Elixir Strings - user feedback

[ped]

Hi guys

Recently Elixir Strings ran a competition for some BC members to try their strings. This thread is for the feedback from the tests conducted. Winners have been asked to place feedback here but if you are reading this and didn't enter the comp - or did and didn't win, and you use Elixir strings, I'm sure any extra feedback would be interesting too.

Cheers
ped

P.s Feedback will start to arrive in a week or so as the strings are being sent out at the moment

[Grangur]

Non competition feedback:
I use Elixir strings all the time. I mostly play Warwick basses and like the slighty "dirty" tone of the combination. Warwick are known for their "growl". Elixir gives a Warwick a perfect tone with the growl but meat behind it avoiding the zing that some strings give.

Elixir feel great under the fingers. After playing strings for a couple of months I've had other folk say my strings sound old. I think they sound the same as they were when I fitted them. To me they're still giving me the sound I want. Not everyone wants a zing of the "steel just out of the packet" and Elixir delivers on this.

Right now I'm looking forward to replacing the flats on my fretless and hearing the tone of Elixir on ebony.

Edited June 25, 2015 by Grangur

[Bassassin]

I won a set (cheers!) so I'm happy to contribute.

Firstly, I haven't used the set I won yet, but I've been a user of Elixirs for 10+ years, and find them perfect for both the sound I'm after & my playing style.

The sound I suppose is the main thing. Out of the packet, they are very bright - I play in a 4-piece original prog rock band, and an upfront, aggressive bass tone is integral to the sound. My main bass Is a passive J type fitted with DiMarzio Model Js, slightly warmer-sounding than many modern J pups, and the Elixirs give these an edge that other strings don't, while retaining their depth & presence. In an environment where I'm competing with busy (some might suggest overplayed!) drums & guitar, it's pretty easy to get my tone to sit properly in this mix without being over-loud.

Coated strings feel a lttle odd at first when coming from conventional cheese-grater textured brands - they are very smooth, almost slippery. The feel is more like ground or pressure-wound strings than conventional rounds. There's very little finger noise and (it may be psychological) they feel faster. I'm a fairly heavy-handed player, and don't tend to go for incredibly low actions, and I would say Elixirs feel more flexible & exhibit lower string tension than many other brands, and work very well with a medium-low action setup.

Finally these things do last ages. I have been using them for a long time, and have never had a set which went completely dead - as most other brands seem to after a few weeks of my ham-fisted battering. Over time they do lose a little top-end zing, but the essential tone stays pretty much intact. After a lot of months & a lot of playing, the coating can sometimes start to flake off a bit, & that's the point at which I might think about changing a set.

My as-yet unused set will be going on a 1982 Washburn Vulture II - it'll be interesting to hear how they work with a P/J setup. I own a lot of basses & regret that I can't afford to put Elixirs on all of them!

Jon.

[Freddy Le Cragg]

I won a set the last time this comp ran and they are still on my Jazz. They kept their sparkle much longer than the rotosounds I usually use, I am now officially a convert to Elixirs on a bass. I use them on my guitars too as they are much less abrasive on the old fingers. I would love a set that is an equivilent of the skinny top heavy bottom as I play exclusivley in D.

[madshadows]

Got my set of Elixir strings today along with a nice Elixir T-Shirt as well (though a large is too small for me but my son is going to wear it!). Fitted them to my Harley Benton Jazz Bass and they sound fantastic and feel great under the fingers on the little play I had on my bass, the strings feel smoother to me than the D'Addario's I had taken off and they have a lovely tone.

More feedback when I've played them a while

Thanks to Elixir and ped for them

John

[Mr Bassman]

I won a set and put them to one side, then while my Jazz bass was out of action I needed to use my 62 P for a gig. It had flats on which weren't suitable for the music being played so I put the Elixir on and was really impressed soundness & feel.

Going to try them on my Jazz now it's up and running again.

