String suggestions for a New Standard Cleveland ply

[potato4931]

It's string changing time and as usual I get to thinking about trying something other than the Spirocores that I've been using. Does anyone have any string suggestions for the Cleveland ply that you're happy with? And, how would they differ from the Spirocores? Thanks.

[Francois Blais]

You asked the exact same thing one year ago here:
String options for NS Cleveland ply

You were not happy with the answers then?

[Uncletoad]

Owned!

[KSB - Ken Smith]

Originally Posted by Uncletoad

Owned!

Hey.. get some LaBella Guts.. play like a real man..lol

[Marcus Johnson]

Ehh...he's just got a little bit of Uncletoad's disease. I can relate to that, every time I replace strings. Until this last time.

I've never played a Cleveland (it's on my to do list).... but the Evah Pirazzis have cured my string G.A.S. pretty much completely since I've been using them on my hybrid La Scala. In your early thread that Francois (aka "Eagle Eye" ) pulled up, you mentioned twang on the G string. The Evah G produces none of that.

When I owned Ply basses, the Spiros worked better than a lot of other choices. I do realize that the AES plys are a cut above the rest, and I would tend to want to try some good guts on the top of that Cleveland. Anything else will be hit or miss; it just depends how far into the string hunting expedition you want to go.

One other thing; I've yet to find a string that sounds bad on my La Scala. It's very forgiving in that regard.

[CB3000]

i had a cleveland ply and i really liked thomastik dominants. i had velvet animas on there for a bit too and they were very nice-in fact i got compliments on those.

[JeffKissell]

I've had high end gut strings (Damian Dlugolecki's) on mine until very recently. I currently have Belcantos. Neither of those sets sound much like Spiros. I had Dominants on it 2+ years ago for a short time and they also sounded good. What do you want your bass to sound like?
-J
BTW, I still have the set of Spirocores that came on my bass as spares.

[potato4931]

marcus, thanks for your input. the evah's sound like they're worth a try. do you know if there's any danger of them breaking if the metal part of the string is wound on to the tuning peg. thanks.

[Uncletoad]

Originally Posted by potato4931

marcus, thanks for your input. the evah's sound like they're worth a try. do you know if there's any danger of them breaking if the metal part of the string is wound on to the tuning peg. thanks.

No problem. I've taken my Evahs on and off several times and so far they are still kicking.

Btw. they are off. Not my cuppa on my ply Cleveland bass. They sound very different on carved basses than on ply.

[Marcus Johnson]

Nah, I don't think they'll break, they seem very durable. Mine has some metal on the peg, and I'm going on a year with this set.

Phil may be right about the response on a ply bass, though. I don't know how they would sound in that context, as they're kind of dark. They are very "neutral" compared to an instantly identifyable string like Spiros, and they do take a little more work to pull out their personality. Sometimes spiros feel like "autopilot" strings, in that they allow you to just breathe on them and great sounds come flying out. The EPs are a little more demanding in the areas of hand placement and technique. I've found that neutral canvas to be a plus for me, but it's not for everyone.

I just heard some roughs from a session I did on the EPs. Pretty damn good. I think I'll leave it alone for now. The only switch I would consider would be back to Spiros, and I could easily end up doing that when the EPs die. If I were playing a ply bass, I'd probably just put on some Spiros and be done with it.

[Steve Killingsworth]

I've had Spiros, Animas, and currently Evahs on mine and they all sounded great--but definitely different.

The spiros sang like Ella Fitzgerald--very articulate and crisp. My experience is similar to Marcus in that it was very easy to pull a great tone from the spiros.

The Animas were more like Billie Holiday--growl and texture. On my Cleveland, they required more work than the spiros but the results were well worth the effort. I tend to really attack the strings when I play and the Animas seemed perfect for my style.

I've only had them on for a month but the Evahs are Anita Baker--smoooooth. They seem to me to be a compromise between the Spiros and Animas. After playing a set of Animas for almost 3 years, it took me a few gigs to adjust to the higher tension and different feel. As noted in many other threads, they are exceptionally easy to bow.

For my style of music (mainly bluegrass), I prefer the Animas first, Evahs second, and Spiros third. I am not an obsessive compulsive string changer so I will probably keep the Evahs for a long time, but when the time comes, I will probably return to the Animas. I do, however, reserve the right to change my mind.