NYXL vs. Fat Beams

[lowerbassment]

I play the NYXL 45-130 set and really like the entire set as is on my Jazz style bass. The B string (non-tapered) is great too nothing flabby about it. Comes down to personal preference and depends also on the bass I reckon. I also do not have a need for a tapered B string with my setup.

 

[40Hz]

I’ve played both. The Fat Beams are still on the bass. The NYXLs lasted a week before I tried something else. They’re ok strings. But I wasn’t overly impressed with the sound or feel. Maybe because they were hyping them up so much in their marketing blurbs my expectations for them were unrealistic. GF tried them on two different Strats of hers and had the same opinion I had: They’re ok.

YMMV.

 

[Maiden Bass]

Here's a good comparison!

 

[Bassist30]

Hard to judge 2 different strings on 2 different basses. Also the Bass with the NYXL has the back PU up more than the neck PU...In reality the same bass strings have a different sound on different basses.

 

[Maiden Bass]

Hard to judge 2 different strings on 2 different basses. Also the Bass with the NYXL has the back PU up more than the neck PU...In reality the same bass strings have a different sound on different basses.

Dude, give me a break, nothing is perfect!

It's a very good comparison for someone trying to get a general overview of the sound of these different strings!

 

[Bassworship1]

Anyone looking for 2 new NYXL 5 string 45-130 set hit me up and I'll cut you a great deal.

 

[scubaduba]

A tapered B should arrive today or tomorrow from the Talkbass store. Hopefully this relieves the dull and floppy B string scenario plaguing me right now. The regular XL's I had on the bass before had a tighter and fuller B string. Ordering a separate tapered B string after paying for a 5 string set makes this a really expensive set of strings. Oh what we don't do for our "sound".

 

[ScrewDevil]

I've been a die hard stainless guy for years. Recently, I've been dabbling with nickel strings a bit more having strung basses with Dunlop Super Bright Nickels, Pure Blues, Pedulla Nickel, and recently acquiring another Sire which come with D'Addario XL's. I really like the Pure Blues and the Super Brights are OK. My stainless of choice has been Fat Beams (or Hi Beams) but I strung a bass with Fat Beams last night... and well... didn't have the same feeling I normally get. Maybe my tastes are in fact changing a bit.

So I'm wondering about the D'Addario NYXL's. Seems people love them or hate them. Anybody compare them to DR Fat Beams or Hi Beams in terms of feel and tone?

NYXL's are great. Good feel, nice tone and I've never had strings stay in tune or retain their tone as well as they do.

 

[scubaduba]

My tapered B arrived and I put it on my Sire P7. Not really any difference in how flabby it sounds. Not impressed with these NYXLS at all. I put an old DR Pure Blues B string on and all is well again. Anybody want a lightly played set of 45-130 + tapered 130?

 

[Toptube]

My tapered B arrived and I put it on my Sire P7. Not really any difference in how flabby it sounds. Not impressed with these NYXLS at all. I put an old DR Pure Blues B string on and all is well again. Anybody want a lightly played set of 45-130 + tapered 130?

I love the pure blues .130 b!

 

[Maiden Bass]

My tapered B arrived and I put it on my Sire P7. Not really any difference in how flabby it sounds. Not impressed with these NYXLS at all. I put an old DR Pure Blues B string on and all is well again. Anybody want a lightly played set of 45-130 + tapered 130?

Just put a new set of NYXLs with tapered 130 B on my brand new Skjold bass and these strings absolutely sing! Incredible tone and feel! Totally blown away!
These strings have the feel of nickel yet the tone of a Stainless Steel string that is just barely worn in.

I know, I know every bass is different, but just saying!

 

[rj1972]

That's me in the clip! We did a comparison video at D'addario using Xl's, NYXL's, Pro Steels, Half Rounds, Tape Rounds and Flats. I played the same 4 riffs on each set of strings so you could hear the differences.

 

[hyp.spec]

I absolutely love NYXL's for a 4 string.

I've tried NYXLs for a 5 string several times and they just aren't for me.

Whether its a 125, 130 or 135 B, it's just not tonally what I'm looking for.

125 -- too little tension on a 34"
130 -- too many overtones, weak fundamental
135 -- thuddddddd

 

[scubaduba]

^^^I've only tried the 130 B and 130 tapered B and "too many overtones, weak fundamental" is a slam dunk description. Tried on two different basses and same results. Definitely not as fundamentally present as regular XL B string. I'm done with NYXL and going back to Pure Blues or Hi Beams.

 

[hyp.spec]

^^^I've only tried the 130 B and 130 tapered B and "too many overtones, weak fundamental" is a slam dunk description. Tried on two different basses and same results. Definitely not as fundamentally present as regular XL B string. I'm done with NYXL and going back to Pure Blues or Hi Beams.

I had thought about trying the tapered B, but haven't. Looks like I dodged a bullet on that one! I 'cheaped' out this time around and just put a set of Slinkies, but now the B sounds like a freakin' B!

