Double Bass Velvet strings megathread part III

[TonyD]

Hey you Velvet`s / gut using folks, what would you recommend?

I´ve been lately digging more and more the old school sound and been using lighter tension strings set slightly higher, say 7-8mm to 10-11mm and really prefer the response and sound over lower setup. As I am forced now to make playing easier ( neck tension, infection on levator muscle, right arm issues ) I`m switching the core of my playing from 5ths back to 4ths and could go from steel strings ( my beloved Spiro weichs ) to more gut type of sound and feel. I`ve been thinking about choices that I have, which are solos tuned orch, lower tension strings like Velvets, full set of gut or some mixture of these. I need the strings to be bowable and I really like the bowed sound and feel of Spiro weichs. I have tried a bass with plain gut GDA and wound E, it bowed easy enough for me.

My bass has 104cm vibrating string lenght and an adjustable bridge.

I`m particularly interested in these options ( these are all available at Bassico.eu ):

Full set of Anima`s -Wondering how they compare to Spiro weichs as I would like a little lower tension than Spiros?

Anima E&A with Efrano, Lentzner or Chorda plain gut D&G -How`s the tension between Anima`s and plain gut? What`s the major difference between Chorda and the cheaper gut options?

Garbo light E&A with plain gut D&G -Tension should be fine but how`s the bowability of Garbo`s?

Spiro weich / gut mixed -I have really nice set of dead s42weichs

Finally, full set of gut, plain GDA / wound E or plain GD / wound AE -Kinda scared of the wound gut stability issues.

I`m not into other hybrid strings like Obligatos, EP`s, Dominants etc, with the exeption of downtuned solos. I tried a mixed set of Flat chromesteels / Belcantos which sounded nice but had very low volume and lack of projection.

Many thanks in advance, Reiska

I would try the Velvet Blues - if you like the Spiro sound. The Blues are great and have that old school sound. I will never play Anima's again, once my G-string broke. Check the sounds on Hervé Jeanne matrix!

 

[Reiska]

Thanks for the reply TonyD! I have checked the string matrix many, many times Blues`s sounds nice but what I have read they don`t bow well and I`m not after Spiro qualities now ( but the volume and projection ). D`addario zyex light would be close to that world too. Or is that bowability issue similar to " Spiros don`t bow well " -discussion? I sound equally bad on Belcantos and Spiros I mean that everythings fine if the string is bowable. But, I don`t want to spend extra energy and time trying to get any sound out from the string with the bow. In my book and for my use dead Spiro weich`s are great arco strings, if not the best.

I`m looking for gut side of things, feel, sound and bowability. Anima`s were 25kg tension per string, which is somewhere between S42W and downtuned Spiro solos. Could give them a try.

 

[Sam Dingle]

A buddy of mine was in the same situation. What he did was experiment unfortunately. He started with full Animas, then put a plain gut G, then added a gut D and I think even plays a gut A with Anima E.

 

[DB Slidefunk]

A gradual slide into gut addiction

 

[Eric Hochberg]

Thanks for the reply TonyD! I have checked the string matrix many, many times Blues`s sounds nice but what I have read they don`t bow well and I`m not after Spiro qualities now ( but the volume and projection ). D`addario zyex light would be close to that world too. Or is that bowability issue similar to " Spiros don`t bow well " -discussion? I sound equally bad on Belcantos and Spiros I mean that everythings fine if the string is bowable. But, I don`t want to spend extra energy and time trying to get any sound out from the string with the bow. In my book and for my use dead Spiro weich`s are great arco strings, if not the best.

Blues don't bow well, IME. I'm finding the Zyex light nice under the bow and warmer pizz than Spiros. Looser feeling, too.

 

[Reiska]

I can see the gateway happening. Why unfortunately bskts247? Was it about some breakage issues or am I just not getting the joke here?

Thank you all for your replys!!!

Edit: Seems like Animas are a good match with plain gut.

 

[Reiska]

All basses have their own character but if it's any help.

I've tried garbo gut G set, I liked it and it got me into playing guts.

Garbo E&A works with plain gut D&G and I felt the tension was a good match. The E was a bit too low tension to vibrate my bass though.

Spiro E, and garbo gut G was a good mix with plenty of power on the bottom and nice gut clarity on top.

I've tried all sorts of random second hand gut strings and they had good qualities but a matched set is better for volume and smooth playing.

Right now I use gamut lyon medium D&G with chorda Carlos H E&A and it's a good balanced set.

Hey DB Slidefunk, sorry, I missed your reply. How is the Garbo / gut -set under the bow?

