I went down to the local GC last week and picked up a bunch of strings, and I guess I'll be trying them all out over the next few weeks, on my Fender Stratocaster. My normal set is D'addario .011s and .010s, depending on how I feel, for reference.
I started off with
GHS Boomers Low Tuned Set.
e - .011
B - .015
G - .019
D - DY .033
A - DY .043
E - DY .053
I don't actually tune all that low (Eb, Drop Db occasionally), but whatever. These strings were pretty nice sounding, and had a pretty good feel. I much prefer the D'addario packaging to everything else I've seen (environmentally friendly, colored ball ends, nice and small), but it's not a very big detail.
Tone wise I'd say they were above average. They didn't really blow me away, but I was impressed at how good they sounded.
Lifetime - Lasted about 9 days before I felt they needed to be changed. After about the 8th day the noticeably lost brightness and all the things that make new strings better than old grimy ones.
Overall: 7/10. Above average sound, average lifetime. 5/10 is dead average, of course.
Dean Markley Blue Steel Med
e - .011
B - .013
G - .020w/.018p
D - .030
A - .042
E - .052
The first thing I noticed when I unpacked these strings was that they include two G strings -- one wound, one plain. Nice touch. Also entirely unnecessary. I'd actually prefer they just sold one set with a wound 3rd and one with a plain 3rd, but whatever.
Also, they're more expensive then other sets, but it's not too bad, I guess.
Tone? Strange. They don't sound half bad on a clean channel (actually, quite a bit above average), but when distorted, the lower strings have an odd kind of blurry, woofy characteristic. The treble strings are unusually biting as well (which I like).
For another set of .011s, the tension is quite a bit less than what I expected, even with the wound 3rd.
I would not recommend them, unless you play through a Fender Twin Reverb or Roland Jazz Chorus all the time, in which case they beat out the GHS Boomers in terms of tone by a significant margin.
Lasted about 2 weeks.
Final verdict? They do last longer, sound great clean, but I hate what they do to the bass strings. Sound odd. Thumbs up for clean, thumbs down for distortion.
Overall (clean): 8/10
Overall (distorted): 3/10
DR Tite-Fit EH-11
e - .011
B - .014
G - .018p
D - .028
A - .038
E - .050
First thing I noticed was that the gauges were bad. They don't increase in size fast enough to get a nice even tension. Overall they were a bit looser than I wanted.
Standard packaging and pricing, which I don't like. Individual paper packs are a waste.
Tone was pretty nice. The low strings had a nice metallic pop sound that I haven't really heard before (nothing to do with the tension, I checked) and really like, but it might not be for everyone. High strings sounded nice, if generic.
They lasted about the same amount of time as the GHS strings; average there. They lost their best feature (the aforementioned metallic pop sound) after only about 3 days though. If you're a gigging musician and change strings every show it's not a big deal.
Overall: 6/10 - Great metallic pop sound initially, brought down by weird tension and the fact that the "pop" leaves after a few days.
Ernie Ball Power Slinky, or as many of us know them, "the purple ones"
Super standard. Above average sound, nice tension I guess, somewhat strange given the slowly increasing gauge, but whatever. To be continued.
NOT EVEN SLINKIES:
Don't like 'em. Tension is crap.
Anyways, at this point I'll say the Malmsteen .008-.046 set is my favorite.