More feedback from me on the Silver Rumblers promised as well - by end of weekend. I'm only testing with 3 of 4 strings. My 4th - the G - arrived today, and now I'm set.
Initial feelings: much love.
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Kala UBass Megathread, Part 4
- Thread starter smperry
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More feedback from me on the Silver Rumblers promised as well - by end of weekend. I'm only testing with 3 of 4 strings. My 4th - the G - arrived today, and now I'm set.
Initial feelings: much love.
No need to focus on the Silver Rumblers now. If you want something now that is similar, buy Thunderguts from a variety of sources, and I bet you will be very happy.
The SR's are down the road. Please post or PM me a link to anyone saying they are for sale now - that is not accurate and not helping. Thanks.
They are a joint effort of Kala and Aquila. I don't know how to describe what they are made of, but I think it's semi accurate to say they are some sort of a derivative of a nylon-like formulation.
They are similar to the Thunderguts made by Aquila, with some modifications. IMHO:
- Intonation is Extremely good, far better than the stocks
- Very, very stable - in a much shorter period of time
- They feel Great - firm and tight enough, while also having a soft feel
They are not experiments - they will come to market. However, that time frame is indeterminate at this time. If you want these attributes, purchase Thunderguts today.
I concur with Frank.
Initially, they seem like a middle ground between stocks and TG's. The tension and stability of ThunderGuts. IMO so far, they seem to have 80-90% of the ThunderGut sound, but the feel is a little more slippery, which I like. Still not as slick as the stocks but less tacky rubberness. That was one of the deal breakers for me on the ThunderGuts. I have been so busy that parts of my rig are in my trunk so I will have to wait til tomorrow or Saturday to give it a proper amplified test.
About stability: I strung it up and played about an hour, bringing them up to pitch every few minutes. About 2 hours later I tuned it up again (it was about 20-30 cents flat across all strings). 12 hours later the G string was 20 cents flat and the other 3 were almost at pitch. We are talking hours vs. months on stabilizing.
One initial thing I noticed that is similar IME to the TG's: especially on the thicker strings, there is a harmonic (4th fret harmonic) that is very prevalent on most notes on those strings, and it sounds a little out of tune. At first I thought it was because the strings are too thick to fit all the way down in the nut (except for the A) but is is pretty consistent on fingered notes up and down the neck. The G string is the purest harmonically and it is the most out of the nut slot.
For you upright players, they have a subdued sustain and growl like spirocores. I hope they settle in and darken over time. ThunderGut users: do those mellow over time at all, or do they keep their tone indefinitely?
After less than one day, I am thinking these are worth living on the Hog for an extended period of time. Their dark charcoal color is the whip, too. I will continually report back. Saturday I have a gig on it and can put it through the paces live. I hear these will be available but don't know exactly when.
Initially, they seem like a middle ground between stocks and TG's. The tension and stability of ThunderGuts. IMO so far, they seem to have 80-90% of the ThunderGut sound, but the feel is a little more slippery, which I like. Still not as slick as the stocks but less tacky rubberness. That was one of the deal breakers for me on the ThunderGuts. I have been so busy that parts of my rig are in my trunk so I will have to wait til tomorrow or Saturday to give it a proper amplified test.
About stability: I strung it up and played about an hour, bringing them up to pitch every few minutes. About 2 hours later I tuned it up again (it was about 20-30 cents flat across all strings). 12 hours later the G string was 20 cents flat and the other 3 were almost at pitch. We are talking hours vs. months on stabilizing.
One initial thing I noticed that is similar IME to the TG's: especially on the thicker strings, there is a harmonic (4th fret harmonic) that is very prevalent on most notes on those strings, and it sounds a little out of tune. At first I thought it was because the strings are too thick to fit all the way down in the nut (except for the A) but is is pretty consistent on fingered notes up and down the neck. The G string is the purest harmonically and it is the most out of the nut slot.
For you upright players, they have a subdued sustain and growl like spirocores. I hope they settle in and darken over time. ThunderGut users: do those mellow over time at all, or do they keep their tone indefinitely?
After less than one day, I am thinking these are worth living on the Hog for an extended period of time. Their dark charcoal color is the whip, too. I will continually report back. Saturday I have a gig on it and can put it through the paces live. I hear these will be available but don't know exactly when.
scotch
It's not rocket science!
- Nov 12, 2006
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I'm gonna back up everything I read above!
The new Silver Rumblers are just that- somewhere between a Pahoehoe and a Thundergut, but still sounding and feeling a bit more like the Thundergut.
The new Silver Rumblers are exhibiting the same quick stabilization and better tuning & intonation. They do have a little of that unwanted 'overtone' on the bass strings though. With regular Thunderguts, this improves after a couple of weeks, but never really goes away 100%.
I like the Silver Rumblers a little more than the Thunderguts. Looks like they are an improvement in the Aquila range!
I'm currently using a Mahogany strung with Silver Rumblers for the stability and reliability in live settings. I use a spruce U-Bass with Pahoehoes in the studio - more tuning issues, but it speaks a little better 'on tape'.
I have posted how I made non-slip knots for the Pahoehoe G and D strings.
