And I've had to reset my bridge angle a million times over the last 4 days. The windings are dragging it forward much more so than plain gut.
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Double Bass New Gamut Red Diamond Gut Strings
- Thread starter Earl
- Start date
I put on a set of red diamonds yesterday. First impressions are good.
Lots of tuning up at the moment, but that’s normal with gut.
The copper wound A and E are lower tension than the G and D.
The copper windings feel fine, I was a bit apprehensive that they’d be like scratchy roundwounds on a slab.
Bowing sounds great to my ear. I was bowing on spiros and these sound better- really powerful and full of character. I don’t know about bow-speed and stuff, but I did have to adapt a bit.
Pizzicato is thick and meaty. The E and A don’t cut like spiros but project well. I had an unamped rehearsal last night with drums, sax, clarinet, trumpet and electric guitar and felt like I was keeping up.
Lots of tuning up at the moment, but that’s normal with gut.
The copper wound A and E are lower tension than the G and D.
The copper windings feel fine, I was a bit apprehensive that they’d be like scratchy roundwounds on a slab.
Bowing sounds great to my ear. I was bowing on spiros and these sound better- really powerful and full of character. I don’t know about bow-speed and stuff, but I did have to adapt a bit.
Pizzicato is thick and meaty. The E and A don’t cut like spiros but project well. I had an unamped rehearsal last night with drums, sax, clarinet, trumpet and electric guitar and felt like I was keeping up.
I had a good bit of practice last night with them - two hours uninterrupted (which never happens). This is all pizz by the way. The copper windings are easier to get used to than I thought they would be. I'm shifting better on the A, probably because of some gunk build up making them a bit slicker. The E is the nicest wound gut E I've played on. I'm keeping my fingers crossed that the season changes don't make it go wonky. I have a love/hate relationship with every wound E I've had.
On my bass the D and G seem to balance nicely once you've been playing for a bit. I noticed this on the gig, and then again last night when practicing. They are most definitely stiffer than the rest of the set, but once everything is warmed up they feel really good to me. I would not describe them as high tension. It's weird - the only way for me to describe them is stiff. If you are expecting plain gut feel, then this isn't the string for you. You will notice the difference more so if you are playing faster passages that you were used to playing at plain gut tension. At least that's where I notice the difference the most.
I don't think I mentioned this in my initial review, but the D is fat enough that I'll probably have to get my nut/bridge opened a bit if I stick with them. The gauge on the D is closer to a plain A than a plain D.
On my bass the D and G seem to balance nicely once you've been playing for a bit. I noticed this on the gig, and then again last night when practicing. They are most definitely stiffer than the rest of the set, but once everything is warmed up they feel really good to me. I would not describe them as high tension. It's weird - the only way for me to describe them is stiff. If you are expecting plain gut feel, then this isn't the string for you. You will notice the difference more so if you are playing faster passages that you were used to playing at plain gut tension. At least that's where I notice the difference the most.
I don't think I mentioned this in my initial review, but the D is fat enough that I'll probably have to get my nut/bridge opened a bit if I stick with them. The gauge on the D is closer to a plain A than a plain D.
Really starting to dig these strings. They stabilized after a week and a half (as much as gut does). I made sure to tune them a lot in the first week. I would say most definitely that these are a string that needs to be played in more so than any others I have tried. The stiffness of the D and G subsides a bit as they break in.
The volume is very good. I played with a drummer and fiddle player last weekend in their living room, and we could all hear the bass. It was Gypsy Jazz'ish type of stuff, and the drummer used brushes. I have played with the same group in the same space months earlier with Innovations on my bass, and couldn't hear anything (for comparison).
I'll play my first amplified gig with them this saturday. Report to follow.
The volume is very good. I played with a drummer and fiddle player last weekend in their living room, and we could all hear the bass. It was Gypsy Jazz'ish type of stuff, and the drummer used brushes. I have played with the same group in the same space months earlier with Innovations on my bass, and couldn't hear anything (for comparison).
I'll play my first amplified gig with them this saturday. Report to follow.
I’ve had a set of red diamonds on for a week or so too. They have really stretched!
Maybe the stretching is because they’re a set rather than my normal top 2 strings gut and bottom 2 steel. The E is a bit weak from behind the bass but I suspect it sounds great in front.
Bowing is easier than I expected (i’m a jazz arco player so 99% long tones).
It’s great to finally jump into the full gut waters and get an idea of what life was like for my heroes in the pre steel days.
Maybe the stretching is because they’re a set rather than my normal top 2 strings gut and bottom 2 steel. The E is a bit weak from behind the bass but I suspect it sounds great in front.
Bowing is easier than I expected (i’m a jazz arco player so 99% long tones).
