new upton strings

skipper · #1 02-13-2007, 12:39 PM

Have any of you tried the new Upton-Bass-Innovation-UB-Blacks?

http://www.uptonbass.com/Upton-Bass-...ion-UB-Blacks/

What do you think?

pipeman · #2 02-16-2007, 06:40 PM

i ordered a set the other day. the upton people said that they were out of stock and they'll have them in a week or two. i'll let you know when i get them.......

gp_bass · #3 02-18-2007, 08:07 PM

check out this old thread:
Upton Blacks

a few people have tried them. i've only played them at upton on gary's bass and thought they were really cool. i currently have animas on my bass and the upton blacks have some of that synthetic core snap, but are higher tension, which took me a minute to get used to. the wrap is almost flawless black and feels nice and smooth (in contrast to animas, for example). they seemed really loud, punchy with sustain, and without any of the zinginess of steel strings. nice fat guage, too, which i love about the animas. finally, they bowed pretty well, though it seems they require using jade rosin, which gary also sells. they're probably not the string panacea everyone's been looking for, but i was definitely impressed.

i'm thinking of switching, but waiting till they're in stock again. i think this might be my biggest concern with the strings -- will they be consistently available?

pipeman · #4 02-19-2007, 10:45 AM

thanks fo the review. hopefully they will get them soon so we can check them out on our own basses. it's very true that the bass makes a big difference in tension that's created. i used the animas on my bass and the tension was low, and then i tried them on the gage czech ease bass at a similar string height and the tension was much greater. the tension also can be adjusted drastically if you have braided wire at the taipiece, and loosen it while the bass is under tension......

pipeman · #5 02-22-2007, 09:15 PM

put them on my bass today. seem too be well made. these strings are thick like the animas. the g string appears to have the highest tension, sort of like the olive set. all the strings have a combination of sustain and depth. my bass sounds very loud with these, coming from the weich's. the tone is dark but clear. the pitch stabilized in about an hour. the bowing was diffcult, but i don't have any jade rosin which may make it easier. pizz was good. they are very smooth feeling.
all in all this is a nice string with lots of power. very similar to the anima, but much smoother, a bit higher tension, and much cheeper. i like the fact that because they are higher tension you can keep them lower without buzzing. i'll keep them on for a few days too see how they mature, and let youz guys know........

p.s.
ray brown is on public television right now 10:17pm in new york.....

buddyro57 · #6 03-18-2007, 12:54 PM

Tried them, but only kept them on for a little while- here's a quick summary of my impressions:

1. not the highest-quality string, in other words, you miss the quality of the production that you find in, say Thomastiks- the Innovations look a little on the cheap and hasitily produced side, with a kind of "bare-bones" ball end that actually doesn't look too stable

2. Neither the warmth of gut ( OK, I am comparing these to Eudoxas, so maybe that's not fair), nor the sustain or focus of a steel string

3. These do not take the bow well (for me), despite the claims by Upton to the contrary.....

the string seemed to me to be a not-too-satisfying compromise

My 2-cents worth.

uptonbass · #7 03-18-2007, 07:52 PM

Buddy,

Sorry to hear you were not pleased with the strings, on your points.

1. I can assure you this is a very high quality string, the ball ends or rod ends you refer to simply are the type that fit the winding machines used by innovation. Secondly they best hold the core type of that string during the winding process. ANY type of ball end were talking pennies here, nothing that denotes the quality of production. I have never had a problem with the strings durability, longevity AND quality..of the wrap, core, ends etc..not a single one. I cannot say the same for the Thomastik, not at all saying Thomastik is not a great string maker but we have seen a LOT of scroll side breakage in both the dom and spiro.

2. I can say the warmth and darkness of the string does grow but the strings, really need to settle, they need time to even and get the edge off. Surly we can say the same for a set of Spiro's

The strings that gp_bass played on my bass were around 6 months old and WELL played in by yours truly. They WILL act and sound like the Eudoxas....they need some time though!

3. I bow them quite well with black hair and jade rosin, happy to give you a recital over the phone

Try them again for a bit longer.....please

Oh and what type of bass are they on, and what was on before?

All that being said at the end of the day no one string can please em all

Peck_Time · #8 03-19-2007, 01:19 AM

Hi Mr Upton!

How would you compare the Upton Innovation Blacks to the Innovation SuperSilvers?

