I've had an interesting experience comparing these two string brands. I've played Ernie Ball strings forever; .046 -> .010 for a while, went down to .046 -> .009 decades ago, and considered going to .008 over the last few months. I just can't play .009's easily anymore...getting old I guess heh.
The problem I found with the .008 sets is that the lower strings are just too thin. I found the Ernie Ball has just come out with a new set "Hyper Slinky" which is a standard .042 -> .009 set (.042, .032, .024, .016, .011, .009) with a thinner G and high E string (.014 and .008).
So that set (.042, .032, .024, .016, .011, .009) looked interesting. I went to the local dealer and he didn't have any of the "Hyper Slinky" set so I made up my own custom set with the D'Addario string singles the store had on hand. Went home and put 'em on the Suhr.
Now, bear in mind I've not tried any other string manufactures for decades now, and I didn't expect there to be much difference tone wise, etc. When I installed these strings that also coincided with the FM9 firmware update where the modelling issue with the transformer was corrected (a big fix). With the firmware update and installation of the D'Addario strings I was absolutely pumped with what I was hearing and feeling with everything. I really loved the feel of the custom set, and I was digging the new CNFB modelling a lot since that was the first time I got to try it. Inspired is the word here...
All in all, I've not been this dialled in for a long time; I've been practicing with two bands and doing a lot of varied material and the FM9/guitar never sounded/felt better....again, I'm finding there was something in the overall rig/system that hasn't been there before which I really was connecting with. Good times.
After rehearsals last week I did some final, minor tweaks to a couple of presets, levels, etc. and was good to go. I'm now super satisfied with everything, and it's nice to have the FM9 really configured for my workflow at last.
So, the local music dealer phones last week and says he had sets of the "Hyper Slinky" so I dashed down there and picked some up. We have our first gig in over two years this weekend, so, while the custom set was only a couple of weeks old, I thought I'd put the new "Hyper Slinky" set on today anyway and check everything at rehearsal tonight.
Wellll....changing back to the Ernie Ball strings is proving to be a major mistake. While the gauges were identical my Suhr immediately felt way more stiff and the feel I was very much enjoying, for weeks, was gone. Cold, unyielding....they seemed to have a lot more tension. I wasn't liking it at all. With the D'Addario set I was taken right off the bat how I liked the feel, and just thought that was more to do with the gauges themselves.
Got to rehearsal tonight early since I thought I'd likely have to tweak tones a bit with the new strings but was astounded at how much more anaemic, brighter, and lower the output of the Ernie Balls were with my presets. Night and day difference; I certainly wasn't expecting to find that much change. I'd have to do quite a bit of reworking, both tonally and for gain as the Ball's were so much different; not even close to what I had before. Everything was very skewed. After tweaking my main tones for the entire evening tonight I couldn't dial the FM9 to get the fantastic tones I got instantly with the D'Addario's, and I felt like I took three steps backwards with the feel. I just wasn't digging anything tonight.
I found the D'Addario's to sound way, way better, particularly having fatter, richer lower mids, more 'meat' in the highs without sounding strident, more output overall, and a far better feel verses the Ernie Ball's.
I'm not going to gig this weekend with the Ernie Balls I just put on today; I'm going to the store tomorrow, buying a regular D'Addario .042 -> .009 set and swapping out the G and high E with singles .014 and .008. Again, for myself, I was blown away by how much I loved the D'Addario's in every way. No more Ernie Ball for me I don't think...I've had a huge revelation here....heh.
The second I got home from rehearsal I started looking into comparisons between these two brands as I definitely didn't expect such drastic changes between the two and ended up here. This is pretty long-winded but I'm really surprised at how much I now seem to dislike the Ernie Ball strings after using them for eons...
So, there is my long winded revelation and thoughts on these two brands FWIW.