Am I crazy, or did my Spiros just suck?

[Aaron Saunders]

So, I put an Obligato D and G on my bass (50's Hofner laminate) to replace Spiro Mittels. They've settled in, and I was really surprised at how they sounded and felt, especially considering what I've read on here.

1. They're much louder than the Mittels.
2. They're stiffer feeling.
3. They speak much nicer in general.
4. The sound is much bigger and fatter.
5. In the higher registers, it actually sounds like a DB instead of a fretless slab.

I've only ever known one other bassist to use this mix (although I'm sure many have) and it wasn't even with Mittels. John Geggie had Obli D and G and Spiro Weich E and A. I couldn't even fathom putting on a lower tension string because it works really well as-is.

[PB+J]

I don't think spiros suck--they're acually a great string, IMHO, even though I just got fed up with them and took them off my bass. My sense is they were the first really good metal string, and when they first came out they blew everyone away with how loud, distinct, and long sustaining they were. A ton of recorded bass sounds from the 70s are spirocores, and they sort of defined, for a lot of people, what a bass is supposed to sound like. Like you, and a lot of other people, I got sort of fed up with them. I'm loving the animas I just put on my bass today

[hdiddy]

Could also be your bass. Spiro's might work on someone elses bass but suck for yours. Though I didn't put them on for very long, the Obli's weren't crazy good on my bass. I liked the spiros better and Animas even more.