Ernie Ball 2723 Super Slinky Cobalt Electric Guitar Strings - .009-.042 Reviews

Like em a lot

Yeah you read that right! I have been playing since 1988. I have tried almost every string you can imagine. My preference is Nickle but the problem with Nickle is that after a couple days they loose their kick and start to sound flat. Cobalt sounds just as good as nickle and they last much much longer. I only use Cobalt now on all of my electrics. The longest I have gone not changing the strings on one of my guitars was a year. It still sounded great but I had to put on a new set just on principle.

Used to use Ernie Ball Super Slinky"s before I stopped playing. Now that I've started playing again, decided to try the Cobalts. Incredible sound and feel. Never thought I'd give up Super Slinkys,but now I'm a Cobalt fan.

Way to go Earnie ! Been using your .008's since the beginning of time ,ever since I tried em in the 70's . Switched to your 009's a year ago and haven't looked back ...... until two days ago I bought the Cobalt .009's
These are freaking great !!! I cringed when I paid twice as much for them but the sound is fantastic on my Les Paul Studio ( I love this guitar ) played some clean jazzy stuff first and it was singing !
Then comes the overdrive , wow ! Fuller sound
Distortion , heh ,heh ,heh !
They bend great and feel smooth . Better than the old slinky's .
Gonna by a set in a few minutes for my Gibson Melody Maker SG and give it a go !
Can't wait for them to arrive !
Other reviews say they last for a long time with great sound . I guess we'll see about that .

Wanna try the Paradgm strings some time or another...
I'm sure there great and if they last as long as Earnie claims I guess there worth the money .

I decided to bite the bullet and spend the extra money to try out a set of these strings. (I generally use Slinky strings, but the regular ones) I bought two sets and today I put a set on my wife's Squire Strat. (She has several high end guitars, but this little gem plays like butter) I was a bit concerned that I was throwing $10 strings on this, but went for it for her. I ended up playing it for over an hour and am really excited about the tone and overall playability of the strings. I hardly had ANY STRETCH and they stayed in tune with some heavy duty bending and hammering. I am a bit tight when it comes to spending extra on strings, but I suspect these strings will be on all of my guitars. I have one extra set now, and plan on putting them on one of my Les Pauls for a go. Will keep you posted. Thank you Sweetwater!

My wife talked me into buying these strings when the local music store was out of the EB Super Slinky strings that I normally use. I cringed at paying twice the price for a set of strings but, WOW, what a difference. The tone is fantastic and they feel like coated strings, super smooth. Now these are the only strings I use on my strat and tele.
They may cost twice as much as the regular strings but they also last longer.
Go ahead and get ya some.

I've been a guitarist for over 40 years. I was a huge Dean Markley ultra lights guy for a long time until I made the switch to Ernie Ball Super Slinky's in the late 70's. From time to time, I've tried others just to check them out. Always ran back to Super Slinky's. I tried the Cobalt Super Slinky's a few months ago very warily and skeptically. Man, was I impressed! I've swapped all my guitars to these strings and won't go back! They are louder and "punchier". The notes are clearer and cut through the mix. They are easy on the fingers and last a LONG time. I'm all over the place on genres from Hendrix to Breaking Benjamin and my primary guitars are (all American) Les Paul Custom, Explorer, SSH Stratocaster, and Deluxe Telecaster. There was a very noticeable positive difference on every guitar. If you pay attention to your tone (and you should), the difference is well worth the extra dollars!

Great strings! I had a set on my Parker Fly for almost 6 months.

After reading all the hype I decided to try a set of, Ernie Ball Slinky Cobalt strings on my 02 Jackson DKMG. The Slinky Cobalt strings changed the voice of my guitar, richer, fuller, more body, and will handle higher bending of the strings without brakeage. So smooth fingers glide over these strings. I have ben using E.B. Slinky Cobalt strings for four months on same guitar, and the tone is still great. Only one con, if you like shiny strings buy nickel. I LOVE M.

Put these on a new Tele. I normally use 10's but thought I'd give them a try before I had to change the set-up. I think these strings actually sound and feel like 10's to me. I know all strings are different according to your tastes and feel, but I really think I will keep these around awhile and not change to 10's yet. Can't really comment to the output difference claimed, but for me it's all about the feel and tone, which I like so far. I will report again as these strings get played a little more as this Tele is not my main guitar.

Akin to the Dean Markley "sub-zeros" and discontinued GHS "cryogenics" they produce excellent highs and last much longer than regular strings. The GHS to me seemed to have a bit more buzz that I liked and lasted just as long so I'm really glad EB makes these.

