Double bass 'volume'?

[simonlewin]

Hello there,

Here's to my first post!

I've recently taken up the double bass again.

I played a bit at school, then bought a bass about 15 years ago which has spent various amounts of time in storage.

A couple of months ago I decided to take some lessons with a jazz player.

As I sort of live in 2 places I needed a second bass. I've just invested in a beautiful German bass, circa 1860, in maple and spruce pine.

It's wonderful and I'm really enjoying playing it.

It has a far more 'sophisticated' sound than my original cheaper, part ply bass but if I have one comment when comparing the two, it's that the new bass is much quieter.

I'm not sure what strings the newer bass has or when they would have been changed, but I wondered how much string type can affect the 'volume' of a bass?

Any comments or advice would be gratefully received.

All the best,

Simon

[Jason Sypher]

Strings can affect volume in the sense that different basses respond differently to tension. Some love high tension strings, some love low tension strings. That said, strings tend to have a greater influence on type of sound more than volume. Volume is a tricky and subjective variable. For instance, volume where?.....where you are playing or thirty feet out front. Play with it some more and get more specific....gotta run sorry.

[Contrabbasso]

IMHO I would guess different diameter strings alone
not to forget material would change the volume and
resonants of any Double bass or string instrument.

I'd almost bet that if a person could match
the right string diameter to an instruments
sympathetic resonants the volume would
be louder from a thicker string "more mass" ; however,
on the other hand I think my ears perceive a brighter
sound to be louder.
Sounds like an oxymoron to me.


Quite a good question. I'll be interested to read other
response to this.

[Bruce Lindfield]

There are a lot of discussions about this round here - so I can remember people saying that Velvet Garbos were almost guaranteed to be louder - although maybe less distinct...?

I'd suggest having a look through the Strings forum!

[wiro]

Different strings can make your bass a different instrument. Both in playability and sound.
If you wanna be heard or wanna hear yourself: Have the Thomastic Belcanto's. But if you're in an orchestra, then don't.
There are threads in the string topic where you can read why.

http://www.thomastik.com/belcanto/

[David Kaczorowski]

I like Jason's point about louder to who and where. Other things will affect the sound and volume too. Have to taken the bass to a good luthier to have the set-up checked out?

[toman]

Many good basses also don't seem that loud to the player, but stand across the room while someone else plays them, particularly a power-player and they sound like cannons.

[Bruce Lindfield]

Originally Posted by toman

Many good basses also don't seem that loud to the player, but stand across the room while someone else plays them, particularly a power-player and they sound like cannons.

Volume has a lot to do with the player as well!