love BB's, and Rotosound Nexus black coated strings as well...it doesn't hurt that I think they look killer too
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Like ‘em, not for my main players but they do have their place in my line up.
They seem to really thrive overdriven…
They seem to really thrive overdriven…
It's been a long time between using the black and the pink ones but I think the pink ones are "zingier" than the black, maybe the coating is a little different between the two?
I did not like the black ones on a treble guitar, couldn't get em off fast enough, maybe I didn't give them a chance...
Got a set on a bass I purchased. They looked and felt like garbage to me. The black coating seems super cheap, and they’re very “sharp” feeling.
I've been using them for years. Bought them for the looks and stayed for the tone. I've never had a problem with the coating wearing off and I like the way they tame the SS zing, they seem to have a consistent midrange tone that lasts.
Man, the Nexus are my fav string...very similar to the BB's, but they have a tad more presence and a touch more highs...if you can just imagine the sound of regular Roto Stainless strings with a bit of their harshness removed, thats how I describe the Nexus. The BB's are similar enough that I can use them interchangeably with the Nexus, and often use a Black Beauty B-string with the Nexus 4 string set cause the Nexus B string is hard to find and they do not have a Nexus 5 string set to my knowledge (However Fretnation does have the Nexus B strings, and Jason hooks me up). The Nexus are a stiffer string as well, which is another thing I like. Yep, the Nexus are are considerably more expensive, and they continue to rise in price.
Never tried the BB, but If you like DR, they are making Fodera strings now. Fodera specs made in DR's factory. I like them so far.
They look cool and they sound pretty good, but they have a way of burning my fingers when I do slides. I still use them on any bass with black hardware, tho. It just looks great!
When I bought my 1982 Jazz back in 1985 it came with Dean Markley Blue Steel round wounds. I replaced them about 3 times with the same thing. Then I replaced them with some DR Black Beauty strings at a friends recommendation. They sounded better overall and had a better string to string balance than the Dean Markley's did. They kept their sound very nicely, but I was gigging every weekend at the time and in a couple of years they turned into "DR Mottled Gray Uglies". I basically was wearing off the black coating on the strings and the back of the strings had bright silver marks where they had contacted the frets.
I didn't really want to replace my strings every couple of years so I was looking around when I saw a comparison on a "Scott's Bass Lessons" video where he had used some LaBella black tapewound strings and they sounded surprisingly good to me through my Bose headphones. I had played Fender black nylon tapewound strings back in the early 70's when I was touring for three years and those were pretty dark sounding. The LaBella strings weren't.
So I bought a set of LaBella Deep Talking Bass White Tape Wound strings from the Talk Bass store. Come to find out the semi-opaque white tapes are the brightest sounding of their tape wounds and the black tapes are the darkest with white over a gold core and whit over a copper core in between the two in sound. I was really amazed at the sound because, unlike normal flat wounds, it had plenty of higher harmonics and was much brighter than what I would call "normal" flat wounds. Even better yet, the string to string balance was the best I've ever experienced.
With round wounds, I would often go up to the 7th fret of a string to play a note that would otherwise be on the next higher string on the second fret. I'd do that because that lower fret on a higher string just sounded weak and thin. The DR Black Beauties were better than the Blue Steel round wounds and these LaBella white tape wound strings were far better than the DR's. Upshot of that is I can play an upper E either on the 7th fret of an A string or on the second fret of the D string and get an almost identical sound out of it. So I can play those notes in either location depending upon my hand position at the time instead of always moving the pattern up above the 5th fret. It was and is very freeing.
The tape wound strings are very slippery if you're used to round wound strings - does take a little getting used to. I played flats in the 60's and 70's and Fender Black Tapes from '72 to '76. Played round wounds from '85 until about 2018 (33-years). I will replace these LaBella White Tape Wound strings with the same thing when they wear out. It's been 5-years now and they are still going strong. So DR Black Beauty are good round wound strings although they lose their nice black coating with use before their sound goes bad. These LaBella tape wounds are far better in every aspect for me.
thanks for the reply. I think I might stick with the BBs then. I am happy with them, I generally boost my high-mids when playing live so not sure I need extra highs and definitely do not need stiffer. Add in the extra cost, I think I'll stick with what I got. I may try then one of these days though, who knows.
Ran the 45-125 DRBB set on a Skyline 55-01 for a while. I liked the way they looked and felt, and never had any issues with the coating wearing off, but to me the sound seemed less "immediate" than some of the other string sets I tried on that bass.
