Weichs-EP vs Spirocore

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Originally Posted by clink

After three weeks with the Evah weichs I'm back to spirocores. They sounded great the first week and into the second, but as they darkened I was working too hard to get them to speak. The treble knob crept higher, the bass knob lower and my right hand felt the effort. Gonna run the mittels for a bit and possibly go back to weichs.
I don't think the combination of darkish bass, Realist, Acoustic Image and EP's is a good one.
FWIW, mittels bow pretty well and don't feel much stiffer on this bass. In the growl and life department they are slightly too much, but will be great in a gig setting.

It's now been 14 months since I posted this and want to update this. Marcus sent me his old EP weich set which is well over a year and a half old. I put them on yesterday and have now played two gigs. So far, I'm really liking the change in response, tone and feel of these strings. It's interesting that I now like them for the same reasons I didn't over a year ago. I'm getting a dark, woody tone that has punch and plenty of clarity. The Olive G fits well with these, although the arco is a bit scratchier than the Evahs.

These strings still have some life in them so I'll run them for a few weeks, or months before making another change.

For those who don't know, I'm now using a GK MB150. I do believe the amp has something to do with these working so well.

Thanks Marcus.

[drurb]

Originally Posted by clink

It's now been 14 months since I posted this and want to update this. Marcus sent me his old EP weich set...

So, you've done EP weich, Spiro mittel, EP weich and you're evaluating again. There are support groups for this.

FWIW, as I've posted before, I find the EP weichs powerful fundamental and HUGE dark tone on my bass to be intoxicating. Still, all things considered, I'm leaving the Spiro mitts on my bass for all the other characteristics they bring to the mix-- not the least of which is that the "front-end" stiffness of the EP weichs tends to tax the area of my previous injury. I figure I dodged a bullet once-- not gonna re-load the chamber!

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

Originally Posted by drurb

So, you've done EP weich, Spiro mittel, EP weich and you're evaluating again. There are support groups for this.

F.........................not the least of which is that the "front-end" stiffness of the EP weichs tends to tax the area of my previous injury. I figure I dodged a bullet once-- not gonna re-load the chamber!

Curiously, these feel quite a bit looser than the mitts under both hands. There is also a bit of roll on the A but these are really nice strings.

[PB+J]

For what it's worth, I just now swapped a set of Spiro weichs for a set of Evah weichs and for what it's worth, on my bass (shen 7/8 flatback) they weichs seem

pizz:
Less loud
Darker
stiffer

Arco:
smoother
louder
darker

Arco they really seem to roar, especially the "A" string. "D" string is a little raspy. Pizz they have a thumpier darker sound and a nice attack on the front of the note. Liking the Evahs very much so far

[swingingoodtime]

At risk of derailing the discussion a little from just the two brands/types in the OP ; have you tried Innovation 140's? I'm currently running the 140B D&G and the 140H E&A and quite like 'em (although am keen to get my Anima's back on; long story, see the Velvet MTII if you're really bored with nothing to do); although it's been a while since I had my Spiro Weich's on, they seem to be a little thumpier than the Spiro's with a little more tension (but not uncomfortably so; if anything, I find the extra tension allows a little more dig-in and gives a bit more feel back thru the fingers). They're pretty good under the bow, too. Must admit, I've not tried EP Weichs though; they're hard to get here in Oz.

Also, if you're chasing more volume, perhaps try a Marvin tailpiece? My bass opened up heaps with one, although I do need to be a little careful about a Bb resonance; the top vibrates a lot more freely now! Interestingly, swapping between a metal & wood endpin does change that too; metal damps it but also lowers the apparent volume; seems to force the resonant peak lower so it sounds bass-ier but hence softer in the 'voice'/mids.)

Right; back to normal programming...