Double Bass Superior Bassworks strings

[Mandobassman]

Has anyone used these? They’re a nylon/Kevlar synthetic gut string. Someone on a Facebook bass group raves about them and so did several others. At only $60 per set they seemed worth a try, but I wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with them.

Here’s a link.

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[KUNGfuSHERIFF]

They’re Magnum Gatorline. Sound and feel vaguely like gut, but looser and don’t have the airy gut sound. They can be OK if you play heavily amplified but you get what you pay for.

I’ve used a few different types of whackers. They were my gateway drug to gut strings. There used to be a kind called Cordes Lambert that were amazing but all the rest sound and feel like what they are: plastic.

 

[Don Hergert]

Has anyone used these? They’re a nylon/Kevlar synthetic gut string. Someone on a Facebook bass group raves about them and so did several others. At only $60 per set they seemed worth a try, but I wanted to see if anyone here has any experience with them.

Here’s a link.

Invalid Link Removed

I've been using the SBW Deluxe Dirty Guts for about a year and a half now. Their spiral-cut texture is great on the hands and great for bowing, and their tone is excellent. They are especially great amped or DI'ed into a house system... But acoustically, volume and clarity of the E and A strings was a struggle for me from the beginning.

About 6 months in, I still found that the highest tension E and A were just too quiet and unclear, so I swapped them out for Innovation SilverSlaps E and A, while continuing to use the medium tension SBW Deluxe D and G with quite good success.

The Innovation SilverSlaps EA / SBW Deluxe DG mix is a good one for tone and volume, and the touch and the gauge and tension combination is also extremely good. I've been using this mix for the last year with no signs of wear, and with 2 extra sets of each in the wings, I expect to continue using this mix for the next few years.

Based on my experiences, I'd encourage you to consider a mix similar to this.

Sometime I'm thinking I'll try out real gut D and G strings, continuing to use the Innovation SilverSlap E and A, but it's going to be a while before that happens.

Good luck with your decision making!

Here's a sample from our newest album of my bass with the full set of SBW Deluxe Dirty Guts. This was DI'ed into the studio's system:

I Am A Pilgrim

• Don Hergert
• Aug 9, 2019
• alcoa

from our new album, Grace for the Journey (Sweet Tidings Gospel Jam).

Here's a clip of me demonstrating the SilverSlap EA/Deluxe DG mix:

View media item 20834

 

[madbanjoman]

I use them on my DB and both my EUBs

Here's a video of them amplified



Acoustically:

 

[Povl Carstensen]

I have a set of Deluxe Dirty Guts in my drawer that I bought not the least because of this clip:
I think that is a very good Paul Chambers soundalike video.
When I get around to testing them is another question, since I am quite happy with my plain gut Efrano weich set, and I am sure there wil be some tradeoffs in sound, changing to synthetic strings.

 

[Jay Corwin]

Though I can't watch the videos right now (I'm at work and they block the tube), I echo what the Sheriff said. Just about everyone who seeks out gut will eventually give wackers a try. I did as well - the SBW. Cordes Lambert.....now that's a different story. Still not sure why I sold mine.

If you want any kind of articulate, acoustic projection - you won't find it with wackers. The D/G might be passable, but everything else IME was total trash. Even the plain E on a Lambert set was not usable.

If you are an amplified slapper, then have it.

 

[Elias_Mohr]

I use them on my DB and both my EUBs

Here's a video of them amplified



Acoustically:

Dang, your bass holds its own acoustically. I just switched from Spiro Mittels to SBWs hoping to get less tension and an old school sound, I just put them on but from the get-go I raised the action alot to compensate for volume and the A&E sound a bit weak compared to the higher strings. I'm gonna let them settle and see how they sound before I take em off but the sound seems spot on although a bit low volume.

 

[Don Hergert]

... the A&E sound a bit weak compared to the higher strings ...

My experience exactly with the SBW EA... As mentioned earlier, I used the whole set as is for about 6 months, then the SilverSlaps EA took care of that problem.

Now I still muse about gut DG, but it's mostly for the experience of using guts since everyone speaks so highly about them. But really I'm very happy with the SilverSlap EA / SBW DG mix, and I continually get very good audience reviews for tone and volume.

 

[Don Hergert]

I use them on my DB and both my EUBs

Here's a video of them amplified

[media removed for brevity]

Acoustically:

[media removed for brevity]

@madbanjoman , I have a couple of questions for you, related to the huge volume that you're getting out of your DB with SBWs acoustically...

I notice that you're playing left-handed. I can't tell for sure, but it amost looks from your playing like your DB is possibly strung right-handed (that is, EADG instead of GDAE) and you're playing the neck "right-handed" with your left hand. Can you clarify how you're playing?

