DR Sunbeams: How's the fundamental?

[OldSchoolFlats]

With the highs filtered-out, how is the fundamental on the DR Sunbeams?

I only have one bass, and have to compromise. With my active EQ, P/J pups and a Boss GT-1B, I can dial-in old-school with most any string (within reason).

I tried DR Low Riders once, but they seemed inflexible (for rounds), and had kind-of a "clanky clunk" to my ears.

On YouTube, listening to various vids, the Sunbeams sound nice for chords and slap, and again, I can sort-of dial-in the "thud" with my rig. I'm playing alone right now, and need something more melodic to keep me engaged.

While I can roll-off the highs with rounds, rolling-up the highs with flats is harder (for nice siunding chords). I was going to get flats, but as I get back into bass, I recall how limited true flats can be.

Note: Another thread of mine explores more modern flats (e.g. Chromes), but I'm hoping that dead horse has been sufficiently flogged.

Question: With medium gauge, do the Sunbeams have an OK "fundamental", so if I roll-off the highs, and add some "meat" with my myriad of effects, Can I still get a bit of "thump"? I realize it won't sound the same as true flats, but after listening to so much Marcus Miller, my tastes are changing. Still hoping I have the option for sound similar to the sound of flats through a slightly over-driven tube-amp. My GT-1B has various amp and distortion modeling options. Looking at this set: DR Sunbeams Medium, (45, 65, 85, 105, 125). I see a 130 B is available, but ass-u-me that the 125 would be a bit tighter. Don't like a floppy B.

 

[michael_t]

I see a 130 B is available, but ass-u-me that the 125 would be a bit tighter. Don't like a floppy B.

130B vs. 125B... 130 would be higher in tension and tighter in feel than 125.

I've tried the Sunbeams 45-105 on my Fender Jazz once. While they sounded good, I didn't care for the flexible feel.

 

[bobyoung53]

On a 4 string they have plenty of fundamental, go check out any of Tony Franklin's videos, he uses them and he gets plenty of bottom out of them. They are slippery but very playable to me and are great on a fretless, that's what I put on my TF fretless. I don't play 5 string so can't comment on the B.

 

[Lee Moses]

I like them, but I'm not sure Sunbeams are what you are looking for. "Thump" is one of the last things I think of when I think of Sunbeams. DR touts their Jonas Hellborg string as having a very strong fundamental. I have yet to try them myself.

 

[OldSchoolFlats]

I like them, but I'm not sure Sunbeams are what you are looking for. "Thump" is one of the last things I think of when I think of Sunbeams. DR touts their Jonas Hellborg string as having a very strong fundamental. I have yet to try them myself.

I know, but right now I want to focus on slap, chords and reading standard notation.

Ideally, I can find a playable Squire P at some point, someday, to slap some La Bella DTFs on. This is just a hobby for me.

 

[OldSchoolFlats]

BTW, would appreciate any tips on nut-widening, should that be needed. I posted on this on another sub-forum here on Talkbass: Widen Nut Slot?

 

[Staccato]

There's Lo-Rider stainless and Lo-Rider nickel. When you say Lo-Rider, it may be either type.

 

[p12bassnut]

I just changed my strings from Sunbeams to GHS Balanced Nickel and I am perceiving more fundamental / less harmonic-overtones now.

 

[Bassist30]

Played sunbeams 5 and 4 string versions. Fundamental is great. If your bass is set up right there should be not problems.

 

[KaraQ]

With the highs filtered-out, how is the fundamental on the DR Sunbeams?

I only have one bass, and have to compromise. With my active EQ, P/J pups and a Boss GT-1B, I can dial-in old-school with most any string (within reason).

I tried DR Low Riders once, but they seemed inflexible (for rounds), and had kind-of a "clanky clunk" to my ears.

On YouTube, listening to various vids, the Sunbeams sound nice for chords and slap, and again, I can sort-of dial-in the "thud" with my rig. I'm playing alone right now, and need something more melodic to keep me engaged.

While I can roll-off the highs with rounds, rolling-up the highs with flats is harder (for nice siunding chords). I was going to get flats, but as I get back into bass, I recall how limited true flats can be.

Note: Another thread of mine explores more modern flats (e.g. Chromes), but I'm hoping that dead horse has been sufficiently flogged.

Question: With medium gauge, do the Sunbeams have an OK "fundamental", so if I roll-off the highs, and add some "meat" with my myriad of effects, Can I still get a bit of "thump"? I realize it won't sound the same as true flats, but after listening to so much Marcus Miller, my tastes are changing. Still hoping I have the option for sound similar to the sound of flats through a slightly over-driven tube-amp. My GT-1B has various amp and distortion modeling options. Looking at this set: DR Sunbeams Medium, (45, 65, 85, 105, 125). I see a 130 B is available, but ass-u-me that the 125 would be a bit tighter. Don't like a floppy B.

I have DR neon reds on my Thunderbird Pro 5 (and a couple of 4-stringers), they're similar to Sunbeams, but with the K3 coating on them (same as Silver Stars & Red Devils). My favorite string for most basses.
I definitely prefer the 125 B-string, on this bass, over the 130.

For me, it's not super hard, using the active eq or amp settings, to get the DRs to sound very similar to the Rotosound 77s flats I had on it for a while. At least, on the lower three strings. The D & G are a bit more challenging, without getting too much boomy-ness on the others. But imo, that's mostly due to the limitations of the Epiphone pre-amp....