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Review: GHS Balanced Nickels 4M-NB

#401
I spent most of Sunday afternoon playing my light strung Jazz and my medium strung Precision through my Fender Rumble Studio 40 running a head-to-head comparison. Both basses have rosewood fretboards and 9 1/2" radius necks. Both basses have Fender's HiMass Vintage bridges and both stringsets were strung though the bridge. Neck relief and string height is identical. Love them both, but I give the edge to the medium set. I think it is just because I like a heavier gauge stringset. The tone and feel is so good. Since "The Sound of Pumpernickel" isn't going over well, I'm going to switch to "The Sound of Bourbon". I no longer imbibe due to health reasons, but at least I can listen & enjoy it. ;)
 
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#402
Linnin said:
I spent most of Sunday afternoon playing my light strung Jazz and my medium strung Precision through my Fender Rumble Studio 40 running a head-to-head comparison. Both basses have rosewood fretboards and 9 1/2" radius necks. Both basses have Fender's HiMass Vintage bridges and both stringsets were strung though the bridge. Neck relief and string height is identical. Love them both, but I give the edge to the medium set. I think it is just because I like a heavier gauge stringset. The tone and feel is so good. Since "The Sound of Pumpernickel" isn't going over well, I'm going to switch to "The Sound of Bourbon". I no longer imbibe due to health reasons, but at least I can listen & enjoy it. ;)
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I like pumpernickel well enough, but definitely prefer bourbon. ;)
It's been a while since I tried the Balanced Nickels. I'm glad I did (try them), but not feeling any sudden urge to go back to them any time soon.

Pressurewounds, on the other hand... I definitely see a set of these on my P Bass in the near future.
 
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#405
Linnin said:
OK! I finally put on a fresh set of GHS Balanced Nickels 13 months later. So I promised a year end review, and here it is.

The E string was really dead and the notes had begun to go sour to the point that it had to come off. I played this bass nearly every day and it would be safe to estimate 365+ playing hours.

I reread my initial review in post #1, and everything still rings true. These strings are nothing short of amazing. String-to-string balance of: volume; tone, and feel is unparalleled by any other stringset I've played. They exhibit everything I like in a roundwound bass string: depth, growl, meaty mids, and sweet highs. The construction is world class and the nickel wrap is as smooth as you are going to find in a roundwound, and are comparable to Pressurewounds in that regard. These strings suit my soul and will stay on my #1 bass.
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Close enough to the one year mark for an update and mini-review. These strings are pure bass magic. As they age and the highs recede, the true bass meat advances as the dominant tonal texture. And just stays that way! Amazing. The full bottom end and low mid growl are the stuff of which legends are made. I have a fresh pack ready to go, but also have a fresh set of Custom Medium Precision Flats. The flats are really calling out to me with a sweet siren's song of enticement ever since I sold my '75 Precision with the Precision Flats. I may toss a coin. Either way, I win! :D
 
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#407
Linnin said:
I have a fresh pack ready to go, but also have a fresh set of Custom Medium Precision Flats. The flats are really calling out to me with a sweet siren's song of enticement ever since I sold my '75 Precision with the Precision Flats. I may toss a coin. Either way, I win! :D
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Here's my suggestion...

Precision Flats CM3050 on Am Pro P.
Balanced Nickels 4M-NB on Am Std J. (for when the light set is ready to be replaced)

That's called MEGA WIN-WIN!
 
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#410
michael_t said:
Here's my suggestion...

Precision Flats CM3050 on Am Pro P.
Balanced Nickels 4M-NB on Am Std J. (for when the light set is ready to be replaced)

That's called MEGA WIN-WIN!
Click to expand...
That's my thoughts also, @michael_t. Going to detour a set of balanced construction Round Core Bass Boomers on my Jazz first with my trusty 4M-NB held in reserve. :thumbsup:
 
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#416
Watchootognbout said:
Yeah....GHS still doesn't make a six string set.:meh:
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A packaged 6st set of Pressurewounds? We don’t that’s true, and we won’t. There just isn’t the demand for a packaged set.

But the PWB28 has been available for a very long time, so you can easily put a set together. That was the first set I used on my Streamer LX 6st nearly 10yrs ago.
 
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#419
So chiming in with some praise... I have about 3 weeks with Balanced Nickels on my MIM PJ.

WOW .... these string are special. what I love is that these have the warmth of flats but they fill in the mix much better for my power trio than flats. There is more harmonic content, but its soft and pampering, not harsh or shrill.

And the Feel under finger with this string is lovely.

I do not find this set to be all that tight or tense - the medium set has more flex under finger than medium PrecisionFlats or LaBella FS.

I’ve just ordered another set to try on my MIAJazz.
 
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