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Double Bass Distortion, nylon and bows

How are the nylons, the cheap bow and the effect pedals going to work out?

  • Great! Sounds really interesting.

    Votes: 8 26.7%
  • Could be okay, I guess...

    Votes: 4 13.3%
  • I don't think cheap nylon will work with a bow...

    Votes: 6 20.0%
  • Why the heck are you doing this? Idiot.

    Votes: 12 40.0%

  • Total voters
    30
I got my first EUB (Palatino) a bit ago, hoping beyond hope that it would sound good through distortion, among other effects. In my own grateful opinion, it most certainly does. (maybe this isn't exactly desireable to most of the community here,) Moving along, I've always wanted to play with a bow, so I just purchased a cheap-o german bow that I've not yet received, and although I know that you usually get what you pay for, it's the strings I ordered that I'm worried about. Thankfully, they were extremely cheap. They're nylon "Slap Happy Weed Wacker" strings. Obviously I'm not going for a clean, refined sound, but I would like input about what kind of potentially hellish time I'm going to have making this combo work at all. Yeah, yeah, I'm a double bass noob. Maybe I should have just gotten that fretless bass guitar, but the upright was so alluring...:smug:
 
i'm mostly a bass guitar player, but i was playing upright for years in the past... and i love effects. :)

as far as the type of strings... can't help. start with the cheap ones and hope they work, i guess.

regarding distortion... just remember that arco is much louder and "higher output" than pizzicato, so you may want to turn down the "gain" or "drive" knob on your pedal when bowing. unless, of course, you're going for an over-the-top type of sound, in which case get a fuzz. :smug:

also: you may want to wander over to the Effects forum in the BG area. LOTS of fun there!

sorry i couldn't be more help on the string question...