Beta Test & Review D’Addario NYXL Bass Strings

[Matt P]

[quote name='D'AddarioUK' timestamp='1458294211' post='3006288']
I've had a set on my Jazz V for 3 months now and they're still going strong!
[/quote]

this will be the set that I tried at the bass bash, really liked them.

if there are any more 5 string sets available then I'd love to try them out on my precision V

Matt

[Billy Apple]

I had my pack put on my new Spector 5'er when Martin at The Gallery set it up last week.

In a nut shell..

[u]Pro's[/u]
Nice feel with a medium tension and even balance across the strings

[u]Cons[/u]
The tone is OK, but lacks character. There is an absence of bite. I've got Flex Steels on my NS2 and they bring the bass alive in a way that the NYXL's don't.

[Chienmortbb]

Oops

Edited March 20, 2016 by Chienmortbb

[Chienmortbb]

£36 a set on Strings Direct. Pass especially when they are $26

[Kev]

[quote name='Chienmortbb' timestamp='1458488622' post='3007974']
£36 a set on Strings Direct. Pass especially when they are $26
[/quote]



I have to say, I will not be purchasing a set at that price point. They are clearly quality strings, but they are not worth coated string money. I'd much sooner have the Flex Steels, which are about £22 a set on Amazon right now. They have more character, nice tension and tons of zing. I am not sure exactly what market they are trying to tap into with these?

[LayDownThaFunk]

How can you compare nickles and steels? Apples and oranges.

These are good strings but I wouldn't say they're twice as good over standard XLs... so not worth twice the price. I order all my strings from the US now and never get stung for customs. £25 a set anyone?

http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DADDARIO-NYXL45105-NICKEL-PLATED-STEEL-BASS-STRINGS-LIGHT-MED-GAUGE-4s-45-105-/121924793543?hash=item1c6348b4c7:g:Af0AAOSwoudW5zZ0

[Kev]

[quote name='LayDownThaFunk' timestamp='1458565883' post='3008588']
How can you compare nickles and steels? Apples and oranges.

These are good strings but I wouldn't say they're twice as good over standard XLs... so not worth twice the price. I order all my strings from the US now and never get stung for customs. £25 a set anyone?

[url="http://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/DADDARIO-NYXL45105-NICKEL-PLATED-STEEL-BASS-STRINGS-LIGHT-MED-GAUGE-4s-45-105-/121924793543?hash=item1c6348b4c7:g:Af0AAOSwoudW5zZ0"]http://www.ebay.co.u...f0AAOSwoudW5zZ0[/url]
[/quote]

I compared the two as they are a similar build

[Hector]

I bought the NYXL set recently to try them. Thought they were a great string, but am too much of a creature of habit to break away from the strings I've been using for the last few years. They sounded lovely, but some of the changes in tone and feel didn't suit my subjective preference.

If anyone's looking to try a set a bit cheaper than list: http://basschat.co.uk/topic/281479-daddario-nyxl-45130/ (They've had a few hours of playtime, not even gigged).

[Mudpup]

I am usually a stainless guy with the occasional foray into nickel territory. Usually i will kill a set of nickels in a couple of gigs, rarely getting more than a month out of them as i like a bit of zing and usually play pretty sweaty gigs. My usual routine is 3 gigs and then a quick dunk in meths for a couple of hours - that normally gets another 2/3 gigs out of whatever strings i have. My current fave strings are dunlop Super Bright SS or EB Cobalt rounds when i am feeling a bit minted.

These NYXL strings are now nearly 2 months in with 6 gigs under their belt and they still sound great - thats unheard of with me and especially nickels!!!!!

They sounded great from the start on my Stingray - i thought they were pretty zingy (contrary to what others have said on here) and had a really nice fat sounding mid/low mid and its hardly diminished at all over 2 months. Nice smooth feel and noticeably slippier feeling than SS strings.

Really impressed so far but not sure i would pay £35+ for them - thats 2 packs of Super Brights - £22/25 maybe but no more.

[D'AddarioUK]

[quote name='Mudpup' timestamp='1459181586' post='3014186']
I am usually a stainless guy with the occasional foray into nickel territory. Usually i will kill a set of nickels in a couple of gigs, rarely getting more than a month out of them as i like a bit of zing and usually play pretty sweaty gigs. My usual routine is 3 gigs and then a quick dunk in meths for a couple of hours - that normally gets another 2/3 gigs out of whatever strings i have. My current fave strings are dunlop Super Bright SS or EB Cobalt rounds when i am feeling a bit minted.

These NYXL strings are now nearly 2 months in with 6 gigs under their belt and they still sound great - thats unheard of with me and especially nickels!!!!!

They sounded great from the start on my Stingray - i thought they were pretty zingy (contrary to what others have said on here) and had a really nice fat sounding mid/low mid and its hardly diminished at all over 2 months. Nice smooth feel and noticeably slippier feeling than SS strings.

