Super Silvers Review

[Bobby King]

I've been curious about these so I tried out a set. They were approximately $130

The Innovation Super Silvers are a synthetic core string with a synthetic nylon-like winding on all four strings. They have a tone and feel intended to approximate gut strings. They are to some extent like Labella's Supernil strings but with several differences/improvements -- the winding is finer, smoother and is uniform on all four strings (Supernils are metal wound on the lower and nylonwound on the upper strings). Also the tension is greater than Supernil and the string diameters are smaller (but the Super Silvers are still relatively thick). Super Silvers don't seem to "roll" like Supernils, which is a big improvement.

The tone of these strings is pretty good, plenty of gut-like punch but with more brightness and sustain. The E will get a bit of growl if you sustain a note. The tension is comfortable but the G string seems to have noticably more tension than the rest (there is a version of these called Super Slaps that supposedly have lower tension, the only string that I'd want lower tension from would be the G) The G and to some extent the D have more sustain than the E&A, the G will start to "mwah" which I don't particularly care for. The D had nice definition going up the neck, often an issue with plain gut D's.
The strings do have a tendency to get a little "boingy" sounding when played hard and don't seem to produce all the volume of real gut. Still plenty of boom though, and an all-around gut vibe.

Many people have used the Super Silver E&A with plain gut uppers. I tried this and they match fairly well, both tone and tension. The Super Silvers wrap gives them a little bit of a bright edge that is different from gut, but this more noticable on the upper strings. Given the price of wound gut, these make a good option for the E&A.

The tuning stablized fairly quickly and they are not susceptible to temperature change like real gut. This is a real plus in many situatiuons.

Now down to brass tacks -- I played a loud gig with these on my Kay bass with an Underwood pickup - my usual setup. As with most synthetic core strings that I've tried, I find the note center to be a little cloudy. I always think it's like an arm or leg that has skin and muscle, but no bone running through it (pardon my weird metaphor). Lacking spine. These qualities become more noticable amplified. Still, they amplified decently and they produce a nice, even response across all four strings. I don't love the slap sound -- sort of a plastic "clack" rather than a sharp, clear "click". One thing I love about gut is that they don't feedback as much when turned up loud. The Super Silver G was sustaining and feeding back like a steel string -- annoying.

At home I got a cool sound recording direct through my Sadowsky DI. It was kind of Cuban-sounding and reminded me of the tone of this Fender Acoustic/Electric Fretless P Bass that I once owned that used nylon-core, tapewound strings.
Not really a natural upright sound, but a good sound nevertheless.

You can actually bow on these, not terrific - hollow sounding like Pirastro Pizzicato - but the bow can grab them and make them vibrate, and pretty evenly on all of the strings too. OK for a little practice.

I'm a big gut string fan with the usual love/hate relationship with them, so I'm always interested in these type of strings.
Bottom line -- I took them off and put back on my real guts -- and there's that note center I missed, and the great "snap" in the way they pizz, the good slap tone, the way they sound great live with my Underwood! -- AND -- the constant tuning issues, and thuddy D string notes above a G, and wound E&A strings that develop odd buzzes --

But if you're "gut-inclined" and you play outdoors a lot, if affordablity is a big issue, if you hate wound gut E&As but dont like using steel on the bottom, etc., these could be a very good choice.

So, I'm keeping the Super Silvers as spares. In reality, they're one of the best strings of this type, priced affordably, but they won't replace real gut for me.

[M Ramsey]

Thanks Bobby, for putting up this review of the Super Silvers. I played Don Anderson's bass in Nashville during the IBMA which was strung with them. Not being familiar with his bass, I couldn't really make a determination if I liked them or not. (Nothing wrong with Don's bass, different neck, different setup, etc., etc.)

Hearing this coming from a player as yourself, with experience with gut strings, helps me to understand better what I should expect if I ever try them. I appreciate the info.

[kwd]

Bobby

Thanks for the informative review. Are the S. Silvers similar to the 140Bs in pizz sound? I'm thinking of combining them with a Chorda G.

[Bobby King]

Hey there!

They are fairly different from the 140B, IMO.
As I recall, the 140B was more along the lines of the Evah Pirazzi strings -- almost like synthetic Olives but with less dead-sounding E&A strings (you also might like the Evah Pirazzis). The Super Silvers are brighter, with a more gut-like tension, and while they are nominally bowable, they have a smooth nylon coating and don't really bow very well. The 140B, like the EPs and Olives, have a flatwound metal winding and do bow very well. The pizz of the SSs is boomier and less focused than the 140B, it's more along the lines of Supernil -- a gut imitation. Still, I think that SSs on the E&A with plain gut on the D&G would make a good combo.

[ctxbass]

I found the Supersilvers more similar to plain gut. I tried a combination of SS E&A with Chorda D&G and the sound was good, but dynamic range was not well matched as I recall. The SS gave out volume-wise before the plain gut Chordas.

I liked the 140Bs, but there was something about the pizz decay that was not gut like to my ear, maybe as though the big fundamental died and some other tone either continued or took over.

[kwd]

Thank you both for the replies.

From what I read elsewhere on the SuperSilvers I gathered that they might not keep up with the towering volume of gut. I really like the 140Bs but I had problems with the last A string from that set and have since soured on them. I put a set of Dominants from the fabled string drawer to replace them. I find the Dominants harder to start with the bow, especially the A, and they don't sound as juicy.

Bobby - I wonder if you might comment on the 'skin and muscle but no bone' thing. Have conventional metal strings faired better through an amp for you?

I'm growing weary of the 'gut, synthetic' quest. I'm thinking of jumping on the bright string bandwagon. Perhaps LaBella 7710s.

[Bobby King]

Originally Posted by kwd

Bobby - I wonder if you might comment on the 'skin and muscle but no bone' thing. Have conventional metal strings faired better through an amp for you?

I'm growing weary of the 'gut, synthetic' quest. I'm thinking of jumping on the bright string bandwagon. Perhaps LaBella 7710s.

Hello again!

The last synthetic I tried were the Evah Pirazzis and they sounded great unamplified, they bow fantastically, but through an amp I was not happy with them. Others seem to have reported the same, though some here disagree.

Usually when I gig on upright, I use my gut-strung bass. Currently I have Gamut light gauge and an Underwood pickup. This has been my "old faithful" setup. Even though it's a bit thumpy and not real natural sounding, it's punchy and I can hear and feel the notes well and I can get pretty loud without
feedback.

My other bass has Thomastik Superflexibles and a Full Circle pickup. I use that bass more at home and I do my arco practice on it. Occasionally I use that bass on quieter jazz gigs and it sounds good too. The steel strings and the Full Circle are a good match. Steel with the Underwood can get kind of bright and clanky sounding. But generally, there's a well defined note center with steel strings. I've heard lots of players get a great tone with Spirocores.

My son's bass has a Realist pickup and he used to get a great sound with that and the Superflexibles. Now he loves Obligatos (he's studying with John Clayton at USC). He still gets a good sound but I liked the steel better amplified. But these days he tries to play acoustically as much as possible and the Obligatos sound very good that way.

I guess that I'd say either steel or gut (as opposed to synthetic core) seems to work best amplified and for me gut is best of all.