The SuperSilvers are one of my favourites, and match up with plain gut real well.

Thanks

-Daniel Y

dmperry24 · #9 03-19-2007, 09:44 AM

I have to preface my remarks on the Innovation Blacks strings from Upton with the disclaimer that I am a TOTAL newbie. I have only been playing the upright bass (an Upton Hybrid Hawkes model strung with Blacks) for two weeks now. But I know this much. I was concerned about transitioning to bass and how rough the strings would be on my fingers, and how I would get blisters and callouses, etc. Further I was concerned that I would not even be able to get a reasonable sound out of the instrument for months.

Well, I find the Innovation Blacks to be extremely smooth. The tension is not high. The strings sound warm and hold their tuning. For the last two weeks I have been woodshedding like a mad man and I have not gotten the first blister or felt any pain or difficulty physically playing these strings. I get a terrific tone out of them that I suspect can only increase as I become more adept at my playing.

I have not tried to bow them very much, but that will come in time. My bowing for now sounds too painful to want to do much of it until I get some proper training on how to proceed. Speaking of training, I have been working with a fine teacher from Day One, and he finds my sounds to be acceptable.

I have no desire right now to change strings at all. In the distant future I may want to get into gut strings as the Blacks deaden, but it will not be becuase I am dissatisfied with the Blacks.
Mike

lowEndRick · #10 03-19-2007, 11:50 AM

I have been quite pleased with the Upton Blacks. I've had them on for about 6 months and they sound great in the context of what I do (Bluegrass). Nearly everyone who tries my bass (czech ply, nothin special) has commented about how comfortable and great sounding they are. Then they run off and buy a set for their own bass.

willye · #11 03-19-2007, 01:42 PM

Has anyone tried the other Innovation strings with metal wraps? the Innovation web site says they are good for Jazz and it would seem that they would bow more easily than the "rubber" wraps. IT sounds as if the core is the same, so they should play about the same.

Any takes on that?

Thanks,

Willye

kwd · #12 03-26-2007, 02:15 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by willye

Has anyone tried the other Innovation strings with metal wraps? the Innovation web site says they are good for Jazz and it would seem that they would bow more easily than the "rubber" wraps. IT sounds as if the core is the same, so they should play about the same.

Any takes on that?

Thanks,

Willye

I have the 140Bs. They're very easy to bow. They have a darker, more percussive pizz sound. I like them for jazz and have had positive feedback on the sound from other players. I think I read that the Super Silvers and 140Bs have the same core. I'm not sure which Upton core the Blacks are wound on.

gp_bass · #13 04-04-2007, 09:44 PM

I finally bought a set last month, and waited a bit till I had time to swap them out on my bass. During that time, I started working a lot more with the bow, and took off the old Animas I had on my bass and put on Superflexibles. By the time I got around to trying the Blacks, I found that what I wanted to play had completely changed: I now needed a highly bowable string, and the Blacks just didn't seem to want to behave for things I wanted to play, like fiddle tunes.

The big disclaimer is that I only tried the G and D -- never got around to putting the other two on.

I LOVED the pizz sound of the strings, and I don't think the bowed sound was terrible or too difficult for slow passages, but they just don't respond fast enough for what I want to do now. It's really too bad, as these could have been great for me a year ago.

After using Animas for two years before this, I was very happy about several aspects of these strings:
-organic, "snappy" sound. not really gut, but some elements of that
-smooth as glass windings. after years of trying to shift smoothly with those funky anima windings, this was like ice skating
-focused sound. this made them have some qualities of a steel string, but not the twanginess of typical steels.
-tension similar to spirocores (I would have liked slightly less, coming from animas, but they were really fine)

overall a very cool and well made string, just outside my current holistic bass concept needs, if ya know what i mean.

ZuluFunk · #14 03-08-2009, 09:06 PM

I just put the UB Blacks on my Engelhardt. That's the bass I normally use for Rockabilly, but I'm squeezing in some big band and I don't want to bang up my Upton Hybrid. I needed more volume than the guts I had on the Engel, plus I was worried I'd reflexively start pulling off some triplets in the middle of April in Paris

I'm very happy with how they feel. I'll have to see how they sound in the mix Tuesday night, but they sound nice in my music room. I didn't really like them on my other bass, but they are very cozy on my back up.