DR Pure Blues vs Fat Beams

[Toptube]

DR has sound samples on their site
https://www.drstrings.com/sound-samples

 

[Stan_da_man]

Has anyone here actually tried both?

What I want to know is, what differs between the two strings?

Which out of fat beams or pure blues have more bass?

Which have a stronger midrange?

Which are brighter?

Which last longer?

Which feel rougher/softer on the fingers?

Which one has a tighter/looser tension?


If anyone is able to answer at least a couple of these it would be much appreciated thanks!

Have tried both, almost back to back.

Tension / Flex in same gauge is very similar. Fat Beams maybe the slightest bit more tension?

Pure Blues are a little smoother but Fat Beams are already quite smooth for a steel string. Neither are as smooth as Sunbeams.

Fat Beams start brighter then settle in and retain their sound for a long time. Not as bright as Hi Beams but there is more mid content and when they do settle down, they have a very nice low mid punch to them. I wouldn't say they are very bright steel strings to start with though.

Pure Blues sound like fresh nickels when on but have a really nice top end character to them. They're not as bright as steels for sure. Their tone slowly faded until they became quite dull sounding but this was around 6 months of playing.

To be honest, I have no idea why you would go for Pure Blues over Sunbeams. Sunbeams are really good nickel strings... the next natural step is Fat Beams for a little more brightness. Pure Blues aren't as bright as Fat Beams when fresh and they're not has tonally pleasing as Sunbeams.

 

[RumbleMan3]

Have tried both, almost back to back.

Tension / Flex in same gauge is very similar. Fat Beams maybe the slightest bit more tension?

Pure Blues are a little smoother but Fat Beams are already quite smooth for a steel string. Neither are as smooth as Sunbeams.

Fat Beams start brighter then settle in and retain their sound for a long time. Not as bright as Hi Beams but there is more mid content and when they do settle down, they have a very nice low mid punch to them. I wouldn't say they are very bright steel strings to start with though.

Pure Blues sound like fresh nickels when on but have a really nice top end character to them. They're not as bright as steels for sure. Their tone slowly faded until they became quite dull sounding but this was around 6 months of playing.

To be honest, I have no idea why you would go for Pure Blues over Sunbeams. Sunbeams are really good nickel strings... the next natural step is Fat Beams for a little more brightness. Pure Blues aren't as bright as Fat Beams when fresh and they're not has tonally pleasing as Sunbeams.

This is great thanks! It sounds to me like the fat beams retain their sound and sound good for the longest. Interesting to know they are smoother than ur average steel string, however I don’t think I have ever played steels, that I’ve known about, only nickels.

I don’t want a steel string clank or new string zing, but straight on, they sound full and punchy, and they retain the same for a long time.

I’m interested to hear more about the sunbeams since u feel they r better than the pure blues. In what way? How do they differ tonally, and over time compared to the fat beams or pure blues?

Thanks for ur help!

 

[Stan_da_man]

I don’t want a steel string clank or new string zing, but straight on, they sound full and punchy, and they retain the same for a long time.

Then you want Sunbeams.

Sunbeams for me, lasted longer than Pure Blues and retained their brightness for longer as well. Pure Blues are brighter fresh on but quickly lose that high end sizzle and get darker, darker than Sunbeams ever did. I feel Sunbeams cover the lows and mids better than Pure Blues do.

 

[RumbleMan3]

Then you want Sunbeams.

Sunbeams for me, lasted longer than Pure Blues and retained their brightness for longer as well. Pure Blues are brighter fresh on but quickly lose that high end sizzle and get darker, darker than Sunbeams ever did. I feel Sunbeams cover the lows and mids better than Pure Blues do.

Thanks for this, I will definitely look into them more! It might turn out better, because fat beams and sunbeams are easily accessible to me at the moment, but no one has any pure blues in my city. I’d have to order them from who knows where and it would cost extra.

So it works out better because then I am able to try and compare these 2 strings sooner for myself.

 

[Toptube]

The thing about Pure Blues is that they have a real big low end, which I did not find with Sunbeams or Fat Beams. They remind me a lot of the discontinued Helix strings from Dean Markley. Which had the biggest, punchiest lows I've ever experienced.

I find Fat Beams to actually be some of the airiest sounding strings I've ever played. But also anemic in the low end. High Beams have the lows, but are more focused. Not airy.

Sunbeams have a surprising amount of zippy high mid presences. But its not harsh. They are otherwise warm and fairly even. But a little lacking in the lows.

Their coated strings have more lows. and an interesting extra focus somewhere just below the high mids (especially the Dragon Skins).

 

[RumbleMan3]

The thing about Pure Blues is that they have a real big low end, which I did not find with Sunbeams or Fat Beams. They remind me a lot of the discontinued Helix strings from Dean Markley. Which had the biggest, punchiest lows I've ever experienced.

I find Fat Beams to actually be some of the airiest sounding strings I've ever played. But also anemic in the low end. High Beams have the lows, but are more focused. Not airy.

