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So the DR Sunbeams are pretty sweet.
Keep in mind my old Trace Elliot strings were old, real old. I had no idea how much sustain was lost through those old strings.
The new DRs are pretty bright and punchy. Even with my treble turned down. Good even tones on all the strings. You know how some E strings are overpowering to the other strings? Not with these. Output seems consistent on all the strings.
I'm also surprised how much faster I can play on them (finger style). They bounce back and feel really good.
The only complaint I have is that these are roundwound strings that boast they're great for fretless basses. Supposedly they have the feel of flatwounds with the sustain of roundwound, but I still hear plenty of finger noise coming off the strings and they aren't anywhere near as smooth as my flatwounds on my fretless.
So far though I really like them. They sound good, very responsive and the sustain is significantly better than what I had.
Define bright, because my DR experience so far tells me that what they call bright basically means scooped out low end. Granted Ive only used Hibeams (stainless steel) so far but after buying three sets trying to figure out why people are so crazy for them I decided that nickel strings are closer to the tone that I want. My current dunlops are nickel plated steel, same as the sunbeams I believe and they sound pretty decent.
Pending how much you play, give these strings a good week or two to settle in. They should produce better for you when the strings have had a chance to break in - no pun intended.
Yeah, “bright” may not be the best adjective for me to use. After using dead roundwounds for as long as I did, anything by comparison would sound much brighter than what I had.
A better word would be “clean” or “crisp”. I guess the point I'm trying to make is they don't sound muddled or sluggish anymore.
But as DBT mentions… once they get properly broken in they may sound completely different.
I'll do my best to yank and abuse them this week.
Mark - lol, no need to be rough on ‘em - keep it simple and play, they’ll settle down. You probably have already done it by now - changing Amp settings - Usually a minor tweaking will get it done.
I haven't tried the Sunbeams, but I always heard positive feedback from other bassist. That smooth feel from the strings that you are seeking will come alive and the nuisance of finger noise will decrease in time. This is when you'll know the strings are broke in, and you should be able to dial up your tone knob a bit more if need to be.
That's cool, I'll probably try them when I go back to DR.
How much are we talking for a set of 45-105s?
Update:
After playing over the past few days for several hours some things have changed. When I first played the strings I made the comment that the output of the strings was consistent among the four. Well… not so much the case now. The E string seems to be taking the stage front and center. Especially when I have my dual coil Humbucker on. F, F#, G, G# all seem to be at a higher level of output than the rest.
A little annoying to me, because I absolutely hate having to adjust my EQs so much going from one song to another.
Having typed this, I must add that when I first got the strings I was playing through my pedal board and EQ. Last night when I noticed the big difference I was playing directly through the amp with no pedals.
I'll have to go back to this tonight and mess around with it some more.
Your pedal board, which I believe you said was a digitech multi- unit. Unfortunately with a lot of multi-pedal boards the sound gets compressed. It isn't necessarily a bad thing, but like you said ‘you noticed a difference in sound’. The thing to do is set you amp the way you like it, and then accommodate the settings of your board when you have it hooked up.
Try looping your pedal board, if you have that option to do with your amp. I'm not a big fan of looping, but some prefer to do it.
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