+1... I remember trying various 'J Bass strings' like the DR Hi Beams when I owned my Smith, and it just didn't seem to work. I can see where the MTD string would sound good on the Smith... still some zing, but also more even mid response to take advantage of those 'complex' boutique soapbar mids, etc.
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Sadowsky strings: black label vs blue label
- Thread starter Fran Diaz
- Start date
+1... I remember trying various 'J Bass strings' like the DR Hi Beams when I owned my Smith, and it just didn't seem to work. I can see where the MTD string would sound good on the Smith... still some zing, but also more even mid response to take advantage of those 'complex' boutique soapbar mids, etc.
Joeykun
pronounced ジョーイくん
- Jun 22, 2007
- 4,200
- 16,150
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: LAKLAND SADOWSKY GENZLER DARKGLASS NORDSTRAND TEMPLEBOARD KIRLIN DRSTRINGS ACCESS
It's funny I am reading this thread regarding strings and I feel the same way about the Smith strings.
They sound great and were very consistant with every pack but would die fast.
I would do the boil trick and they would last another gig but would sound flat after that.
I gave up on Rotos a long time ago. I got burned on many sets with dead strings right out of the box.
I have never tried DRs. I used ProSteels for a while and they sound ok.
The Sadowsky Strings last a good long time for me. I still have 3 sets of the Black labels and 1 set left of the Blues.
I like the Blacks on my 4 string while the Blues are a better fit with my 5er.
I think the SS Blues work great with Ash/Maple basses. You still get that grind without the harshness.
The Sadowsky strings are my go to strings now. They sound good, last for a long time and feel great under your fingers.
They sound great and were very consistant with every pack but would die fast.
I would do the boil trick and they would last another gig but would sound flat after that.
I gave up on Rotos a long time ago. I got burned on many sets with dead strings right out of the box.
I have never tried DRs. I used ProSteels for a while and they sound ok.
The Sadowsky Strings last a good long time for me. I still have 3 sets of the Black labels and 1 set left of the Blues.
I like the Blacks on my 4 string while the Blues are a better fit with my 5er.
I think the SS Blues work great with Ash/Maple basses. You still get that grind without the harshness.
The Sadowsky strings are my go to strings now. They sound good, last for a long time and feel great under your fingers.
Roger, any update on the availabiltiy of the Blue Label XL's?
Even the Black Label stainless XL's are out of stock...
Thanks...Chris
What I've been looking for is a string with a similar tone to Dean Markley Blue Steels but with the feel and playability of DR Hi-Beams. It sounds like the the Blue Label Sadowsky's will get me pretty close. I've just ordered a set of Blue Labels, so I guess I'll find out. 
My stainless steel comparison, Performed on Sadowsky MV4 w/ Single coils.
*I would like to note that Sadowsky gave me a set of the Blacks for FREE just to try and compare. My MV4 came in w/ Blues and I loved em' so much I ordered a 5 pack of more. While ordering, I brought up this thread and got a set of Blacks for free to compare. In honor of that, this is my comparison. Thanks Sadowsky.
Blue Labels: Looser tension. Great all purpose string! More well rounded, full tone vs. the Blacks. More lows and low mids compared to the Blacks. More present upper treble response as well. Not as much emphasis on upper mids compare to Blacks. Upper mids are present, and these strings cut, but a bit less upper mid punch as the Blacks.
Black Labels: Stiffer tension. Not as well rounded, full of tone, more emphasis on upper mids. I will say they are deff more punchy though! Not as thick sounding as the Blues. I find the Blues to be more all purpose, full sounding and well balanced, where the Blacks sound a bit congested. Upper high's are slightly muted and darker compared to Blues.
After throwing my other favorite strings on the MV4 (Rotosounds 66 & DR Hi Beams) I can now honestly say that Blue's are my new favorite string over all other brands (For my MV4 that is). Great feel under fingers, very responsive to light dynamic fingerstyle. Slap tone is great. Can't get enough of these strings. These, and only these go on my MV4. Over time they'll be auditioning for spots on all my other Jazz basses as well!
Thanks Sadowsky, great string! I see why all of your basses leave NYC with these on them.
*I would like to note that Sadowsky gave me a set of the Blacks for FREE just to try and compare. My MV4 came in w/ Blues and I loved em' so much I ordered a 5 pack of more. While ordering, I brought up this thread and got a set of Blacks for free to compare. In honor of that, this is my comparison. Thanks Sadowsky.
Blue Labels: Looser tension. Great all purpose string! More well rounded, full tone vs. the Blacks. More lows and low mids compared to the Blacks. More present upper treble response as well. Not as much emphasis on upper mids compare to Blacks. Upper mids are present, and these strings cut, but a bit less upper mid punch as the Blacks.
