Double Bass Too Much Sustain

[Randy Howard]

This might be obvious, but I can get a great array of tone difference with minute movement of the pickup in the wing. Maybe it needs to be chocked a bit more (or less). Steal your sax player's reed if necessary to tighten it up a bit in the wing.

Not sure it will necessarily solve your issue, but it's worth a try.

I play sax too

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Man, I am amazed at all the great advice I have gotten from you folks. Thanks so much. My strings are Tomastik Sprocores and they are really old, like 17 years old so they should maybe be more mellow now? They produce a really nice mwah but are percussive depending on the attach. I tend to play like Ray Brown with plenty of energy on the attack, and still do. By fooling around with the amp settings I have been able to reduce the sustain noticeably while still retaining a good sound. I used to play through a mike on a short stand and really that is the best IMHO. Lets you rotate the bass or step into the mike for different sounds. I will try some of the other strings suggested. Thanks again.

After 17 years the strings might be at the end of their life (I had them on my bass for about 20 years). So they are as mellow as they can be.
The pecussiveness could be controlled a bit by the position of the right (plucking) hand on the fingerboard, higher is less percussive, close to the bridge is percussive. And you might want to dig in a bit less, that also helps.

Damped strings (arco strings) have less sustain, but often too less. Hybrid strings are in between with less damping, but often won't work really well in both areas (pizz and arco).

You can simply stop the ring note by stopping pressing down the finger on a fingered note or use the right hand to stop an open string note by putting your hand/fingers on that string.
That doesn't sound the same as a more damped string, but you have a more versatile string since you can get the sustain if you want/need it with the Spirocore. If you never need that, a shorter ringing string might be better for you.

 

[N. Kentucky Bass]

I solved the problem of too much sustain on my acoustic bass guitar with a Malekko Sneak Attack pedal. It allows you to customize the attack and sustain of the note envelope in terms of duration and slope for each. My object was creating a fast attack and making the sustain drop off quickly, like an upright with gut strings. I'm using black nylon tapewounds. Works like a champ in live play. I can create the same effect in post with a DAW using an expander plug in.

Is there an "expander" pedal for note attack AND decay? Yes: Malekko Sneak Attack

 

[Vinny Vincenzo]

Ooops. It is an acoustic upright bass, Kay circa 1944 with nickel Thomastik flatwounds. Think I probably posted to the wrong forum. My bad.

Try guts

 

[Povl Carstensen]

Or Rotosound 4000. But they are a bit special, in the E an A being stiffer than the D and G. imo.

 

[Greg Clinkingbeard]

You posted that it is only a problem when amplifying. Stick a towel or piece of foam behind the tailpiece. If it still is a problem, weave a string through the strings between the tailpiece and bridge.