Pyramid Gold users

[NorCal Dog]

Norcal, you seem to be the man to ask regarding Pyramid Golds - you said elsewhere they have the thump of the LaBellas with the upper midrange of the TIs. I just strung up my first set of flats on my P yesterday, a set of Chromes. How would you compare the PGs to the Chromes?

first off, you're going to have to wait a while & play 'em in, to eventually hear what the Chromes are going to sound like, as they are bright sounding out of the box & they're going to settle in. to me, Chromes have a sound of their own & don't sound like any other flat out there, some dig it, some don't, but you never know 'till you string 'em on & wait

the Pyramids sound like a well worn in set right out of the box, but do not sound like the typical dead thud of other flats that have been on a couple of years. the Pyramid's do have a mid & upper presence that is pronounced balanced & shimmery

i've put quite a few miles on a couple of sets of chromes, ( along with LaBellas & TI's ) & after my first 5 min after installing the Pyramid's, i knew i had found the string i had been searching for, ( but settling with, with the other brands )

Deacon_Blues has been running Pyramid's waaaay longer than i, maybe we can get his perspective

 

[Deacon_Blues]

I hesitated reply to dannybuoy because I haven't tried the same set of flats on two different basses yet. The chromes are on my stingray copy, the pyramids on my jazz and a set of TI's on my fretless squier VM jazz... Then I put a set of labellas on my dad's squier P/J but I don't get to play that too often.

With that in mind, you understand I have a difficult time putting a finger on the more subtle differences between these sets. Anyway, I feel that the labellas and pyramids are the more traditional flats among these, and the difference between these aren't that huge. The chromes are way more roundish in their tone and attack, and you can slap pretty well on these. They also have very clear mids. I love the "pop" sound of the pyramids, but I don't think there's enough "bounce" and treble in those strings to get a well-defined "slap" sound. It would be cool to try the TI's on a fretted bass too, but I haven't done it so far. The pickups on that fretless squier is also too hot for my taste so it's hard to hear what the real character of those strings are.

I've had the Pyramids on since the beginning of last november, so just over 6 months. I can't say I've noticed much of a change in the sound over that time.

The chromes are a "perfect fit" for the stingray copy, I think. I got a really nice sound out of that bass on my last gig. I wrote about that in the "flatwound convert" thread. I would not put a set of labellas or pyramids on that bass though, as I think those are more made for J and P basses. I could imagine the chromes fitting a J well though, and perhaps also a P, but with a bit more hesitation. I did however put a set of very light gauge chromes on a friend's old fretless Fender P/J that I borrowed for a few months before buying my first own fretless, and they definitely sounded nice on that bass. It's really hard to compare the sound between strings on a fretless and fretted though.

Soundclips say more than a 1000 words so here is some more clips:

This is the stingray copy with chromes: Invalid Link Removed
This is the fender with pyramids: Invalid Link Removed and Invalid Link Removed
This is the squier with TI's: Invalid Link Removed

 

[NorCal Dog]

AWESOME clips Deacon

i've only played fretted basses, but i love the tone of your fretless, would love to own one one day

with that said

i own a fretted Fernandes ( MM copy ) that i've modded with an OBP-1 pre & Nord MM4.2 pickup, & it gets VERY CLOSE to the stingray tone, & i have had a sets of 760FL's , Chromes, TI's & lastly Pyramid flats on it, & have had pretty good results, ( except with the 760FL's wich simply did not work as they were indeed too muted up on top for this particular bass )

i play both fingerstyle & with a plectrum & where all the strings sounded as they should played with the fingers, i find using a pick is the determining factor if a string set stays, or goes

the Chromes played fingerstyle sounded very good, but just didn't work for me with a pick, it's weird & i just heard too much of the fundamental tone of the note coming thru, & not enough of the overtones & harmonics ( sounded dead, lifeless )

the TI's sounded very good fingerstyle, and sounded very good with a pick, had good lows, but i wanted that deep percussive lows that the LaBellas bring, so i kept searching

enter Pyramyd Golds,, ahhhhhhhhh, my true Goldilocks string ( as in, it's juuust riiight )
playing fingerstyle they are the best feeling string on your fingertips, tension is perfect, not sticky as others are, sound like a well worn in set of strings right out of the box, have those deep percussive lows, & also have the mids & highs much like the TI's ( which i instantly noticed while stringing them up, & bringing them up to pitch acoustically, before even plugging them in ) & with a pick, they retain those percussive lows, ( but with a sharper attack ) & have the mids & highs that sound very pleasing to the ear

as i said earlier, the determining factor ( for me anyways ) is how a string sounds played fingerstyle & with a plectrum, & let me add WITHOUT having to drastically EQ between the two

i currently have 3 basses strung up with the Pyramids, & have had very good results

edit; the Pyramids on my P is like total tonal nirvana & on my SDAJBV / Big Singles it's like fagetaboutit