NYXL strings ?

[Ralf1e]

On 25/05/2022 at 07:29, dmccombe7 said:

That's not good. Do yu sweat a lot hen practicing at home, I'm guessing no. Gig sweating i can understand and is usually harder on strings.

Think Scot's bass lessons guy has an issue where his hands sweat and kill his strings very quickly hence the gloves he wears. 

Dave

The gloves are for a nerve type medical contition that makes your hands shake or twitch. The feel of the glove stops that happening.

[dmccombe7]

Wee update on the DR Black Beauties. 

Played a 3hr gig on 17th Dec to a full house with Glam covers band and the strings sounded amazing throughout the gig. No tuning issues with them but they had been broken in during home practice.

Feel of these strings is really nice with lot less tension than any other coated strings i've tried. My overall thoughts so far is they sound quite like the D'addario EXL190's i normally use but have a smoother feel not like flats but smooth. Only downside was that if you slide your fingers too much at the end of a belter song it burns you 

I've now ordered another set for my Sandberg MarloweDK. Looks like these will be my new srings. I'm still WOW'd by them.

Dave

[Paolo85]

I am resuming this because I just replaced TI flats with NYXL 45-105 on a P bass and I am super, super impressed.

The sound is extremely dark. To my ears, if played softly near the neck pickup they are darker than the DR Sunbeams, which makes them the darkest rounds I have ever tried. Still, there is top end presence and if played hard they can be snappy (oddly, this combination of not coming out as bright but having top end reminds me somehow of Labella flats).

What impresses me the most is the feel. This set 45-105 does not feel much harder to play than the TI flats. I believe they are not technically low tension, but they are extremely pliable. So they bend under the fretting hand with no effort but at the same time they are not floppy. This created two advantages compared to TI: I can keep the action slightly lower, and despite my unrefined touch I am a bit less messy when raking

 

Edited May 9, 2023 by Paolo85

[dmccombe7]

43 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

I am resuming this because I just replaced TI flats with NYXL 45-105 on a P bass and I am super, super impressed.

The sound is extremely dark. To my ears, if played softly near the neck pickup they are darker than the DR Sunbeams, which makes them the darkest rounds I have ever tried. Still, there is top end presence and if played hard they can be snappy (oddly, this combination of not coming out as bright but having top end reminds me somehow of Labella flats).

What impresses me the most is the feel. This set 45-105 does not feel much harder to play than the TI flats. I believe they are not technically low tension, but they are extremely pliable. So they bend under the fretting hand with no effort but at the same time they are not floppy. This created two advantages compared to TI: I can keep the action slightly lower, and despite my unrefined touch I am a bit less messy when raking

 

I liked the NYXL strings but they didn't last much longer than my D'addario EXL nickels so moved on again and currently trialling the DR Black Beauties which have now been on my Sandberg VM4 since start Dec 2022.. Probably 5 or 6 gigs and 3-4 rehearsals plus practice at home. I do sweat a lot at gigs with Glam covers band and killed a set of EXL's after only one gig during a very hot summers gig where i forgot my cooling fan. 

Black Beauties have seen a few sweaty gigs and still sound pretty lively. Feel a bit more like flats, they dont have that new rounds zing but still enough treble click to keep me happy.

I think i will re-try the Elixirs strings again to see if they've changed since they first appeared. I've had a set on my Thumb bass for about 10 yrs now altho it rarely gets played these days and is kept at home. 

Trying to find a balance between lively tone and longevity.

Dave

[Paolo85]

Interesting. I saw all the comments saying that, despite the marketing, they don't last long. I'll see how it goes. However, in my case I put them on to replace flats so losing some brightness may not be a problem for me, depending whether they age gracefully or not

[BillyBass]

NYXLs are the first round wounds I've put on a bass that didn't need a couple of days to lose the extreme bright edge to them, they sounded great straight away. So, currently, they are my favourite string.  To me they sound better than the standard EXL170s.

 

I get the impression that XTs are EXLs with a coating but the NYXLs are an uncoated improvement to the EXLs?

 

My current band has a 34 song set list, I play 33 of those songs with a pick and one with fingers.  I'm a bit apprehensive about using coated strings as I believe my pick will just remove the coating.  Whether this makes any difference to the sound or longevity I don't know?

[nilorius]

Don't remember if i had tried them, but tried a lot and found that the best for my 5 string fretless is EXL165-5.

[spongebob]

Just dabbled with Roto flats....loved them...but have returned to the NYXL family. Best round, around, IMHO.

[chris_b]

I've been using NYXL's on my 5 string Jazz for 5+ years. They really work well on a Jazz bass.

