Bobby whats your pickup/mic setup with guts? And does anybody use just a mic, and what kind? Probably not the place for this question but what the hell, i dont have all day to f**k around on this computer. I gotta practice!
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Double Bass I like Weichs!
- Thread starter Bobby King
- Start date
I use an Underwood pickup. I learned from a lot of Nashville players that you get a more scooped, punchy sound when you only use one element of the Underwood. I usually use the bass side and let the treble dangle, others use the treble side only. Actually, I recently found a way to use both elements together on the bass side by modifying my bridge, but it's similar to the one element sound.
looks like this:
The Underwood is not the most natural sounding pickup. At lower volumes a Full Circle would probably sound better. But you can turn the Underwood up without honking and feedback and it gives you a good thump.
Thanks Bobby i appreciate your response. Will be asking you more in future, if thats o.k. Did you do the Patsy show in Pittsburgh? I saw it advertised in the paper.
The tour I did of "Always, Patsy Cline" was several years ago and I don't believe we were ever in Pittsburgh. I also did "A Closer Walk With Patsy Cline" at the Texas Troubadour Theatre in Nashville.
Mandy Barnett did a very good Patsy at the Ryman, but the best one I worked with was a woman named Lisa Lane. If you've ever heard "All I Want For Christmas Is You" by Vince Vance and the Valiants
, that's Lisa singing lead. She's really great doing Patsy Cline.It seems like Patsy is to females what Elvis is to males as far as impersonators. ....uh, thank you very much. I play with an Elvis guy too and do half his show on upright. Fun stuff to play!
Bobby
The girl i backup who does the Patsy material does that tune every xmas. Never knew who the singer was. Funny you mentioned Elvis. In Wheeling WV, a cats wealthy parents bought him a beautiful old theatre(circa 1913) so he could do his Elvis schtick. He's 5 feet 5 and ways 200 pounds. Looks ridiculous in those white jumpsuits! I did his show about 3 months and fled the theatre screaming! Anyway, was Bob Moore's set all gut? When you use gut is it all gut or steel and gut? Thanks again.
The girl i backup who does the Patsy material does that tune every xmas. Never knew who the singer was. Funny you mentioned Elvis. In Wheeling WV, a cats wealthy parents bought him a beautiful old theatre(circa 1913) so he could do his Elvis schtick. He's 5 feet 5 and ways 200 pounds. Looks ridiculous in those white jumpsuits! I did his show about 3 months and fled the theatre screaming! Anyway, was Bob Moore's set all gut? When you use gut is it all gut or steel and gut? Thanks again.
Are you from West Virginia? Do you know about Jesco White, The Dancing Outlaw? True story: I was on the road with T. Graham Brown last summer and we played the Boone County fair in WV. Our tour manager found out Jesco was "performing" in a little bar and so after our show we all went down and Jammed with Jesco! If you know anything about him then you'll know what an acid trip-like experience it was!
OK, gut. Uncletoad's going to have me arrested for getting you interested in this.
There's various types of gut strings. Plain gut, roundwound gut, and flatwound gut. The wound ones are wound with metal and have a gut core. There are also some gut strings that have a nylon/tynex round winding. Probably the most typical set has a plain G&D and metal roundwound A&E. There are plain A and E strings as well. There are also flatwound gut strings where all four strings have a gut core and a flat metal winding. (There's a ton of stuff on this forum that will go into great detail about these different varieties)
Bob Moore probably used the wound E&A and plain D&G type of sets. That was pretty standard for all upright bassists until the 60's when steel strings began to become common. Bob may have used a plain A at times too.
Many people will mix gut G&D strings with non-gut A&E strings. Some folks might only use a gut G.
One problem with gut is that as you move to the lower strings, they tend to become more "thuddy" and indistinct sounding. The same is true as you play higher up the neck. (This is somewhat less so with the flatwound guts.) Also guts are very sensitive to temperature and humidity and have to be tuned constantly. But they produce a big, punchy sound and are great for certain types of music. Good gut strings are very expensive too. So beware!
bobby
yes i'm from west virginia, and i know bout jesco. what a trip! he's from down in coal country, a real different vibe. not many places like that left in the country. thanks for answering bout the guts. sounds like you got your sound happening with different projects. are mics only practical? i wish i could get a mic set up that i could make work coz the pickup i have i'm not happy with. i do jazz with one band and country with another. help if you can and thanks again.
yes i'm from west virginia, and i know bout jesco. what a trip! he's from down in coal country, a real different vibe. not many places like that left in the country. thanks for answering bout the guts. sounds like you got your sound happening with different projects. are mics only practical? i wish i could get a mic set up that i could make work coz the pickup i have i'm not happy with. i do jazz with one band and country with another. help if you can and thanks again.
