...AWESOMENESS!
The backstory:
I bought a cheap-o used Ibanez 7 string about a year ago, mainly for fun. I'm not a drop tuner/nu-metaller or anything like that, but I was fond of Steve Vai back in the day (still am, really) and it was kind of way to re-live my early teen years, since I pined after an Ibanez Universe for many years
I'm a typical six-string classic rock/indie/alternative player, and wanted to to break out of my normal guitar playing routine.
The problem I encountered with 7 strings is that I just could not get the low B string to sound good. I think I've tried every gauge of string from .056 to .066, from several different brands, trying to find that good mix of tension and sound. The biggest annoyance of all were the strange overtones I would get when playing the low B from the 10th fret up. No sustain, off-key "clanking"..it really detracted from a guitar I had bought purely to have some fun with. I don't slather on the gain with this thing...I actually play it pretty cleanly most of the time.
So after reading about the Cobalts, I bought a Not Even Slinky (which has the heaviest wound string available for guitar as far as I can tell) and Super Slinky set to see if I could piece them together to make a seven string set. I got them in the mail this morning and have been working them out for a few hours on the Ibanez, both plugged and unplugged, through a Marshall Class 5 and a Vox AC30.
The thing I wanted the most out of these was some sort of reduction in the "wolf clonk" of that low B string. Mission accomplished. In fact, it is fatter and solider than by a significant degree. I can actually play power chords that ring out all the way up the neck now! Plus, the volume balance and sustain between that low B string and the rest of the set is a lot better. I figured that the problem was something that physically resided in the guitar and maybe the Cobalts would help cover it up a little bit. My expectations were surpassed!
It sounds like Ernie Ball is planning on some 7-string Cobalt sets in the near future and I could not be happier about hearing this. These strings are buttah in the lower registers that regular nickel or nickel-plated would strings seem to give up the ghost in (at least in my experience).
The backstory:
I bought a cheap-o used Ibanez 7 string about a year ago, mainly for fun. I'm not a drop tuner/nu-metaller or anything like that, but I was fond of Steve Vai back in the day (still am, really) and it was kind of way to re-live my early teen years, since I pined after an Ibanez Universe for many years
I'm a typical six-string classic rock/indie/alternative player, and wanted to to break out of my normal guitar playing routine.The problem I encountered with 7 strings is that I just could not get the low B string to sound good. I think I've tried every gauge of string from .056 to .066, from several different brands, trying to find that good mix of tension and sound. The biggest annoyance of all were the strange overtones I would get when playing the low B from the 10th fret up. No sustain, off-key "clanking"..it really detracted from a guitar I had bought purely to have some fun with. I don't slather on the gain with this thing...I actually play it pretty cleanly most of the time.
So after reading about the Cobalts, I bought a Not Even Slinky (which has the heaviest wound string available for guitar as far as I can tell) and Super Slinky set to see if I could piece them together to make a seven string set. I got them in the mail this morning and have been working them out for a few hours on the Ibanez, both plugged and unplugged, through a Marshall Class 5 and a Vox AC30.
The thing I wanted the most out of these was some sort of reduction in the "wolf clonk" of that low B string. Mission accomplished. In fact, it is fatter and solider than by a significant degree. I can actually play power chords that ring out all the way up the neck now! Plus, the volume balance and sustain between that low B string and the rest of the set is a lot better. I figured that the problem was something that physically resided in the guitar and maybe the Cobalts would help cover it up a little bit. My expectations were surpassed!
It sounds like Ernie Ball is planning on some 7-string Cobalt sets in the near future and I could not be happier about hearing this. These strings are buttah in the lower registers that regular nickel or nickel-plated would strings seem to give up the ghost in (at least in my experience).
