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Double Bass Evah Pirazzi strings megathread part III

#21
Hector,
I have very limited arco skill but I found the Passiones to sound more lyrical and quick than the Bel Cantos on my bass. Granted there were 4 years of gut strings between :)
I'm currently using Evah Mediums/Regulars and find them to be exactly as you describe compared to the Bel Cantos, courser with the bow but pretty awesome pizz.
-Jeff
 
#22
I second your comments about Evah vs Belcanto, Jeff. I prefer the bigger arco volume and better pizz of the Evahs. I also find them to be quite long lived strings - I've played my medium set for 2 years now, and the arco is still great - smooth and warm with a bit of edge. Pizz may have lost some definition, but I it hasn't bothered me.
 
#24
Love EPs- Orch & Weichs.
( play all styles -EPs work best & my favorite for the past 2 years)
Have tried almost every brand out there on my basses, & played basses w/ Belcantos.
Belcantos do bow very evenly, but seemed much softer than EPs.
 
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#25
Can anyone tell me how well EP's (mainly weichs) take to being detuned and retuned? I have a chadwick folding bass I travel with where I have to detune/retune the strings every night. I am playing about 20 to 25 nights a month right now. I'm curious about these strings but not if they would die on me in a month or two.


PS: apologies if this has already been addressed. Just didn't feel like reading through all three megathreads on these suckers to get an answer.
 
#26
I need some new strings – I’m hoping for some advice on whether I should get Evah Pirazzi Weichs or Spirocore Weichs

I’m a relative beginner. I’ve been learning about two years. I am not yet Ray Brown.

My first bass was a plywood rental. I bought my own bass six months ago – German, full carved, 1996, large ¾, high-ish action. As I am playing jazz, the place I bought it from installed a set of D'Addario Helicore Pizzicatos. They are really bright – it took a long time to beat that brightness out of them playing pizz.

But they are still so bright that my arco sounds dreadful. So dreadful that I have been avoiding my arco exercises, which I think we can agree is a Bad Thing.

I’m looking for a string that is good playing pizz, and that will not punish my arco technique too thoroughly.

When I was auditioning basses, I played one and thought the strings were really nice – they were Evah Pirazzi. So I’m quite tempted.

But reading this thread, I wonder whether they are the most suitable strings for where I am, or whether I would be better to go with a classic set of Spirocore Weichs.

Also, how long to Evah Pirastros last? Less than a couple of years at two hours a day? ‘Cos strings are expensive, and I don’t want to catch this illness you all seem to have…
 
#27
Tough decision... Spirocores last a LONG time. Weichs are a pretty good hybrid string. They are very bright out of the package, but they mellow out after a couple of weeks and last for a long while. Really nice sustain too. The Evah Pirazzi Weichs are my favorite feeling strings. They have a darker sound than Spirocores, with a very addictive "click" to the beginning of the note when played pizzicato. They also have a smoother arco sound. I find them to be pretty long lasting. A lot of guys have had them on for a year and a half to 2 years with no problem.
 
#28
+1 to the above. It will boil down to personal preference with these. I have Spiro weich E and A and Evah weich D and G on my bass right now.

If long lasting is a requirement for you, go with the spiros. I've gotten about 9 months with the Evahs @3-4 hours a day performing time. I get 3-4 years with the spiros.

Also, if your bass is dark, the evahs may be too dark and if your bass is bright, the spiros may be too bright. It really depends on the sound you like.
 
#29
Taking off a set of Innovation 140H to put my Spirocores Weichs (with a Velvet Blue G) back on - I broke the Spiro D during instalation, so I put a Evah Weich D on - wow this is a very nice D. Tension and gague matches the Sprio Weich E/A very well. I have a velvet Blue G on and the transition from spiro weichs e/a to that Blue G via the Evah D works very well.

I used to use a full spiro weich set with an Evah weich G - and eventually thought the tension of the G was too high to match. The D, however seems to match the Sprio Weichs better.
 
#31
Eric, do you like the tension match of the Spiro Weich E/A with the Evah Weich G? At first I loved that combo (and stuck with it for a couple years), but after some time the G seemed to either have stiffened up, or after an adjustment period seemed like more tension than I wanted on the G.

The D seems to be of a lower tension than the G maybe?
 
#33
(My first post on Talkbass!)
Well, After three years with a full set of Spiro mittels I'm moving on to Eva Weichs. I was lucky enough to be able to have a one week test drive period with the Evas, I mean lucky because here in Brazil it is quite impossible to find a reseller, and even more impossible to find someone with a string set off the bass, but my friend was one of these guys.

I never really liked the Spiro arco sound and bow feel, and when testing the Eva the big volume, smooth sound and feel of the arco sound, and the incredible old school pizz sound really caught me and made my mind (I play mostly pizz jazz, bossa, samba, others brazilian rhytms, and 40% arco). The tension is just perfect for my bass, and the thicker string seems to give you more stability for the right and left hand, I can't explain it's just THE string.

I think I will miss a little bit the "punch power" and the percussive sound of the Spiro Mittels, but well, the world keeps turning on, who knows in a near future I could try the Spiro Weichs...
 
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#34
I've been enjoying the weichs for a few years now, and am a huge fan.

At this present moment I'm lucky enough to have three nice basses in my possession, but economics dictate that I part with at least one, if not two of them.

One of the basses, a single-maker Bohemian ca 1900, was on consignment in NY for a couple years and just came back to me. I noticed that it seemed harder to play even though the action is lower than a french bass I'm comparing it to. Last night I realized it has regular Evahs on it, not weichs.

I'm trying to evaluate the basses on a level playing field, and the other two basses have Weichs on them, so I'm thinking about getting a set of weichs for the bohemian.

Sorry for the long windup. My question, for those of you who have gone from regular evahs to weichs on the same bass: does the lower tension require much adjustment in the way of setup? I'm trying not to overly complicate the process of evaluating these three basses, but I also want to give the bohemian a fair shake, especially since it might be my favorite of the bunch.

Thanks!
 
#36
I haven't had them on one after the other, but if I remeber correctly, for Evah Weich and Innovation Honey, they are quite similar in tension (maybe the Evah Weich has a little bit more tension), but the Evah is less stiff (at least if new) and the Honey is a bit more stiff.

Never used a Belcanto or Dominant.
 
#37
BC G has the lightest tension compared to Evah weichs and Dominants are a little higher tension. I have not read the tension chart, but Evah weichs are roughly between Spiro mitts and weichs, Doms between Spiro starks and mitts, and BCs lighter than Spiro weichs.
 
#38
Ryanpet42 said:
BC G has the lightest tension compared to Evah weichs and Dominants are a little higher tension. I have not read the tension chart, but Evah weichs are roughly between Spiro mitts and weichs, Doms between Spiro starks and mitts, and BCs lighter than Spiro weichs.
Click to expand...

ryanpet and double MINI:

Thanks for the comments. I have the strings that I listed out for comparison....I have not been able to find a tension number for the EP weichs. The Pirastro website just says it is a light tension Sounds to me though like the EP Weich has a higher tension than it's name implies.
 

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