Double Bass Overtones with Velvets

[edfriedland]

I put a Velvet E & A on my gut bass a while back... they were Garbos I believe. They have a nice punchy fundamental, and I like the tension - but they have very pronounced overtones, particularly between open A and C. I thought they might break in, but so far they haven't. Has anyone else ever had this issue? And if so... solutions?

I've used several other brands on this bass and never had this problem. Too bad, I like the string otherwise, and they cost a boatload of cash!

 

[Ed Fuqua]

I haven't used Garbos, but I never had that problem with Animas.

 

[oystein]

I actually had the same problem when I had Animas on my bass. Loved the acoustic sound, but got som nasty overtones on the A-string, mine was worst at C and C#.
Amplified it was not nice....

 

[philip sirois]

I just put a new set of Blues on my bass, and definitely noticed some overtone issues. I figured it was the brass windings sounding a little, I guess "brassy". The 2 year old set I took off seemed to have settled out of this at some point, and sounded pretty good for quite a while. Probably could have stayed with them a while longer... Never tried garbos though.

 

[Nuggulux]

I've frequently gone to the Garbo E and A strings when I needed that thumpy sound and never had a problem with overtones. In fact, that is why I use them. My set, which are ten years old by now, are nothing but fundamental, with more focus than other wound gut-core strings I've tried.

 

[Mark Perna]

You may have gotten a bad set. Contact Velvet, they have excellent customer service. I'm certain they'll send you another E and A. I've used Garbos and Animas for the E and A on my gut bass for years, I replace them about every 12 months or so and have never had any problems with them.

mark

 

[MLysh]

Full set of Garbos here. Ten (?) months, no problems. Switched from Animas. No problems with them, either.

 

[Edvin]

i experienced the same thing with animas.
if you look at the sound samples here you can clearly here them.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] (it's not me playing)

 

[edfriedland]

Well, I sent an email, hopefully I'll hear back soon.

 

[GrowlerBox]

Well, I sent an email, hopefully I'll hear back soon.

Have you heard anything yet? I'm interested in trying these, and other reports on Velvet's CS are outstanding, but if they can't look after Ed Friedland, what chance I?

 

[edfriedland]

I sent my second email to them yesterday. We'll see.

 

[edfriedland]

Nothing yet....

 

[edfriedland]

Okay, third time's the charm. Sent another email today, and got an immediate response. I should never take for granted the possibility for email to get screwed up. The guy said he never got my previous email - which makes way more sense than them ignoring me. So, they will send me some replacement strings to try. Hopefully, that will fix the problem.

 

[GrowlerBox]

Good to hear. I'm thinking about the Garbo with gut G set ...

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Good to hear. I'm thinking about the Garbo with gut G set ...

If you're looking for that old school sound and have a decent bass they're a really good choice. Lower tension and more fundamental with warmth and character.

 

[donn]

i experienced the same thing with animas.
if you look at the sound samples here you can clearly here them.
[Invalid or Expired Link Removed] (it's not me playing)

Yes indeed. So what we're hearing there is a defective string, Animas shouldn't have that overtone?

 

[GrowlerBox]

If you're looking for that old school sound and have a decent bass they're a really good choice. Lower tension and more fundamental with warmth and character.

Thanks for the tip, Jake

 

[Edvin]

Yes indeed. So what we're hearing there is a defective string, Animas shouldn't have that overtone?

you've listened to the anima sound sample? it's a clear overtone issue there as well.

 

[donn]

you've listened to the anima sound sample? it's a clear overtone issue there as well.

Yes, that's what I meant. The Anima sound sample has clear, unusual and very prominent overtones, so maybe they're defective too?

Only edfriedland would know if 1) that's the same overtone sound, and 2) if his strings are Garbo or Anima. If he has Anima strings, and they sound like the sample, maybe Animas just sound like that? Or at least it's not a rare defect.

 

[edfriedland]

I'm not able to hear the overtones in the samples, but I should probably use some headphones to make sure.

I put the new E and A on yesterday but didn't have time to sit with them. I'll check today now that they've been up to tension overnight. My first impression was the A sounded better, but the E still had overtones. I'll reconfirm later today.