Thanks to Ped & all involved

Edited July 4, 2015 by Mr Bassman

[chrismuzz]

I I've received my strings, along with the t shirt too, nice touch and very generous! as a huge fan of Elixir strings I'm looking forward to fitting them to my bass, but I will hold off until the weekend as I have a rehearsal followed by a gig. I will be using two almost identical basses, one with the old Elixirs and one with the new for a proper comparison!

[Muzz]

I received mine Saturday morning, they went straight on my Shuker (the other Shuker has DRs), and straight off to a gig Saturday night. Initial impressions are favourable, tho I'll post in more detail after another couple of gigs (I have a full weekend looking), but the coating shows no signs of any wear after the first couple of hours hard pick-work, which a good thing.

[goblin]

I moved from DR to Elixir and thought they were great, problem is that they don't fit Warwick bridges particularly well! Whilst I was willing to shoehorn one onto my old Streamer, there's no way I was gunna do it to the SS1 or the Infinity... funnily enough, I'm back on DR now!

[ped]

[quote name='goblin' timestamp='1436191895' post='2815769']
I moved from DR to Elixir and thought they were great, problem is that they don't fit Warwick bridges particularly well! Whilst I was willing to shoehorn one onto my old Streamer, there's no way I was gunna do it to the SS1 or the Infinity... funnily enough, I'm back on DR now!
[/quote]

Interesting - is that due to the bridge break angle? How do the DRs differ, are they those exposed core types?

[Freddy Le Cragg]

Received my set and Tee (which fits to a, well, tee!) Slapped em on my Washburn and will be giving them their first run out next week. They feel silky smooooth.

[BanditSid]

I got my strings on Saturday morning, along with a nice T shirt that my daughter immediately grabbed !!

I got stainless (14677) strings as I'd already had a set of the regular ones (14077 )when I bought the bass and put them on my Ibanez SR4500E, I used them at a wedding on Saturday night and was very impressed with the sound. It was a sub gig with a Big Band and was a mix of jazz, swing, Glenn Miller and rock - they sounded quite bright but after backing off the treble a touch (which removed a bit of amp hiss) they sounded really sweet. There also seemed to be more bass extension, but that could have been the location, I'm back in a regular pub this weekend so will have a better idea of the sound balance there.

All in all, I liked the regular Elixir's that came with my bass - they feel right and have no finger noise when moving around the fret board, the sound stays the same for months of regular twice a week gigging and they are well priced - what more can you ask for !!

Edited July 6, 2015 by BanditSid

[ladywithabass]

Hello, the strings arrived today in the Netherlands. Thanks!! I am totally new to Elixir so I am a good guinea pig I suppose. Now to find a good restring day. Pretty busy these days. But since I am very curious I think I will be able to say something more about it soon. Also thanks for the t shirt. I like the fact that you sent it. But well, it does proof one thing. There aren't still that many female bassplayers. I sometimes wonder how big a percentage of the basssist market we represent.

[ladywithabass]

I thought I'd add a picture for good measure

[Mornats]

Non-competition winner here but I bought a set of Elixirs in October last year. I'd just bought a Squier VM Jazz and loved the sound of the fresh Fender 7250ML strings but they ended up fading quite rapidly. I bought a set of stainless steel Elixirs and found that they got very close to that fresh nickel sound right away but without being over bright. 8 months on and they're still sounding pretty much the same to me. I've not gigged in that time, but it's my main practice bass at home. It totally sucks to have to replace strings on a bass I'm only using for practice so I'm really happy with how the Elixirs have lasted out.

They feel great to play too. It didn't take any time at all to get used to them. Not even sure if I noticed they were coated to be honest (these are the steels so maybe the coating has just dulled the feel down to how nickels usually feel).

One thing I'd like to know is how to clean them. They're getting a little grubby but I don't want to risk taking the coating off with any cleaning. I also would like to know if Elixir recommend using Fast Fret to wipe down/clean the strings after use. I'd have tried it myself but I didn't want to risk damaging the coating of a £40 set of strings.

I'd love to see some distinctively coloured silk wraps on them - just for cosmetics and to easily spot which basses I've put Elixirs on.