I'm still going to try out the DM sub-zeros again because I remember them being easier to play, other player reviews mentioned difficult playability on the EBs. They do feel a bit rough TBH. I'm also playing 10s for rhythms, so I'm going to switch to the 9s on a alternate guitar when I have solo spots.

In general I like them, it's what I'm looking for in a string as far as sound and balance. Hard rock rhythms with these strings really crush it, Malcom Young would probably have loved them.

My first impression when I first tried the EB Slinky Cobalt was that I didn"t really like them. That is to say I wasn"t a fan of how they felt. They are very "slinky" and smooth as far as bending goes, but when I ran my hand up and down the neck, the wound strings had a little rougher of a feel than nickel or nickel plated steel. They definitely looked different and felt different and took a bit of getting used to. But I was a HUGE fan of what they did for my tone. Punchier, more aggressive attack, tighter lows and excellent highs. There was a bigger difference in tone between these and any of the other brands I"ve tried. And I"ve tried most all brands throughout my years of playing without noticing a huge difference between them all. But I immediately noticed the tonal difference with the Cobalts. But I decided to go back to a more familiar feel with the standard Super Slinky"s which are great strings in their own right. After a couple of string changes I decided to revisit the Cobalts. I stopped thinking so much about the different feel and just enjoyed the enhanced harmonics and punchier tone. After a little while, they just started feeling better to me. I finally got used to them! I tried one last time to go back to regular strings and they just sounded dull and flat and didn"t feel right. Now I"m back to the Cobalt"s for good. I hope EB never stops making them! I"m fortunate in that strings always lasted for me without corroding or going dead very quickly and these last even longer and hold their tone for a little more than a month for me. I"ve heard concerns about faster fretwear. I"ve been using them for a year now with no noticeable difference in fretwear whatsoever. I do plan on installing Stainless Steel fretwire on my guitar anyway and they are practically indestructible. Awesome strings and definitely worth the little bit of extra cash for me.

These strings arrived yesterday and I can say I am genuinely impressed. Usually I think of products like this to be pure hype and marketing, but these things are definitely not. Probably the best part of them is that they entirely eliminate a muddy and booming low end, these are very clear and focused, and makes it have almost an acoustic fullness to them even with 9s when playing clean (I use an SSS Strat); and with the overdrive on they are never booming and very pleasant to listen to. I like the feel of these strings however apart from slightly easier bending they feel the same as normal slinkys, which is nothing to complain about. I can't say much yet on durability and life but will update my review when I can. These are a bit pricy, and Sweetwater was great as always.

These strings are on the pathway to greatness! A great work in progress, they heat up pickups unlike any other.
That said, be careful on the light gauge, as they will snap on you during performance more than others.
Maybe they can alloy the non-wounds to perform as well without the possibility of losing an eye while playing the solo to "let's Go Crazy."
Mike Godlove and everyone at Sweetwater are the tops in service and personable service!

The only reason that I rated them 4 stars instead of 5 is because I can't get used to the way they feel. They sound great and perform well but the coating just feels different. But again, they're otherwise great.

Heard about them at the NAMM show in Anaheim last year so thought i would try a set or two. If you like a "light" gauge string starting at .10, try the super slinky starting at .009. The "light" gauge super slinkys start at .11 or .12. These super slinky's really produce a little bit of extra volume or resonance and they sound really good on my Gibson SG. Recommend trying them for a different sound....

I'll start out saying I like the tone of these strings & like playing them. The only problem I'm having is they bind, or bite into the nut when tuning. I installed the 9-42's on a LP style Ibanez, and a 10-46 set on my ES-335 with the same result on both. Both guitars have a plastic nut, and 18 to 1 Grover machine heads. They might work better with bone. When changing strings I always use graphite on the nut. That didn't work with these. I ended up mixing graphite with vasoline for a lube which helps but still have this problem to a lesser degree. I can deal with this as I just play at home now (64 yrs old) but if I was still gigging, I would find these quite a hassle. I've used regular Slinkys on and off for many years with out this problem. I'm not saying these are bad strings, just stating the problem I've had. I don't think that changing the nut is worth it to me, just to use these. I'm still on the fence about buying more of these.

I didn’t find the tone or feel to be any better or, worse than any other set of middle of the road strings by any of the major manufactures.

Actually got rusty b and e strings in my first pack. Sweetwater made it right though.