Really impressed so far but not sure i would pay £35+ for them - thats 2 packs of Super Brights - £22/25 maybe but no more.
[/quote]

I'm glad to hear you're getting on well with them, as well as the sound, feel and sustain they are designed to last significantly longer than other un-coated strings. As for the price, many sites have them listed for about the £30 mark, when you take into account the extra longevity you should be spending no more on strings in the long term, plus they sound amazing!

[Mudpup]

Agreed, they are very good imho......

[Cameronj279]

I've now had a bit longer with the strings and as much as I love how they sound and feel, the longevity isn't as good as the elixirs. Which is probably one of the -if not the- most important thing I go for when buying strings.

I could see myself using NYXL's if I was a bit less skint though. Glad to have been able to try them

[gary mac]

I wasn't part of this test group but having just fitted a set of NYXL's to my gigging bass, wanted to report that so far I am very impressed.
To date have only played the one gig, so can't comment on longevity but the sound was very pleasing to my ears. They provided the growling tone that I like, with a lovely even tone and volume across the strings. Good level of zing but not overly so.
Importantly as well, they proved comfortable to play and at the end of a two hour gig my fingers were feeling just fine.

Over the years I've most played steels and due to a bit of an allergy, which resulted in very sore finger tips, have stayed away from nickels. Happy to say, that I didn't suffer that reaction with these.

So far then, very happy to recommend them.

[WhoNeedsYou]

I've just roadtested the new d'addario NYXL roundwound bass strings kindly given to me by WaterontheTyne (as the 45-100 gauge didn't suit him)
The packaging was intriguingly James Bond-esque!
I've been playing on roundwound DR neons on a tokai thunderbird for about two years now but always had a backup 90's Squier Jazz bass with La Bella flats as a go to bass when I'd overdone things on the blistered finger front.
I was keen to restring the Squier and try out a half gig with the new D'addarios NYXL vs the thunderbird DR neons which I did last weekend at my bands small pub gig in sunny Crook.
Rookie error being that I had not played a lot the weeks previous due to being away camping but even with that in mind comfort wise I suffered very minor finger discomfort blister wise which I had envisaged . Usually the flat wounds had been my go to "ayaz me fingaz!" Strings if I was being a softy.
No cheese grater fingers with these new strings!
Tone wise (not that I'm technically blessed with much knowledge on that subject) on stage I thought I was nicely audible, a little more than usual mid-wise, though still our sound man had his usual whinge that I could do with more top end :-p , very likely a problem I'm causing with the settings on the ampeg pf500 which I'm still messing around with, than the strings - I shall work on that.
So to summarise - originally i envisaged putting my flat wounds back on the squier after a bit, however I found i really like these strings. They packed as much of a punch as the Tokai with the DR NEONS on and I didn't feel the need to overplay and hammer the strings (or turn up the backline :-/ ) which I used to with the flats.
I'm truly converted back 100% to the world of round wounds.
I had originally envisaged putting my flat wounds back on the squier after a bit, however I really like these strings.
I'm truly converted back to the world of round wounds.
I really like the gauge which is something I'd never considered before - I used to end up asking what everyone else uses rather than experimenting with different strings.
If I had to mark them out of ten I'd say it's around a 8.5/9 as I'm fairly indecisive . It has even got me using a bass I've rarely played in recent years so win win !
If I can talk my other half into getting his digital desk out I'll hopefully record a demo of NXYL vs DR Neon.
**NYXL convert!!!**

[zero9]

Andy was at the Midlands Bash yesterday and kindly gave me as set of 45-105 NYXL's. I've swapped these with my current stainless steel round wounds. Wow, the NYXL's are so much better! Highly recommended.

[iamtheelvy]

Just put a set of these on my Jazz yesterday (45-105 set), and am so far very impressed. Will be testing them out with a couple of different bands this week, so looking forward to seeing how they get on.

[bassbiscuits]

I was lucky enough to win a set of the 45-100 gauge at the midlands bass bash raffle last weekend.

They did sound and feel very good on Andy from D'Addario's five string jazz, so I'm looking forward to trying them once my current set of nickel wounds finally need changing.

Will report back when the time comes!

[jazzyvee]

Just this week with a reggae coming up I decided to swap the strings onto my Alembic Europa 5 with all maple body, maple and purple heart neck and ebony fretboard. The strings finally found their resting place. This bass has a huge punchy sound anyway with my regular D'addario ProSteel strings and a really tight focussed sound. But being reggae I don't need as much in the upper end other than a bit for note clarity. As I use this bass mainly for reggae because of it's bottom end and punch I have the Low pass filters closed on the neck pickup and only add a little of the bridge pickup when I need to get a different feel for a track. The settings on my Mesa boogie walkabout head was the same as usual and the bass just came over much warmer and the punch seemed lower down the frequency than I recall it usually being which really I think gave the band a different feel from usual. I resisted the temptation to eq it from the bass but left it for the whole gig. At the end of the night our sound guy came over and was raving more about the bass than usual and I said to him the only thing I've changed is the strings. He does all our sound and hears extremely well. So I think I will be sticking with these on my reggae bass for the foreseeable future.
One thing though, I'm not sure I understand is how the string allergy I've read about works because I always end up having painful finger tips after playing nickel strings even on smith strings like these and also on guitar and now use coated ones for that. I'm not sure if this is an allergy or the fact I'm playing harder to get a brighter tone or merely psychological. But I'm gonna run with these strings for a while and see how that works out. If you want to send me some more or any others that would be great. :-)
Thanks again.

