Rotosound Nickel on Steel strings

[Zener]

Just wondering if anyone has tried these on their bass (Rickenbacker in particular), and how they sound compared to the stainless. I have the stainless steel swing bass 66 strings on my 4003 now. I like the sound, but I do like the feel of nickel strings a little better. These are labeled as "bright", which I like, as compared to the blue pack which is labelled as "warm".

 

[Ricky Rioli]

I've had both the Swing Bass 45-105 pure steels and the Roto Bass 45-105 nickel-plated steels on my Yamaha BB. They play quite differently, producing a totally different sound. The tone of the nickels is very focused on the mids, quite a thick, rounded sound, none of the open raw clang of the steels. Having said that, they've got the same kind of strength of character.

BTW despite the amusing difference of adjectives on the packaging, someone from Rotosound recently confirmed that, silks aside, the Swing Bass Nickels and the Roto Bass are the same strings

 

[michael_t]

These are labeled as "bright", which I like, as compared to the blue pack which is labelled as "warm".

BTW despite the amusing difference of adjectives on the packaging, someone from Rotosound recently confirmed that, silks aside, the Swing Bass Nickels and the Roto Bass are the same strings

As already mentioned by @Ricky Rioli above, the Swing Bass 66 Nickels and the Roto Bass are the same strings except for the silk.

Rotosound labels the SB66 Nickels as "warm" COMPARED TO SB66 Stainless Steels.

Rotosound labels the Roto Bass as "bright" COMPARED TO some other NPS rounds, such as GHS Boomers and DR Nickel Lo-Riders.

It's all relative...

 

[Zener]

Wow that is very interesting and revealing information. Thanks folks.

 

[Zak TMD]

I have nickels on all my basses (swing 66 nickels... good to know these are the same thing, btw ). When I first got my most recent bass, it had the steels on it. With the steels, the breakup was WAY early with tons of steely clanks. Definitely brighter, so if that's what you're going for, you'll be disappointed with the nickels.

Nickels are (as said above) warm, and I'd say more round and vintage - the mids are present but smooth. On my current bass, taming that brightness was almost immediately a necessity because of how hot the pups were.