 

[Nathan Levine]

Reiska, You have dropped some serious coin on all sorts of string possibilities. Most of us here have, so welcome to the club. Here's my advice:

Tell Gerold what you want, he'll make them for you and then you can get into playing a ton and not worrying about strings. They are lighter tension gut strings. Save some money and go with his synthetic strings. If you want to work in fifths, go for it! He can make the strings you need.

To bring it back around to Velvet, my favorite set of strings before going with Gerold, were Compas 180 C & G and Gamut D & A. Before flipping to fifths, I was using Anima bottoms and Gamut or Dlugolecki tops. They Velvet bottoms and fine Gut tops work great together in my experience.

 

[Reiska]

Thanks for sharing the wisdom Nathan!!! I`m kinda forced to switch back to fourths on my everyday playing due to issues on my right arm, have to make things easier cause fiths makes me concentrate on my left hand over everything else and there`s plenty of playing, school bands, projects and gigs happening. Can`t completely quit on 5ths, that addicted I am to that sound, approach and register. Long term plan is to have my backup 1/2-size laminate stringed with Spiro Red Mitchells and continue practising 5ths along with my main bass tuned in 4ths.

Genssler strings surely are very interesting option.

People like me shouldn`t be given lots of options

For Velvets, my choices seems to narrow to full set of Animas or Animas E&A with Chorda D&G.

 

[Monkey]

I've been happy with Anima E and A with Lenzner gut D and G. The tension and volume of the Animas match nicely with the plain gut.

 

[Sam Dingle]

I said unfortunately because it costs more money that way Buy a set of Animas for 250, then gut G for 70 then Gut D for 80 then Gut A for 100 (guessing on prices)

 

[Reiska]

Thanks bskts247, now I get it. And thanks to Monkey, good to know cause Lenzner doesn`t break the bank like Chorda does.

 

[korotkov]

Reiska, if you want guts, go for chorda ch or lenzner full set. I never tried lenzner myself but I've heard great feedback on them from folks so they're on my list. I wouldn't call $250 too much money and you could easily get a set for that much on the classifieds (I did that twice).

I really like velvet garbo, a gut g set I tried was the first real gut to me, and it got me into gut strings. Most gut like set to me is garbo. I would recommend garbo regular AE over gut DG cause they have more projection and cause Garbo d was plastic wound and far less bowable than AE . You might wanna get a full set of guts and experiment with your spiro or get Velvet AE strings and give them a try.

 

[Reiska]

Thanks Sasha! I`m heavily turning to Anima or Garbo EA with Lenzner DG. I`ve read about that Garbo D winding but the question is that how Garbo EA compares to Anima EA under the bow? Garbos sound wonderful and very close to gut, that combination would be great for pizz stuff!

 

[korotkov]

When I investigated that I got an impression that animas are more of a "gut vibe" than gut sound and feel strings. It makes more sense to me to have full set of animas rather than pairing them with guts

I would still recommend that you purchase a full set of guts in the first place. They bow just great ( these were the only bowing strings for centuries) and they are more durable than you might think( that's true to my chordas ch). If you have any issues just put on your spiro AE on while you're waiting for Garbos to arrive.

 

[DB Slidefunk]

Hey DB Slidefunk, sorry, I missed your reply. How is the Garbo / gut -set under the bow?

I'm not much good with a bow. I could get a sound from the garbos, it needed a lot of rosin and pressure as they slip easily. If you do a fair bit of arco I wouldn't recommend garbos. The wrapped gut and plain guts are easy to bow in my opinion.

 

[Reiska]

Ok, thank you gentlemen, let`s see how I end up. I had no problem on bowing my friends bass with full gut set and what I read about Animas is that they bow decently. Part of this Velvet / gut project is to make my bass as easy as possible to play with medium / higher string height and I quess all of the options serves that. My Spiro weichs sound and bow great but still have the steel string feel on them. Today is the third and last day of a break from all playing to cure a infected levator muscle on my upper back / neck and tomorrow I`ll continue practising and playing with a fresh, easy, pain-free approach. I`m also getting some money tomorrow and this could be the spot to go for the gut-vibe / gut sound I`ve been hearing in my head for some time now.

Thank you all for the advice and help, Reiska

 

[DB Slidefunk]

I think the garbos are good strings to start with, if you start with the gut G set you will probably end up going having more gut at some point. As soon as I put the gut G on my style altered to play on it more.

 

[Reiska]

Garbos are very interesting option and if I end up on them it`s going to be Garbo EA with Lenzner DG, for bowability and the real gut sound.

 

[DB Slidefunk]

Garbos aren't the most bow friendly strings but you will be able to get something from them