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Why do people consider EB Slinky's bright sounding?

Swerve

Swerve

Nov 22, 2002
2,461
5,851
Portland, OR
#1
To my ears they are the darkest sounding nickel wound strings I know of (besides maybe GHS), and that is what I like about them when I want that broken in rounds sound quickly.

I just installed a brand new set of Power Slinky's 110-55's on my Fender P and even with the tone knob dimed they were still darker than a set of XL's that are several months old with the tone knob nearly rolled off. D'Addario, Fender, DR, Roto, Dunlop, are all much brighter out of the box than Slinky's.

I saw that recent Rig Rundown interview with Justin Chancellor of Tool and he only plays Slinky's. He mentions their bright tone and how he uses two packs per show. I'm thinking to myself if he used just about any other NPS he'd get a brighter sound for an entire show, maybe several.
 
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#3
Element Zero said:
Interesting. I think when they’re super fresh they’re pretty bright but not brittle like XLs sound (to my ears). I know Justin is all about texture in his sound, maybe it extends to physical touch as well? Slinky’s are among the smoothest NPS I’ve played.
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Yeah texture could be a big part of it as well. I also love how smooth they feel. Very easy on the fingers.
 
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#5
I agree that for the first days, they are bright (probably why Justin say so), but balance out after that. Not to the point to sound dark though.
I use them on PJ basses, both active and passive, and on a two humbucker bass, also active or passive.
I also feel that they feel harsh under the fingers for the first couple days, then feel less so (I do not know if it is me tuning to them or something really happen, but it feel so even after swapping old one for fresh ones).
 
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#6
Personally I find Slinkys to sit pretty much in the center of the bright-mellow scale. They may be slightly less bright than SOME other nickle plated steel roundwounds, and certainly less bright than stainless steel roundwounds, but they're still considerably brighter than many other types of strings, like pure nickel roundwounds, pressurewounds, groundwounds, tapewounds and flatwounds.

I guess it depends on what you're comparing them with. Some manufacturers seem to have a kinda "signature tone" throughout their entire product range. For example, D'Addario generally make very bright strings (within each category), GHS strings are generally much warmer sounding and Rotosound have their unique, fat sounding mids.
 
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#10
HaphAsSard said:
Same gauges?
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The XL’s are 105-45.

I’m coming back to rounds after several years of flats only and finding 105’s that I once used aren’t working out for me. Been using XL’s and Fender 7250m’s due to the higher tension/stiffness but still finding that 105 E just feels a tad thin.

Figured I try a heavier guage and man the 110 Slinkys are perfect with fingers or a pick. Very easy to play and what I’ve been needing. Going to stick with them for a while.
 
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#11
Swerve said:
To my ears they are the darkest sounding nickel wound strings I know of (besides maybe GHS), and that is what I like about them when I want that broken in rounds sound quickly.

I just installed a brand new set of Power Slinky's 110-55's on my Fender P and even with the tone knob dimed they were still darker than a set of XL's that are several months old with the tone knob nearly rolled off. D'Addario, Fender, DR, Roto, Dunlop, are all much brighter out of the box than Slinky's.

I saw that recent Rig Rundown interview with Justin Chancellor of Tool and he only plays Slinky's. He mentions their bright tone and how he uses two packs per show. I'm thinking to myself if he used just about any other NPS he'd get a brighter sound for an entire show, maybe several.
Click to expand...

Changing your strings during a show or for every show as Adan Clayton does in my opinion is extremely excessive and unnecessary. Just my 2 cents
 
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#14
I never found Slinkys to be bright. Because they don't start out bright, when they settle in, they are too dark for me, thus I would say they "die fast" - the longest living strings for anyone are ones that are too bright to start with, so that, when broken in, they can be "just right"
 
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#15
HMZ said:
Changing your strings during a show or for every show as Adan Clayton does in my opinion is extremely excessive and unnecessary. Just my 2 cents
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When you have a string company that will give you unlimited free strings, and someone you are paying by the hour to be a bass tech (there isn't all that much to do during a show) regardless of how much they do or don't do, I can see how that would end up happening. The tuning instability of new strings is what would nix that idea for me - I never play strings at a gig that I haven't played for at least a week. I'd be curious to know the string stretching routine of a tech that changes bass strings during a show.
 
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#18
I bounced around between XLs,Slinkys, and Boomers for years using 5 string sets in the same guage,45-130 and really didn’t hear much of a difference straight out of the pack, after a few days/ weeks the XLs seem to retain some of the higher end longer than the others so settled on them for the past 20 years, after a month they all pretty much sounded the same which was cool because I like the sound of both new and broken in Nickel rounds especially on my old Jazz bass with a rosewood fretboard.
 
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#19
I use Super Slinkys , 45 - 100 , they are definitely bright , but I'm thinking that playing style probably has something to do with what we get out of them. . . i.e, if I handed my bass to any of you we would all sound different.
I tried XLs and they - TO ME - didn't sound musical, let alone "Good", although I'm sure I've probably heard other players using them and thought they sounded sounded great.
 
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#20
micguy said:
When you have a string company that will give you unlimited free strings, and someone you are paying by the hour to be a bass tech (there isn't all that much to do during a show) regardless of how much they do or don't do, I can see how that would end up happening. The tuning instability of new strings is what would nix that idea for me - I never play strings at a gig that I haven't played for at least a week. I'd be curious to know the string stretching routine of a tech that changes bass strings during a show.
Click to expand...
Tune and pull tune and pull tune and pull tune and pull tune and done.
 
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