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Double Bass Kaplan Lights

Neil Pye

Neil Pye

Apr 13, 2016
580
603
61
Horsham, UK
#1
Hi All,
I just bit the bullet and ordered a set of Kaplan lights for Meghan. I'm replacing Bel Cantos, which I like, but I have a feeling that the bass will like a little less tension, and finally giving in to all the folk around me who rave about Kaplans. It's a pricey experiment, as I have a C extension, but nothing ventured nothing gained. They will go on as soon as they arrive, hopefully soon enough to be played-in for a performance of the "Trout" quintet this weekend. There will be a full report....
 
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#5
Used Kaplans ADG for several years and have given up on them. The E was pretty useless.

They sounded great on my old English bass, but I gave up because of terrible quality.
The G strings got coarse feeling and came apart, mostly on the C and F to the extent it was getting in the way of proper shifting. I was sent a replacement which had bad windings from the first day already. Same happened to my colleague who had them on his Forster.
Unfortunate, but I have never seen this from any other string and they seem unable to fix it.
I recommend staying away from them until they get their quality up to standard.
 
#7
Well, they're on and settling in. Initial impressions? They feel great, sound a lot less bright than I was expecting considering they are so new. The bass has absolutely come alive with these strings. Feels bigger, more relaxed, smoother, less "edgy" and louder too. This bass has a great sound, but I have always had to work hard to get at that sound. Now it's just there. If, as I expect, things get better as they settle, I won't be looking at any other strings. I love them already
 
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#8
Update: Now they've had some playing, they're getting better and better. Upper register is lovely and clear, the stirngs are very even in tone and volume, much more even tone between D and G than the Bel Cantos, and very smooth and syrupy in the low register. Light tension really suits this bass, so overall very happy. I can stop wondering about strings now and just play. No more experimentation for me....
 
#10
I had Kaplan mediums. They were very easy to play, warm but dry and dead sounding on my bass. If you want the same warmth and ease of bowing, light tension but colourful and complex sound I would try Pirastro Passiones mediums which are really light tension strings. I prefer the starks for decent power which sound much better than Kaplans on my bass. Also no bad windings with Pirastro :)
 
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#12
Tha Kaplans have been on a while now and have got better and better. Complex tone, lots and lots of overtones and depth of sound. I play orchestral and chamber music, and the pizz sound is fine for this, now I've adjusted my technique a little. I don't play jazz at all, so I can't help with that, but they feel very heavily biased toward arco sound. I love them on my bass for the music I play. So much so that I'm about to buy a set of Kaplan Solo for a planned performance of the Koussevitsky concerto
 
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#20
Yeah I think daddario strings are the best value here in America. I love their Kaplan, hybrid and zyex lines. I've not tried their solo strings, and I have limited experience with their helicore orchs. Also their slab strings are awesome.

The thing with pirastro strings is that there are so many to choose from with only slight differences between them.
 

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