Jinder Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Hi all, I've been suckered in by the hype and have bought a set of Ernie Ball Paradigm acoustic strings...the ones they claim are the toughest ever made and guarantee for 90 days against tarnish or breakage. I play for a living and 90 days equates to about 70hrs of playtime for me. These strings will have to be some sort of miracle wires to withstand 70hrs without failing! I usually use D'Addario 12-54 85/15s and change them every two to three gigs. I went for the 80/20 Paradigms and was pleasantly surprised by the lavish packaging and quality of the strings-the plain strings have a bronze wrap wire around the ball end windings which is a nice touch and will be kinder on bridge plates and pins, too. They were hella pricey £18.99 a set!) so they need to be something special. I've just strung up my SJ200 and am off to play the first of four gigs I have coming up in the next three days...I'll report back on the longevity but first impressions are that these are very sweet sounding strings. A bit less sizzle than a fresh set of D'Addarios but of course these are 80/20 not 85/15. I expected the extra tensile strength to come with a tradeoff of tone loss, but they certainly sound lovely at this stage. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kidblast Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 I'm interested in how this turns out. been using masterbuilts on my J200, but have tried Elixir PB, and DR Veritas. I do like the Elixir PBs. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted May 12, 2017 Author Share Posted May 12, 2017 Well gig #1 is done...really nice plugged in tone from these strings with the Aura Ellipse system in the SJ200. As expected, they sound and play just the same now as this morning when I put them on. They're not quite as bass-heavy plugged in as the D'Addarios but that's no bad thing-they sound very natural without the hyped bass. I do quite a bit of looping on the fly in my live shows and building a "full band" effect using percussive playing, pitch shifting for bass effect and an Earthquaker Dunes overdrive for lead stuff. Some strings sound thin and plinky with overdrive but the Paradigms were nice and fat sounding...I know it's heresy to use overdrive with an acoustic but I'm happy to be a heretic! I aim for my overdriven acoustic lead tone to sound like a Les Paul Jr through a cranked and steaming Fender Champ, and these gave me the tone I like, so I'm happy. Off to gig #2 now! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
rct Posted May 12, 2017 Share Posted May 12, 2017 Thanks for this. I hope for no injuries in any train wrecks and safe travel to and from. Looking forward to your impressions. rct Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 Well they made it to the end of gig #4...not broken but are now badly tarnished, the G string windings are disintegrating and they sound dead as doornails. My SJ200 now sounds like someone left a jumper in it! I won't be buying them again. A fellow troubadour pal, Rich Baxter, put a set on at the same time as me and his lasted one gig before the A string let go. They're massively expensive and although mine stood up well to hard strumming, the tone loss wasn't acceptable and as someone who makes my living from performance I wouldn't consider them to be in suitable condition for a professional performance as they are now after four gigs. I'm sort of over the coated string hype now. I'll take a normal, £5.99 set of a D'Addario 85/15s over 99% of coated stuff. The Martin Lifespan SPs are the best of the lot but still don't get my vote for the money. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
blindboygrunt Posted May 20, 2017 Share Posted May 20, 2017 I'd have expected about 2 years out of a set of strings at that price They'll sell loads though because they're dear so hey they must be good I too really like Martin lifespans but they fall short of the longevity of elixirs which are the best value for money out there But, like jinder , dadarrios are easy got and easy paid for Can you really tell a difference between 80/20's and 85/15's jinder ? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted May 20, 2017 Author Share Posted May 20, 2017 I'd have expected about 2 years out of a set of strings at that price They'll sell loads though because they're dear so hey they must be good I too really like Martin lifespans but they fall short of the longevity of elixirs which are the best value for money out there But, like jinder , dadarrios are easy got and easy paid for Can you really tell a difference between 80/20's and 85/15's jinder ? Not really!! I've not tried D'Addario 80/20s as they're never in any shops that I find myself in, but I prefer the 85/15 12-54s to the PB 12-53s, I like the slightly heavier gauge and they seem to ring better and longer than the PBs. Cheaper too! Conventional wisdom is that 80/20 should be brighter than 85/15 as it's further away from the 92/8 blend of PB, but I find Martin 80/20s darker than both D'Addario blends...go figure. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jinder Posted May 21, 2017 Author Share Posted May 21, 2017 Well...out of curiosity I left them on for gig #5. I broke THREE strings (A, D & G) in the first half an hour! The "90 days" schtick clearly only applies to guitars that don't get played. They lasted eight days and five gigs, and breaking three strings in one show is frankly embarrassing. I've now got the fun and games ahead of getting Ernie Ball to honour their promise to replace broken strings. I'll report back... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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