Today the A string proved itself too thick for such knot. It slipped open all on its own. I then took a cable binder and tightened it around the tip of the string and made a single knot inside the binder. That was enough to make the string stay in the slot before winding it.
Klaus
Today the A string proved itself too thick for such knot. It slipped open all on its own. I then took a cable binder and tightened it around the tip of the string and made a single knot inside the binder. That was enough to make the string stay in the slot before winding it.
Klaus
Attachments
I have been able to wind my Es and As by just laying it in the tuner slot and winding. For D I need to do a special loop and for G it goes nicely into the hole of the tuner post.
I got both the D and G Silver Rumbler down in the hole like an electric. E and A are just sticking through the post. Very tight!
OK, I looked for holes going diametrically through the tuning posts like with my ukeleles and guitars. Didnt look for axial holes, and now there are strings in the slots, so I dont see them now either. Too lazy to unmount anything for inspection this late hour.
Klaus
Klaus
Haven’t had my UBass a full month yet. Being no great player at all I still see some potentials in its short fret distances that never really occurred to me on 30" or 34" basses.
The little I was taught on bass some 30 years ago was about using extended fingerings , which are good, if one has a large and strong hand. Hand still is large, but arthritis makes it less strong and flexible. There the Ubass is very friendly.
And then playing with chords or in more parts is much easier. I have worked a lot with arranging for student, church, and community ensembles, so I have written down a few arrangements for one or two UBasses. They are posted in my almost 10 years old Yahoo-based project about free downloadable music. Many of you will find this way too easy to play, but then maybe it will be relevant teaching material for some of you. The UBass folder with the high resolution .pdf-files is here:
Link Removed
Yesterday I made a simple score of My Lord, what a morning. Simple melody and simple bass of course are for students. The two-part is for freaks. The more agile bass line is for the teacher to play with the student playing melody. All four lines basically are compatible, but they never should be played together all of them:
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A Danish singing game set along the same lines (the agile bass line comes from an arrangement I made for two tubas):
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A couple of my favourite hymns:
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Link Removed
Klaus
PS: Just noted an error in the fret indication at #19 in the last hymn. Will be corrected in the .pdf-version.
The little I was taught on bass some 30 years ago was about using extended fingerings , which are good, if one has a large and strong hand. Hand still is large, but arthritis makes it less strong and flexible. There the Ubass is very friendly.
And then playing with chords or in more parts is much easier. I have worked a lot with arranging for student, church, and community ensembles, so I have written down a few arrangements for one or two UBasses. They are posted in my almost 10 years old Yahoo-based project about free downloadable music. Many of you will find this way too easy to play, but then maybe it will be relevant teaching material for some of you. The UBass folder with the high resolution .pdf-files is here:
Link Removed
Yesterday I made a simple score of My Lord, what a morning. Simple melody and simple bass of course are for students. The two-part is for freaks. The more agile bass line is for the teacher to play with the student playing melody. All four lines basically are compatible, but they never should be played together all of them:
Link Removed
A Danish singing game set along the same lines (the agile bass line comes from an arrangement I made for two tubas):
Link Removed
A couple of my favourite hymns:
Link Removed
Link Removed
Klaus
PS: Just noted an error in the fret indication at #19 in the last hymn. Will be corrected in the .pdf-version.
Here is a first look at the Silver Rumblers.
Sorry for the less than stellar phone pic.
The first 3 silver strings are the Silver Rumblers.
The white G string is a Thundergut.
Loving the way they sound, feel, and look.
I have zero inclination to do Anything to the tone with these strings.
Not even roll off highs.
At this point, I'm plugging straight into my GK MB112 - and playing.
Can't sound any better to my ears.
When I push up the volume a bit with these strings, I rattle the walls.
I'm really in tone and feel nirvana now.
Sorry for the less than stellar phone pic.
The first 3 silver strings are the Silver Rumblers.
The white G string is a Thundergut.
Loving the way they sound, feel, and look.
I have zero inclination to do Anything to the tone with these strings.
Not even roll off highs.
At this point, I'm plugging straight into my GK MB112 - and playing.
Can't sound any better to my ears.
When I push up the volume a bit with these strings, I rattle the walls.
I'm really in tone and feel nirvana now.
Attachments
Anyone have any idea if the silver rumblers will work with a SUB?
On that same note, I heard the pyramid strings wouldn't work with a SUB somewhere before, anyone know if that's still the case?
On that same note, I heard the pyramid strings wouldn't work with a SUB somewhere before, anyone know if that's still the case?
I would think they will cap them to work with the solid bodies, but it is a good question. I will ask.
Thanks for posting those.
I'd really like to walk through those charts.
Unfortunately, I don't read standard notation.
If you ever tab those, please post again.
Exciting news, thanks for the picture, and to all you beta-testers for sharing your experiences.
Looking forward to these getting to market.
Of course they will.
If the strings are plain with no crimps on the ends, knots, cable ties, copper tubing, etc. can be improvised to secure them from pulling through the body.
The reason is because the wound, speaking portion of the string is located to fit the acoustic models.
The solidbodies require more string length at the bridge end, so the thin portion of the string designed to wind around the tuners would end up below the nut for a fret or two.
I posted pictures of Pyramids on an acoustic in #18 of this thread if you want to see what I'm describing.
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