[wateroftyne]

I was very kindly given a set of these to try by Elaine at the North East Bass Bash a couple of months back. I've just got around to installing them on my PJ, ready for a run of gigs where I'll be able to spend a bit of time with them.

First impressions from a bit of low-volume noodling: rich and detailed in the right bit of the spectrum - not harsh or clanky. Very balanced across the set. Focused lows. I'll post a bit more after a few gigs.

In the meantime, here's an unscientific video that I made:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DEnzJVaMpmo

[BassBunny]

Having given the set of NYXL's, kindly supplied by Andrew, about 3 months of use it's time for my verdict. I received a 5 String set of 45-130 guage. First impressions are that I love the "stealth" packaging which is a bit of a departure for D'Addario. I am already quite a fan of their strings and use light guage XL's on 2 of my basses so I was able to make some direct comparisons.
I tried them on 3 basses, (about a month each), and all through the same backline of MarkBass SA450 and 2x Zoot 112 Cabs.
First up was a Squire VM P-Bass that normally has light guage Elites on. The NYXL's made quite a difference to this bass. They have a really nice softish feel about them and I noticed there was very little string noise when you get busy. They feel as though they have a higher tension than the Elites but are more balanced across the strings. They are quite bright when fresh, (as most strings are), but soon took on a nice defined tone and the note definition was excellent across all the strings. The low B in particular was a revelation and actually made it more useable, whilst the mids, (the important bit), had a very authoratitive sound about them. Even after some pretty long rehearsal sessions I wasn't left with sore fingers and they are very kind to your fingertips.
Next up was "Marvin", the Carvin with a Marleaux neck. This bass has had Marleaux strings on ever since I have owned it. The NYXL's obviously feel the same as on the Squire so any review would have to be down to sound and again there was quite some difference. The bass is fitted with a Glock 3-band preamp and I tried it in both passive and active mode. In passive mode I found characteristics similar to the Squire. Nice definition across all the strings, even tension and loads of bottom end but still with nicely defined mids. Switching to Active and it was more of the same but when boosting the lows I got some huge sounds out of the bass. Trying the same with highs and mids, same result, great definition and lots of grunt.
Finally the strings went on an ACG Recurve. This my "bells and whistles" bass. Filter based pre-amp, piezo bridge that is switchable with the bridge pickup and coil tapped humbucker. I was really interested to see how they would sound on the ACG as the pre-amp is obviously not your standard cut and boost jobbie. First impressions were that there is much more of everything available with the NYXL's. I hardly ever used the piezo setting as I found it to lack definition and any form of authority. With the NYXL's it sounded fantastic. You could get an almost double bass sound by playing with the filter stack, but with a ton of definition to it. Even though the strings had seen about 10 weeks heavy use, they still had the feel and sound from when they originally bedded in. Switching to the other 2 pickups and a similar story. Nice warm defined bottom end and clear bright top end. I will be leaving the strings on this bass as there is so much available with a filter based pre-amp that I want to continue exploring.
So will I use thse strings in the future, Yes definately. There has been a noticable and welcome difference to all the basses I tried them on and a difference in previous D'Addario strings. They still sound great after a good degree of punishment and they feel nice under the fingers.
Thanks to Andrew and D'Addario for giving me this opportunity to test them.

Edited June 14, 2016 by BassBunny

[gary mac]

I'm impressed with these strings, been on my P bass for a couple of months now and still sound and feel great.

[TimCook]

Hi D'AddarioUK, I don't suppose there are any plans to release a balanced tension set of these? I like your EXL BT's and noticed guitars do already have couple of NYXL balanced tension sets available.

Edited June 29, 2016 by TimCook

[D'AddarioUK]

[quote name='TimCook' timestamp='1467193774' post='3081754']
Hi D'AddarioUK, don't suppose there are any plans to release a balanced tension set of these? I've really got used to your EXL BT's and noticed guitars do already have couple of NYXL balanced tension sets available.
[/quote]

I'm afraid to say I don't know. I'll certainly ask the question of our product managers and get back if I hear anything.

NYXL Bass have a different feel to XLs due to their construction, as a result the lower strings feel a bit firmer and the higher strings a bit more flexible, I highly recommend you try some!

[TimCook]

Thanks for the speedy response, I am seriously considering it - they're a fair bit more than the EXLs but given the positive reviews here probably are worth the try (once I can figure out which gauges I'd be more suited to!)

[D'AddarioUK]

No problem Tim, the response from the US is that they're thinking about it but it'll be a while if it happens.

If you want to build custom sets you can use our [url="http://www.stringtensionpro.com"]www.stringtensionpro.com[/url] tool. NYXL Bass singles will be available from late July onwards.