Sunbeams have a surprising amount of zippy high mid presences. But its not harsh. They are otherwise warm and fairly even. But a little lacking in the lows.

I went on the dr website and listened to the samples of fat beams, pure blues and sunbeams, but the pb sounded best to me. But they are he hardest to get for me, and end up costing me a lot more to get them.

Which out of the fat beams or sunbeams are the closest in sound, feel and long lasting tone to the pb? Thanks

 

[Stan_da_man]

The thing about Pure Blues is that they have a real big low end, which I did not find with Sunbeams or Fat Beams. They remind me a lot of the discontinued Helix strings from Dean Markley. Which had the biggest, punchiest lows I've ever experienced.

I find Fat Beams to actually be some of the airiest sounding strings I've ever played. But also anemic in the low end. High Beams have the lows, but are more focused. Not airy.

Sunbeams have a surprising amount of zippy high mid presences. But its not harsh. They are otherwise warm and fairly even. But a little lacking in the lows.

Their coated strings have more lows. and an interesting extra focus somewhere just below the high mids.

Strange, I thought PBs were decent in the lows but not amazing. Sunbeams to me were better in that department.

Hi Beams will have slightly better lows and highs than Fat Beams because of their scooped nature but FBs are all about that extra mid content. Slight bass boost to the EQ and bam, right back up there.

 

[Toptube]

I went on the dr website and listened to the samples of fat beams, pure blues and sunbeams, but the pb sounded best to me. But they are he hardest to get for me, and end up costing me a lot more to get them.

Which out of the fat beams or sunbeams are the closest in sound, feel and long lasting tone to the pb? Thanks

I would say High Beams are closest to Pure Blues. Especially as High Beams age.

if its just Sunbeams or Fat Beams: I would say Sun Beams.


But, if you can get nickel low riders, those are closer than all of them. They are a little bit less flexible. But the tone is also even a little bit bigger.

Strange, I thought PBs were decent in the lows but not amazing. Sunbeams to me were better in that department.

That's strange because the whole point of Pure Blues is to combine the big boldness and edge of a Steel string (High Beams), but less scoopyness like a nickel, and a softer feel like a nickel string. And I think they pretty much nailed it. The mids aren't as warm as Sunbeams. Colder. But they definitely have something more in the midrange than High Beams. And the lows are big, like a good hex-core.

 

[RumbleMan3]

Strange, I thought PBs were decent in the lows but not amazing. Sunbeams to me were better in that department.

Hi Beams will have slightly better lows and highs than Fat Beams because of their scooped nature but FBs are all about that extra mid content. Slight bass boost to the EQ and bam, right back up there.

Fat beams and sunbeams still sound good but more scooped. The pure blues had the really fat lows and mids that the other strings didn’t have

 

[RumbleMan3]

All three of them do sound good. Out of the samples, the Lo riders were the least I liked. The had a big bottom end. But they sounded really chunky and heavy, but not in a good way. Idk what it was.

I would prefer a nickel string, with a fat midrange, and I mean fat, and bright treble isn’t too important, as in not the main feature of the string, and not too scooped, but more of a high mids were its there to cut through but more nice and round.

So far, I’ve been suggested nearly all of the dr bass strings now!

 

[Stan_da_man]

Just buy a set of Pure Blues and see for yourself.

 

[SturmUndDrang]

Pure Blues sounded very good across the whole sonic spectrum to me and didn't have any one area that peaked out more than another. Very nice playing feel as well. As an aside, if DR came out with an equal tension set, would they call them balance beams?

 

[Toptube]

Pure Blues sounded very good across the whole sonic spectrum to me and didn't have any one area that peaked out more than another. Very nice playing feel as well. As an aside, if DR came out with an equal tension set, would they call them balance beams?

IMO, DR strings have a very balanced feel. Even if they aren't actually balanced tension. Pure Blues in particular, feel great. The .130 B string is ace.

 

[SturmUndDrang]

I agree on the feel. I suspect it's a function of the round core but the alloys in the pure blues probably add something extra to the equation. The balance beams comment was more of a joke. The packaging could feature an image of Olga Korbut.

 

[yanlin1985]

All three of them do sound good. Out of the samples, the Lo riders were the least I liked. The had a big bottom end. But they sounded really chunky and heavy, but not in a good way. Idk what it was.

I would prefer a nickel string, with a fat midrange, and I mean fat, and bright treble isn’t too important, as in not the main feature of the string, and not too scooped, but more of a high mids were its there to cut through but more nice and round.

So far, I’ve been suggested nearly all of the dr bass strings now!

Sorry for necroing but how did you feel about pure blues? Any updates?

 

[J-Mags]

Sorry for necroing but how did you feel about pure blues? Any updates?

I feel that the Pure Blues have a bit more real lows than Fat Beams, while Fat Beams are really articulate, with an emphasis on the mid frequencies that most amps reproduce. I like em both but prefer the Pure Blues, because in my band, I need a lot of natural-sounding lows in order to be heard.