Ernie BallExtra Slinky Cobalt Electric Guitar Strings, 8-38 Gauge (P02725)

Great practice for aspiring metal players.The strings are thick, hard to work with and hurt, but thats what makes it great, its good for aquiring the discipline needed for guitar early on.When you finally drop to standard string gauges you will feel like your playing with spaghetti and tones will be more clear, overall playing will be easier.The perfect bootcamp strings in my opinion.

I installed these strings onto my ESP guitar as soon as I got them in the mail, and I must say it was worth the wait. The first thing I noticed was the feel. These strings are silky smooth, even the low E string. The second thing I noticed was the durability. As I pulled the string across the fretboard I noticed the reaction these strings have to the magnetic pickups...just like Ernie Ball claims, these strings react STRONGLY to magnets. I had to peel these strings off the pickups a few times while I was installing them. Then I noticed the durability of these strings as I tuned them. I felt a fair bit of resistance, much more than my old strings when I first installed them. They're also a lot more sensitive to tuning adjustments, although after leaving them sit for two hours after JUST BEING INSTALLED, they were only 5 cents off on the tuning. A small twitch of the tuning peg and they were back to where they should be. I figured, like any string, I would be fighting with them for the next few days trying to stretch them enough so they'll stay in tune without constant adjustment, but this is my third day of playing with them and they have stayed in perfect tuning since I installed them. I can't guarantee they will work for you the same way, but I know they will hold up to a lot more abuse than many other strings I've used so far. The final thing I noticed was the TONE. These strings sound quite a bit different, they have a much tighter mid to high and they seem to have less of a tendency to chaotically overlap each other's sound. Each string has a distinctive tonality that sets them apart from each other. You play the same note on different strings and you can easily hear the difference between the two. Sustains seem to last forever, and the clarity is incredible...only problem I'm having is trying to explain how it sounds in words...if you decide to buy them, try them with distortion and without, you'll be impressed by their versatility.To summarize,-Strong reaction to the magnets in pickups-Stay in tune very well (for me at least)-Sharp, clear tone-Each string is distinguishable from another-Durable-Silky smoothIf you have any questions, shoot a comment if you want, but I am telling you, I would not hesitate to try these strings at least once.

I usually use Super Slinky so if your like me and wanted to try these, here is a comparison from my opinion.1. These feel more "stringy" like looser and more wirey to play, the Super Slinky felt more thick and heavier.2: Cobalt is much brighter so if you play a more acoustic type style you will notice a pretty big difference. almost has a small sitar type of reverberation.3: Cobalt seemed to pick up a bit stronger on my pickups, sounded great with heavy distortion. With the extra brightness you could really make each string shine, just seemed to be lacking in the lower tones I needed and felt stringy. Super's provided a lower tone as well as the extra firmness I needed when playing.Overall I had to go back to super slinky, but may slap them on an extra rig for some distorted fuzz fun.

Great strings!

Bright notes on all strings with a ton of overtones and harmonics and these strings do increase the output signal from the pickups, had to turn the volume down on several guitars that previously had weak outputs. Will purchase more for my other guitars.

I have used a variety of EB Slinkies for a while. I'm specifically reviewing the .012 - .056 Not Even Slinky Cobalt set.I have them on my G&L ASAT, which is set up to play traditional jazz---clean and warm tone from a neck pickup. I play this in a guitar duo so we trade playing melodies/solos and comping duties. I've never really been able to get used to flats, which lack that tactile response and fretting hand finger bite that rounds give so I was looking for strings that gave good jazz tone and had that "authority" in the bass without flats. Most users of these strings will likely want to play downtuned metal, but they make fine jazz strings, too.For reference I have a Seymour Duncan Seth Lover in the neck slot and the guitar is tuned to E with low action, so there's a lot of string tension. By rolling tone I get a good jazz sound in a clean amp, and the heaviness of the strings along with some tweaks to the setup give a really rich tone for walking bass lines and shell or "Ed Bickert" type chords, exactly the kind of comping that gets out of the soloist's way and really keeps the groove alive. I think I'd like a wound G a little bit better, but it's not a huge deal. I wish I had a 7 string for those extra low notes for walking bass!The only thing a little strange about cobalts is that they feel... oddly rough. Slightly corroded, I guess. They're not but they feel that way so you need to realize that that's what they feel like before you think you got a skunked pack.UPDATE: The "slightly rough" feel I mentioned, or what someone else called "cat tongue feel" has really driven me nuts. I like the tone but I can't deal with the feel, which is just too grippy. I'm going to switch to something else soon.

These strings REALLY rock out!!! You get some great growl out of them, they are flexible and they just sound like they sparkle! The heavier gauge is what I was looking for and the Cobalt give them a lot of bite! They sound warm with a lot of high end and deep bass. Very easily broken in. Great strings in my opinion for the money, I’d buy them even if they were double the price.