Oh, and I did a comparison of the Fender strings vs. the Elixirs so you can hear the similarities: https://soundcloud.com/mornats/elixir-strings-comparison

[Bassassin]

I never got a t-shirt!

Go on, send us one - don't mind doing some free promo!

J.

[danny-79]

I got a set with a new BGM subscription, 105-45 Stainless Steels.
I generally prefer a 50&70 on the D&G and nickel is what I use.
I have in the past used coated strings of various brands an not found them to be worth the extra price. I love a new set of strings so stick to one brand and one gauge (Ernie Balls, Regular Slinkys) soon as the zing is gone put a new set on so this should be an interesting test.
There going to go on a StingRay (the slightly tamer one of the two) at the same time as a new set of my usual on the other one,(there both due a change) and will rotate them in use as I always do and report back
They should/will be going on today 15-07-15

[super al]

Sorry Ped, I've not had the time to sit down and post my feedback yet, here's my 1st go with the strings -

Received my test strings in the post Saturday (4th July) and also a nice Elixir tee in my size! Bumped into a drummer friend that afternoon whilst wearing the new tee and got into a conversation about Elixirs (his son plays bass). Kudos to Elixir already!

I've used Rotosound strings 95% of the time I've been playing and Elites the other 5% I would say. Mostly roundwound nickels and steels (stopped using steels so much when I noticed fret wear) but the occasional dabble with flats. I put the Elixirs on my MIM Fender Jazz, she has been modified with Basslines Quarter Pound P/ups and a Gotoh bridge.

Just tuning up (amp muted) I thought the Elixirs had a slightly 'bedded in' sound compared to my other new strings. i've never been a big fan of the bright, clanky sound of new strings so, for me, that was a good start!

To compare strings I had my Peavey Jazz copy to hand with a set of my regular Rotosound strings on (newish!). Going back and forth between the two I found the Elixirs were smoother with less of that scratchy string sound (bad technique alert!) I get with my usual roundwounds when my fretting hand moves along the strings. Playing around with chords on both basses I preferred the Elixir strings for their tone and cleaner sound. Overall they feel nice and smooth on the fingers too.

I shall give them more of a road test at band practice and at home but so far, so good. I've never spoilt myself when buying strings, buying flatwounds probably the most I've spent on a set, so this is a bit of an eye opener for me.

[juliusmonk]

Thanks to Ped and Elixir for the strings and the T-shirt!

So I tend to use percussive styles a lot and am pretty anal about new strings and zing being retained as much as possible. I typically use D'Addario, Elixir and occasionally, other brands (DR, EB, Fender, even Rotosound or Pyramids). I favour steel, but nickel is ok. I have to say that my sweat kills strings in no time.

So overall Elixirs have been a good investment over time. They are a bit less bright than others new (say, 85%), but retain that much much longer. The original Elixirs (years ago) had a tendency of the coating to 'peel off', but in recent years this has never been an issue.

Considering my experience, I was a bit surprised with this new set - it feels different than my usual Elixirs. To the touch, they are much smoother, to the point that they start approaching flatwounds! The tone is different as well: less resonant and clanky acoustically, now they seem to be 70% bright compared to fresh ordinary strings, with a stronger fundamental. In some aspects, they remind me of Pyramid golds. This implies less finger and fret noise. Some 'zing' is retained in the extreme high freqs, which is pleasant, but essentially they are more 'bassy'.

I tried them on a Mayones Custom, an Alembic and a Lakland 44-60. In one of them replacing Elixirs themselves. The difference was noticeable in all of them. It is a less 'nervous' string. It was especially noticeable on the Lakland, which is a passive bass.

My personal assessment is that this new Elixir string will have lots of appeal for players that dislike 'new string' zing and lean towards flatwounds trying to avoid finger noise, and searching a smoother feel and a round, strong fundamental - this is very common. They will get that, plus a richer harmonic content in a string that will last a long time (guessing on the basis of previous experience). I am thinking myriads of old school, thump P bass players may find it very attractive.

