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Any Blue Steel users out there?

#22
I like the new "Merman Deep Pressurewounds"

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#23
Due to the recent insane increase in Rotosound prices, I bought a bunch of Blue Steel light sets (45-100) and have discovered I REALLY like them. Haven't used them since the early 90s. They're still good strings.

One warning: don't buy off Amazon, there's quite a few sellers sending counterfeit product. I called Markley about this. They absolutely do not care. So buy from a retailer.
 
#24
I alwsal loved em BUT a few years ago they changed em. The ball ends and silk are different and I think the sound is as well. That's when I went with rotos exclusively BUT they definitely changed their formula as well . Blue Steel are definitely hard to find, Wonder why? Even eBay is slim .
 
#27
Perhaps this is not what the OP is talking about, but for Blue Steel as a brand, I have been using their "Nickel Plated Bass" strings (which seems weird when the brand is Dean Markley Blue Steel but anyway). I've been using them on a stingray for a few months now and super happy with them.
Mike
 
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#28
I
bigswifty1 said:
Perhaps this is not what the OP is talking about, but for Blue Steel as a brand, I have been using their "Nickel Plated Bass" strings (which seems weird when the brand is Dean Markley Blue Steel but anyway). I've been using them on a stingray for a few months now and super happy with them.
Mike
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Just wondering if anyone still uses/likes em. Never hear about em or see em.
 
#30
Dean Markley Blue Steel -- one of the better marketing campaigns in guitar accessories I've seen in decades. They had so many well-known players involved, all from a number of varieties of rock & roll. Combine that with the whole "we freeze our strings so that makes 'em better" tactic and plus that noticeable blue packaging and yeah, it certainly drew a lot of attention.
 
#31
I used Blue Steels for years and years until I tried a set of Dean Markley SR2000's, and used the SR2000's for the last 10 years or so...man i love those strings, but last several sets I bought have had at least one dead string in them, usually the A string...I emailed and called Dean Markley, and a few MONTHS later they sent me 3 new sets of SR2000's ...2 of the 3 sets had dead A strings.
Im using Dunlops now
 
#32
roller said:
Dean Markley Blue Steel -- one of the better marketing campaigns in guitar accessories I've seen in decades. They had so many well-known players involved, all from a number of varieties of rock & roll. Combine that with the whole "we freeze our strings so that makes 'em better" tactic and plus that noticeable blue packaging and yeah, it certainly drew a lot of attention.
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Yup, that worked on me back in the day. Then one time I realized that they just sounded average and stayed sounding average for quite awhile. I feel like I get a much more lively tone from using DR strings (I prefer Sunbeams). One caveat to that is that my gear these days is better and I haven't tried the Blue Steels recently.

For long-lasting strings, you will always get a trade-off where bright strings out of the box fade while coated strings last longer but are not quite as bright. My subjective opinion right now is that DR's Black Beauties sound better for longer than Elixir, which sound better for longer than the Blue Steels.
 
#33
I generally use either Swing 66s or Blue Steels. The Blues are all I've used on my Ibanez RB-800 since I bought it 31 years ago, for a couple of reasons - they really bring out the inherent tone in the instrument, and less importantly, they're the only strings I've seen where the silks match the color of the instrument. Like others have mentioned, I love the zing on a new set of Rotosounds, but they fade quickly, unlike the Blue Steels in my experience.
 
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#34
Decades ago a tech put a set of JVB cryogenically treated strings on my PBass and the difference they made enthralled me. I found it difficult to find JVB stings and the only other cryogenic strings I could readily find were DM Blue Steels. Have used them exclusively until a year or two ago, and then started looking for other strings that could compare. Still lots of strings yet to try out. I'll be giving the Elixirs a shot next, DR Black beauties, DR Highbeams, D'Addario Pro steels, Dunlop Super Brights, and the GHS contact cores. Thanks for your input Kragnorak. We seem to be on a similar page.

In the meantime I bought a Epi Jack Casady, so I'm using the Blue Steels on that.
 
#35
CGremlin said:
I generally use either Swing 66s or Blue Steels. The Blues are all I've used on my Ibanez RB-800 since I bought it 31 years ago, for a couple of reasons - they really bring out the inherent tone in the instrument, and less importantly, they're the only strings I've seen where the silks match the color of the instrument. Like others have mentioned, I love the zing on a new set of Rotosounds, but they fade quickly, unlike the Blue Steels in my experience.
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That's pretty much been my feeling. I flat out dont like anything else. I've used DRs, nothing special to me. I will say I never thought blue steel was as good tuned lower than Eb.
 
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#36
I tried them about 20 years ago but didn't really like them. I switched to DR for a while and they were decent. About 5 years ago, I tried Ernie Ball Cobalt. I love the sound but they are very aggressive on frets. I have a deal with Curt Mangan Strings and started using them a couple of years ago. Good sound and excellent customer service.
 
#38
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