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Schecter Hellcat VI

#41
eboe said:
those were the bass vi strings. the main problem with those is that the bridge is string-through-body ONLY, and the strings have bass-sized ball-ends on them, and I had to remove the ferrules and sometimes even squeeze them in. The EB strings have guitar sized ball-ends and they fit fine. Plus, the Bass VI's total length is much longer due to the vibrato system, so the strings are very long and the guitar-sized tuners could not handle the lower strings too well, even though they had the taper, because they were longer to accomodate the vibrato. So I like the EB strings better, and the gauge is not THAT different... EB = 20w-30-42-54-74-90, Fender = 25-35-45-55-75-95 - so not a HUGE difference IMHO. But then again, I don't favor it as a Bass, more a soloing instrument like Robert Smith uses it. One of my friends owned a Jerry Jones Longhorn and a Japanese VI reissue. He sold the VI cause he liked the Jerry Jones that much better, plus it had 24 frets. And of course he made a profit on the VI... :D
But i saw a flamenco player play on his jerry jones once and it was a thing of beauty. it sounded awesome.
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whatever works for you but those eb strings are less than the 90 on the low e would suggest....they have a very thin core that makes the tension very low. Sure the ferrules have vi ball ends sticking out but so what ...the sound is what its all about and those vi strings sound sweet on the silo bass.

Put it this way ...the vis are high tension full on 95s on the low e ...the eb and jerry jones...well they are less in every way...and its the tone that wins out every time.
 
#42
zazz said:
whatever works for you but those eb strings are less than the 90 on the low e would suggest....they have a very thin core that makes the tension very low. Sure the ferrules have vi ball ends sticking out but so what ...the sound is what its all about and those vi strings sound sweet on the silo bass.

Put it this way ...the vis are high tension full on 95s on the low e ...the eb and jerry jones...well they are less in every way...and its the tone that wins out every time.
Click to expand...

I put some of the Ernie Ball Jerry Jones strings on my Danelectro (because they were the only strings I found that fit), and I hated them. The E was .084. Thin and weak sounding. That is the reason I bought a 4 string neck and bridge and converted the Dano to a 4 string, then bought the SchecterHellcat VI. The stock Schecter strings sound really good and fat, as you can hear in the clip I posted, with an E at .096. I also ordered a set of GHS Boomers in the same guage to try.
 
#44
the D'addario strings are only .84 on the low E so i doubt those would sound too great. But I'm not one to debate string qualities as I have been known to buy the musician's friend brand before :eek: (although I do use rotosounds now)

full gauges on the D'addarrio : 24-34-44-56-72-84

plus, i really don't like any 30" scale basses as basses, so that might have something to do with it as well. Like I said, it's mainly used for lead stuff for me, the samples I posted were per someone's request on a different thread. Anyway, I'd rather have a Hellcat VI than my MM5 but alas, money is an issue for me with my wife signing off on stuff ;) That's part of the reason for the EB strings too, $9.99 a restring is more cost-effective than $22.99 a set.. plus my friend who sold his Silhouette has some EB strings left over he sells to me for $3 a set! :D I guess he just preferred the sound of his '63 Blonde Bass VI, hahaha!
 
#47
lousybassist said:
No. It's tuned like a bass guitar, or a contra bass guitar, one octave below a regular guitar. Just like a standard four string bass guitar, only with two more strings above g.

And please understand that "bass" is just a prefix, just like "tenor" or "alto", that denotes the range of a specific instrument, be it a clarinet, a saxophone, a human voice, or indeed a guitar.
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AHHH. Now I see it. Before I didn't see what you guys ment.

How tight is the string spacing on that?
 
#48
FYI, here's the 2 sets I mentioned earlier,

DAD_XL155 D'Addario Guitar Electric Bass Nickel Wound XL Jerry Jones Short Scale, .024 - .084,, XL155 $10.52



DAD_XL156 D'Addario Guitar Electric Bass Nickel Wound XL Fender Electric Bass VI Short Scale, .024 - .084, XL156 $10.52
 
#49
iamthebassman said:
FYI, here's the 2 sets I mentioned earlier,

DAD_XL155 D'Addario Guitar Electric Bass Nickel Wound XL Jerry Jones Short Scale, .024 - .084,, XL155 $10.52



DAD_XL156 D'Addario Guitar Electric Bass Nickel Wound XL Fender Electric Bass VI Short Scale, .024 - .084, XL156 $10.52
Click to expand...

Those were too light for my taste. Not enough low end. I used them on my Danelectro because they were the only ones that fit. My Schecter uses Fender Bass VI strings, which gives you a lot more options. Schecter, Fender, and GHS make RW strings with a .096 E string, much better for me, and LaBella makes both RW and flats in the same guages. I might try the flats sometime.
 
#51
eboe said:
if my bass wasn't string-thru and I had slightly bigger holes in my tuner pegs I would probably use the Fender VI strings, alas, I do not.
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its not as bad as you think..im using the mm silo with vi's..ok the ball ends strick out so just twist them in a line so its neat and it looks like it was meant to be...you cant feel them at all when your playing but the guitar sounds much better for it.
 
#52
what about the smaller holes on the tuner heads? I had trouble with that, too. More than likely, I will stick with what costs me $3 a set cause like I said, I don't use it for basslines so much as lead parts, ala Robert Smith.
 
#53
eboe said:
what about the smaller holes on the tuner heads? I had trouble with that, too. More than likely, I will stick with what costs me $3 a set cause like I said, I don't use it for basslines so much as lead parts, ala Robert Smith.
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How can i say this...apart from the ball heads sticking out the strings fit 100 percent perfect and those eb strings are not a patch on the vi's in any way...they are flawed and in fact i have an email from eb to the effect that the low e needs some rethinking.....when it comes to e-e....fact.
 
#56
phxlbrmpf said:
Wow, that axe sounds great. How's it sound with chords?
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Chords sound good when played on the high strings. Since it is a bass they get pretty muddy on lower strings, like any other bass. With the switch set for the bridge pickup, and some distortion, I can play power chords with a G string root and it sounds like a guitar. It makes it very versatile, you can play it like any other bass, but then add in chords and melodies too.

Here is a clip.
 
#57
Do any of you bass VI players tune EADGCF? If you do, do you use different strings, or will the standard guages handle the extra tension? It might be nice to tune that way so that scale fingerings would remain the same going up to the higher strings instead of being half a step down.
 
#58
Showdown said:
Those were too light for my taste. Not enough low end. I used them on my Danelectro because they were the only ones that fit. My Schecter uses Fender Bass VI strings, which gives you a lot more options. Schecter, Fender, and GHS make RW strings with a .096 E string, much better for me, and LaBella makes both RW and flats in the same guages. I might try the flats sometime.
Click to expand...
There are flatwound VI sets!? Can you please, please link to someplace that sells them? These rounds are kinda driving me insane- I find myself palm-muting every single thing I play on my VI.
 
#59
Pennydreadful said:
There are flatwound VI sets!? Can you please, please link to someplace that sells them? These rounds are kinda driving me insane- I find myself palm-muting every single thing I play on my VI.
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You can find them here:

Link Removed

Do a search on the site for "fender bass vi" and it will give you all the strings that fit.

And let me know how those strings sound. I'd like to try them, but they are kind of expensive so it would be nice to get an opinion on them first.
 

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