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Double Bass New! Pirastro Perpetual Double Bass strings

#1,401
Strings are just one ingredient in the cake.
When I took them off last month I believe they were riding lower and consequently, the bass had less punch and volume.
Higher, the Spirocores initially sounded better but the bass was choking out a bit.
Bass, fingerboard, soundpost, tailpiece, bridge, strings.

FWIW, it took a minute for things to settle, but the bass sounded great on the recording. Very happy.
 
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#1,402
Well, I hate to rain on the perp parade, but after 6 months I've ditched the perps (bought used off TB) on my carved orchestra bass with C-extension. Pizz they sound alright, but arco the harsh brightness just never settled out.

I've been preparing for three local orchestra auditions, and have been struggling to get a smooth, reliable, tone quality with the perps. They are like a laser beam on my bass.

So, I put on my old set of Kaplan, and boom -- done. My bass does what I want now, and I am feeling so much more confident about these auditions. Pizz, it's a bit thumpy, but maybe the kaplan's will sound OK amplified -- haven't tested that yet. The brightness of the perps really came through on my Erhlund pickup.
 
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#1,403
So I gave these Perpetuals a shot. They’re definitely nice strings. Personally, the E and A didn’t have enough bottom. I missed my Spiros on gigs this week. Though I do think the perpetuals match the Oliv G amazingly well and will be classic mixed set for sure. What I liked and didn’t like was the overall looseness of the perps. It felt great to play in the right and left hand but I found really difficult to play them at uptempo hard bop tempos this week. Maybe I’m just used to the stiffness of my Spiros and how quick strings like Spiros and Helicore Hybrids rebound and center. I have no problem playing at blazing tempos on Spiros or Hybrids. Maybe I’m just used to their timing. I’ve since removed the perpetuals and put a hodge podge set of Helicore Hybrid medium E and A, Spiro mitt D and the stark Perp G. It sounds and feels great. The stark perp G is pretty awesome! It has a good amount of punchy low end and a nice snappy click for the higher frequency content that you need to cut through all the way into thumb position. It’s my personal opinion that if the string were just a touch stiffer it would match the Spiro D perfectly. Personally, I’m sold on the Zyex medium G to match the Spiro D. Only time will tell if the tension difference between the D and G will be noticeable while in full-on gig mode. Overall, the tone of the stark G is pretty awesome. If you’re looking for a warm, punchy G string, that plays extremely easily yet also has just enough high frequency content to cut through the mix, this is the guy. As I’m writing this, the tone reminds of an Obilgato G but with a thicker gauge and similar tonal characteristics. Hope you all are well! Keep shedding!
 
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#1,404
stefaniw80401 said:
Well, I hate to rain on the perp parade, but after 6 months I've ditched the perps (bought used off TB) on my carved orchestra bass with C-extension. Pizz they sound alright, but arco the harsh brightness just never settled out.

I've been preparing for three local orchestra auditions, and have been struggling to get a smooth, reliable, tone quality with the perps. They are like a laser beam on my bass.

So, I put on my old set of Kaplan, and boom -- done. My bass does what I want now, and I am feeling so much more confident about these auditions. Pizz, it's a bit thumpy, but maybe the kaplan's will sound OK amplified -- haven't tested that yet. The brightness of the perps really came through on my Erhlund pickup.
Click to expand...

As much as I like Perpetuals, I wouldn't use them if I primarily played orchestra work, especially compared to Kaplans. I see them more as a bow-able jazz/pizzicato string.

- Steve
 
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#1,407
stefaniw80401 said:
Here's a good bowing sample, from me, of regular perpetuals. They are about 8months old at this point, and unlike most strings as they age, these show no signs of fading their edge.

Dragonetti waltz #4 in Ab
Recorded on Zoom Q4 camera.
Click to expand...

I agree. I do not like the arco perpetual sound on your bass either.

On my first go around with them last year, although they weren’t edgy with the bow, I preferred the bowed tone and response of Spiro weichs (closest string to compare them with I think). There was nothing “wrong” with the Perp arco tone, just nothing that would make me want to pick up the bass and put a bow to them. No vibes on my bass. This is a bass where old Spiro mitts and broken in weichs sound really good with the bow.
 