I've generally used a pickup live, and yes, it's never ideal as far as sound. I've seen bassists use clip-on mics or a mic wrapped in foam and placed under the bridge, sort of between the bridge feet facing up. Depending on the PA and the volume of the music, this can sound very good. But other times the bass wasn't coming through very well, or there was a lot of bleed into the mic.
Bobby, switched from Rev. pickup to a pickup I got from Gollihur, put it in treble wing and it helped. Like Rev. but rubber coated. Bettewr volume on G and D and no boom on E.
Well posters....I stand before you humble and chastened.
After extolling the virtues of the Jazzer/Spiro Mittel E combo on my Eberle a while back I am now back to the Spiro Mittel E/Weichs. That includes the dreaded Weich G that I dumped all over previously. Since then I have made some changes to my bass like thinning the bridge, new composite tailpiece and Pecanic cord and carbon fibre endpin rig.
After a week or so with the Weichs back on, I have concluded that this combination gives me the tension and playabilty I really like...along with a better sound (more punch and life than the Jazzers).
So good bye Gut G's.....all manner of synthetic strings...and whatever the hell else I tried over the past several years.
You have to make the string journey to be able to appreciate the string contribution to the sound of the double bass.
I'd like to go for the record of continuous use for Weichs of 15 years or so but I'm not sure I will live that long. If I do I and can still type, I'll let you all know.
After extolling the virtues of the Jazzer/Spiro Mittel E combo on my Eberle a while back I am now back to the Spiro Mittel E/Weichs. That includes the dreaded Weich G that I dumped all over previously. Since then I have made some changes to my bass like thinning the bridge, new composite tailpiece and Pecanic cord and carbon fibre endpin rig.
After a week or so with the Weichs back on, I have concluded that this combination gives me the tension and playabilty I really like...along with a better sound (more punch and life than the Jazzers).
So good bye Gut G's.....all manner of synthetic strings...and whatever the hell else I tried over the past several years.
You have to make the string journey to be able to appreciate the string contribution to the sound of the double bass.
I'd like to go for the record of continuous use for Weichs of 15 years or so but I'm not sure I will live that long. If I do I and can still type, I'll let you all know.
Jake deVilliers
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- May 24, 2006
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Its good to have a goal!I'd like to go for the record of continuous use for Weichs of 15 years or so but I'm not sure I will live that long. If I do I and can still type, I'll let you all know.
The weichs led me back to liking Spirocores. They're great strings, but I've moved onto the harder stuff - mittels. I guess I like the tension better, and they give more volume on my bass. I have mittels on my Shen plywood and a Full Circle pickup. This setup has been working surprisingly well for everything, bluegrass and country included. Amplified, the sound gets a little thumpier, which is actually good for bluegrass. The DI sound from my Genz-Benz Shuttle amp is really good too. I've done several gigs now where people have commented that the bass sounds great through the PA and is very even sounding.
I've been a long-time gut fan, but I'm at a stage where I'm tired of the hassles and the fussing. The Spirocores are easy to play, they stay in tune, you can bow on them, they last a long time, reasonably priced....
I've been a long-time gut fan, but I'm at a stage where I'm tired of the hassles and the fussing. The Spirocores are easy to play, they stay in tune, you can bow on them, they last a long time, reasonably priced....
Bobby:
I found the Spiro Mediums to have too much tension for me. I play very firmly but found the tension uncomfortable and hard on the wrists. Maybe its my technique...or lack of.
The Weichs get the bass moving very nicely and the lower tension makes the notes much easier for me to control.
I am still a Bob Moore gut-sound guy...but the Weichs on the Eberle provide many similar qualities. Even the dreaded G has settled in nicely and I can live with it now. No ping!
I found the Spiro Mediums to have too much tension for me. I play very firmly but found the tension uncomfortable and hard on the wrists. Maybe its my technique...or lack of.
The Weichs get the bass moving very nicely and the lower tension makes the notes much easier for me to control.
I am still a Bob Moore gut-sound guy...but the Weichs on the Eberle provide many similar qualities. Even the dreaded G has settled in nicely and I can live with it now. No ping!
Hey Martin!
