Double Bass Evah Pirazzi strings megathread part II

[Uncletoad]

I think they should rename the Evah Pirazzi regular tension as Original New Flexocor and the Weich and Original New Flexocor Light to avoid the confusion.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

I think they should rename the Evah Pirazzi regular tension as Original New Flexocor and the Weich and Original New Flexocor Light to avoid the confusion.

Nice - Or call them 'Flexocore '09'

 

[PsychoScout]

Major bummer, my luthier thinks my bass would sound even better if I put on strings with lower tension. I'm going to check by lowering the tension of one of the middle strings to almost zero...

So the evah weichs are back in my head, oh noes!

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

That's how it starts.............................See you at the meeting.

 

[Barnsey]

Put some Evahs on, I have just put some of the low tension ones on - they are great!

 

[JGintheHam]

I think they should rename the Evah Pirazzi regular tension as Original New Flexocor and the Weich and Original New Flexocor Light to avoid the confusion.

I am still confused about the whole Coke Classic thing from the 80s.

 

[Uncletoad]

Olivieraleman kindly sent me a set of his Evah Weichs to audition. I'm in the middle of breaking in Spiros on the Queen so i thought I'd put them on the Cleveland for kicks.

Wow. What a great sounding set.

I fear they are to low tension for playing high volume electric stuff I get into on lots of my gigs...and I haven't tried to plug them in yet. Regardless the Cleveland really likes these strings. Even and punchy across the range pizz and really nice arco. The E is kinda lame for me but it's a long distance away from my usual Spiro suspects in tension.

I'm going to leave them on that bass for awhile and see how they develop. They make me want to pick it up more which is saying something considering it's roommate.

The Queen will get an audition with these at some point, however I think as good as I imagine they would sound on that bass I don't imagine I'll be able to work as well with them as Spiro Mitts in the variety of junk I get into.

I understand the concept of them being different than the regular tension now, really different. Like dark spiro weichs. They are the string Obligatos wanted to be but aren't.

I think the Oliv G is to heavy for that set but unless you do like Marcus and put the plain guts there I see no reason to change it. The D string is especially good. The A is weak on the Cleveland which is usually pretty good sounding with a Spirocore but that could be a bass thing. The E has lots of guts but is very light which makes it really good for arco but not so good for beating the crap out of pizz.

Using them as the E/A on the bottom of plain guts is a very good idea. I'd bet better than the usual Velvet and Spirocore suspects...at least for me.

I'll say this, I've tried lots and lots of strings on the Cleveland, more than the Queen. If I wanted to play the Cleveland arco a lot this is the set for that, even more so than the Belcanto or Flexocor. It warms up the plywood and takes advantage of that big box to kick out some nice tone. They are even across arco where the Belcanto weren't on that bass. I think the low tension really helps there. The E fits really well in the mix arco in a way that no other set did quite as well.

Overall the volume is very low compared to spiros. Significantly lower than Spiro Mitts. I don't know if it would hang acoustically on much with these strings before it got buried. Perhaps with a carved top it would project better with these strings but for volume and projection I'm thinking the Spiros get the nod. If I went to regular gigs again with the Cleveland I'd probably put Spiro Mitts back on but that's me and what I do.

I'd have to amplify this bass with these strings even in a small combo to get the sound projection but it wouldn't take much to sound really good.

If they have the same lifespan and weird tension changes over the life of the set like the regular gage it could make these things disappointing over the long haul but I don't know about that yet.

Regardless they sound good enough to recommend giving them an audition. I like their sound better than the regular gage right out of the package.

 

[fretlessspence]

o.k., I'm in. Got a set of weichs on the way. We'll see how this goes.

 

[drurb]

They are the string Obligatos wanted to be but aren't.

Hmm... where have I heard this before?

Overall the volume is very low compared to spiros. Significantly lower than Spiro Mitts.

Nearly fell out of my chair with this one. I think this should serve as another example to all of how sets of strings and basses interact. Now, on my bass, Spiros have plenty of punch but Evah weichs turn it into a powerful deep, dark, roaring cannon in comparison. Go figure...

 

[Uncletoad]

Nearly fell out of my chair with this one. I think this should serve as another example to all of how sets of strings and basses interact. Now, on my bass, Spiros have plenty of punch but Evah weichs turn it into a powerful deep, dark, roaring cannon in comparison. Go figure...

Obviously your bass prefers lighter tensions and mine do not. Doesn't surprise me at all.

I don't have near as loud a sound with Weich or Solo Spiros as I do with Mittels and a full Stark set isn't quite as loud as the Mittel as the bass gets choked up at that point.

 

[drurb]

Obviously your bass prefers lighter tensions and mine do not. Doesn't surprise me at all.

I don't have near as loud a sound with Weich or Solo Spiros as I do with Mittels and a full Stark set isn't quite as loud as the Mittel as the bass gets choked up at that point.

It'll be interesting to how how the Queen responds to the Evahs. So, could you explain a bit about why you were not surprised? Is that because the Cleveland tends to like higher tensions than most carved tops?

 

[Uncletoad]

It'll be interesting to how how the Queen responds to the Evahs. So, could you explain a bit about why you were not surprised? Is that because the Cleveland tends to like higher tensions than most carved tops?

