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The Official 7-String Bass Club.
- Thread starter Watchootognbout
- Start date
Prior to switching I had some reservations about how often I’d use that low string but surprisingly it’s quite useful. I’m finding that the bass is now easier to play (it feels like my six string now) and I only have to stretch when I want to go really low. Playing B on it is quite authoritative and very usable; although our system isn’t dialed in for sub-bass frequencies (a good thing, = less rumble) it helps knowing I won’t knock peoples dentures out when I play down there (although that would be funny - just not in church)
Raz
Raz
Does it have a lot of flop and mud, or does it have that piano chime to it?
I used to use .175 string for F#0 although not on my 7 string bass. Any heavy gauge strings such as those used for F#0 are most likely to have taper construction on the ball end side, thus they could be used on most available bridges.
So just asking a question to those with real world experience. How low can we go, and what is involved here.
so Kalium is running like normal, then? I want to make an order soonFinally stringing up my GT-7 with the Kalium strings I ordered. I got the hybrid .148 (B) string balanced set for three of my basses, including this one. However, to string it with a low F# it requires a .200” string!
So this is it compared to the existing B that I removed and laid between the new F# string and the E string. Holy moly! Still working on it so stay tuned...
View attachment 3886190
It's a brand new string so it has that piano timbre to it for sure; was messing around with it some last night on the 'big rig' in our theater and it's pretty cool. I'm playing through a Mesa 400 which is perfect for metal (i.e. not huge low end) so when I pluck towards the middle of the string (to get mostly fundamental) I don't hear much but picking it gives me all that harmonic content so it sounds good.
I need to check the camera I like to use for good audio recordings and see if I can record what it sounds like. Probably something I can do over the weekend as I have an amp I may list for sale, so it works good for capturing that sort of thing.
My combo, a Fender Bassman 400 210, has huge lows - I'll have to wait for my neighbor to be at work to see what it does (live in a townhome) but initial testing was positive.
I purchased a needle file set from Lowe's to file out the nut slots. The strings are tapered at the ball end so I had no issues there. I did have some challenges with inserting the cut end of the string into my tuners but I made them work. I cut the E string a little short so I had to use another I had reserved for my sixer, but the one I cut should work for it.
When I ordered the set I spoke to Skip @ Kalium for quite a while. He said that the .200 was about the best compromise you can reach between achieving good tension (to reduce floppiness) and tone. "The laws of physics can't be broken" he said, so with anything you make compromises. Skip said that with longer scale lengths you can use a thinner string to retain more of a thinner string's tonal properties. There are only so much harmonic content available in a large string so going bigger doesn't help that.
Although the Conklin is a 34" scale, it's a solidly built bass, and I have all the strings set about 2 mm above the top of the 12th fret - including the F#, with no buzz. I'm usually strong-handed, but I don't beat it either. It plays great IMO, and sounds good too.
You can read a post I wrote here; when I called it was 3 pm ET (probably his lunch time out west) and he answered every time. When I'm able I plan on buying more sets just in case he gets run over by a beer truck; not sure what I'd do if he shut down, I really love his strings. Someone else would probably fill that gap but who knows.
I'm still adjusting to the shift of not referencing the bottom string as B but it's easier now for me than when I switched from 4 to 5 strings. Last night I experimented playing further up on the neck and hitting B's and C's, C#'s on it. Lot's o' fun! Oh, have band practice tonight so I'll see where I can employ it in our material.
Raz
I believe some of the AccuGroove cabs are designed to handle the F#. I read somewhere a while back that Bill Dickens ran them. I strongly suspect to get the most out of the fundamental all of the electronics end to end would need rated for the lower Hz.
Yes - and not everything is. An Acoustic 370 would reproduce down to 5 Hz, equivalent to me moving the B string of my fiver by hand. The JBL subs in our sanctuary can go pretty low, but the Workingman's 15 I play through doesn't. One of our keyboards produces some pretty good lows and I can't ever match it, most likely due to that rig.
But I'm okay with that; some natural HPF is probably in my best interests. I don't play country or other genres that require an ultra-lowish bass tone. Tonight's practice will be interesting though. I think my sound guy has sucked a lot of bass out of the house over time, it's barely audible now, much less felt.
Ok folks, so here we go. If we are going to go the extreme low end of things Bass wise, What Amp head and two cabs are recommended to deal with all of that. I have a project in mind. I have a Head, and one of the two Cab’s. Other is one the way outside of the US. To avoid one of you people from hi jacking my in bound shipment, I’m not disclosing my choices, you jump off the cliff first. Choices can be made by high end, medium priced, or el cheapo. Give it your best shot. C’Mon man, it Thursday, nothing worth watching is on TV, you better half is is tired of talking to you, and you are TWO drinks behind, to quote the late “Bogie”.
There’s a cat that goes by the name Jauqo III-X that has a C#0 set up (17.32Hz). He even has a recording out called “The Low C# Theory”. On my limited set of devices I cannot make out anything that low, even with the Sony headphones on, but I’ve read that folks with the right system find it exhilarating. With A0 (27.5Hz) being the lowest string on the standard 88 key piano, anything lower will be difficult to make out unless everything in the end-to-end setup supports those lower freqs. That said, the harmonics may satisfy one’s quest for the sub-contra octave.
