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Less Thumpy Flats For A New Bass

#61
ljazz said:
Is Sadowsky even doing strings anymore? If not, that is too bad.

I have several sets of Sadowsky flats here.....

The old version Blue Labels are my favorites (in fact, my favorite strings ever). TIJF tone (very "woody"), with just a slight bit more tension and stiffness. No thump (unless you use a mute). Incredibly expressive, .... I would say even more so than TIJF's, because these won't choke out if you dig in. The set I have on my CS'59 P have been in use now for over three years. I was lucky enough to find a couple sets of the old version Blues..... They are heavier gauges than what I'm using now, but I don't think they will be too different from the lighter ones I have on now. They are stashed away for safe keeping!

I have a set of the latest version Blues on my AmStd P. Also very expressive.... And super punchy (but not nearly as "woody" as the old version or TIJF's). They've been on that bass for a couple of years now. Like the old version Blues, they don't thump unless you mute. Very strong and widely voiced in the mids. More tension than the old Blues, but something about their construction makes them super pliable.... They feel like a round core, but are hex. Probably the most comfortable strings I have ever played. I hated these when I first put them on....... But they broke in beautifully.

I also have a set of the Black Labels. They will thump..... Think LaBella DTF's, but with better pitch definition (especially on a well broken in E string), and not nearly as scooped. I think these are the perfect flats for a passive Jazz!
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The Black Labels will never come off my Yamaha. I drank the Sadowsky Kool Aid as soon as I switched from P Flats. My wife, who doesn't generally notice tonal differences beyond flats vs rounds, has commented on their clarity.

I'm sure they'd sound great on the Kiesel, and I thought about trying to find a set, but they're just not what I'm looking for now. I'm betting the Blue Labels are at least very close. Guess I'll find out soon.
 
#62
Rich Fiscus said:
The Black Labels will never come off my Yamaha. I drank the Sadowsky Kool Aid as soon as I switched from P Flats. My wife, who doesn't generally notice tonal differences beyond flats vs rounds, has commented on their clarity.

I'm sure they'd sound great on the Kiesel, and I thought about trying to find a set, but they're just not what I'm looking for now. I'm betting the Blue Labels are at least very close. Guess I'll find out soon.
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Be patient with them..... I really was disappointed with them at first. It took a lot of play time to break them in. At first, it sounded like their was a big hole in the mids.... Boomy down low.... Zingy as hell up high.... But the mids really start to sing as they tamed down.
 
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#63
Rich Fiscus said:
also seem to recall Roger Sadowsky saying the current Blue Labels were reformulated to bring them a little closer to the Black Labels
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The Black labels were my string (still have one set left that's one my '66 P bass). I found the new reformulated Sadowsky flats to be very articulate with a colorful midrange but nothing at all like the Black labels.
 
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#65
Selim said:
The Black labels were my string (still have one set left that's one my '66 P bass). I found the new reformulated Sadowsky flats to be very articulate with a colorful midrange but nothing at all like the Black labels.
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Fortunately that's what I'm looking for. The Black Labels just give me a comfort level with Sadowsky strings I probably wouldn't have had otherwise.
 
#67
The Blue Labels arrived today, and they're definitely not like any other strings I've ever tried. I can see why some flats players would find the mids overpowering. They're very aggressive at this point, but I'm betting that keeps them very articulate once they're broken in. It does sound like there's a lot of breaking in to do, which I'll get started on tonight.

It seems to me that the Black Labels were about 2/3 traditional La Bella and 1/3 uniquely Sadowsky. The Blue Labels are more of their own thing. They're not thumpy on the bottom, but they can thump a little. They're almost round-like in the mids, but not really like any rounds I've ever heard. Just above that there's the smooth roll off I expect from flats, which is actually a little jarring with those mids.

That's enough writing about strings for now. It's time to play them instead! :bassist:
 
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#68
Now that I've had enough time to get used to the new strings, and spent some time finding suitable tone settings on my pedalboard, I'm every bit as impressed as I was hoping to be.

They definitely need some break in. The B, E, and A strings seem a little too aggressive, for lack of a more objective term, until somewhere around the 6th - 8th fret. Above that they smooth out to match the D and G. Having said that, the tonal consistency from String to string is otherwise ridiculously good. Even in a solo context, you would be hard pressed to hear the difference between an open G vs the 5th fret of the D string. More impressively, an E played on the B string is almost indistinguishable from an open E. With a little technique adjustment, they're completely indistinguishable from one another.

And they definitely required some technique adjustment on my part, coming from playing Black Labels for years and P Flats for the last month or so. I feel like the Blue Labels are less sensitive, tonally, to differences in plucking hand position and more sensitive to changes in plucking technique. In other words, moving my plucking hand closer to the neck or bridge doesn't change the tone as much as I'm used to, but minute differences in how I attack the string from note to note are more audible.

And these strings don't need a lot of attack. They want to vibrate, and they've got ridiculous sustain. The Black labels have a long decay time, but not that much real sustain. The Blue Labels have a long sustain followed by a long decay. That's not surprising considering how much more flexible the Blue Labels are.
 
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#75
This sounds reasonable—
Sustain is the level during the main sequence of the sound's duration, until the key is released. Release is the time taken for the level to decay from the sustain level to zero after the key is released.
 
#77
I'm thinking that in the bass stringed world perpetual sustain would be impossible. I feel that even the best of the best sustainers begin to decay rather immediately, even if their slow descent is mostly imperceptible to the human ear. In electronic music, on the other hand, it is absolutely possible to have sustained...sustain with no decay.
 
#78
Selim said:
But I don't think it really works for a plucked instrument.
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I doubt it's possible. I think we can still use the terms in a loose manner when talking stringed bass (borderline colloquial I guess). When he mentions sustain I imagine it's, within reason, a "sustained" note with a minutely perceptible descent. I took decay to mean roll off into a fairly perceptible descent into nothingness.
 
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#80
Flat-N-Round said:
I doubt it's possible. I think we can still use the terms in a loose manner when talking stringed bass (borderline colloquial I guess). When he mentions sustain I imagine it's, within reason, a "sustained" note with a minutely perceptible descent. I took decay to mean roll off into a fairly perceptible descent into nothingness.
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That's it exactly.
 
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