I am playing a set of .158 drop tune balanced tension Kalium's right now and they are decent, but recently ordered a .145 set of D'Addario Pro Steels as well! Hope they work as well, they are less than half the price haha!
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The Quest for the Perfect B!
- Thread starter Optix
- Start date
I'm not big on coated strings because I use a pick exclusively and I've seen some used guitars hanging up in a few shops around here where the coating was shredded.
My mind keeps going back to the Kalium strings, but that's a lot of money to have them shipped to Canada.
So, EB Cobalts, DR Lo-Riders, Kalium Balanced. Any feedback from folks who tested the D'Addario NYXLs?
My mind keeps going back to the Kalium strings, but that's a lot of money to have them shipped to Canada.
So, EB Cobalts, DR Lo-Riders, Kalium Balanced. Any feedback from folks who tested the D'Addario NYXLs?
Honestly, I am not super impressed with the Kaliums as far as feel or tone, I just needed a larger B string for drop tunings. I would try the NYXL's if I were you, they seem to sound pretty good from the soundbites I have heard. EB Cobalt guitar strings sound insanely good, never tried the bass strings and DR LO-Riders are a bit mellower but also a solid string 
I rarely have a clear cut answer, and I know this might not work for everyone. My L 2500 had a lifeless B string (not floppy it's a G&L!) and I tried several different strings, light and heavy gauges etc.
Then I tried a tapered B set from Sadowsky (Blue Nickels). Problem absolutely solved. Not saying you have to go with the Sadowskys but you do need to at least try a tapered B if you haven't yet.
Then I tried a tapered B set from Sadowsky (Blue Nickels). Problem absolutely solved. Not saying you have to go with the Sadowskys but you do need to at least try a tapered B if you haven't yet.
That's something that I haven't tried, but plan to very soon, Klokker. I'm hoping I can nab a .132 tapered B in the Chromes from Amazon before they're gone since I'd like to stay with flatwounds if I can. Otherwise I need to pay and arm and a leg just for a single string at my local shop.
Thanks for the suggestion and further cementing my next course of action to sort this out.
Thanks for the suggestion and further cementing my next course of action to sort this out.
Try Rotosound's 77 Monel Flatwound low B. It's the stiffest, brightest flatwound I've found. I wouldn't recommend a whole set though, unless you've got the time and money to replace them every week. Not sure if the B actually lives longer or if it's just less noticeable when it dies.
A) It could be that the saddles are too low to provide enough pressure on the ball end of the string. So, raise the saddles to see how that works.
B) It's possible the headstock doesn't have enough tilt to put pressure on the string.
C) Dead spots, every instrument with a head stock has them. G string 5th fret is a common location for them. But, it happens on the B string too. Clamp something weighty like a heavy capo, C-clamp, or fender fat finger onto the head stock. The location of the clamp matters so move it around to see what happens. Try more than one clamp.
Use this as an opportunity to learn about this problem then take the knowledge with you on your next bass shopping expedition.
B) It's possible the headstock doesn't have enough tilt to put pressure on the string.
C) Dead spots, every instrument with a head stock has them. G string 5th fret is a common location for them. But, it happens on the B string too. Clamp something weighty like a heavy capo, C-clamp, or fender fat finger onto the head stock. The location of the clamp matters so move it around to see what happens. Try more than one clamp.
Use this as an opportunity to learn about this problem then take the knowledge with you on your next bass shopping expedition.
A) I've put the saddle all the way up, which made it pretty rough to play, but didn't change the tone of the string.
B) That's a possibility, with the only option being a string tree.
C) I did consider the possibility of dead spots, but didn't research how to go about finding and fixing them, so thank you for that.
After many recommendation and some glowing reviews, I bit the bullet and ordered some DR Lo-Rider nickles (45-130), so we'll see how they go. I have high hopes, but after trying as many strings as I have lately, I'm trying to temper my expectations.
