String Choice: Ernie Ball or D'addario?

Now that you mention kinks and GHS. I once bought 3 packs of GHS Gilmour Signature for the Strat, and all them had rusted spots. The local shop didn't accept a return, but I wrote to GHS and they kindly sent me a replacement
I saw that also, and that was the final straw.

Years ago we'd buy Ernie Ball Slinkies, and they'd last about a week, then start rusting. But, back then, we were playing, practicing and storing our guitars in buildings that used evaporative cooling, which might have contributed to the problem.
 
Then I discovered the coated elixirs, used them for a few years, saved a ton of money as instead of monthly changes it was every 6 months. Hell I have one guitar that I rarely play still sporting elixirs from 7 years ago, just took out of case, sounds and feels like new strings still.
however, got tired of the plastic shavings build up in my floyd rose and maybe just me but I can hear "plastic" in my tone.... sounds weird but I notice it compared to non-coated, so decided to return to non-coated. Elixirs are very good strings though.

After that, I tried a few brands, but stuck with NYXL for the last 5 years. They are quite durable and I get about 3 months out of them playing 2-3 hours a day,
Yes, brand new the coated Elixers sounded a little darker than a regular string, but they'd hold their tone a lot longer so I felt they were a good deal.

My favorites are the NYXL so far. I have stacks of them in my closet... those 3-packs and bundles are so convenient. :)
 
Another D'Addario NYXL user here, though recently I picked up a few sets of the XTs to try on my electrics. Tried to XTs on an acoustic and really like them, now I'm looking to install the even newer XS strings on the same guitar.

I did recently try a set of regular Ernie Ball strings though after years of exclusively using D'Addario and I gotta say, I liked them a lot. Definitely want to try out the Paradigm strings myself now.

Downside of Ernie Ball for me, at least with the Paradigms, is they don't currently offer as much variety in terms of gauges as D'Addario. They did greatly expand the options for regular Slinky's though, which is cool.
 
Strings and Beyond sent me an email special to try the XL's for 12.99 with free shipping. Normally you have to spend $35 to get the free shipping, so I got a set of the electrics coming.
 
Used EB 9-46 hybrid slinkies (#2222) since the '90s. Discovered Stringjoy's 9-46 set and really like them. They have a super smooth, polished feel on the plain strings, and seem to last a long time. A couple strings' gauges are a bit different, but the balance is great....
 
I was a DR player for decades, then about 3-4 years ago they started having serious QC issues, never got straightened out to my knowledge.
In an attempt to replace my beloved DRs, I tried every string out there. Wound up settling on NYXL, they sound and last as good as the DRs did (might even last a tad bit longer), at twice the cost they aren't cheap, but I can't stand crappy strings, and they are certainly not crappy.
I'm still playing JH-10s. I've been using them since the mid-90s and have never considered switching. I just took delivery of another 12 packs today.

What should I be looking for in terms of QC issues, please?
 
I've had an interesting experience comparing these two string brands. I've played Ernie Ball strings forever; .046 -> .010 for a while, went down to .046 -> .009 decades ago, and considered going to .008 over the last few months. I just can't play .009's easily anymore...getting old I guess heh.

The problem I found with the .008 sets is that the lower strings are just too thin. I found the Ernie Ball has just come out with a new set "Hyper Slinky" which is a standard .042 -> .009 set (.042, .032, .024, .016, .011, .009) with a thinner G and high E string (.014 and .008).

So that set (.042, .032, .024, .016, .011, .009) looked interesting. I went to the local dealer and he didn't have any of the "Hyper Slinky" set so I made up my own custom set with the D'Addario string singles the store had on hand. Went home and put 'em on the Suhr.

Now, bear in mind I've not tried any other string manufactures for decades now, and I didn't expect there to be much difference tone wise, etc. When I installed these strings that also coincided with the FM9 firmware update where the modelling issue with the transformer was corrected (a big fix). With the firmware update and installation of the D'Addario strings I was absolutely pumped with what I was hearing and feeling with everything. I really loved the feel of the custom set, and I was digging the new CNFB modelling a lot since that was the first time I got to try it. Inspired is the word here...

All in all, I've not been this dialled in for a long time; I've been practicing with two bands and doing a lot of varied material and the FM9/guitar never sounded/felt better....again, I'm finding there was something in the overall rig/system that hasn't been there before which I really was connecting with. Good times.

After rehearsals last week I did some final, minor tweaks to a couple of presets, levels, etc. and was good to go. I'm now super satisfied with everything, and it's nice to have the FM9 really configured for my workflow at last.

So, the local music dealer phones last week and says he had sets of the "Hyper Slinky" so I dashed down there and picked some up. We have our first gig in over two years this weekend, so, while the custom set was only a couple of weeks old, I thought I'd put the new "Hyper Slinky" set on today anyway and check everything at rehearsal tonight.

