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DR Black Beauties

#21
Fangofdoom said:
By the way, what do you think about the bass that I bought? Something that I should know about it
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I used to have a jade green/midnight blue Ibanez Roadstar II with an active P/J setup, vol/tone/bal..

First bass I ever bought with my own money. (I only had one before that, I wasn't exactly spoiled..)

I loved that thing to death, literally, and it took all of my adolescent abuses like a champ. I must have torn the strings off that thing a million times in fits of rage, none of which ever had anything to do with that bass. It's still among the most playable instruments I've ever owned, and that neck with a full 24 fret range let me pull of some sick things that I could never accomplish on a Fender.

One thing, though - the wood always struck me as very soft, I think it was basswood.. this resulted in several screw holes becoming stripped. If I had known then what I know now about basic repair, I would have fixed it up, but instead I traded it...
 
#22
I have BB on 2 bass's and the coating was comming off from fret wear in 2 weeks.I called DR and they said sorry don't know why but we will replace them with another set but this time some nickels.I wonder if I got a set of older coated strings from a string supplier on the net. The BB have a new coating I hear.I loved the feel and sound of the BB and the looks against my natural finish.But now I await the nickels to replace them. This only happened to the P bass not my J.
 
#23
I've been using a set for 6 months and have a spare set of them for whenever. When I got them I recall reading something about them being rougher on your fingers. Not the case, they're easier. The coating goes away very quickly if you play with a pick btw.
 
#25
I was going to put up a separate thread, but I'll do it here...
Have any of you used BB on a Ric? Specifically a 4003?
I still have the original RIC strings on my new 4003, but I really like the BB's on my Roscoe, so I thought, hmm, maybe put a set on my RIC.
Any experience passed along would be appreciated.
Fishheadjoe
 
#27
They are re-doing their string section to have the new Dragon Skin (clear K3 Coated Stainless Steel on Round Cores)...

And some other stuff that will most likely be announced at NAMM in a couple week...

:D

Just had some new Black Beauties shipped out to me today along with some freshly made taper core black beauties they ran out of. :bassist:
 
#28
Somebody posted these are mellow- or dead-sounding?
Hardly!
They are not the brightest strings in the world, but they are definitely on the bright side of things. I've had a couple sets for over 2 years now and they still sound bright.
 
#30
SLaPiNFuNK said:
And if they are 2 years old they are not the new K3 coated version which is even more transparent!
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Correct - I have 2 sets of Black Beauties (Geddy and PB-551) and a set of the Red ones on my Jag. All over 2 years old.
If they are this good, then the newer ones must be incredible.

I should note that I also use Finger-ease and wipe down after playing. No problems at all.
 
#31
DR Strings are great on all of my basses. I play mostly Warwicks and they sound awesome on them. I like the BB and the Red Devils. But if I wasn't using the coated ones, I would still have DR strings on there. I do use other strings at times, but only when money is a factor and I have to. My preference is DR all the time!!!
 
#35
I love the black beauties. I've used them quite a bit on my squier, and they'r the only strings that will ever be on my peavey. I've only ever had one bad string from DR (it was an E a while back....). The BBs are'nt as bright as some strings, but the fresh out of the box BBs don't have the zingy-whiney overtoney crap I've noticed with some other strings. The tone on them for me is perfect 3 to 4 days after putting them on, when they still have a metallic hum about them, but before they get too thumpy...

I've never had problems with the finish coming off....I play finger and notice the coating gets thin near the bridge (where a majority of my playing happens), and the coating is completely missing where the string strikes the pickup and frets.....but nobody sees that.

My only issue with BB's is that they cost me $45 a set. I change my strings every month. Now if only they made blue flatwounds for my fretless...
 
#39
winndaddy said:
I know some of you have discussed this already many of times, but I wanted to give my take on these strings. I have been playing for about 20 years so strings are nothing new to me. I desided to install a brand new set of medium Black Beauties with the K3 coating on my Squier 77 jazz to match the all black concept im going with(I usually play with DR Sunbeam Nickels). The first thing I noticed was the strings sounded some what bright(Not mellow or dead at all like some post have claimed). The texture of the strings seems to be easy on the fingers and very comfortable. After 2 months of playing 5-8 hours a week they have not lost they're tone. I Bought these strings simply for they're looks, thinking that I was going to have to sacrifice some tone, but ended up have the best of both worlds. I know that there a little pricey, but to me at this point, Im extremely happy with them.

Hope this helps somebody out.
P.S be sure to bend before cutting!
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I am glad that after 2 months you dont find them 2 flat. I LOOOOVE Fatbeams but wish they would hold up more than 2 months. (Too bright at first, by 3 months flat). I am familiar with neons & don't like the way the coating comes off so quickly!

Cosmetically speaking I am thinking about getting Roto Nexus strings for my black KSD Proto 70s bass. Black would be great & what I need is something that lasts longer than those round core DRs. Problem is that I like the scooped sound but can't afford to keep buying them. Maybe EQing a set of hex core strings by surpressing the mids (?) will give them the the scooped sound.

So I am responding to this thread because of a similar cosmetic attraction to black coated strings, & Jason @ BSO has commented here, maybe he can share his insights into hex vs. round core string longevity!
 
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