I am not sure the appeal will be the same for players obsessed with zing and liking the textured feel of ordinary steels.

I would also recommend Elixir to consider in the future re-designing the package. This is a premium product, and by comparison, the packaging is a little dull. A glossier, slicker appearance may psychologically help people pay the extra cost (although perhaps less environmentally friendly).

Again, many thanks - I thoroughly enjoyed testing the strings! (Set tested was ref. 14002)

Edited July 19, 2015 by juliusmonk

[Cameronj279]

Apologies for not getting a proper review type thing up here yet. been super busy with house move stuff but managed to get time mid rehearsal to restring. Wanted to do this so I could properly compare the Elixirs to the DRs that were already on the bass. So this is just really first impressions.

The first thing I noticed when I plugged the bass in was that it was the huge increase in volume and overall presence in the sound.

They definitely feel slightly different from previous elixirs. They feel more like non coated bass strings which Im not decided wether I think that's a good thing or not as I liked the very slidy feel of elixirs.

I got the set with the .135 B string and find it a little floppy feeling when playing unplugged although not to the point of being weak sounding. The E string sounds slightly duller than what I was expecting although that is being nit-picky!

The main test of Elixirs in my mind is how long they keep their zing for so I'll report back once I've given them more use...had a few cancelled rehearsals lately so not been able to use them as much as I normally would have!

[AndyTravis]

Mine have just gone on today.

Here, my tech (Ella, 6) decided the flatwounds were killing the tone on my fretless. "Daddy, Jaco used rounds - stop kidding yourself..."

So, she did the restring.

https://instagram.com/p/5VJxX5uQcm/

First impressions are that the strings feel fantastic, the tension is balanced and the coating doesn't feel as greasy as I recall.

Have yet to plug in, but will report back when I've completed the rehearsals for an unplugged set next week.

(I got 40-100's)

[madshadows]

Been playing the Elixir's for about two weeks now and I'm really loving them, really smooth and slinky under the fingers when you play and less noisy when you slide from note to note, they stay in tune well and notes are really defined and clear. I've noticed the E string is a lot less muddy then my previous strings and sounds a lot clearer, great strings

John

[danny-79]

[quote name='danny-79' timestamp='1436972081' post='2822469']There going to go on a StingRay (the slightly tamer one of the two) at the same time as a new set of my usual on the other one,(there both due a change) and will rotate them in use as I always do and report back[/quote]

To quote myself, things never working out in reality compared to theory.
I put the free set on the planned bass then spent the rest of the day playing it, I like them straight off the bat ! so I thought a fairer test would be to order another set in my preferred gauge (50&70 on the bottom) for the other Stingray and play them as usual.
First impressions im very impressed, they don't feel like coated strings, they don't feel like steels either, but do feel nice, almost like flats !!!

Like I said first impressions im very impressed, they are twice the price of a standard/my usual set (£30 I got them for, delivered) but so far its justified.
Just a matter of time now to see if they prove them self, got a feeling they will !

[gingerfish]

So. Initial impressions of these are the same as others. Compared to Warwick EMPs which have been my string of choice for he last 2-3 years the texture is something is very different straight from the off. Much smoother texture and much quicker to play as your fingers aren't grating on the strings. This is not to say that other strings are bad in this way. Just to say that these feel easier to play fast on.

The sound is great and bright. I do not have a set of fresh EMPs to do a direct comparison but they are definitely on par.

So, with only a couple of sessions at home under my belt I can say I am very impressed with these. They are a good tension, nice and bright and easier to play. Will take me a few months to see what the drop off in sound is like and to see who they hold up to getting a little dusty and sweaty over time.

For reference they are fitted to my Warwick Corvette FNA Jazzman 5 string. This bridge has already been filed down a little so these fit okay. I think on a brand new bridge these might have taken some fettling to fit.

[Mudpup]

I have a set of the nickels in 45/105 gauge.

Popped them on the Musicman Sterling and took them off after one evening. Don't like them at all,sorry. They sound too blunt for my zingy taste.

They're on the classifieds if anyone wants a cheap set.....