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DR Strings BKB-45 Black Beauties Coated Steel Bass Guitar Strings - .045-.105 Medium Reviews

.045-.105 Bass Strings, Extra-Life Black Beauties with Thin Black Coating, Medium

Since 1989, DR has been committed to crafting hand made, superb-quality instrument strings. By blending the best of old-fashioned handmade craftsmanship with cutting edge materials or string coatings, DR continues to push the boundaries of the string-making process. That commitment to quality is what has brought countless top-flight bassists and guitarists to string-up with DRs — from U2's Adam Clayton to Phish's Trey Anastasio and everywhere outside and in between. For reliable tone — acoustic or electric — you can rely on the handcrafted strings from DR.

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Highest Rated Reviews

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I’ve Found my Sound

By DMark Hall from Detroit, MI on December 27, 2022 Music Background: Songwriter. Producer. Engineer.

Like everyone else I've been looking for my own sound forever. Went through all the phases of trying what my heroes did and what bits of gear they acknowledged. Playing these have brought the sound in my head to my fingertips to my cabinet. At my recent jury the head of the music department congratulated me on my tone. I'm about to buy a set for my 5-string.

Just what I needed

By Chad Coffey from Lexington, KY on October 4, 2022

There great!

Their great!

By Dominick from New York on September 30, 2022

Love these strings! Great tones to be had with them. Enjoy!

Impressed

By Alvin Johnson from Midland, TX on August 2, 2022

I put a set a these on my Marcus Miller V3 bass and it definitely cuts down on my finger string noise & has a sweet tone to it. I'd recommend to everyone

Sound and feel great !

By Sweetwater Customer on September 17, 2021

I use these on my fender Jazz to get a smooth , punchy sound. Not disappointed.

Great deal!!

By David Ruhl on February 23, 2019 Music Background: a little more than a hobby

i have had the strings for a while now and they work amazing! great sound worth the money.

TONE!!!

By Richard DuBose from Texas on January 4, 2019 Music Background: 40 + years

It didn't take long to get past the different feel of these strings, "which are actually very comfortable"once I started paying attention to the tone mt Bass was producing. These strings have Excellent Tone throughout the entire spectrum of my Bass. "I play an American PBass" Overall Tonage was verry consistent. I have never heard an Open A Sound exactly like a Fretted A with any otjer string. I'm Addicted. These are my New Strings.

Tonal Bright

By Josh from South Carilina on March 19, 2018 Music Background: Hobbist

The first thing I noticed when put these on my Ibanez bass was that they sounded brighter than my regular strings. They also hold tuning very well as I have practiced about an hour and a half a day for almost three weeks and I haven't had to do any fine tuning with them.
I went with coated strings because of the high humidity levels where I live. I'll be buying another set of these when the first set starts to wear.

Love these black strings

By Steve Hancock from Byron California on December 15, 2017 Music Background: Hard Rock and Blues playing for over 45 years

I have been in and out of bands since I was 19 years old and today I am 65, Over the years I have had a large assortment of equipment my current gear is and old 1968 Memphis (Korean P bass knockoff) single pickup volume and tone knobs only, used strictly for dead flat thumping bottom. a 1991 Ibanez SDGR 800 active EQ for me my best versatile all around guitar. a black bodied Dean Edge fretless active EQ and last but not least my 1968 Fender P Bass with a Jazz bass neck I still have the thumb rest and the chrome wrap pickup cover. Currently using two different heads a Carvin BX 600 and a Ampeg SVT. Cabinets 1 Randall Jaguar 4X12 tied into a Carvin 15, 2 JBL 2X15 PA speakers playing through as bass speakers and 1 old Trayner cabinet with 2 Cerwin Vega 18s mounted facing in 1 top 1 bottom and a large airway slot facing out with a 1975 Sunn 400 watt all tube head. I have always used black strings and years ago started with the black felt wounds. A few years ago I tried a set of the black beauties 45-105s they looked great and are very user friendly on my fretless neck as well. They sound great, stay tuned and last forever. For being a string that is more on a bright sound level i can get killer hard driving bottom out of them. depending on which amp and cabinet set up as well as a Boss Overdrive pedal they slap nicely as well all though I prefer just a good old hard hitting hard hitting thud. They are well priced hold their tune and tone for me if if there is anything negative to say it would just be that they seem to last forever so I dont have to purchase them all the time which is good for me and nod so good for DR. Rock Hard and Rock forever. Steve Hancock Byron, California

Perfect For My "Chocolate Thunder" Precision I Built

By william the lesser from Virginia Beach on December 13, 2017 Music Background: Extensive

Because of the overall design motif of the Tele Precision I built called "Chocolate Thunder" - a dark Wenge body and neck shaft, Padouk fingerboard, and all flat black hardware - I wanted black strings to set it off.