Black Labels: Stiffer tension. Not as well rounded, full of tone, more emphasis on upper mids. I will say they are deff more punchy though! Not as thick sounding as the Blues. I find the Blues to be more all purpose, full sounding and well balanced, where the Blacks sound a bit congested. Upper high's are slightly muted and darker compared to Blues.
After throwing my other favorite strings on the MV4 (Rotosounds 66 & DR Hi Beams) I can now honestly say that Blue's are my new favorite string over all other brands (For my MV4 that is). Great feel under fingers, very responsive to light dynamic fingerstyle. Slap tone is great. Can't get enough of these strings. These, and only these go on my MV4. Over time they'll be auditioning for spots on all my other Jazz basses as well!
Thanks Sadowsky, great string! I see why all of your basses leave NYC with these on them.
Thanks to Modern Growl for the review. I find his comments very consistent with most who have compared the Blacks and the Blues.
Blue Label XL and light gauge sets (40's) should be available in 4-6 weeks. Thanks for your patience.
Roger
Blue Label XL and light gauge sets (40's) should be available in 4-6 weeks. Thanks for your patience.
Roger
Sorry didn't reply earlier...
The strings are (s.s.) and the bass is a Spector Euro 5.
Now they've been longer on my bass and i still like them but i would like to try the Blue Labels better.Going by some of the reviews i think i might like them better as far as tone goes.
I'm not one of those "engineer" type players that is able to analyze the exact physical compounds and aural frequencies of various components. I simply go with what I feel sounds good to me.
Typically I have left strings on my basses until they fail. It's kind of a James Jamerson aesthetic (although I play roundwounds on my main E. Bass). I focus more on finger style playing.
I am going by very fuzzy memory, but I had ordered a bulk of Black Label Stainless Steel strings a long time ago. It took me several years to go through them. I would maybe change strings up to 5 times a year if on a heavy schedule.
My recollection is that they were high tension and a little thinner sounding (purely subjective term) than the blues I recently put on a month ago. I ordered a couple sets each of Blacks and Blues.
I've been playing my NYC VJ4 in passive mode, mostly.
The Blue SS set went on about a month and half ago. At first, I found the string a little sticky (but all new strings are that way to me). There were a lot of rich harmonic overtones to them (something I furiously try to dial down to a reasonable level). I recorded using the Blues about two weeks in to them on a Pop/Waltz/Soul Ballad (the song is still in production- I'll post an update when I get a mix and will try to give you an idea of the settings and DI/Preamp equip the engineer/producer used).
Bottom line is, the strings are playing great after a lot of abuse and seem to really be settling into a great feeling set, while retaining a lot of the rich fullness that it had out of the wrapper, but not quite as audacious.
I will keep them on until I start feeling that slight paranoia of, "what if I break a string on that gig? hmm, I better throw on a new set just to be safe."
The Blacks look like they are going to collect a lot of dust before I try putting them on again- if I ever.
Typically I have left strings on my basses until they fail. It's kind of a James Jamerson aesthetic (although I play roundwounds on my main E. Bass). I focus more on finger style playing.
I am going by very fuzzy memory, but I had ordered a bulk of Black Label Stainless Steel strings a long time ago. It took me several years to go through them. I would maybe change strings up to 5 times a year if on a heavy schedule.
My recollection is that they were high tension and a little thinner sounding (purely subjective term) than the blues I recently put on a month ago. I ordered a couple sets each of Blacks and Blues.
I've been playing my NYC VJ4 in passive mode, mostly.
The Blue SS set went on about a month and half ago. At first, I found the string a little sticky (but all new strings are that way to me). There were a lot of rich harmonic overtones to them (something I furiously try to dial down to a reasonable level). I recorded using the Blues about two weeks in to them on a Pop/Waltz/Soul Ballad (the song is still in production- I'll post an update when I get a mix and will try to give you an idea of the settings and DI/Preamp equip the engineer/producer used).
Bottom line is, the strings are playing great after a lot of abuse and seem to really be settling into a great feeling set, while retaining a lot of the rich fullness that it had out of the wrapper, but not quite as audacious.
I will keep them on until I start feeling that slight paranoia of, "what if I break a string on that gig? hmm, I better throw on a new set just to be safe."
The Blacks look like they are going to collect a lot of dust before I try putting them on again- if I ever.
The Sadowsky Blue Nickels just saved me a hundred bucks or so. I was about to replace the pickups on a P-Bass I recently acquired, but I followed the advice I've given others many times and tried new strings first. Wow, these are very nice sounding strings on a P. Maybe the thing that impresses me the most is the even quality of the tone up and down the neck.
