Cobalt strings

[Loren Littlejohn]

Well, I have slinkys here and I'm headed out to GC tomorrow.

What would you guys want to hear? Pro Steels, Slinkys, Cobalts?

I'm willing to throw my dollar down for the test.

 

[AllanD]

Cobalt vs. the strings you use most often!

 

[Adrian Warren]

Thanks Loren, that's really cool. While I haven't had a chance to try them out myself I found this video on YouTube which is very interesting. It's pretty easy to hear the tonal difference with the clean setting around 1:38.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Yeah I have no steel strings, just a couple packs of not even slinky strings (which are nickel plated).

So I could pick up a pack of pro steels and a pack of cobalts and see how it goes. I'm interested in hearing the difference anyhow.

 

[Brandon E.]

that surprises me, I always liked the sound of D'Addarios best

Then it's not surprising, is it?

Here are some DIs for you guys. Cobalts, Elixirs, Daddario, Dean Markley Blue Steel. All 11's, Eb. I was only doing this test for myself, and because I found the cobalt strings to sound so weird I decided to not even waste my time including them in my test because I knew right off the bat I didn't want to use them, BUT I went back through some backup autosaves and recovered some really crappy takes of one of the riffs. So the cobalt is only 1 riff and a poor take, sorry. Also I can't be sure that the levels are accurate, these were recorded on the same guitar over a long period of time, so my preamp gain knob did not stay at exactly the same spot for the entire however many months. There was definitely NOT a significant difference in output from the cobalt strings though, if there was one at all.

These were all done on my Charvel San Dimas with a JB, into my Saffire pro 40.

http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3597430/MP3s/Strings/String DIs.zip

 

[Adrian Warren]

Thanks Brandon. I actually prefer the cobalt strings. They do not sound that much different from the d'addarios strings in tone while being overdriven or distorted however they have a bit more clarity, which I really like.

 

[Nimvi]

Thanks for the samples Brandon,

I liked the Daddarios best here, cause they had a balanced tone, with a nice attack. Eventough the cobalt strings seem to have a very unique sound, I can't say I like it very much in this test. Clear, yes, but also very sterile? Could work for djent with the tight attack and all, but I'm not sure it would be my pick for some raunchy blues or anything like that.

Ofcourse this is all based off of one sample of a DI, so I might change my opinion in the future.

 

[Jaymz]

I dig the Elixir's myself.

 

[Brandon E.]

The Elixirs are really smooth sounding, with a really controlled attack and less string noise...and considering the benefits, i.e. feeling better and sounding better for like 4-5x longer than ordinary strings (with my hands at least), I can deal with them sounding a little different than ordinary strings. If I had to track an album I might use Daddarios instead but for all other uses, Elixirs win for me. You can really hear the Daddario's shine on the chord stuff.

The cobalts have this weird lack of warmth and meat in the low end. They sound okay distorted but not what I would want to use. Pretty tinny if you ask me. Far from being the pinnacle of guitar string technology.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

Didn't get to GC today, so no clipzors sorries.

I hate elixers. Like I said, keep the condom off my strings please.

 

[Brandon E.]

And keep the rust off of mine please. I should add that those Dean Markley strings already sounded dead 2 days after being put on the guitar...the daddarios lasted a good while, the cobalts lasted about the same, and the elixirs of course are immortal. The Dean Markley's also had the worst tuning stability by far (which were actually the LARGEST gauges of the 11s sets I used) ...impossible to tune the low E because the pitch was so severely impacted by how hard you picked. The rest were about the same in that category.

 

[SwambA]

I've been using daddario exp's for about 4 months now, after being a daddario user for many many years. To me there is no difference in the way they play/feel/sound, but they last for weeks... and even then I just feel compelled to change them because they have been on so long, not because they don't sound good or are rusted up.

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Giving this a bump because I just put a set of EMGs and a set of Cobalts (9-46, E and Drop D) on my old LTD F-50. To me these are the strings anyone who has sweaty hands that kill strings within the course of playing an hour or so. They are resilient to corrosion and are fairly brighter than nickel plated steel. They do feel a bit tighter, but still have a good elasticity in them for bends and vibratos and they feel as if you have finger ease on a fresh set of strings, very silky smooth.

Its been two days of playing and they are still brighter than a new set of nickel plated steel.

I will be getting a set for my Agile Interceptor Pro for my main tuning by all means.

 

[Nimvi]

The description most people give of them does sound very appealing. I am interested in trying them at some point for sure. However, on the few shootouts I've heard against other strings (only about 3 or so), I've always blindly picked them as the worst sounding of the bunch. They had something weird and sterile about them that put me off. Maybe they just didn't go well with the guitars/pickups used in those samples though, who knows.

EDIT: Just noticed that one of those tests was in this thread...so nvm that!

 

[TheWinterSnow]

Keep in mind I am also a fan of EMG 81 in the neck + OD boosted amps for tight low end, so I have never comprehended the whole, pickups/strings sounding sterile argument, but to me, acoustically, the cobalt strings are brighter, the low end is tighter but I wouldn't say there is less of it. They do have a more high mid aggressiveness to them plugged in, to me they just sound more direct and more in your face, better note definition, but the difference isn't massive.

 

[Loren Littlejohn]

I still have these sitting around waiting to do a shootout:

I need to get a pack of these to replace the last one though for an even(er) test:

 

[Matt-Steele]

These did not interest me. I'm guessing probably because of the hideous sound in JP's video for these. I'm sure it's just bad mic placement/mic clipping, but come on! Are you telling me that they couldn't retake it after hearing how badly the recording is? Anyway... my hands are extremely dry and I use D'Addarios with D Activator pick ups, so I have all the output I need and little sweat causes very little corrosion.