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Getting that "piano sound"

#43
oniman7 said:
I've always been of the group that lusts after a huge, punchy piano sound. I like my upper range warm and my lower range big and growly, like a piano.

While browsing a thread about flatwounds, people kept talking about a piano sound, and it got me wondering...
has anyone ever found it?

Not just something with punch approximate to a piano, but something bright, warm and huge sounding like a piano, with plenty of power on notes below low E (if you have them).

Anyways, I have two basses with active soapbars, a Saga kit bass with a P Pickup, and will be getting an EBMM Ray 5 soon, if it helps.

But just to satisfy my curiosity, what's the biggest piano sound you've managed to get, and what strings were you using?
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I use a number of basses and some not so much, but one of them, namely a Washburn Bantam 4 string Steinberger knockoff and it has remarkable piano like tone. It's a closet queen. Not a very good bass IMHO, not very ergonomic or easy to play but it fits in the overhead bin.
 
#44
I have fixed up and tuned a few pianos, I also build and play basses designed for low tuning.
To get that piano like sound you will want to start with a sturdy bass. A neck-though with a bulky neck and a piezo pickup would be ideal. Strings need to be tight and stiff. Your amp/electronic settings you'll just have to play with, from there the sound comes from your hands.
 
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#45
Piano strings are stiff and high tension, and are taperwound at both ends, which causes a somewhat inharmonic tone, so perhaps use a taperwound string for more brightness and a little inharmonicity.
 
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#51
Does the exposed core make that much difference?
If so, who makes and exposed core in a RW nickel plated string
I realize that SS may be better for piano like tone, but am very happy with Sunbeams or XL's for the majority of my work.
 
#52
Jim C said:
Does the exposed core make that much difference?
If so, who makes and exposed core in a RW nickel plated string
I realize that SS may be better for piano like tone, but am very happy with Sunbeams or XL's for the majority of my work.
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I just put a set of psd99s on my thunderbird vp and set it up properly and wow. They are bright but have a more natural full bottom and the clank is gone but not the rich midrange. The neck pickup sounds richer more grunty more bell like , the highs more transient. With both pickup heights dialed in to each other I finally have THAT tone that has eluded me . It seems like the exposed core was that little extra that I was missing . I just picked up this epi vp thunderbird last week and the wood , the Pickups, the playability and now the strings have made this bass my number one!
 
#53
megatapper said:
I just put a set of psd99s on my thunderbird vp and set it up properly and wow. They are bright but have a more natural full bottom and the clank is gone but not the rich midrange.
Click to expand...

Don't see these available as a nickel plated SS string
Perhaps it takes a SS steel string for piano like tone?
Odd in that piano strings are made from high carbon steel; not SS
Piano wire - Wikipedia
 

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