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Double Bass Bass Volume

#27
I've found that string height doesn't have a whole lot to do with the volume that you get out of the bass. It's all on you. I play Spirocores at 5mm and 8mm, and from HOURS of having to produce volume acoustically in NYC over the last few years, I'm getting more sound out of the bass than I ever have. A friend of mine plays an American Standard, and had a set of Weichs (and later a Golden Spiral / Weich combo) and gets about twice the volume that I do from my Italian 7/8, with the strings so low that I can't pull the G string without getting the D and somtimes the A with the same stroke. He is a bigger guy, and I think this helps somewhat.

What I would add is this, I can get a lot of sound, but as volume increases, quality diminishes. At a certain point you are just overplaying the strings. (Yes -- you CAN overplay Spirocores. :)) But, the more I play acoustically, the louder I'm able to get the nice sound louder.

Here's my bit on why balance is so difficult in your average jazz group:

When you take a device that was designed to communicate with neighboring villages and scare the **** out of the enemy, and try combine it with musical instruments, you have balance problems.
 
#28
Originally posted by Ray Parker


Here's my bit on why balance is so difficult in your average jazz group:

When you take a device that was designed to communicate with neighboring villages and scare the **** out of the enemy, and try combine it with musical instruments, you have balance problems.
Click to expand...


Word. This is why my ears are still ringing from last night's gig.
 
#29
Originally posted by Ray Parker
I've found that string height doesn't have a whole lot to do with the volume that you get out of the bass. It's all on you. I play Spirocores at 5mm and 8mm, and from HOURS of having to produce volume acoustically in NYC over the last few years, I'm getting more sound out of the bass than I ever have.
Click to expand...

Also can depend on what you are using. When using the Velvet 180's, I had my strings vert high and with the low tension could get a loud, clear, sound. When I went to the Oliv D/G and Eudoxa A/E the sound was a little "thuddy" until I lowered the action some. It is not exactly low (I don't think that would be possible with big gut strings), but it is signifigantly lower than it was. I don't have anything at home that measures millimeters, so I don't know what it is exactly, but I would guess that I went from around 12mm to around 8 on the higher strings, and from about 15 to about 10mm on the low strings. (I hope that's close, I'm looking at a ruler in a desk and converting inches to mm by x by 25.4)

Part of my point is that there is a point of diminishing returns on both too high and too low action. Too high can have a lot of tension and actually produce less sound. What Farmerdude was experiencing and what I experienced was that very low tension strings could take the higher action BECAUSE they were so low tension. However, I hate really low action because I can't seem to get my finger around it to get really good "pull" on the string, and I end up overplaying the string at that height. I find that at a low action, I can play faster, but with a decrease in volume. It's all a trade off, IMHO.

Monte

PS Of course what Ray says is true; you have to develop good pizz technique. It's not as simple as lowering or raising my strings.
 
#34
Originally posted by farmerdude
When I hear bagpipes I want to hit someone...explanation= back when I played college football we had a couple guys (in skirts) lead us onto the field at home games...tell me that doesn't get ya fired up:rolleyes:
Click to expand...

Geeez, I take it this football team was not from the South:rolleyes: I dare any man wearing a skirt to run into a college stadium in Tuscaloosa, Baton Rouge, Starkville, Athens, etc.

Monte
 

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