Ernie Ball 2625

The Ernie Ball 2625 string set for was one of the first on the market for 8 string players, and as with all EB strings they are bright, smooth and long lasting. Upon purchase of an eight string I was reasonably skeptical regarding one of the major manufacturers getting the gauges right, and resigned myself to mixing and matching to get the desired tensions. I was therefor pleasantly surprised to find the 2625 set absolutely bang on! That said, scale length and tuning become serious factors... tuning too much below standard on anything under a 27inch scale length may present a very floppy 8th string. However, swapping out the supplied .74 for a .80 single string is no huge inconvenience.
Recording with Slinky‘s is always a joy, and this set is no exception, retaining a natural feel and long lasting tonality. When swapping out the 8th string (another manufacturer - no names mentioned!) that string becomes dull and indistinct on average twice as quickly as the rest of the set.
So Ernie Ball does it again - although on reflection perhaps the .74 could be increased a little to cover all bases...

As a long time user of D*#@* 6-string set, wasn't sure about what to chose for a set of my new entry level 8-string guitar in the same order from Thommann's to restring, but these Ernies custom gauge in their site sounded just neat. Perfect clean tones, and semi-wild distorted crunch with omnipresent subtle sparks of obertones was just a right choice for passive humbuckers. Over all great strings and plays great for my playing style of metalcore with occasional clean passages. The only cons - the highs are just little a bit too soft on lower action in Eb tuning, next time I 'll be preparing my fingers for some heavier gauges for sure, but these custom gauges create interesting and a bit unexpected feeling for play as well. Some different kind of balance.