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Double Bass Innovations?

#3
bassdogEmer said:
Hey all - curious about Innovation strings. Which models do you all like?? I had a glance at their website and there seems to be a bunch of different kinds.. what are the ones people like?? do they all bow well???
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I've had 140Bs on for nearly 5 months. I recently swapped out the E string for a Corelli 370TX E because the pizz was weak, ambiguous. Other than that, I've been happy with them for both pizz and arco. They bow very well. The arco sound is big and round. The strings vibrate my instrument a lot more than a standard issue metal string; in that respect they're more like bowed gut. The downside is that -like gut- they can be kind of wolfy. The pizz sound is dark and thumpy if you like that sort of thing. They are of moderate to light tension but on the stiff side.

I haven't had any quality problems with mine, a lot of people have. The 140Hs are brighter, thinner. They're more suitable for jazz but I've heard they bow well.
 
#4
I've just switched from spiro mittels to innovation 140Hs. Its hard to know exactly what the difference is as I switched at the same time as getting a new, higher bridge, and a new soundpost, but I'm very happy with them.
They feel quite similar to play in terms of diameter and smoothness, slightly lower tension. The sound is lovely, in my opinion, already quite mellow after only 2 days, but still with quite a bit of sustain. The note sounds to me to have much more fundamental centre than many other strings, which is really nice and makes for improved inntonation.
This seems to be a good time to try them as prices have come down. I got mine for just under £60.
My only criticism, like with the poster above, is that the E string is a bit weak sounding, I might put my spiro E back on, but I want to give it a week or so to settle down.
as for arco, I only play a little bit of arco as a practise technique, but they feel easier to bow than spiros, more fundamental.
 
#5
update on these, in case any one is interested...
I'm really happy with the innovation 140H. The quiet E problem I mentioned disappeared after a week or so. They sound really warm and mellow, but loud, and with loads of fundamental. I really feel I'm getting the sound I hear in my head out of my bass.
As these strings cost about 1 third of the price of animas, anyone liek me who wants that sort of sound and can't afford animas should consider trying them out.
I've even starting gigging without an amp in a 4tet with drums.
 
#7
Bruce, when you saw Arnie using the rockabilly innovations, were they covered in black plastic?
I saw him play recently, and he had a gorgeous sound, unamped with Art Themen's quartet, but the strings looked (from the back of a marquee) like mine, and I'm curious if they were the rockabilly ones or not.
ps: what a bassist he is!
 
#8
Hey Oliebrice,

sounds like you're in the UK. Where'd you get your Innovations from?

They sound like just the thing for me. I have Rotosound Superbs which I really like for blues/bluegrass slap and also for that soft plunky jazz pizz, but, I hate the squawk and squeal on arco which I just can't get rid of. I tried rubber grommets under the string at the bridge and I tried roughing up the string at the bowing point. No dice they always sound scratchy.

RB
 
#12
oliebrice said:
Bruce, when you saw Arnie using the rockabilly innovations, were they covered in black plastic?
I saw him play recently, and he had a gorgeous sound, unamped with Art Themen's quartet, but the strings looked (from the back of a marquee) like mine, and I'm curious if they were the rockabilly ones or not.
ps: what a bassist he is!
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When I had a class with him at the Jazz Summerschool, I got a close look and they we definitely covered in Black Plastic and he was incredibly loud acoustically - louder than Steve Watts !

But that was a few years ago and I have seen him play several times since and from a distance they don't look the same - although he is still supposed to be an Innovations endorsee - if that's the right word! :p

What's slightly annoying is that I was going to ask him at a gig he was doing with Mick Hutton (who tragically can no longer play bass due to injury) - so there I was standing at the bar next to Arnie, Mick and Nigel Thomas, another great local bass player and we were chatting away. So I brought up the question and Arnie made a joke about bass players always talking about strings, we would get classed as nerds etc etc :)

So I never got the answer!
 
#13
There is a link from the Picato website to the Innovationstrings site you quoted, so, I'm assuming that they are an offshoot of Picato.

btw, Rotosound are just down the road from me in Sevenoaks, which is why I knew they weren't connected to Picato or Innovation.
 
#17
oliebrice said:
via Steve Berry. They were surprisingly cheap, under 60 quid. I love them, I don't even daydream about trying velvet animas any more....
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It feels weird to me - thinking about playing strings that are made a short distance along the coast from where I live - as opposed to Austria!! :p

I expect these strings are actually more expensive for Americans!?
 

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