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Stainless Steel Or Nickel Strings

Whish string you consider the best for you?

  • Stainless Steel Strings

    Votes: 72 46.2%

  • Nickel Strings

    Votes: 84 53.8%
  • Total voters
    156
#23
Stainless Steel rounds. My guitar player has it in his head that "real guitarists" drastically cut the treble knobs of their amplifiers so somebody has to make up the upper frequency range.

OT, but said guitarist has his bass knobs almost to full to achieve "his" sound. I wonder how anybody is even going to be able to hear him when I add a 1x15 this summer. :)
 
#24
I love both, but I keep coming back to Nickel. At the moment I am really digging Pro-Steels on my Thunderbird and Nickel Wound on my C-5.

MY T-Bird growels and my C-5 has this really cool sound, kind of smooth with a harsh undertone that I just dig!
 
#26
PBass101 said:
Stainless Steel rounds. My guitar player has it in his head that "real guitarists" drastically cut the treble knobs of their amplifiers so somebody has to make up the upper frequency range.

OT, but said guitarist has his bass knobs almost to full to achieve "his" sound. I wonder how anybody is even going to be able to hear him when I add a 1x15 this summer. :)
Click to expand...

IMO your guitarist needs a kick in the ol krakatoa, if he boosts his bass knobs. He really thinks you should be providing all the highs?
 
#28
Ok so On my 'ray I decided to try Ernie Ball stainless strings as opposed to the nickle variant. (Same guage, Same Make, Same Amp, Same Bass, Same everything but string)

I used them for a good month. to get a good Idea of what they are like, here are my findings (Remember subjective, etc.)

Stainless steel:
Boomy lows and very "bright" highs, I found it hard to get a nice balance of tones that wasn't too room shaking or too ear-piercing, atleast in my experience of testing these strings.

Nickle:
The Lows (Open E for example) was very defined and the highs aren't as "Snappy" - Felt more balanced, more... bass-like (If that makes sense?)

I found the stainless steels to REALLY kill fingers, however it did build some skin strength in the short time I used them, Good thing In my opinion!
I found the stainless strings took quite a while to sound decent, Fresh the sound FAR too trebley for my ears.

For me it's now nickles all-the-way, with this particular string anyway. Certainly not my thing, and (Am...was?) an avid slap player. (I play in a chili peppers cover band)

I didn't notice a real fret-wear difference over the course of playing but in the short amount of time such differences most probably can't be determined.

Maybe someone can derive something helpful from that mess of broken english?
 
#29
I used to use stainless steel religiously (Rotosounds).
In the last few years I've tried some nickel sets and I've found I prefer the tone from nickel.

PBass101 said:
Stainless Steel rounds. My guitar player has it in his head that "real guitarists" drastically cut the treble knobs of their amplifiers so somebody has to make up the upper frequency range.

OT, but said guitarist has his bass knobs almost to full to achieve "his" sound. I wonder how anybody is even going to be able to hear him when I add a 1x15 this summer. :)
Click to expand...

Treble cut, bass up- maybe your guitard should play bass in another band... :hmm:
 
#32
I likes me some nickel strings.

1) Nickel strings sound more balanced to me, good right out of the pack. Stainless strings need a bit-o-break in IMO

2) Nickel strings feel smoother and, to me, are looser feeling. This facilitates smoother playing, slides and bends.

Different strokes for different folks
 
#34
Luckydog said:
IMO your guitarist needs a kick in the ol krakatoa, if he boosts his bass knobs. He really thinks you should be providing all the highs?
Click to expand...

He doesn't think anything about who should provide highs, which is the problem. I like my bass with a little top end pressence, but he's one of "those" guitarists who would quit a band before compromising "his" sound. He gets upset when I ask him about it. He's really good, but I'm not exaggerating, his bass knob is at eight while the treble is at two, and he plays Mesa Boogie which is a beefy sound on its own. Before I had my Ashdown with 4 10"s, you could feel his guitar more than you could my little practice amp. Now...not so much. :)

It's irritating, but all things considered, it's his loss. He doesn't believe me when I tell him I'm buying a 15" extension...or that I don't need to play with him. :rolleyes:

And, quick relevence filler - I played a set of Thomastik Powerbass nickels, and loved them until they got really dirty several months on, which was my fault. After my last setup I wanted to keep them, clean them and use them as spares, but the shop tech threw them away...:bawl:
 
#35
Its a toss-up...my go to strings are always SS roto 66's, although i prefer those I tried roto nickels a while back and once you tune them, they're in tune 'til you take em off, plus they sound a lot better as they're dying/when they're dead. But for the agression they give me i'll go SS everytime.

On another note, so strings die....if i can spend £800 on a bass surely it deserves a £20 set of strings every month or so?
 
#37
I've used SS (various different brands over the years, currently settled on Warwick black labels) for as long as I've played bass. I've considered trying nickel, but I play mainly in a metal or hard rock setting, and I'm sceptical as to how well they'd suit that style of music.

Any other metal bassists using nickel who'd care to share their experience on this?
 

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