I haven't compared the blues and the blacks on the same bass yet, but I will say that it seems like the higher tones on the blue strings are "smoother" than the blacks. Others have said similar things, so I guess I'll just echo.
I'll just add that when I ordered my strings from Sadowsky, there was an error in the order. I emailed and they sent out replacement strings right away and told me to keep the set that was sent in error. The only problem was that they sent the wrong strings again. An email got a very quick reply and apology, and soon I had two sets of the correct strings in the mail. These guys are really great with customer service. If they make a mistake, they make it right!
I wonder if they might accidentally send me a natural ash UV4 with maple fretboard if I order some new pickups???
I haven't compared the blues and the blacks on the same bass yet, but I will say that it seems like the higher tones on the blue strings are "smoother" than the blacks. Others have said similar things, so I guess I'll just echo.
I'll just add that when I ordered my strings from Sadowsky, there was an error in the order. I emailed and they sent out replacement strings right away and told me to keep the set that was sent in error. The only problem was that they sent the wrong strings again. An email got a very quick reply and apology, and soon I had two sets of the correct strings in the mail. These guys are really great with customer service. If they make a mistake, they make it right!
I wonder if they might accidentally send me a natural ash UV4 with maple fretboard if I order some new pickups???
Bought a couple of sets of Black Label strings to try on a few of my basses. Strung the first set up on my "parts" J-Bass last night and am really impressed. Not gonna try and describe the tone with a lot of made up adjectives that don't really do much to let you know how the strings sound. I will say that they are a perfect fit for this bass. The tone is exactly what I was looking for to complete this project.
I outfit this bass with an Audere preamp and Nordstrand NJ4SE pickups after everything I read about this combo here on TB. The trouble was that until I put the Black label strings on I was missing a big part of the Audere/Nordstrand magic. The tone, texture, look and fit are perfect.
I only have one complaint. As the strings stretched after installation a small gap appeared in the outer winding of the D string just behind the neck pickup (see picture). Doesn't appear to be affecting tone at all but does kinda bug me a bit visually. Is this something to be concerned about?
I outfit this bass with an Audere preamp and Nordstrand NJ4SE pickups after everything I read about this combo here on TB. The trouble was that until I put the Black label strings on I was missing a big part of the Audere/Nordstrand magic. The tone, texture, look and fit are perfect.
I only have one complaint. As the strings stretched after installation a small gap appeared in the outer winding of the D string just behind the neck pickup (see picture). Doesn't appear to be affecting tone at all but does kinda bug me a bit visually. Is this something to be concerned about?
Hi Simon,
I would suggest you stop looking at it
Seriously, if you want a replacement string, drop me an email with your shipping address.
roger
I've had a set of Sadowsky Blue label Stainless strings on my bass for a couple months. At first, they had the usual stainless/sticky feeling. But to my surprise, that went away very quickly. At first, I was on the fence with these strings, being used to DR Sunbeam Nickels, or even DR Hi-beams (Stainless)
After a week or two of gigs, I considered popping them off for a more familiar sound. But I really liked their well focus mid punch, and excellent highs that do not sound too zingy. So I left them on another week. ... and every week I would think about taking them off to go back to something more familiar, but each week I played my bass and liked what I heard. So I left them on.
They've been on my bass a couple months now and still seem to have plenty of life. And I was a someone who religiously changed strings every 6-8 weeks or so. But these strings sound great and are lasting a really long time. Definitely worth the money.
I have one niggle and this might be related to my bass and set up (Nordy VJ5). The B string seems just a little bit loose. So I have to play it with a lighter touch. It is still extremely playable and I would not call the B string flubby. But I recall my previous strings sets had a tighter sounding B string.
Just wanted to chime in. I like these strings well enough that I want to try a set of Blue Label Nickels for comparison.
After a week or two of gigs, I considered popping them off for a more familiar sound. But I really liked their well focus mid punch, and excellent highs that do not sound too zingy. So I left them on another week. ... and every week I would think about taking them off to go back to something more familiar, but each week I played my bass and liked what I heard. So I left them on.
They've been on my bass a couple months now and still seem to have plenty of life. And I was a someone who religiously changed strings every 6-8 weeks or so. But these strings sound great and are lasting a really long time. Definitely worth the money.
I have one niggle and this might be related to my bass and set up (Nordy VJ5). The B string seems just a little bit loose. So I have to play it with a lighter touch. It is still extremely playable and I would not call the B string flubby. But I recall my previous strings sets had a tighter sounding B string.
Just wanted to chime in. I like these strings well enough that I want to try a set of Blue Label Nickels for comparison.
