8 String Players

Although I didnt get my 8 string until yesterday I have been playing 7s for a while... one with a low F# string and several with a high F.

My 8 string that I just received is tuned in standard fourths from low F# to high F.. No real reason other than that follows normal tuning on any other bass.. I had messed around with "guitar" tuings, but it didn't feel natural to me.



I currently don't have a set-up that will faithfully reproduce the low F# at the moment.. That's my next project. There are a couple of guys on here that do have rigs rated to handle it so maybe they'll chime in here shortly and offer their coins.. But, you really do need a particular rig to handle it.. The secret to faithfully reproducing the lower freqs is the frequency response of the cab you're using and power.. It takes a lot of power to push out those notes!

Only thing is that there aren't too many makes out there building stuff rated that low.. A few names come to mind... AccuGroove's 21" Whappo Grande.. Bag End makes one but I'm not sure of the model (they actually have a cab rated down to 8 Hz!!! ), and Madison Speaker's Hydra and MAB183 cabs..

I'm sure I haven't covered everything here, so I'll step back and wait for one of the more experienced individuals to show up...

 

One thing I forgot to mention, but that's equally important is to make sure all the associated gear.. preamp, power amp, head, etc... is rated for those feqs as well.

 

That's a .150 on the F#

 

actually, to acheive that 8 hz, (with the BE) you have to buy like a 2300 dollar processor for it...

 

hey everyone,

I play a Conklin 8 tuned from low F# to a high F natural.

I don't know that there's any particular advantage to how it's tuned, that's just how I like it!

as for the amp rig, here's the signal chain:

- Demeter VTBP-201s preamp
- Stewart World 2.1 digital power amp
- AccuGroove El Whappo
- AccuGroove Whappo Grande

I have a taper core .153 for my low string that I love, but I'm used to medium lights. friends of mine use .163, .165, .168, and .175 strings.

hope that was some help.

from the low end,


Stew

 

I think it's 7Hz Bryan...

 

Though it only goes to 18Hz, the M version is only aroud $600-$700, I think. the $2K+ version is the full stereo model that is 8Hz. Now it's call INFRA instead of ELF, and the ELF-1 may no longer be available.