A pleasant string surprise

[Basschair]

It's been just over 5 years since I've posted in this forum (wish I could say I've been practicing habitually in that time). I figured I should contribute someting

I had some...let's call them "old strings" on my beloved bass. A long Spiro Mittel E, a Spiro Mittel A (old), and Helicore Orch. D/G. The last two because I wanted a nice dark thump with the pizz. Of course, those two outlived their life and usefulness, so I went to the old string pile to see what else I had. I had, among others, some Corelli 380Ms. So I swapped the D and G and gave it a few days of practicing my jazz pizz.

I was a tad bit shocked. I was expecting a big difference in tone, feel, and...everything. While there are subtle differences, on my bass they are a fantastic match. Low register is...well, they're Spiro Mittles. They're awesome: low but not midnight-dark, not muddy at all, very clear. The Corellis have a subdued richness that I wasn't expecting. They sustain, they gliss well, and they have a very nice matching sound to the Spiros.

I'm not doing the description justice right now because I have trumpet students messing around in my classroom while I type this. I figured I'd throw this out there, since it'd be nice to have the nice (semi-pricey) low Spiros with a matching, more affordable top end. I found them an interesting alternative to Spiros on top, which are great...and a little brighter and stiffer.

Standard caveat: this was on my bass. If you get a chance, you might want to try the 380Ms on yours.

Cheers

[Basschair]

Oops...Weich A

[LouisF]

Corellis don't get enough respect here. I had 380s on my old Swanson bass and 370TXF on my ex-Gary Karr solo bass. Very warm strings with the right bass. Ask Rabbath. He uses (or used them) as did Jean Marc Rollez:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pKbpvJsKnf4

Louis

[DoubleMIDI]

The 380M are weak on the A and even more on the E. The G is very nice indeed, the D is OK. Might mix well tensionwise with Spiro Weich 4/4 (S42W).
Rabbath plays 370M, if I remember correctly.

[martinc]

I used the Corelli Nickel Extra Forte(TX) 380's on an old Kay many years ago with a Spiro Weich E.
I liked the mix and probably would have stayed with it longer but at the time it was tough to find Corelli 380's online. The regular online stores were all out of stock for quite a while so I had to go with a different combination. The 380 TX are very much like Spiro Weichs in feel and sound without the initial zing. Extra Forte Corelli's are not as thick in the gauge or as high in tension as you would expect.
Back then, the finish on the Corelli's was a bit rough. I used to give them a quick rub with 0000 steel wool and they became very smooth and easy to play.
And you can't beat the price!