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Earnie Ball Cobalt Bass Strings

#21
Right now I am trying a set of cobalt rounds on my Ibby BTB845V, modded to B-G, which I have upgraded to USA Barts: MKCBC in the neck and MKC in the bridge. I usually use DA XL170BT's with a 130 B string tuned up to C. On this bass, The cobalt rounds do provide a little more grind than the DA's. Because the Barts are so smooth, I have no harshness or overbearing high end of any kind, even with the treble boosted on the EMG preamp, which I have set to the mid treble setting.

This bass is my gig bass with my 10-piece party band, which includes horns. When the gigs start back up this summer, I will probably go back to the XL170BT's, which do provide a big broad foundation for the band, and the top end of the XL's slots the mix better for the larger group, but for any other gigs or jams in the I will probably use these, as on this bass they have the growl when wanted, but don't have the harshness or clank of stainless steel.

Oh - BTW - fret wear - the Ibby BTB845V has stainless steel frets, and that is the reason why I tried the cobalt rounds on this bass, but not on my other basses that have traditional nickel-alloy frets.
 
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#22
yodedude2 said:
what is the tension like on the cobalt flats?
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They are more flexible than most flats, but not too floppy if you pluck at the neck. They can be downtuned quite a bit and hold pitch too. Tension wise they must be nearly the same as most rounds because I don't have to make neck adjustments when going back and forth.

They are my go to on shortscale basses

They have an interesting texture when they're new, kinda grippy in a good way, then it wears off and they are silky smooth.
 
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#24
I tried a set of the cobalt rounds when they first came out. I didn't take to them, and changed them out after a couple weeks. Here's my take:

Sounded bright, clear sense of pitch, good intonation.

Rough feel on the fingers; unlike other strings, it didn't seem to smooth out much with some playing time.

Yeah, I could see marks on the frets quickly. I didn't keep them on long enough to get any consequential wear, but the contact points on the frets got real shiny, and that doesn't happen for me with conventional stainless rounds.
 
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#25
I love them. They are among my favorites, especially with high-output pickups. They're clear, live, break in well, and last long. As far as their physical feel, they are about right for a roundwound bass string, not extreme in any direction, IMO, not like I remember Roto-Sounds to be. YMMV
 
#26
I tried these once on my Jazz since I'm a John Myung and Justin Chancellor fan. I was quite disappointed of them, they do have a specific growl to them, but IMO it's worse than regular stainless steel growl. They died quickly, shredded my fingers and ultimately made me buy a different set very quickly.

But cobalts/steels aren't my cup of tea anyway. The only strings that always amaze me are Elixir Nanowebs, DR Sunbeams and TI flats. Fender 9050s are a close second.
 
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#27
Diminishedfilth said:
I had a set of those years ago. I remember liking their sound. Can’t really describe it, i was trying different sets every change back then, but I do remember they left a metallic smell on my fingers. Wasn’t horrible, but after playing you sure didn’t want to rub your eyes, or pick your nose.
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^ This ^

Ewo said:
Rough feel on the fingers; unlike other strings, it didn't seem to smooth out much with some playing time.
Click to expand...
^ and this ^

Good info. Thanks.

I'm fine with the harshness of most stainless steel strings as they would smooth out with playing time. But this... ouch!!!

Thrown me back a little bit to rethink whether I should put mine on.
 
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#28
Aidil said:
^ This ^


^ and this ^

Good info. Thanks.

I'm fine with the harshness of most stainless steel strings as they would smooth out with playing time. But this... ouch!!!

Thrown me back a little bit to rethink whether I should put mine on.
Click to expand...

Im still playing with mine. 2 weeks in and yeah theyre rough but i dont mind it. Itll make my fingers tougher and hopefully faster
 
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#30
I put a set of the Cobalt round wound on my Yamaha TRBX 605 about a week ago at the start of band practice. What I noticed right away is they have higher tension and they felt much rougher than what I am used to. I also found with this bass they did not sound at all to my liking. I use a Tech 21 Geddy Lee pedal (among others) into a GK 1001Rb/4x12 rig, and the sound was not at all what I was looking for. It seemed to lose highs and lows, and did not cut thru my band mix well. I was able to make it better by tweaking some EQ. I won't throw away $33 strings, so I still have them on there and will try again at band practice tomorrow. If I still don't like them I will probably try to put the EADG strings on my Ibanez SR500. Maybe they will sound better on that.
 
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#31
JamAdd85 said:
I put a set of the Cobalt round wound on my Yamaha TRBX 605 about a week ago at the start of band practice. What I noticed right away is they have higher tension and they felt much rougher than what I am used to. I also found with this bass they did not sound at all to my liking. I use a Tech 21 Geddy Lee pedal (among others) into a GK 1001Rb/4x12 rig, and the sound was not at all what I was looking for. It seemed to lose highs and lows, and did not cut thru my band mix well. I was able to make it better by tweaking some EQ. I won't throw away $33 strings, so I still have them on there and will try again at band practice tomorrow. If I still don't like them I will probably try to put the EADG strings on my Ibanez SR500. Maybe they will sound better on that.
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I have them on the SR5 in my profile pic there and I love them. Didn't ever seem to be too high tension for me. My usual strings were the pink package of EB Slinkys so I'm not sure how the tension compares to them, but I think they are relatively the same. I have the cobalt flats on 2 basses and they are definitely less stiff compared to my la bella flats. I would give them a little time to work in before you switch them out.
 
#32
The tension and feel I know I would get used to in a couple of weeks. What is more of a concern is the tone. I was really not expecting to have to make fairly drastic EQ changes just to hear myself as well as I did with my previous strings. I think maybe the Cobalts just aren't a good match with the pickups/preamp in this particular bass. I am going to give it at least one more rehearsal with the band. Also this bass is new for me, this is actually the first string change I've made since I got it.
 
#33
JamAdd85 said:
The tension and feel I know I would get used to in a couple of weeks. What is more of a concern is the tone. I was really not expecting to have to make fairly drastic EQ changes just to hear myself as well as I did with my previous strings. I think maybe the Cobalts just aren't a good match with the pickups/preamp in this particular bass. I am going to give it at least one more rehearsal with the band. Also this bass is new for me, this is actually the first string change I've made since I got it.
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I didnt really like these that much. Too bright for my taste and harsh on my fingers. I will say that mike dirnt from green day uses the cobalt 45-95 set and they sound amazing when he plays them.
Skip to the 40 second mark. This is the solo bass track
 
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#34
GodPlayedBass said:
I didnt really like these that much. Too bright for my taste and harsh on my fingers. I will say that mike dirnt from green day uses the cobalt 45-95 set and they sound amazing when he plays them.
Skip to the 40 second mark. This is the solo bass track
Click to expand...


Have the cobalts been around that long? I just assumed they were newer; as in the last decade or 2. Were they around in the early 90's?
 

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