On a Shen 7/8 willow flatback. Replacing Spirocores, which have all the strengths and weaknesses everyone knows. The Spiros have plenty of treble and growl, but they're kind of cold and thinnish sounding--loud, but not bassy. I wanted something with a softer sound. I think most people here know what I mean
The animas: can I just say Velvet has way cool packaging? I mean, the whole M.C. Escher/Fin de siecle vibe is too cool. Big corrugated portfolio style deal, instructions in multiple languages, I imagine brotha bass players all over the world... I feel so classy and ...European. And then the way you attach them--cute. The little strings, you wind 'em around themselves at the pegbox and through the little loop at the tailpiece--schweet. A pain in the neck, but schweet. Ok, enough being seduced by expensive packaging
Bigger in diameter than the spiros, but not huge. I was a little worried about length, but in fact the unwrapped part of "E" string winds up on the peg. Stretchy--good thing I don't have a gig coming up right away. Copper color-nice. Already my fingers are being stained black a little bit, and they have a kind of coppery smell. Low tension--feels good but odd. Not unlike the Eurosonics I had on my old bass--a little rolly under the fingers, but not too much. A very soft feel, much more, for want of a better word, "organic" feeling, much more so than the Eurosonics. It's fun to pluck--it feels good. It's taking some getting used to--been about two hours with it now and I'm liking the feel more and more, but I'm having to play the bass very differently. I'll probably need to raise the action a bit, but I'm letting it settle in first.
The tone--big and warm, less defined that the Spiros, but I like it a lot--a lot. It's fatter but still pretty articulate. It's a little "cloudy" or something, a little blurry compared to the spiros. Arco is both better and worse--nicer tone, much less scratchy and warmer, but harder to bow because they're less stiff. But it's a really nice sound, even though there's some "new string" overtones to it.
So far I like them a lot--I'll report back over the next week or two
The animas: can I just say Velvet has way cool packaging? I mean, the whole M.C. Escher/Fin de siecle vibe is too cool. Big corrugated portfolio style deal, instructions in multiple languages, I imagine brotha bass players all over the world... I feel so classy and ...European. And then the way you attach them--cute. The little strings, you wind 'em around themselves at the pegbox and through the little loop at the tailpiece--schweet. A pain in the neck, but schweet. Ok, enough being seduced by expensive packaging
Bigger in diameter than the spiros, but not huge. I was a little worried about length, but in fact the unwrapped part of "E" string winds up on the peg. Stretchy--good thing I don't have a gig coming up right away. Copper color-nice. Already my fingers are being stained black a little bit, and they have a kind of coppery smell. Low tension--feels good but odd. Not unlike the Eurosonics I had on my old bass--a little rolly under the fingers, but not too much. A very soft feel, much more, for want of a better word, "organic" feeling, much more so than the Eurosonics. It's fun to pluck--it feels good. It's taking some getting used to--been about two hours with it now and I'm liking the feel more and more, but I'm having to play the bass very differently. I'll probably need to raise the action a bit, but I'm letting it settle in first.
The tone--big and warm, less defined that the Spiros, but I like it a lot--a lot. It's fatter but still pretty articulate. It's a little "cloudy" or something, a little blurry compared to the spiros. Arco is both better and worse--nicer tone, much less scratchy and warmer, but harder to bow because they're less stiff. But it's a really nice sound, even though there's some "new string" overtones to it.
So far I like them a lot--I'll report back over the next week or two