[Baloney Balderdash]

When I tried the NYXL strings I thought they sounded too polite and lacking character compared to the regular XL strings, which in my opinion got a bit more of an interesting edge and personality.

 

Now, the NYXL doesn't sound bad in any possible way, actually on the contrary my main issue with them is that they sound too perfect, so if you prefer a more polite and polished, hi-fi I suppose, tone, they might be exactly what you are looking for.

 

 

Edited May 11, 2023 by Baloney Balderdash

[dmccombe7]

Well that's the DR Black Beauties on my Sandberg VM4 sounding a bit dull so i've ordered a new set for tomorrow and can fit for my gig on Sat night.

They've been on since 6th Dec 2022 so they've seen some sweaty gigs over Xmas and quite a few this year too with the Glam covers band.

Could probably get another few weeks maybe a month before it really annoyed me.

They are starting to sound more like flats now.

5mths isn't too bad. Couldn't get exact same set as i have fitted for tomorrow delivery and had to go from 40-100 up to 45-105 but dont expect any issues fitting them. Tension shouldn't be that different to require any truss adjustments. Only £30 from amazon free delivery.

Tried to get a set of Elixirs but the only ones they had were 45-105 too but i don't know the tension on them and don't have time to faff about tomorrow making changes to neck so i'll stick with the Black Beauties this time and order a set of Elixirs in a few mths ready to go and see how they work out.

Dave

 

[dmccombe7]

30 minutes ago, Baloney Balderdash said:

When I tried the NYXL strings I thought they sounded too polite and lacking character compared to the regular XL strings, which in my opinion got a bit more of an interesting edge and personality.

 

Now, the NYXL doesn't sound bad in any possible way, actually on the contrary my main issue with them is that they sound too perfect, so if you prefer a more polite and polished, hi-fi I suppose, tone, they might be exactly what you are looking for.

 

 

I found the XT strings a bit like that. There was nothing special about them. I liked the NYXL's but they just didn't last any longer than my standard EXL's so a bit of a waste of money for me.

Dave

[shoulderpet]

On 09/05/2022 at 13:51, dmccombe7 said:

I originally started with Elites which came with the bass plus Warwick sent me 3 free sets when i had an electronics issue with the bass and it was returned to Germany for repair. I quite liked the Elites 35-95 that came with the bass.

I have tried Warwick red labels and they were ok but didn't last long. 

Used the NYXL's on my MarloweDK last night and they felt ok but i was too close to my amp to hear the top end clearly which is an issue with this particular venue. I have to just set up at soundcheck and go for it hoping i've got it right. Once i hear some of the vids taken by same guy every time we play i might get a better idea how they sounded. 

Certainly didn't get too many issues with finger blisters on plucking hand altho i was trying to play a bit lighter but i just get caught up in the moment with some songs 

I want to see how long they last and it might just be a trade off of tone V's longevity.

Dave

I initially really liked Nyxl's, when I fitted them I thought I had found my ideal string tonally then a couple of weeks later they fully broke in and they just sounded really lifeless, no balls to them at all.

I thought maybe I had a bad set and decided to give them another try a few months later and same outcome.

[dmccombe7]

I've ended up with Elixir nickels and now have them on 4 of my basses. First set i tried lasted 7 mths before i noticed they were starting to fade a bit in tone but i reckon i could have managed another month.

The bass is the one i use the most and has had a lot of sweaty glam rock nights since fitting.

I had Elixirs on my Warwick Thumb and they've been on that bass since 2010 and they still sound ok but that bass is rarely used and never leaves the house these days except for the odd studio visit.

At the moment i'm quite happy with them and they don't seem to have the higher tension i remembered from their early days when they first appeared.

At £50 quid a set they do last well and at 7 mths i would be on my 3rd set of D'addario nickels ready to go for my 4th set soon.

Dave

[Baloney Balderdash]

*Doh!*

 

 

Edited February 28 by Baloney Balderdash
Just found out I already wrote pretty much this once in this thread

[thodrik]

I have had NYXLs on my Sadowsky NYC 5 string for about 8 months. Owing to home renovations/studio construction I haven't really been playing as much, but the strings have actually held up pretty well. 

I think that I will stick with Elixirs however as they last as long as 18 months with semi-regular playing. 

[chris_b]

1 hour ago, thodrik said:

I have had NYXLs on my Sadowsky NYC 5 string for about 8 months. Owing to home renovations/studio construction I haven't really been playing as much, but the strings have actually held up pretty well.

 

I put a set of NYXL's on my Sadowsky Jazz in 2019. I was going to change them but Covid came along and the gigs stopped.

 

I have a new set of NYXL's ready to go, but there is still enough top end in the old set to give good definition and the mids and lows are now sounding nice and mellow. I currently have no plans to change these strings, even after 6 years!