Nickel more mid range kick than steel?

[lumgimfong]

Been A/B - ing stringsets to decide if I want to use steel or nickel non my 4003.

Ric nickel set
D'Addario Nickel
D'Addario Steel

I like them all. And on a casual listening it seems 6 of one half a dozen of the other. I would be happy with any of them.

But paying attention and listening carefully, I seem to be hearing more character and more midrange punch outta the nickel sets vs. steel.
Steel sounds a touch brighter but more flat and characterless. Empty-ish. Hard to describe.

Do you find the same on your 4003 between nickel and steel? Is this true in general between nickel and steel sets?
Just a curious observation.

[ram]

I agree with your concise assessment. I just switched to D'Adderio flats this year after decades of the EXL170 (rounds) on my '74 4001. Not exclusively but definitely punch and bright are at the forefront of a comparison here. Kind of funny the mid stuff. I know a lot of folks who scoop the mids on their bass with rounds.... and then there are those with flats adding it... who knows.

[henry5]

Well firstly, everyone hears things differently, so whilst it’s always worth asking the question, the answers may not mean much. Also, different sets/types of strings will sound different regardless.

That said, I tend to hear less highs with nickel rounds than with steels, which could equally be perceived as increased mids. Either way, I’d always go with whatever sounds best to you on your bass.

[lumgimfong]

The string sets I mentioned above are all rounds.
But I did play D’Addario Chromes flats on this 4003 for years, and they sounded great until the would die. Then they just got too warm and muffled sounding.
So actually either nickel or steel rounds brighten things up tremendously.
Just not sure if I like nickel or steel rounds better.
They are so close in tone.
I guess it will come down to whichever takes longer to get dead sounding.

[henry5]

All the nickels I’ve ever played are, to my ears, softer sounding than steels. Both are much brighter than any flats I’ve ever played (including Chromes), but they do vary a lot depending on brand, gauge etc.

My preference tonally is always for Rotosound Swing Bass, which are very aggressive. They certainly aren’t the longest lasting, but the tone is far more important to me than how long they last.

[Korladis]

That's been my experience, and why I prefer nickels. I want that mid emphasis. I think this is what people often mean when they say nickels sound "warmer."

[iiipopes]

It is not the alloy. D'A strings, whatever their alloy, have a reputation of having a low mid/upper bass dip in their response. For many folks, like me, this can be a good thing, since it keeps my tone clean and properly slotting the mix in a 10-piece party band with a 3-piece Chicago style horn section. I gig with the D'A XL170BT set: 45-60-80-107, plus a 130 tuned to C on my 5-string basses.

GHS Boomers, OTOH, have more midrange for their nickels by comparison, and well-seated Rotosound Swingbass stainless will grind away with midrange. Other makes, models, and gauges of strings will have different midrange characteristics. And until they quit being made, I used GHS Progressives on my 4002, because the "Alloy 52" wrap had a postive, but not overbearing midrange which really complimented the tone of the bass. I hope GHS makes Progressives again, as I have the last NOH set of singles on it as I type this: 45, 60, 80, 106, similar to OEM gauges with tons of tone.

So experiment with your strings, knowing that blanket extrapolations are not indicative of actual string performance.