Next question is, if I'm wrong and if your bass is strung left handed GDAE, is it an actual left-handed double bass, where the bass bar is also on the left hand side of your DB, or is this simply a right-handed double bass strung left-handed?

You can probably see where this is going, I'm wondering if the SBW Dirty Guts sound better with the bass bar on the treble side.

 

[madbanjoman]

@madbanjoman , I have a couple of questions for you, related to the huge volume that you're getting out of your DB with SBWs acoustically...

I notice that you're playing left-handed. I can't tell for sure, but it amost looks from your playing like your DB is possibly strung right-handed (that is, EADG instead of GDAE) and you're playing the neck "right-handed" with your left hand. Can you clarify how you're playing?

Next question is, if I'm wrong and if your bass is strung left handed GDAE, is it an actual left-handed double bass, where the bass bar is also on the left hand side of your DB, or is this simply a right-handed double bass strung left-handed?

You can probably see where this is going, I'm wondering if the SBW Dirty Guts sound better with the bass bar on the treble side.

You are correct, my bass is strung right handed. I just stand on the wrong side and play it. I learned this way so I could play anyone's upright. The bass itself is just an inexpensive Chinese plywood student model.

 

[Don Hergert]

Thank you for the clarification. I admire your flexiblity to play a right handed DB left-handed; I doubt I could play a left-handed DB right handed.

Your bass sounds great with the SBW dirty gut full set! What gauges from the 6-string bump-pack are you using?

 

[madbanjoman]

Dang, your bass holds its own acoustically. I just switched from Spiro Mittels to SBWs hoping to get less tension and an old school sound, I just put them on but from the get-go I raised the action alot to compensate for volume and the A&E sound a bit weak compared to the higher strings. I'm gonna let them settle and see how they sound before I take em off but the sound seems spot on although a bit low volume.

One thing I have noticed is that while I am playing the bass the E & A sound softer, but if I listen to a recording or one of my sons is playing it and I am somewhere else in the house, the strings sound much more even. I think the SBW strings have much quieter upper harmonics compared to steel strings and when you are close to the bass that is what you are really hearing.

 

[madbanjoman]

Thank you for the clarification. I admire your flexiblity to play a right handed DB left-handed; I doubt I could play a left-handed DB right handed.

Your bass sounds great with the SBW dirty gut full set! What gauges from the 6-string bump-pack are you using?

Thanks! It took about a year of playing exclusively the upright in this manner, not touching my bass guitar, to get my brain to adapt. After a year, I was able to pickup my left handed bass and play it again.

I play the lightest set from the six.

 

[Walter Areia]

Just an update here!
I'm currently using the "dirty gut" model from "Superior Bassworks", in my humble opinion, for those who like gut strings and want synthetic alternative, this is the best option, the sound and touch are identical to gut. I'm using the A, D and G. Very happy!!

 

[Doggie Hauser]

Just an update here!
I'm currently using the "dirty gut" model from "Superior Bassworks", in my humble opinion, for those who like gut strings and want synthetic alternative, this is the best option, the sound and touch are identical to gut. I'm using the A, D and G. Very happy!!

What are you using for E?

 

[Francois Blais]

Walter Areia was last seen Feb 12th, 2021, just FYI.

 

[nealw]

I used Dirty Gut G, D, & A with an Innovation Goldenslap E for a couple of years. They sounded good acoustically and really good amplified- they just weren't very loud acoustically. Now I'm using plain gut G & D and Evah Slap A & E and it's a huge improvement acoustically. My bass is easily twice as loud and a better tone to boot.

 

[LouisF]

I use gut GDA/Spiro Solo E/C on my orchestra bass and I put a set of Deluxe Dirty Guts (GDA) with a regular Spiro Solo F# (E - no extension) on my 5/8 Bohemian bass. They match the gut arco experience fairly well and stabilized fairly quickly ( 3 or 4 days); volume is a bit less but over all a good substitute for much more expensive gut strings in (for me) a back up situation.

 

[bassgrass]

I use the four thinnest SBW Deluxe Dirty Guts. Don't know how they compare to real gut but with high action and a strong right hand attack I get enough acoustic volume for the situations I play in.

 

[Doggie Hauser]

I use the four thinnest SBW Deluxe Dirty Guts. Don't know how they compare to real gut but with high action and a strong right hand attack I get enough acoustic volume for the situations I play in.

That's the set up I'm going back to as well. Not great acoustically but very good amplified. I've been using Innovation Rockabilly Black's E and A with Supernil's D and G. They sound great acoustically but very uneven amplified. Must be the difference in the tension.