It’s great to finally jump into the full gut waters and get an idea of what life was like for my heroes in the pre steel days.
Played a stupid loud gig last night for the first time with the Red Diamonds. They are pretty noisy amplified because of the windings. I was able to EQ a good bit of it out, but it's hard to EQ all of that out when you have to play loud. They are more mid-present amplified than my experience with plain gut. I dumped a lot of mids and treble to soften the tone. The good is that the set is balanced so well that even some drastic cuts on the EQ didn't squash much as far as note definition. They are very punchy as well, which can help when you get loud.
The more I play them, the more I like them. Durability and stability when the seasons change are going to be the big test for. The stiffness/tension thing on the nylon wound strings is no longer noticeable.
If these perform well into the super humid summers we get around here, then I'm gonna be a happy camper.
The more I play them, the more I like them. Durability and stability when the seasons change are going to be the big test for. The stiffness/tension thing on the nylon wound strings is no longer noticeable.
If these perform well into the super humid summers we get around here, then I'm gonna be a happy camper.
Mine sound better when they're humid than when they're dry. Had them on over a year now
This thread makes me want to try them! Does anyone have any soundclips of these, and how is the sustain?
My bass isn't anything special and had sported spiro of dominant E & A and Evah Weich D&G for some time now, I play pizz with a pretty heavy attack at the edge of the fingerboard and get to play some arco sometimes as well.
My bass isn't anything special and had sported spiro of dominant E & A and Evah Weich D&G for some time now, I play pizz with a pretty heavy attack at the edge of the fingerboard and get to play some arco sometimes as well.
I just stuck a set of these on. The D string to me sounds muddy without a lot of definition...did you experience this? I love the G and really like the tension of the set
No I didn't have that problem. I do think the diameter on the D string is slightly larger than my nut/bridge slots though. I intend to have my luthier check it out. Perhaps you have a similar scenario and it's causing the tonal issue. Otherwise I would just play them in a bit and see what happens.
Also, is this what you perceive standing next to the bass? They sound quite different in front.
Ya, standing next to the bass. I am do for a setup with all the strings I’ve been trying but it just sounds thuddy with no definition...at least compared to a plain Gamut Lyon.
I can't compare them to Lyons, but in general my set has balanced nicely on my bass after a couple of months. I've listened to a handful of just "room-mic" kind of recordings, and there isn't anything that jumps out like you're describing. The G sings more than the D, but I could say that about most sets - especially gut.
T, are the reds new? Guts often don’t sound great for the first month or so.
Red diamonds are on sale for 20% off until May 7th! Does anyone want the wound E and A? I’d be down to split a set and keep the D and G to use on top of my Spirocore solos.
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The latest update. Up here in the Buffalo area we went from ice storms to floods to 70 degrees and humid in the course of about 4 days. Typical for this part of the world in spring. I hadn't picked up my bass for days, and the tuning dropped a full step or more on all 4 strings. This was a day before a gig, so I was sweating it a little bit, expecting a nightmare of tuning.
It was not a nightmare of tuning. I did get my bass to the venue (climate controlled theater) hours early to stabilize. I didn't have to tune anymore than I would have with plain gut. In fact the nylon wound were pretty stable the whole set. The copper wound were less stable, but not out of hand. They behaved like gut strings.
One criticism is that they are noisy when you hit big volume. I guess it's the whole law of diminished returns when amplifying upright. I cut the treble about 75 percent to try to overcome it - especially on the copper wound. I play a lot of slides, so you can imagine the issue.
I'm still liking them more than anything else I've played though.
It was not a nightmare of tuning. I did get my bass to the venue (climate controlled theater) hours early to stabilize. I didn't have to tune anymore than I would have with plain gut. In fact the nylon wound were pretty stable the whole set. The copper wound were less stable, but not out of hand. They behaved like gut strings.
One criticism is that they are noisy when you hit big volume. I guess it's the whole law of diminished returns when amplifying upright. I cut the treble about 75 percent to try to overcome it - especially on the copper wound. I play a lot of slides, so you can imagine the issue.
I'm still liking them more than anything else I've played though.
Latest update - after less than 6 months of use my G is now unwinding. Very disappointed. I sent them an email so I'll see what they say. 6 months ain't gonna cut it for me.
Also, they are no better or worse than plain gut as far as holding pitch. The summer here is really starting to get steamy.
Also, they are no better or worse than plain gut as far as holding pitch. The summer here is really starting to get steamy.
I'd be tempted to put a drop of Krazy glue on the string where the unwinding starts and trim off the loose bit. Maybe even take off the string and work a piece of appropriately sized shrink wrap onto the problem area as well.
