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Double Bass Velvet Garbos double bass strings megathread part I

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#241
Adrian Juras said:
One thing to remember though.....a big component of the "gut sound" is higher action. You will find that even steel strings get that "bounce" when you increase the string height.
Click to expand...

This is something you never hear people say, but how true it is.

I would have bet my left nut and been wrong if you had told me that Rodney Whitaker used Spiros. Just seemed to have so much snap. Apparently he does, just with a higher action than some.

I believe our own Brent Nussey gets a gut-like sound with Helicore lights.
 
#242
the Garbo is more jazzy, growly, little more sustain.
The plain G is the best I've used, but still a little nasal compared to the other three. The E has a metallic quality that
never went away.
The Anima is more a "hybrid", with a wrapped G and a more damped E. I think these are great pizz. strings. lots of pleasantly bright volume, big, fat attack and nice sustain.
I find them to be balanced (string-to-string).
You will need to put the action up to get the most out of them.
I would not use them for arco, and not in thumb postion,
too big and thick and "yowly" . Hope this helps, more questions, just ask.
Great strings, but not for everyone
 
#243
I dunno, my teacher has Animas on his Italian bass and, in addition to playing jazz gigs (on which he does arco solos) he does orchestral gigs. And plays in thumb position, so it ain't impossible.

I would agree, great strings but not for everyone. Best way to find out is put'em on your bass (or a bass that you know how it sounds with a wide variety of strings that you have also had on your bass so you can postulate how the change in sound on one bass will relate to the other bass), try'em out and see which group you fall into.
 
#244
My Anima story thus far: Finally put them on and am enjoying the greater volume and clarity pizz-wise, playing scales and jazz heads or folk tunes french bow style sounds good too, but playing changes with the German bow I have trouble "starting" the A string especially. They seem to have a more grainy crystaline kind of sound than my last (unknown brand) set. The tension is comfortable and I raised my action when I put them on. I am a poor judge of their thumb position performance as I am just starting to work on that register . Good luck!
 
#245
just wanted to tell you guys that the new compas 180 with higher tension bow better than the other velvet models but are no match for any of the pirastro strings . they sound and feel very good with pizz. allot of sustain and a darker tone than thomastiks. i feel that velvet is crazy to advertise the strings for orchestral use. they don't grab the bow and sound scrachy like thomastiks. i can't imagine an orchestral player using these strings instead of any one of the pirastro orchestral strings.....
 
#248
I've had my 180's on for about 3 + months and they sound great. The tailpiece end is red colored on my strings. They have a very nice pizz tone with a touch less growl on the E string than Obligatos but with a little less flabbiness too. Bowing provides a nice tone even with my very limited chops.

Also, I don't have a compensated tailpiece, but the ties on the strings would give you plenty of room for an extra inch. (At least on my 41.25" scale bass) I am contemplating compensating! :D
 
#249
pipeman said:
yes, my strings are the ones with the black ties at both ends of the string. they were made in august of 2004. i use pirastro olive and eudoxa. thats probably why they sound scratchy to me.....
Click to expand...

Odd, that is what I used to use, but I find the 180's far easier to bow with a more consistent tone.

Just finished our orchestra season, and they made all the delicate 16ths in the Haydn sym much easier.

Lots o power too.
 
#250
I'm thinking of getting a set of Animas and would really like to try them about before I go and drop $200 + on 'em, so any of you are in the NYC area and are using Animas at the moment, and wouldn't mind if I stopped by to check them out, please shoot me a PM.

And while I'm here...the strings I have now are Pirastro Pizzicatos, which as you may know, have that pseudo-round/flat wound deal. I've read that the Animas are round wound as well...I guess what I'm asking is, what strings do the Animas sound like?

To me, the Pizzicatos have the same kind of sound as Chorda's A string (at least for the E and A pizzacatos), that somewhat metallic growl to it, and I'm really wanting the kind of softer, warmer, round sound one can get from a string like the Eudoxa, Oliv, Dominant, basically any flat wound string. Since the Anima is roundwound too, I'm thinking it might too similar to the Pizzicatos, which would defeat the whole purpose. Oh what to do, what to do? Help, anyone?
 
#251
I got an old set on my bass, but they still sound true. It's a factory Mittenwald from the 20's. The Kay at my teacher's studio has a newer set on them, it's what I play at sessions there.

What's your bass, what kind of music do you play? Checking them out on the plywood would be easy, you could just fall by on one of the Tueasday night sessions (play some too, if you want). If you want to check them out on a carved bass, you just have to let me know ahead of time, I could bring my bass in to the Tuesday session...

lemme know
 
#253
Thanks for the response cats. I actually just said "screw it" and ordered a set from Quinnviolins. I guess I was just too curious about the whole thing. I use a pre-war Kay and play mostly straight-ahead jazz, but that could branch of into "free-er" playing, funk, "modern", rock and what not. I also do a lot of classical on my own time, mostly playing Bach's cello suites and some of the Violin partidas and sonatas, so I'm glad to hear that the Animas are easier to bow. The Pizzicatos are tough because I don't even feel like using the bow with them, and that's no good. It just feels like such an uphill battle.

Ed, I work a day/night gig Tuesdays and Wednesdays, so maybe I could stop by after a Tuesday night anyway if I don't get off too late. Tonight I got off at around 10 though, so I don't know how late those sessions go till.
 
#254
I'm curious to hear what effect the Animas have on the fingerboard....do they chew it up at all? I'm thinking of trying them out.

Also, what's the tension like? I tried some Garbos on an Eminence bass last week, and they felt gooood. How do they compare? Apples and oranges, I know....
 
#256
Ed,
It probably wouldn't work then, since I get off work around that time usually.

I had a set of Garbos on a while back, and I really liked their sound in general, feel and what not...of course the bowing wasn't all that. I switched back to real guts though because that's what I was hearing, but now I want something a little more full sounding...not that guts aren't, but I'm finding that I can still get "my" sound (big sound) from steel strings, or strings like velvets, and it even makes me play in a different way.

I'll give a review of the Animas when I get 'em.
 
#257
Wow. I just put these on about 3 days ago, and my bass has really come to life. These strings are so easy to play, and I wouldn't even say they're round-wound. They're great to bow, and they project like crazy, and have a very even, well balanced feel to them. Like the Garbos, the pizz sound is much more focused than traditional gut strings, but I like these way better than the Garbos.

Speaking of gut though, are these Animas gut core? I've heard different people say different things about this. Anyone know for sure? They sure sound like they got some gut in 'em.
 
#258
The current Velvet website doesn't say that they're gut, although an old (2001) Lemur catalog says that they are. Adrian Cho, a former Anima user, has said in a couple of threads here that they definitely aren't gut, and that Velvet is apparently quite secretive about the core material.
 
#260
They have a much fuller sound than the Pizzicatos had (on my bass at least, a 1939 Kay), and they're already staying in tune, eventhough I just put them on 3 days ago. The G string winding is very cool, in that it seems to be wound with one band of copper and some sort of clear plastic-like (??) material, which gives it more of a plain gut sound. The A and D are both that flat/round wound, but are much much smoother than the Pizzicatos, as was mentioned before. The E has just the right amount of bottom end I've been looking for. It seems I've finally found a string that works for me. :hyper:
 
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