Mellow but not soft, either as a modifier to "mellow" or to volume, volume seems at minimum half again as loud with more clarity, and brighter yes. More like the Worth Clears on steroids, but more bendy and responsive and nuanced. Since Dirk has the string sets designed to tune up a step, at GCEA tuning they are more slinky but not loose. I prefer the feel of Southcoasts under hand to pretty much any other string because of this, they have plenty of ring but are easy to fret and to get clear notes when doing a hammer on or pull off, also great for slides and bends. I have had one or two ukes that I felt they were too bright for, but for what I have in the stable now they work really really well, also I think with the wider variety of tensions and hard or soft sets available Southcoast pretty much could cover any uke well. The only thing I want from Dirk now is some color, I like dark strings on some woods. I don't know how dye would affect the material properties though.
Mellow also comes with the cedar top, though I think the rosewood back and sides add oomph.. yes, that
is the correct technical musical term...
LOL.