Wellll....changing back to the Ernie Ball strings is proving to be a major mistake. While the gauges were identical my Suhr immediately felt way more stiff and the feel I was very much enjoying, for weeks, was gone. Cold, unyielding....they seemed to have a lot more tension. I wasn't liking it at all. With the D'Addario set I was taken right off the bat how I liked the feel, and just thought that was more to do with the gauges themselves.

Got to rehearsal tonight early since I thought I'd likely have to tweak tones a bit with the new strings but was astounded at how much more anaemic, brighter, and lower the output of the Ernie Balls were with my presets. Night and day difference; I certainly wasn't expecting to find that much change. I'd have to do quite a bit of reworking, both tonally and for gain as the Ball's were so much different; not even close to what I had before. Everything was very skewed. After tweaking my main tones for the entire evening tonight I couldn't dial the FM9 to get the fantastic tones I got instantly with the D'Addario's, and I felt like I took three steps backwards with the feel. I just wasn't digging anything tonight.

I found the D'Addario's to sound way, way better, particularly having fatter, richer lower mids, more 'meat' in the highs without sounding strident, more output overall, and a far better feel verses the Ernie Ball's.

I'm not going to gig this weekend with the Ernie Balls I just put on today; I'm going to the store tomorrow, buying a regular D'Addario .042 -> .009 set and swapping out the G and high E with singles .014 and .008. Again, for myself, I was blown away by how much I loved the D'Addario's in every way. No more Ernie Ball for me I don't think...I've had a huge revelation here....heh.

The second I got home from rehearsal I started looking into comparisons between these two brands as I definitely didn't expect such drastic changes between the two and ended up here. This is pretty long-winded but I'm really surprised at how much I now seem to dislike the Ernie Ball strings after using them for eons...

So, there is my long winded revelation and thoughts on these two brands FWIW.
 
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I’m using balanced tension 009 XLs. Loving the feel and tone.

I’ve used DR Pure Blues, which I loved, to Blue Steels, to SIT, GHS, Paradigms, Slinky’s, NYXLs, XTs…

I found that the NYXLs and XTs did not last longer for me, so I stuck with the XLs. The Paradigms are genuinely the strongest, in my experience.
 
For 25 years I used d’Addario, after trying a set of EB regular slinky I noticed that they lasted a lot longer with a lot less oxidation. So probably just better comparability with my body chemistry?
 
NYXL's are great strings,just got a couple of sets of Stringjoy pure Nickel, 10- 46 to try out strung a tele at weekend , TV room one i play mainly unlugged , and have to say really like them, lovely 'zing' and ring ..we shall see how long zing & ring last !
 
I like the Ernie Ball Cobalt strings, I played them for a while. They seemed to last longer than other strings, retaining their tone longer. I went away from them and have good luck with the Elixir Nanowebs. I use a Blitz cloth on my strings after every time I play to clean them and get the pieces of my skin and oil from my skin off them and keep them clean. That seems to be the best way to get the most life out of strings I have found, and keep them feeling good. I also wash my hands and use some alcohol hand sanitizer before I play if possible.

I also have heard good things about the Stringjoys, I am going to give them a try. I wish they would have had them when I was poor and in high school and college, because you can order specific single gauges, for when you break the high E string or B string. 😂
 
I was attracted to Dean Markley "Blue Steels" in the 90's mostly cause packaging and marketing. They are just average strings, regular breakage and not great at retaining tuning. I didn't know, and didn't care so I used them for nearly 20 years.

Then I discovered the coated elixirs, used them for a few years, saved a ton of money as instead of monthly changes it was every 6 months. Hell I have one guitar that I rarely play still sporting elixirs from 7 years ago, just took out of case, sounds and feels like new strings still.
however, got tired of the plastic shavings build up in my floyd rose and maybe just me but I can hear "plastic" in my tone.... sounds weird but I notice it compared to non-coated, so decided to return to non-coated. Elixirs are very good strings though.

After that, I tried a few brands, but stuck with NYXL for the last 5 years. They are quite durable and I get about 3 months out of them playing 2-3 hours a day, once locked they never go out of tune, not a single broken string (I also use big bends nut sauce for lube) and I'm extremely expressive with my Trem bar on the floyds. I'm standard tuning 09-46, use EMG 81/81, 81/60 and 81/85 pickups and Dunlop Tortex 60mm picks.
Exactly the same here, I used the Blue Steel for a long time. I am just noticing what you are talking about with the Elixirs, not a Floyd, but something is going on I can hear with the coating, and my tremolo started not retaining tuning stability. I am going to try String joy, or will go back to the Ernie Ball Cobalts, although they are $$$.
 
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