Surprised that no one yet has mention Pyramid! I recently found out about this classic German brand and like them a lot.
View attachment 16171
Yeah, I remember that. They were bass-ier, without being bassier. I may try some again eventually.
Thomastic.....I tried some Thomastic Infelds around '99....can't remember whether it was flat wound.....
I remember Ernie Balls being pretty cheap, at least the super slinkys.
Unless you're doing serious, consistent whammy, and perhaps crazy bends, I can't see why you would break a string. ((Edited for clarity.))
i loved the feel of cobalts but hated the tone
everything felt overdriven and unreasonably hot
mixed with Evolutions/Evo2/high output dimarzio they were hell