Most popular roundwound material

[Guest MoJo]

I expect the D'Addario representative that posts on this forum could answer this question for me, but I'm interested to know whether Stainless Steel or Nickel Plated Roundwounds are the more popular choice among the bass playing community. Just a bit of fun

[TheGreek]

Something I've often pondered...

Edited March 12, 2019 by TheGreek

[bubinga5]

Got to be steels surely.

[Cato]

A few years ago I decided to try a new brand of strings every month.

Amongst others I went through GHS boomers, Fender nickels, Dunlop Superbrights (should be banned under trades descriptions - they're average bright at best) and various others, both nickel and steel.

When I got to stainless steel DR Hi Beams the search was over.

I just prefer the feel and zing of steel roundwounds.

Edited March 11, 2019 by Cato

[Stub Mandrel]

Phosphor bronze trump all for rich, bright sounds, but unfortunately only suitable for acoustics...

[itu]

Some professionals have told me that with fretless they prefer Nickel because of the middle growl.

My choice has been stainless for ages. Roundwound for fretted and fretless. Flatwound only for double bass.

[Low End Bee]

I have one allergy and it's nickel.

Stainless all the way for me not surprisingly.

[Graham]

I was surprised by the results, I voted steels, but I thought Nickel would be more popular.

[Lozz196]

Stainless Steel for me at present. It’s horses for courses really, depends on what I need at the time.

[Skybone]

I would have thought that NIckel / Nickel Plated would be the most popular selling strings.

Personal preference would be Stainless, but again, that's personal preference.

[Davo-London]

I'm a signed up nickel DR Sunbeam purist - stainless steel has too much jangle to start with but then loses it dramatically, whereas nickel seems to be more consistent over time.

That's my experience.

Davo

 

[naxos10]

+1 for Davo's comment.

[dmccombe7]

I'm with Davo on this as well.

[bazzbass]

hmmmm looks like I need to try stainless steels......

 

I'm already confused as to what I prefer between nickel rounds, flats and half rounds.....now I'm adding SS lol

[Steve_M]

Nickel for me too - must have tried them all over the years but came back to and settled on DR Nickel Lo-Riders. Trying out the LaBella Nickel RX's on my 5 string on Mark Stickleys' (Bass Direct) recommendation and they've settled in really nicely after 3 days play. Another +1 for Davo's comment on the SS jangle.

[dmccombe7]

seems the nickel users are slow to start but once going they will out-pace the SS every time

[tauzero]

Level pegging now. But did I vote for steel or for steel?

[Deedee]

16 hours ago, Davo-London said:

I'm a signed up nickel DR Sunbeam purist - stainless steel has too much jangle to start with but then loses it dramatically, whereas nickel seems to be more consistent over time.

That's my experience.

Davo

 

That’s been my experience too. Nickel for me.

[BreadBin]

Nickel for me too, apart from preferring the sound and feel I like that they don't damage the frets.

[40hz]

Always been SS for me.

Nickel are nowhere near as rich tonally or have enough harmonic content for me. Plus every nickel set I've ever used (varying brands), I seem to kill very quickly.

It's all about the Piano tone!

[LukeFRC]

On 11/03/2019 at 14:51, Cato said:

A few years ago I decided to try a new brand of strings every month.

Amongst others I went through GHS boomers, Fender nickels, Dunlop Superbrights (should be banned under trades descriptions - they're average bright at best) and various others, both nickel and steel.

When I got to stainless steel DR Hi Beams the search was over.

I just prefer the feel and zing of steel roundwounds.

Tried the Fatbeams?
I find they have a more even tone and stay really stable tonally as they age. Hi Beams I like but found they got more middy as they got older. 
Mind you if you're changing them every month you might not be getting the same sounds as me! I find a set of DRs will last me a year or two before going dead. ....  

[EliasMooseblaster]

I'll take nickel if I can get 'em, but I'm happy enough playing stainless steels - I happily used Rotosound RS66 in stainless steel for years, before a friend pointed out that they also did a nickel-plated version. So it's nickel if I have the choice, but I'll happily default to stainless if, say, offered a discount bundle of Warwick Reds.

[JellyKnees]

I've always used SS, tried nickel in the past and didn't like them at all, however I've recently tried them again on my Dingwall ABZ5 and I'm starting to think they have a better tone for some of the funkier stuff  I play... so at the moment I'm completely on the fence, although I did vote for SS for historic reasons.

[Bass Culture]

Tried a few Nickels in recent years but, more recently, thought I'd give the Newtone SS Diamond strings a go.  That's it, search over - I've got them on my passive, active and fretless basses now.  Maybe those formative, early playing years with Roto Steelies just left too much of a mark.