what would you recommend for some nice double-butted spokes?

good quality and strong and double butted. i want to figure out what brand and gauge i'm getting. its for 36h 3x fixed rear wheels. weight is not a huge issue. they're street wheels.

me likes the sapims, two sets of wheels with them and no problems so far.
currently building a set using lasers.

DT's never done me wrong.

You should get the DT revolution's w/ alloy nipples.

Aren't most standard double butted spokes 15/14's? And according to DT marketing speak double butted spokes are stronger than a straight gauge due to how the pressure and force are applied to the spoke.

I thought Brass nipples were the way to go.

They are.

I usually use DT, always with brass nips.

Wheelsmiths are also good, although they look strange to me. And I have no doubt Sapims are good, just haven't used them yet.

And you can't go wrong with Phil anything.

I actually haven't ridden a wheel with the alloys, but I recently did purchase an already built wheel with them. It was deal of the century so I wasn't going to say no just b/c of the odd nipples (although they are anodized black). That being said it was also (god forbid) a DA 10 spd hub.

ally nipples are touchy (heh), they round off really easily, and as they oxidize they can lock to the spokes (mechanical bond though, not chemical)

alloy nipples suck! they do round off easy. they bond to the rim (alum + alum = bond). that's why you need eyelets on rims to use aluminum nipples (the eyelets will bring the weight back up, almost canceling out the aluminum nipples). they also only look nice if they are anodized.