Back to round-wounds?

[JapanAxe]

For at least the last 5 years I have used flat-wound strings exclusively on all my bass guitars. Specifically I favour D’Addario Chromes and Ernie Ball Cobalts for a relatively bright flats sound.

 There is a certain attack at the start of each note that I think rounds can do but flats don’t. Consequently I am thinking of fitting one of my Precisions with a set of rounds - but which to get? I would probably favour consistency of sound over the life of the strings - they don’t need to be super bright to start with.

 I have tried half-rounds but didn’t much care for them.

What can the BC posse recommend?

[ead]

If you like D'Addarios then I would advocate for EXL170BTs, a balanced tension nickel wound set.  I have these on all my fretted basses and am a real fan of both the feel and the sound.

[CameronJ]

+1 D’Addario EXLs are really nice strings. Certainly a good place to start.

[artisan]

Just taken some GHS pressurewounds off my Rickenbacker & fitted a set of the above D'Addario nickels,love them they have a lovely rich tone but are not too bright.

[Lozz196]

As a life long steel rounds player I’ve recently swapped to nickels. I bought two basses that had Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on and really liked them, but being conscious of string life decided to try Elixirs and am really pleased with them, got 45-100 on my Jazz and 50-105 on my Stingray. They’re not brilliantly bright like new steel rounds but a good few weeks in and they still sound pretty much like they did when I first put them on the basses.

[JapanAxe]

9 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

As a life long steel rounds player I’ve recently swapped to nickels. I bought two basses that had Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on and really liked them, but being conscious of string life decided to try Elixirs and am really pleased with them, got 45-100 on my Jazz and 50-105 on my Stingray. They’re not brilliantly bright like new steel rounds but a good few weeks in and they still sound pretty much like they did when I first put them on the basses.

Cheers @Lozz196 I’ve recently changed all my skinny-string guitars over to Elixir Optiweb and they are excellent, but they don’t seem to do an Optiweb bass set.

[hooky_lowdown]

I'm a big D'Addario fan, however I recently tried Warwick Red Label nickel rounds and found them every bit as good a D'Addario nickel rounds only softer under the fingers. And they cost half the price, great bang for buck imho. 👍

[Skinnyman]

D’Addario NYXL for me. I use flats on most of my basses but NYXL’s on one of the Ricks.

NYXLs seem less “zingy” than a lot of others so I like them as rounds that are a bit closer to flats.

Have you tried half-rounds?

(reading this thread, I’m tempted to try the Warwicks)

[Coilte]

Thomastik rounds are worth checking out.

 

https://lordofthestrings.com/en/bass/electric/4-string/thomastik-jr344-jazz-bass.html

Edited March 20, 2020 by Coilte

[chris_b]

12 hours ago, JapanAxe said:

 . . . . . . .  I am thinking of fitting one of my Precisions with a set of rounds - but which to get?

I'm using D'Addario NYXL's these days.  A great full range sound with lots of everything. And they last a long time.

[Newfoundfreedom]

Elixrs all day long. Not as bright straight out of the packet, but consistent sounding for the life of the strings, which is about ten thousand years. 

[JapanAxe]

16 minutes ago, Coilte said:

Thomastik rounds are worth checking out.

 

https://lordofthestrings.com/en/bass/electric/4-string/thomastik-jr344-jazz-bass.html

Ooh I was only aware of them as flats.

22 minutes ago, Skinnyman said:

D’Addario NYXL for me. I use flats on most of my basses but NYXL’s on one of the Ricks.

NYXLs seem less “zingy” than a lot of others so I like them as rounds that are a bit closer to flats.

Have you tried half-rounds?

(reading this thread, I’m tempted to try the Warwicks)

Yes, I've tried half-rounds.

[JapanAxe]

1 minute ago, Newfoundfreedom said:

Elixrs all day long. Not as bright straight out of the packet, but consistent sounding for the life of the strings, which is about ten thousand years. 

No shredding of coating from fret wear?

Do you still make electrical contact with the strings and thus provide RF screening?

[BigRedX]

Being a massive fan of D'Addario strings for the guitar I bought a set when I went back to playing mostly bass, and was completely underwhelmed by them. These days I use Warwick Black label, which for me are a good compromise between longevity and price.

[bertbass]

After many years using Elite Stadiums, I've just changed to NewTone strings. Brilliant.

[PatrickJ]

Another +1 for NewTones

I'd been playing all sorts of flats recently but I wanted rounds for my jazz bass.

I opted for Newtone Platinum Roundcore Nickels.  I didn't want anything as bright or snappy as typical rounds (coming from flats), these worked out perfectly.

[Old Horse Murphy]

20 hours ago, Lozz196 said:

As a life long steel rounds player I’ve recently swapped to nickels. I bought two basses that had Ernie Ball Super Slinkies on and really liked them, but being conscious of string life decided to try Elixirs and am really pleased with them, got 45-100 on my Jazz and 50-105 on my Stingray. They’re not brilliantly bright like new steel rounds but a good few weeks in and they still sound pretty much like they did when I first put them on the basses.

I switched to Nickel Slinkys too Loz and now only have one bass with TI Flats on. They seem to last ages too and are very comfortable. 

[fretmeister]

On 20/03/2020 at 10:09, BigRedX said:

Being a massive fan of D'Addario strings for the guitar I bought a set when I went back to playing mostly bass, and was completely underwhelmed by them. These days I use Warwick Black label, which for me are a good compromise between longevity and price.

@BigRedX Where do you get your black labels from?

 

I can’t find a UK stockist. Ta.

[ClassicVibes]

It depends what you want from the roundwound. 

[Barking Spiders]

Basswise I mostly play funk and disco and find among the best for slapping are D'Addario EXL 170 round wounds, as these give a full on, in yer face attack.  Used to have a couple of fretless and then preferred flatwounds as these allow for a smoother sliding action.

[BigRedX]

14 hours ago, fretmeister said:

@BigRedX Where do you get your black labels from?

 

I can’t find a UK stockist. Ta.

I think the last lot of sets I bought came from Thomann. Before that I got them off Amazon.

[fretmeister]

Thank you. 
Amazon don’t have my gauge. 
Germany it is then!

[JapanAxe]

In case anyone was wondering, I have just fitted a set of Elixir Nanoweb nickel-plated 45-100 strings to my ‘63 RI Precision. So far I am very pleased.

[Thunderbird]

Tried most of the regular brands I have stuck with warwick reds as they are fairly priced and last ages I did go off them a few years back as they had a batch with rubbish E strings but had no problems for the last couple of years 

[hooky_lowdown]

@JapanAxe if you like bright flats and you switch to rounds, next time try fender pure nickel strings, they sound very balanced, sound warm and are low-end heavy straight out of the packet. Fantastic strings often overlooked as I say, if you like vintage tone, these strings are the nuts!