Super Silver Vs. Garbo..E & A

drasticDUB · #1 05-06-2010, 11:38 AM

Well...I just acquired an American Standard dating back to the early 60's (serial # 2799) and I think I'm gonna finally go for this gut thing!
For a number of reasons, I'd like to stay non-gut on the E and A...(mainly financial)...
I'll probably go for the Gamut pistoy's for the D/G so wanted to get peoples opinions on velvet vs. super silvers or the like for the low strings...I've read quite a bit about both strings in these forums, but wanted to see if anyone had any direct comparisons?
Thanks!

wineaux · #2 05-06-2010, 12:32 PM

Drastic,

I can offer a bit of comparison. Relatively new Silvers were on one of my basses when I bought it, but I didn't like the tension (lack of) and the fact that my fingers seemed to roll rather than come off the string cleanly. So I put guts on the G and D and went with Garbos on the E and A. The tension of the Garbos and the guts seems to me to be pretty consistent, the finger roll is not an issue and the sound, to my ear, is pretty balanced.

YMMV, of course.

Good luck!

Mark Perna · #3 05-06-2010, 12:51 PM

I've never used Silvers but the Garbo A and E (especially the E) work great with Gamut Pistoy D and G. I'm using a Gamut wrapped A right now but I'm putting a Garbo A back on next fall when the humidity and temperature drop.

mark

hofner · #4 05-13-2010, 03:27 AM

Super silvers have a nice round, soft sound but could lack of tensions, as said, depending your taste. Garbos (or animas) can sound "strange" imho, due to the copper winding...

kmanley_29649 · #5 05-14-2010, 02:29 PM

I liked the Silver Slaps with gut D & G, but they have less tension than the Super Silvers. Then again, I like lower tension. For a similar sound and higher tension than the Silver Slaps, you could try the new Psycho Slaps that Innovation put out last year. I haven't tried them myself, but they are supposed to be a higher tension than Super Silvers.

davpal · #6 05-14-2010, 02:56 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by calivox

I've never used Silvers but the Garbo A and E (especially the E) work great with Gamut Pistoy D and G. I'm using a Gamut wrapped A right now but I'm putting a Garbo A back on next fall when the humidity and temperature drop.

mark

Mark - I'm curious about putting the Garbo back on in the autumn...do you feel the wrapped gut doesn't do well in the cold, dry conditions? I ask because I took off a set of Eudoxas that I tried this past winter as I felt they were too stiff and high tension... perhaps they will feel better for me now that it's getting hot & humid?

(sorry to hijack the thread from the OP)

Brendan Vlass · #7 05-23-2010, 06:25 PM

On the topic of Garbo E and A, I have them on an old Clevinger EUB.
... I understand they are intended for pizz., but when I do bow on them I get severely reduced output from the E and A. The D and G sound great. Is there something I can do to improve the output or is that the nature of the string? Can I damage the strings by bowing them?

**Francois Blais** · #8 05-23-2010, 06:46 PM

Quote:

Originally Posted by Brendan Vlass

The D and G sound great.

And what are they?
Maybe that's just because you don't use a whole Garbo set?
From my (somewhat) limited Velvet experience, they don't mix very well with other brands.

Brendan Vlass · #9 05-24-2010, 10:21 AM

The whole set are Garbo.

timobee4 · #10 09-20-2010, 08:34 AM

I can also offer a little of my experience with Super Silvers vs. Garbos. I had Garbo E & A for a long time mixed with various gut strings D & G. Only recently I have purchased Gamut Lyon medium D & G but I didn't like the fact that the Gamut D was fatter than the Garbo A, someone on this forum recommended the Innovation Super Silvers saying that they blend really well with gut strings! So I went and got a set to replace the Garbo E & A. Look mate, different strokes for different folks but in my opinion the cheap Super Silvers are the perfect match!!!!! I play Jazz and I have not noticed any alleged rolling under the fingers or lack of tension, to me they perfect blend and I do love the combination a million times better than the Garbos E & A, they very even on my carved bass!!! I love the full set of Garbos too, but to match gut with anything I would go with the Super Silvers any day!!! the best advive I could give you is to buy a set, they so cheap! At first they might be a little slack but after a couple of weeks you'd know what I am talking about!
Tone

drasticDUB · #11 09-20-2010, 10:05 PM

I actually got my super silver today in the mail. Just the A string that is...

SOUNDS GREAT! I can't believe it. I will likely be ordering an E string to match the A, but it really sounds great with my Gamut guts!

c

timobee4 · #12 09-22-2010, 10:45 AM

The sooner the better! I know for sure that since I found this combination I can not put my bass down! I am not kidding when I say that from 2-3 hours a day I jumped up to 6-10 hours and I often play until 6 am and get up at 12 and after my caffein I select some play along and off I go again! These strings gave me wings! Gamuts are the best sounding strings I have ever played and Super Silvers E and A are THE perfect match. I also love Velvets, Corellis, and Spiros a great deal. I have 2 DB and one is sorted! The other DB gets different strings frequently depending on my mood.

timobee4 · #13 10-03-2010, 07:56 PM

I might also mention that my new gamuts and super silver settled in so well, they project evenly and they sound the same. an absolute delight playing on this string configuration. my velvets are going on ebay as I don't think that I change strings for the next five years!