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Double Bass New! Pirastro Perpetual Double Bass strings

#42
logdrum said:
My take on Pirastro strings , is that maybe with the exception of the Evah P is that you need a good carved bass to explore their potential.

My question for people who do a lot of thumb position, how much sustain compared to Spirocores? Between the D and G when playing double stops in TP, is one string more dominant than the other? Do they have that usual Pirastro complexity? Have you guys tried getting partials? How easy?
How different are these to Flexocores or Flat Chromes? Less tension?

Will these be priced significantly higher than Spriocores? What Spiros have going for them is the pricing, availability and the wide gamut of gauge and lengths, plus the fact that they are long lasting. Unless you create a time machine, the last attribute is really hard to contend with. How do you guys get into the list getting free strings from Pirastros? :)

If you incorporate bowing in your practice Spiros are not really that hard to bow. I have gotten to the point that I can play them very soft from the bow tip. I do get why Spiros are considered hard to bow.

Also punchy means different to many people. I equate them with thump and thud like BelCantos when plucked.
Click to expand...

Just a few quick notes from my gig last night to address your questions:

Very similar to spirocores in sound. That low E string growls nicely. Under the bow they sound rough in my practice room, meaning i have to focus on them like I did with spiros. Not warm like belcantos. These have less tension than spirocore mediums. They have a very interesting bounce. Only other strings i've played with this level of "boing" is a set of Velvets (can't remember which one). They feel like they are vibrating in a circle rather than left to right if that makes sense. A teacher of mine compared them to Obligatos in looseness but I personally have not used those, except for a D and G once. While spirocores have a ton of raw power, I would describe these as a more organic sounding power. I had no trouble leading the band with my quarter notes last night.

they do not die in the mix like obligatos. Crisp sound cutting through the band. Sprio like, but with a nice sort of breath or "ping" to them.

One thing that I was shocked to hear is that on my gig they sounded very warm under the bow. E string I have some issues getting started, but the D and G strings sounded quite warm and full. Kind of like the evah pirazzi fullness. Still bright though, but at least on the D and G not scratchy. I was very pleased to hear that the sound playing with the bow through the amp was very easy to make sound warm, something I NEVER got my spiros to do. Acoustic they may be equal but through the amp, not messing with any settings, the Perpetual strings bowed sound was nice. Made me take 3 bowed solos last night.

No idea on the price of these strings. Thats one factor I'm waiting on. I tend to change my spirocores every year regardless, so if these can be pleasing for a year and around the same cost (or around the cost of Evahs) thats good enough for me.

These do not thud like belcantos. Those were the worst pizz strings i've tried to date. No wonder they're marketed as an arco string lol.
 
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#43
Ben Rolston said:
I also received a trial set from Pirastro and "threw" them on about 30mins ago.

VERY interesting strings. Like Sam said, quite flexible -- maybe even more than Spiro Weichs. My bass runs tight, so this is a welcome thing. Out of the gate they are darker and more flexible than spiros, and much more consistent sounding than Zyex, I'm worried that I'll miss the pop of Evah's but the tension is MUCH better. I'll give a more full update soon, but here are some pictures:

+In my opinion the afterlengths color is really cool!
+String gauge comparison pictures with Evah Weich (top string in each picture is the Perpetual)
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if you don't have an extension, how is the normal length E string? My extended string is slightly heavier than the normal length one so I'm curious about that.
 
#46
Fran Diaz said:
For you guys who already have these strings on your basses: How do they compare volumewise to Spiro meds? ...or the strings you had on before?

Another important matter to me: Thickness, especially on the G strings...my love for the Oliv G has made me dislike thin G strings.

Thanks in advance
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Gauge is about the same as spiro mediums sorry to say.

These strings made my bass louder in some ways, kind of how velvets made it louder. Granted this is just the first week, but they have more air. Something kind of cool about them is that they have a huge dynamic range. Its hard for me to over play them sometimes. I keep getting more volume.
 
#48
Taking Pirastro kp tensions and converting to pounds gives following:
E 62.9
A 63.1
D 58.1
G 57.9

Vs Spiros, puts them tension wise less than 3/4 Weich, more than 3/4 Solo and closest to 4/4 Weich

20190607_001407.jpg
 
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#49
Clarkybass said:
Taking Pirastro kp tensions and converting to pounds gives following:
E 62.9
A 63.1
D 58.1
G 57.9

Vs Spiros, puts them tension wise less than 3/4 Weich, more than 3/4 Solo and closest to 4/4 Weich

View attachment 3447774
Click to expand...

Much more power than 4/4 weich though. I hated weich spiro on my bass. Didn't move the top and sounded thin. These sound closer to the mittles.
 
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