I put La Bella black nylon tape-wounds on it but they had a purple silk at the machine head end. Couldn't abide that.

So I bought these, not knowing if they had any silk on them or what color it might be, so I was glad they are solid black - end to end.

Oh . . . and they sound amazing, too!

Stupid stupid stupid

By Fred Leeway from Berkeley, CA on August 6, 2017 Music Background: Lead bassist in Parmejaundice, and rhythm bassist in Ion Dragon

These bass strings are the stupidest things I've ever played in my entire life. I Put em on on my 72 jazz pro rig model, which I was running through an Ampeg HR double T at the time (at the time I was on tour with my band Parmejaundice). I thought I had some innovative reliable new bass strings...boy was I wrong. The second I hit a chord with all six strings (diminished I think) The B string snapped in the F string was the second to go. I was completely humiliated. These bass strings or make you feel like a jackass, DO NOT BUY THEM !!!!

New Favorite Strings for bass

By Eric Benson from Vancouver, WA on June 22, 2016

Asked Sean for Elixers on a new Jazz Bass last year. They were out so He recommended the Black Beauties and I said go ahead. Best decision I ever made. Have played Elixers for ever it seems but these are punchier and seem "tighter" for longer than the Elixers were. They also look amazing on my bass. DR all the way now.

Might sound vain but just chose a new acoustic base based on which would look best with Black Beauties :)

Punchy, Cool Looking

By Nicholas Frese from Turnersville, NJ on January 18, 2013

This was my first foray into the world of coated strings for bass. For my P bass, I was going to go with Elixers, which I know are great, but I figured I'd take a crack at these since they were like $10.00 cheaper. Good move. They have great punch through my Little Mark II head (with Epifani 2x10 cabinet). Strong bottom end, made even strong when I play through my Aphex Exciter/Big Bottom. We'll see how they last, but boy, my first impression was so good that I bought a set for my Jazz, too.

Pleasantly surprised

By Eric from Michigan on March 14, 2023

Upgraded one of my older basses with emg geezer butler pj pickups recently and decided to give these a shot. Was kinda bummed the first day or two because there was a tacky sticky sound when I plucked. Luckily that wore off quickly. Im assuming it's just part of breaking them in. They sound like freshly broken in roundwounds and cut down on finger noise big time. Happy with them so far and they look sharp!

Lovely

By Elijah Wilkinson from Jamestown, NY on April 5, 2014 Music Background: Performing Musician.

Great strings, and they look great too on my new Blacktop P bass!
They're like butter across your fingers or pick and may have opened me up to roundwound strings as previously I swore by flatwound.
If you're in my previous position where you're not a fan of roundwound or have no interest in them, I highly recommend giving these a try before you stick to heavily to that idea, as these strings are just a delight to play.

Grounding noise

By Andrew from Wherever i may roam on March 15, 2023 Music Background: Drummer and bedroom bassist.

I love the feel of these strings and the sound is good, but buyer beware you may experience hum the whole time playing with these strings. The coating insulates the grounding effect that normal all-metal strings have on your electronics may not work, especially on single coils pickups like my bass.

Stay away from this crap

By Shahram Yousefi from Novato, CA on October 18, 2021

it works for a week or two and then the black coat start to peel off, hurt the fingers, and sound thin

Black Beauties

By Bassman 64 from Texas on May 31, 2022 Music Background: Any kind of Country

I normally do not post on gear but I had too this time!I bought these on a whim (you know,try something new)sort of thing and what a huge mistake.I have played Bass going on 38 years now,so I feel I know a little something on strings.When I put these on my bass I was in my little studio and thought these are okay but nothing great.Three days later I try them on a gig and crap,horrible sound!The only thing I could get out of my EQ was muddy bottom with very little mids and highs.Do yourself a favor and skip right over these when looking for strings!RANT OVER

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