I think it can really depend on the bass. I like the weichs as well. My Shen seems to take to the mittels without feeling like there's too much tension. The weichs perhaps bow a little easier, but I'm not finding the mittels to be much of a problem in that regard.
I find that you can affect the tone of Spirocores quite a bit, depending on how you pluck. For instance, a two-fingered pluck up a bit from the edge of the fingerboard can get a "gut-like" thump. One solid finger near the fingerboard edge gets more of Ray Brown jazz sound. A lighter touch with some vibrato can produce a "mwah" effect.
I definitely notice that my hands get less fatigued using steel strings. Even though gut is lower tension, they take a lot of energy to control. Maybe I'm just getting old...
I think it can really depend on the bass. I like the weichs as well. My Shen seems to take to the mittels without feeling like there's too much tension. The weichs perhaps bow a little easier, but I'm not finding the mittels to be much of a problem in that regard.
I find that you can affect the tone of Spirocores quite a bit, depending on how you pluck. For instance, a two-fingered pluck up a bit from the edge of the fingerboard can get a "gut-like" thump. One solid finger near the fingerboard edge gets more of Ray Brown jazz sound. A lighter touch with some vibrato can produce a "mwah" effect.
I definitely notice that my hands get less fatigued using steel strings. Even though gut is lower tension, they take a lot of energy to control. Maybe I'm just getting old...
I've been using weichs for a couple years too on my carved (E mittel though) and all weichs on my Kay for a couples years now, and I get a good amount of tension with a medium height. I love the sound I'm getting and I get a lot of compliments too. Sometimes I feel like lowering the height of the strings but the sound changes drastically for even a half a turn on the bridge adjusters. I've tried other strings that sound really good too, but weichs help me cut through the mix and give me that characteristic spirocore sound (from Ray Brown to Brian Bromberg and all those spirocore users we know about).
Mittels had to much tension even with low action on my basses.
I find weichs very easy to bow, but I'm not playing any intricate stuff with the bow. At this point even though there's always the temptation to try something new, I'm more worried about my playing than my strings, I know I've got the right strings for the sound I love, I just got to put more time on improving my sound with my hands.
Mittels had to much tension even with low action on my basses.
I find weichs very easy to bow, but I'm not playing any intricate stuff with the bow. At this point even though there's always the temptation to try something new, I'm more worried about my playing than my strings, I know I've got the right strings for the sound I love, I just got to put more time on improving my sound with my hands.
I also made an adjustment on my bridge to raise the G string height a little bit. More height will cut down on the "singy-pingy" that you can get on a steel G. Too high can be a problem when you bow -- hitting the G when bowing the D -- but there's usually some leeway. Also, I need to do a little slapping here and there, and if that G is too low, it's hard to catch it.
I love 'em. Maybe the coolest thing about them is that, when they're on, you know that it's one less thing to have to think about. Always sound good, on a lot of different basses in a lot of different musical settings, very unlikely to break....most likely if they sound good now, they'll sound good next year, and the next, and.... so on. No Worry Strings.
Mine are coming off tomorrow, and laying in the drawer again for awhile, while I test the new Evah Pirazzi Weichs set. I'm glad they'll be waiting in there for for another go round in the future.
Mine are coming off tomorrow, and laying in the drawer again for awhile, while I test the new Evah Pirazzi Weichs set. I'm glad they'll be waiting in there for for another go round in the future.
A K&K Bass Max?
The BM elements (inside the tubing) are round, whilst the Rev is square, no?
Just put a set of Weichs on my bass a few days ago. So far I really really like them. I play at least as much arco as pizz and I think they have a wonderful arco sound on my bass... EXCEPT the D string is wildly buzzy and obnoxious. The other 3 are settling down quite nicely... anyone else have this problem with just the D? I will be patient and wait for it to break in, just seems a little strange that that one string refuses to play nice so far.
quenoil:
At first the Weichs all sound a bit light and pingy. But after a few days they seem to settle with a more solid sound. At least that has been my experience wheh I used them on my Kays, the King and now the Eberle.
Play the daylights out of them for the first few days to help them get settled in.
You might have a faulty D but Weichs and Mittels are not really known for being defective. Unlike some other strings.
At first the Weichs all sound a bit light and pingy. But after a few days they seem to settle with a more solid sound. At least that has been my experience wheh I used them on my Kays, the King and now the Eberle.
Play the daylights out of them for the first few days to help them get settled in.
You might have a faulty D but Weichs and Mittels are not really known for being defective. Unlike some other strings.
