the only string you should ever spend more then 6 or 7 bucks on should be elixers. i use ernie ball 9-42's on almost everything, but for the band im in we play in a dropped "c" tuning. for that, on a jackson king v I use the elixers, but luckily since i know a guy at the music store, he lets me open up packs and take the string i want. i take the first 4 from a heavy gage set (the 52,42,32,26) and the last two i take from a medium set (the 11, and an 18). some may find this strange, but i like it as far as maintaining tension on the bottom end, as well as some vicious crunch, and it still allows my top strings to be a bit quicker for soloing. i find the thicker strings on the bottom also give great midrange and bass for clean, non-distorted interludes. this costs me about 13 bucks, i dont always do it though, just when i am recording, have an important show (not that the crowd notices), or when i have a few bucks to spend. by the way, elixers last twice as long as normal strings, but feel kinda slick due to the polyweb coating.