After many years of trying about every brand of string, I have finally decided on the Holy Grail of strings, IMHO. For the longest time I played D'Addario EXL nickel strings. Tonally they were great, but I found that they died quickly and really caused my fingers to blister up after playing multiple sets night after night.
A little over a year ago I tried my first set of DR's! I believe my first set was the Lo-riders. They were very dubby and dark sounding to my ears, but I immediately could tell the texture and feel of the string was exactly what I was after.
I play Fodera basses and I had really been attracted to the bright and full sound of Anthony Jackson and wanted to try to replicate it. Due to my touring with Nico and Vinz, and the grace of God, I was able to acquire an endorsement with DR, which since has allowed me to try every type of their string. When I strung up my ash/maple bass with Stainless steel Hi-beams immediately my life was changed. I have never heard an E string sound so full, I think it is a combination of the tension and also the Stainless steel strings project more and cut through more in a mix. I know a lot of cats prefer nickel strings but I promise these are worth the try.
So heres the secret about these strings. When you first put them on, they are incredibly brittle and live sounding. Don't be discouraged!!!! lol!!
With every set of Hi-beams I've used, after using them for about a month, comes tone heaven. When they have died down just a bit from their original brightness they acquire this amazing lo-mid evenness that is just unheard of. They allow you to really milk the subtleties out of the bass and just get an absolutely ridiculous amount of expression from the string.
I know a lot of bassists are strongly biased or one-sided when it comes to string companies, but I just wanted to post this for anyone who is on the constant search for tone nirvana. I used D'Addario for ten years before realizing that there was this string out there that literally allows me to play my bass with ease and without resistance.
Just got some of their Pure Blue strings and am really looking forward to checking those out!!
A little over a year ago I tried my first set of DR's! I believe my first set was the Lo-riders. They were very dubby and dark sounding to my ears, but I immediately could tell the texture and feel of the string was exactly what I was after.
I play Fodera basses and I had really been attracted to the bright and full sound of Anthony Jackson and wanted to try to replicate it. Due to my touring with Nico and Vinz, and the grace of God, I was able to acquire an endorsement with DR, which since has allowed me to try every type of their string. When I strung up my ash/maple bass with Stainless steel Hi-beams immediately my life was changed. I have never heard an E string sound so full, I think it is a combination of the tension and also the Stainless steel strings project more and cut through more in a mix. I know a lot of cats prefer nickel strings but I promise these are worth the try.
So heres the secret about these strings. When you first put them on, they are incredibly brittle and live sounding. Don't be discouraged!!!! lol!!
With every set of Hi-beams I've used, after using them for about a month, comes tone heaven. When they have died down just a bit from their original brightness they acquire this amazing lo-mid evenness that is just unheard of. They allow you to really milk the subtleties out of the bass and just get an absolutely ridiculous amount of expression from the string.
I know a lot of bassists are strongly biased or one-sided when it comes to string companies, but I just wanted to post this for anyone who is on the constant search for tone nirvana. I used D'Addario for ten years before realizing that there was this string out there that literally allows me to play my bass with ease and without resistance.
Just got some of their Pure Blue strings and am really looking forward to checking those out!!