No not really, every bass is different. I wouldn't generalize that much. What I should have said is I'm not surprised there are differences in the tensions that are friendly to different basses. Each instrument has a sweet spot with tension and volume and tone. As you know even moving string height up and down a mm or so can make huge differences the ability for a top to speak or choke.

For instance when installing the EPW after removing spiro mitts I had to dial the bridge up two turns to get them to speak well. They sounded like floppy junk at spiro height. Some of that volume lost has now returned as the bass acclimates to the tension, but it was still louder with Spiros. I dunno if two Cleveland's side by side would have that same response or not. Wood is usually not that consistent.

As far as the Queen goes I suspect they would sound great on there but I know myself and my gigs pretty well these days and that level of tension would be a disaster for me. I'd get halfway into the gig and be looking for stuff to jam into the bass to shut it down from feeding back through an amp on half the gigs I do. Remember as I've said before my gigs tend to be more raucous than your average polite dinner/concert crowd. I'm sure it would be that way with the Cleveland. One of these days I'll see if I'm right or not.

 

[jrlynch]

while your obsessing, try the oliv G&D on top ... sounds just awesome and feels fab ...

No not really, every bass is different. I wouldn't generalize that much. What I should have said is I'm not surprised there are differences in the tensions that are friendly to different basses. Each instrument has a sweet spot with tension and volume and tone. As you know even moving string height up and down a mm or so can make huge differences the ability for a top to speak or choke.

For instance when installing the EPW after removing spiro mitts I had to dial the bridge up two turns to get them to speak well. They sounded like floppy junk at spiro height. Some of that volume lost has now returned as the bass acclimates to the tension, but it was still louder with Spiros. I dunno if two Cleveland's side by side would have that same response or not. Wood is usually not that consistent.

As far as the Queen goes I suspect they would sound great on there but I know myself and my gigs pretty well these days and that level of tension would be a disaster for me. I'd get halfway into the gig and be looking for stuff to jam into the bass to shut it down from feeding back through an amp on half the gigs I do. Remember as I've said before my gigs tend to be more raucous than your average polite dinner/concert crowd. I'm sure it would be that way with the Cleveland. One of these days I'll see if I'm right or not.

 

[Selim]

The E is kinda lame for me but it's a long distance away from my usual Spiro suspects in tension.

I agree. So I use the Weich EP set with a regular gauge EP E. That takes care of that problem for me and mine. More girth, plus you still have an E string that you can bow.

 

[fretlessspence]

Got the EP Weich set. Not sure how I feel about them yet. 1 hour on the bass. Not a huge change from the obligatos. E is a little more stout. Overall, they sound a little more dry. Less sparkle. Let's hope they settle in and focus.

 

[drurb]

Got the EP Weich set. Not sure how I feel about them yet. 1 hour on the bass. Not a huge change from the obligatos. E is a little more stout. Overall, they sound a little more dry. Less sparkle. Let's hope they settle in and focus.

This is quite surprising but perhaps reflects, once again, the variance and interactions among basses, players, and strings. Still, not to find much difference between EP weichs and Obligatos is baffling. Are you talking about pizz., arco, or both? I'm curious, what is your style of pizz. play? Do you pull the strings with a bunch of the "meat" of your finger or do you have a very light touch? If the latter, the lack of a substantial difference may make sense. Not being critical-- just trying to understand your experience. Are you using these on your '64 Kay?

 

[fretlessspence]

This is quite surprising but perhaps reflects, once again, the variance and interactions among basses, players, and strings. Still, not to find much difference between EP weichs and Obligatos is baffling. Are you talking about pizz., arco, or both? I'm curious, what is your style of pizz. play? Do you pull the strings with a bunch of the "meat" of your finger or do you have a very light touch? If the latter, the lack of a substantial difference may make sense. Not being critical-- just trying to understand your experience. Are you using these on your '64 Kay?

I pull hard, typically from the knuckle and yes this is on the Kay. I get a big sound by ply standards and I rarely play arco, and never play it well. This bass is a typical Kay with a punchy sound but not much complexity. With that said, I think it's possible my post slipped. The whole bass seems off a little.

 

[kmanley_29649]

I'm wanting to give Evahs a try, but I like lower tension, so I'm probably going to go with the solos tuned down to concert pitch. If I do this, are they still good with arco? I don't imagine it would be a problem, but I wanted to make sure before I shell out the money on something that isn't going to be what I need.

I'm currently playing Obligatos, about 70% pizz, 25% arco, and 5% slap. if that helps.

 

[AMJBASS]

Have any of you guys had any durability issues with these at all(Regular or Weich)? I just picked up a set of the regular gauge, and I must say right off the bat they smoke the Superflexibles I had on before. I'll know more after a couple weeks I am sure, but the A(and D) already sound huge. Loud gig tomorrow. We'll see what happens...

 

[Eric Hochberg]

I've been using Evah Weichs since May '09, averaging 5 nights a week of jazz pizz and the G finally crapped out this week. The other strings still working. I used the regulars for about 6 months and they were working fine when I took them off.