Author Topic: STRINGS FOR AN EPIC 4 (Read 279 times)

locutusofborg10 · « **on:** December 17, 2004, 07:22:47 AM »

i have an epic 4 and have tried numerous brands of strings none of which i have been completely satisfied with. can you all please tell me what strings you are using so i can get some idea of what to try.
i await your answers!!!

the_mule · « **Reply #1 on:** December 17, 2004, 08:21:07 AM »

My Orion is singing (and so am I) since I use DR Black Beauties, and they look cool too. Because the Orion and Epic are very closely related, you might want to give them a try...

Wilfred

southpaw · « **Reply #2 on:** December 17, 2004, 09:25:29 AM »

I recently tried the DR Sunbeams and I like them. They are nickel coated and have a warmer sound than an all steel string such as the DR Hi Beam. I also use guages .40 - .100, slightly lighter than the .45 - .105 that are poular these days. What kind of sound do you want? What is your playing style; a light touch, aggressive, slap...? I look at guage, coating (nickel or steel) and outer wrap (round wound, half, flat...) when deciding on strings and after a few years you learn which combinations are best for you. Anyone else?

adriaan · « **Reply #3 on:** December 17, 2004, 10:00:41 AM »

For fretted: the Alembic CX-3 that were on my Epic when it was shipped: absolutely great. GHS Bass Boomers: absolutely dreadful, took them off after only 5 minutes. DR HiBeams: pretty good, but highs sounded gritty until the bightness wore off, and tough on my fingertips. DR LoRiders: pretty good, and none of the issues I had with the HiBeams. D'Addario Slowounds (no longer made?): excellent, but I think I'm going back to LoRiders.

For fretless there's only one: Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats. They are skinny, they have funny sizes, but nothing beats them for a rich sound - okay, it takes few days to wear off some of the metallicness.

bracheen · « **Reply #4 on:** December 17, 2004, 12:56:32 PM »

I have DR on mine at the moment. I switched from Dean Markley because of all the good I've heard. They are good strings but I like the Dean Markleys a bit better so will go back next string change. I use 45-105. I was given a set of D'Addarios by some employees today as a Christmas present so I'll try them evetually but they're to lite for my taste, 35-95.
Anyway all of that to say my preference is Dean Markley Blue Steels

Sam

bsee · « **Reply #5 on:** December 17, 2004, 01:44:49 PM »

Strings do sound different from each other. As such, what you like won't necessarilly be what I like. I just tried a set of Elixirs on one of my basses. I hated them and pulled them off, but put them back on a day later because I needed to change to something and they were all I had handy. I like them now. I don't know what's different, but it reinforced for me that you can't make a decision about strings in the first five minutes of play time.

Unless you're brand new to bass as an instrument, you've probably already experimented with some strings. You say you've tried a few types on the Epic already, why don't you tell us what you've tried and what you liked/didn't like about them? With that info, some people may be able to help guide you to things that have more of the characteristics you prefer and less of those you dislike.

-Bob

mgirouard3 · « **Reply #6 on:** December 17, 2004, 02:08:49 PM »

If you pick up the December issue of Bass player magazine, they tried out 142 sets of strings and posted the results. The posts include name, model, list price, gauges, core composition and type, winding length, comments and tone/feel. The tone/feel section shows the level of trebble, mid and bass as well as the feel like medium, medium-smooth, medium-coarse and coarse. I have been trying a few strings based on thier posts and have found them to be pretty acurate.

dnburgess · « **Reply #7 on:** December 17, 2004, 02:17:45 PM »

A question for DR players - a friend told me that he had experienced some inconsistency with DR quality assurance - i.e. some sets with individual bad strings. Has anyone had a similar problem?

adriaan · « **Reply #8 on:** December 17, 2004, 02:35:42 PM »

Bob,
Fair enough comment about the 5 minutes trial - except that I had been playing Bass Boomers on my Yamaha neck-through for a few years, and when I put a fresh set on my Epic they just didn't seem able to settle on producing a single steady note. It may have been a bad set, and you can get a bad set with ALL brands - but that was the last set of Boomers I ever bought. Then again, I've also moved away from rock music, and I barely played a note on the Yamaha after getting the Epic. In short, YMMV.

richbass939 · « **Reply #9 on:** December 17, 2004, 04:04:13 PM »

I have played only Elixir Nanoweb 45-105s on my Epic 4. I have been very pleased with the response and sound. They sounded great immediately and still sound great. The concept of the Nanoweb coating is that it keeps dirt and finger gunk from getting jammed down under the winding, thus giving them a long life. I can't hear any deadening of the sound caused by having a plastic coating on the strings.
Several of you have mentioned D'Addarios. I used to play their strings years ago. They used to make a half-round or ground round wound. If I remember this correctly, they would wind the string with round wire and grind off part of it. They ground off about 30% or so of the diameter of the round wire. It wasn't quite down to 50% which would be really flat. It sort of had the feel of flat-wound but more of the round-wound ring. I haven't been able to find out anything about them recently. I would be interested in trying them on my Epic if I can find them. Does anyone remember them? Granted, that was about 25 years ago, so a lot has changed since then.
Rich

mgirouard3 · « **Reply #10 on:** December 17, 2004, 05:02:24 PM »

Hi Rich,

D'Addario makes a four string half round ENR71 and a five string set ENR71-5. GHS makes a pressurewound string, La Bella makes the 760QL quarter round, Rotosound makes the RS 55 solo bass, S.I.T makes silencer 4 and 5 string sets. These are all in the Groundwound/Pressurewound section of the chart from the magazine I mentioned above.

jacko · « **Reply #11 on:** December 20, 2004, 04:43:33 AM »

Jumping back to peters original question, I'm using DR fat beams on my epic 5 and I'm really happy with the sound. very full, very rich - all to be expected from Alembic anyway. I've tried allsorts since I got the bass including Status, Rotosound and fenders but was never very happy with them. Aside from the DRs, the best sound/feel combination I had was with the Alembics that came with the bass.

David Houck · « **Reply #12 on:** December 20, 2004, 06:51:28 AM »

Here's the December Bassplayer article mentioned above:
http://www.bassplayer.com/archive/1204/1204_Features1.htm

flaxattack · « **Reply #13 on:** December 20, 2004, 01:59:56 PM »

i jsut moved over to TI flatwounds and i am in heaven

bsee · « **Reply #14 on:** December 20, 2004, 02:03:58 PM »

That article seems pretty accurate for the strings I have tried. I am running a set of Elixirs right now and they definitely don't have a crisp top end. They aren't bad, but they aren't tight either.