 

[ErnieD]

I posted this in a Sire P7 BASS thread as a update to my having bought a new P7-5 alder/rswd, whiterecently. But I'm repeating some of that reply here as it may be more helpful to some. Not sure too many are installing flats on their very lively sounding Sire basses. But they work very well, for me. Still zingy and didn't mess with the P7-5's mojo, in fact it improved it for me.

I'm a wuss when it comes to SS strings and even the softer, nickels on some basses I gig. They just trash my fingers, so I moved to tapes and Chrome flats on most of my basses. I do like what the stock nickels were giving me tone-wise on the Sire. But I stopped giggin it for abit because again, my wussy, wittle fingers hurt afterwards so much.

So I ordered some Chrome flats for it. I put them on today. I had a bear of a time sliding the last bit of the low B string thru the whole in the bridge, it just wouldn't pull thru. So I had to trim most of the silk wrapping off the ball end of that string to make it pull thru, whew, then it went thru with a good tug. Thought I was going to have to drill out the bridge hole some at first. I did string thru bridge, not body. Only bought the longs; not super longs. Didn't affect this bass' great tone at all, it improved it to my ears.

I was afraid I might loose the great, biting, snappy tone of the P7, in active mode, with the flats; not at all. It still sounds great and I love the sticky feel of these Chromes that just seems to give me more control at my finger tips. The bass still sounds the same and darn if the intonation stayed right on the money as before.

I'm really impressed with the Sire bass. I may still get a M3 or the very popular V7 to compare. The P7 18-ish string spacing makes it abit harder for me to slap, mostly use 19mm, but I'm getting better at it. Oh and I just added a DarkGlass B3K-V2 pedal and man it gives this bass a lovely, glassy high end that really stands out. Just a subtle touch of OD that makes it sound really special, band mates love it. So do I. peace ya'll. e

 

[vindibona1]

not so much on hatred I think... at least not on their feel and tone. Major issue is that they are priced too much for the kind of strings that sound just the same as their cheaper XL Nickels, with looser feel (or lower tension or whatever you would call it) due to the usage of smaller hex core.

I'm sorry, but I couldn't disagree with you more. My Yamaha TRBX605 came with XL strings. I almost returned the bass because I hated the sound. As a last ditch curious effort I put some DR Pure Blues on it and the 605 was transformed. I had some NYXL's on my Ibanez BTB675 (which replaced XL's) and they were so good on the BTB that I tried them on the Yammie... and again even more improvement (for what I want) than the Pure Blues. I'm not sure what you're hearing but the XL's and NYXL's couldn't be more different.

I am waiting on a new bass this week and the Pure clues have caught my eye, so not sure which way I want to go yet. I'm still loving the NYXLs though, just not sure how the will sound on a jazz bass.

The Pure Blues strings sound really good on a jazz bass. I had some on my Fender Jazz5 until a few days ago. It took them off only to test other strings. I had Pure Blues on my Yamaha for a time, but slightly prefer the NYXL's on that bass and will probably stay with them. Right now I've got LaBella Stainless on my Jazz5 and no so much in love with that sound- and have some NYXL's on the drawer which will go on next month when I start rehearsing for a show.

A tapered B should arrive today or tomorrow from the Talkbass store. Hopefully this relieves the dull and floppy B string scenario plaguing me right now. The regular XL's I had on the bass before had a tighter and fuller B string. Ordering a separate tapered B string after paying for a 5 string set makes this a really expensive set of strings. Oh what we don't do for our "sound".

Perhaps if you call D'Addario and tell them that the regular low B doesn't work, they might just send you a tapered B string at no charge. I've found the tapered B on my Ibanez BTB works really well. It's not that the regular B is "floppy" but it loses its character compared to the other strings and doesn't have the same timbre. The tapered B is perfect for the set. I'm not sure why D'Addario doesn't just sell 4's with a +1 option so you can opt for regular or tapered B without having to jump through hoops to get what we need.

 

[Stan_da_man]

NYXLs were similar to Dunlop Super Bright's in my opinion. Though neither were as good as SIT Rock Brights. True story.

 

[mickebas]

Waking up this thread since I’ve just recently put NYXL on my Jazz.
Have had them on for about 3 weeks now and I get what some people addresses as them being polite and a bit neutral. So as far as sound goes it’s a matter of how ‘in your face’ you want your sound to be.
They seem to last very good and I got the 105-50 set since I prefer medium or heavier gage.
I was a Rotosound swing bass user for many years and still think a good set of Rotos that’s been on the bass for quite a while is my optimal sound idea. Nowadays unfortunately the quality and sound of the Rotos are not as even so instead of gambling I’ve been using DR low riders SS 45-105 which are my 2nd favorite.
Back to the NYXL. I think they’re good quality strings but as with all nickels their presence is too soft in a mix and what I really look for in a string is a strong, beefy fundamental and I want useful treble, not some hi-end zing which to me mostly gives me finger noise. So I
might keep them on for a while longer to find out how they age since my initial thought was to save the original frets on my vintage jazz (61).
Prognosis though is I’ll go back to using my favorite flats on that bass (EB group II) Also neutral but with a great fundamental and they feel better and better for a long time.
That’s it from me on NYXLs for now.