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#1,408
So I’ve spent the week playing my hodge podge set of Helicore Hybrid E and A, Spiro mitt D, Perpetual Stark G. Im loving the overall sound and feel. More specifically I’m digging the stark G. It really does sound great pizz. For those of you who have auditioned the Stark G, can you compare the sound and feel to anything else? Evah weich G? Flex Deluxe G? I’m just recovering from tendonitis in my left hand pinky side from playing with higher action. The stark sounds good though I wish it had just a little more stiffness. Just curious if anyone could compare the stark G to any of the one listed above. I’d like to stick a thicker gauge G string like Zyex, Oliv, Evah. Thanks!
 
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#1,409
I hear the Stark G as it's own thing. When Adrian said to me that Pirastro's string designer was well proud of his new creation it confirmed what I hear, which is that it is not some other string emulation but a new thing unto itself. I love this string because it rings all these bells for me: not wiry, no buzzes, lots of ping, thumb position enhancement (rather then diminished) right combination of harmonic detail with fundamental, great feel. I have compared it to a bunch of G strings and find it to be singular. That said I would strongly encourage Pirastro to at least make a Stark E string with the same formula. I think that for many of the basses I have played a stark G AND E would be ideal.
 
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#1,410
Eli Brockway said:
I would just like to take a moment to add on to this and say that schwach is weak, weich is soft. This applies especially in the sense of tension of strings—calling a set "weak" would almost guarantee it wouldn't sell, but saying that the tension is soft doesn't run the risk of directly hurting your sales.
Click to expand...

Interesting. This may depend on the dialect, too. I actually asked my tour guide when on vacation in Austria for his best translation (and pronunciation) of "weich" and that's what he told me. I figured asking in Austria (at the time - it was 13 years ago) was best since Thomastik, based in Vienna, was the most prominent user of the term. Thanks for the additional info!
 
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#1,411
Mark Gollihur said:
Interesting. This may depend on the dialect, too. I actually asked my tour guide when on vacation in Austria for his best translation (and pronunciation) of "weich" and that's what he told me. I figured asking in Austria (at the time - it was 13 years ago) was best since Thomastik, based in Vienna, was the most prominent user of the term. Thanks for the additional info!
Click to expand...
I think the Guide didn’t really think about and used a word starting with the same letter.

It is catastrophic how english terms get used today in german language with their english meaning which exist in german but with a (often total) different meaning.

So, the german word „weich“ means „soft“ in English. Weak is correctly translated to „schwach“. The german word „Schwächling“ means a person without power and that’s a weak human being.
 
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#1,412
False friends trip everybody up. They're etymologically related, but the meanings have diverged over time - Old English wāc and Old High German weih (both of which eventually became weak [with some help from Old Norse veikr] and weich, respectively) held both meanings, though even in Old High German it was more common to understand weih as "soft" rather than "weak."
 
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#1,416
sean_on_bass said:
To me, they share a certain tonal characteristic, like the front end ping to the note and the hump of the note in a similar frequency range. I'd argue that Perps are like a brighter Evah sound. IMO YMMV etc etc
Click to expand...

To my ears Perpetuals sound more like Obligatos, although they are much clearer when amplified.

- Steve
 
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#1,417
FWIW... I just replaced 4 month old Perpetuals with a full set of Zyex light gauge. In my living room the Zyex seem a little louder, more resonant and obviously brighter. They move the bass a bit more like gut. We'll see how they amplify but acoustically I'm optimistic... I have an outdoor, amplified, house concert type gig tomorrow.

(they're definitely trickier to bow at the moment though.)
-J
 
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#1,418
Jeff Kissell said:
FWIW... I just replaced 4 month old Perpetuals with a full set of Zyex light gauge. In my living room the Zyex seem a little louder, more resonant and obviously brighter. They move the bass a bit more like gut. We'll see how they amplify but acoustically I'm optimistic... I have an outdoor, amplified, house concert type gig tomorrow.

(they're definitely trickier to bow at the moment though.)
-J
Click to expand...

I know this isn't a zyex thread, but I'm interested to hear about your gig experience with them compared to your perp experience.
 

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