First off... I'm a newbie on the forum here & want to say Hello to all y'all....
name is Kevin, I'm a gigging bassist in the now freezing Chicago, IL USA.
I have plunked around this forum a little & have seen a few threads touching on my questions but nothing too recent. So that's why I'm starting this one here, so please be gentle if you feel my question(s) could have been answered through more diligent searching on my behalf... I apologize about that in advance as well as the possibility this post being long.
Here's my thang...
I play an 1994 Englehardt M1, K&K Bass Master Pro (pick up & pre), Velvet Compas 360's, all thru an Eden Metro. I play a mix of jazz, funk, rock, alt/indie country/folk type stuff, experimental goofiness & some bowing (wanting to do more).
Maybe close to 3+ years ago I had a local luthier carve a new bridge, dress the fingerboard, put on the Velvet tail piece cord & that's also when I put on the Compas 360. Having all that work done at once I cannot tell exactly what did the most as far as improving the tone & playability of my bass but when I got it back it was like a completely different bass. Which was/is a great thing.
I have been extremely happy w/ this particular set up. While I have experienced some of the negative things I've read on here about the Compas 360's (mainly the tone center & some "cutting" thru) but not much & not often. On a side note... my fingers only get a little black if I have recently gotten animal fat on em... eating pizza and not washing the hands good enough... even a few hours earlier.. but I digress....
Over the past 5-6 months I have started to suspect I've gotten all the life outta the strings as I was going to get & just last night on a gig I noticed the winding starting to separate on the G string at the nut (the peg box side). So I hop on to Lemur to price out the 360's & they no longer have them listed... nor does Velvet's site.
So in essence I'm looking for are some $$ conscious suggestions... I dig the tension, tone (maybe could use a bit more 'clarity' but do not want to sacrifice warm, beefy lows)...
I just can't bring my self to spend 200.00 (USD) or more on one set of strings. I know I milked these for a very long time and they probably sound very little like they did new but that's why I'm puttin this out here. I did check out the string comparison matrix thing which is excellent (Kudos to whomever found & posted that!) but I love to talk shop & hear peoples opinions.
Again thanks in advance & I look forward to participating in this forum.
-K
name is Kevin, I'm a gigging bassist in the now freezing Chicago, IL USA.
I have plunked around this forum a little & have seen a few threads touching on my questions but nothing too recent. So that's why I'm starting this one here, so please be gentle if you feel my question(s) could have been answered through more diligent searching on my behalf... I apologize about that in advance as well as the possibility this post being long.
Here's my thang...
I play an 1994 Englehardt M1, K&K Bass Master Pro (pick up & pre), Velvet Compas 360's, all thru an Eden Metro. I play a mix of jazz, funk, rock, alt/indie country/folk type stuff, experimental goofiness & some bowing (wanting to do more).
Maybe close to 3+ years ago I had a local luthier carve a new bridge, dress the fingerboard, put on the Velvet tail piece cord & that's also when I put on the Compas 360. Having all that work done at once I cannot tell exactly what did the most as far as improving the tone & playability of my bass but when I got it back it was like a completely different bass. Which was/is a great thing.
I have been extremely happy w/ this particular set up. While I have experienced some of the negative things I've read on here about the Compas 360's (mainly the tone center & some "cutting" thru) but not much & not often. On a side note... my fingers only get a little black if I have recently gotten animal fat on em... eating pizza and not washing the hands good enough... even a few hours earlier.. but I digress....
Over the past 5-6 months I have started to suspect I've gotten all the life outta the strings as I was going to get & just last night on a gig I noticed the winding starting to separate on the G string at the nut (the peg box side). So I hop on to Lemur to price out the 360's & they no longer have them listed... nor does Velvet's site.
So in essence I'm looking for are some $$ conscious suggestions... I dig the tension, tone (maybe could use a bit more 'clarity' but do not want to sacrifice warm, beefy lows)...
I just can't bring my self to spend 200.00 (USD) or more on one set of strings. I know I milked these for a very long time and they probably sound very little like they did new but that's why I'm puttin this out here. I did check out the string comparison matrix thing which is excellent (Kudos to whomever found & posted that!) but I love to talk shop & hear peoples opinions.
Again thanks in advance & I look forward to participating in this forum.
-K
