Double Bass warmest, mellowest strings?

[Root 5]

Apologies if this question has been asked a zillion times!

What, in your opinion, are the warmest, mellowest upright string sets?

I know very little about upright strings.

Thanks in advance!

 

[fuzzy beard]

Pizz or arco?

 

[Francois Blais]

D'Addario Kaplans and danish-made Jargars are probably the warmest steel strings available.

 

[Nathan Levine]

Mmmm... gut.

 

[Sam Dingle]

Gut (Though I have never tried them). The ones that I would recommend would be Innovation Silver Slaps or Evah Pirazzi's

 

[Root 5]

Pizzicato - playing jazz & ballads.

I don't play arco.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

Gut is warm and mellow, but the gut E almost always has a very short sustain.
G and D naked gut and A and E Silver Slaps (or Super Silvers if the guts have a bit more tension) make a nice pizz combination that doesn't get too expensive. Useable at least for older jazz styles.

For pizz and arco the Evah Pirazzi Weich are nice, the regulars have a rather short sustain and a lot of tension). They can sound a bit dark amplified.

For a more modern jazz pizz sound (a bit less warm, but easier to hear) you can use Obligato (or Obligato-Spiro mix) or Innovation Braided (140B set) for a bit less tension.

For a rather cheaper string set with a lot of attack but more old school jazz sounding (missing highs) the Innovation Honeys (140H set).

 

[labravajazz]

Gut Strings in general. So many answers given by folks who haven't actuall tried them! Bestvthing is identify sound you like on record and work out what strings were used..... I get amused when people say gut has no sustain or no highs. Actually the so called gut like synthetics end up soundingvthat way

 

[Root 5]

Aren't gut strings a pain in the butt - intonation & tuning issues? I seem to recall hearing something about this.

 

[HateyMcAmp]

Aren't gut strings a pain in the butt - intonation & tuning issues? I seem to recall hearing something about this.

Short answer - Plain gut? No. Wound gut? Maybe, depends on your playing conditions.

 

[donn]

Gut strings might take a little longer to settle in, after you put them on. Couple days, couple weeks, might depend on how much you play.

I'm a real casual player, honestly, but my plain gut set is starting to come together after two or three weeks. It's like a different instrument - gut bass vs. metal bass - different technique, sound, feel. I could get into this. By comparison, it used to feel kind of like a fight with my bass with metallic strings - I'd attack it and inflict some notes, it would do its best to defend itself vs. my fingers. Now it's kind of ... inviting. And of course there's the tone. And there's that low E. Plain gut low E might not cut it for many players, wrapped you might have other troubles (don't know myself, only wrapped gut I have is a Red-O-Ray A that's mostly been sitting it out in a box for decades.)

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Aren't gut strings a pain in the butt - intonation & tuning issues? I seem to recall hearing something about this.

I have a set of Velvet Garbos with a gut G and the non-gut strings behaved quite similarly to the gut one - I have noticed little difference except for the translucent appearance.

I think Garbos are very warm and mellow strings - if there are any that are more this way - then I'd be interested to hear them!

 

[damonsmith]

This is a nice question if you want to sound nice in your living room but dead and buried in a band.

If you get a responsive string and practice arco and pizz, you will be able to make it sound how ever you need to.

I don't know of a warmer or mellower player than Red Mitchell and he used over-amplified spiros!

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

This is a nice question if you want to sound nice in your living room but dead and buried in a band.

If you get a responsive string and practice arco and pizz, you will be able to make it sound how ever you need to.

If that is the case - why do companies bother to make different strings? Surely they should be saying - you only need one type of string and can change the sound by practicing harder!

I have met many excellent Jazz pros and they often talk about strings and how they affect the sound. I did some classes with Arnie Somogyi, who was the loudest player I have ever heard.

In the classes he picked up basses from students and when he played their bass he was so much louder than them it was incredible - this was all unamped and you could feel the air being moved when you stood in front of him. The classes were with two tutors and he was even much louder than the other tutor who was also a well-respected Jazz pro.

Anyway - I have met him since at gigs where I have been in the audience and he is always happy to chat away about strings - he really likes Innovations strings and has worked with them to produce strings he likes and which get closer to the sound he wants.

 

[Jake deVilliers]

Anyway - I have met him since at gigs where I have been in the audience and he is always happy to chat away about strings - he really likes Innovations strings and has worked with them to produce strings he likes and which get closer to the sound he wants.

Hey Bruce, which Innovation strings does Mr. Somogyi use on his bass?

 

[Bruce Lindfield]

Hey Bruce, which Innovation strings does Mr. Somogyi use on his bass?

If you look here:

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It says - Arnie Somogyi uses Picato Innovation double bass strings.

 

[HateyMcAmp]

This is a nice question if you want to sound nice in your living room but dead and buried in a band.

I agree, which is why I like Velvet Animas, the "bright" Velvet pizz specific string even though I play rootsy music that calls for "gut" sounds. They have a little "edge" in the practice room, but have a nice cut in the mix. I found Garbos (I've used the lights) a little diffuse and indistinct although not as bad as a dead orch string.

 

[damonsmith]

Dull sounding strings are extremely popular because they expose less technical issues in both practice and performance.

 

[Michael Glynn]

Dull sounding strings are extremely popular because they expose less technical issues in both practice and performance.

OK, I'll take the bait. It's true that dull strings can cover up technical issues, but of course that's not the only reason people use them. You probably see a lot more flexocores or bel cantos than spirocores in major orchestras, and I don't think that it's just that the players are trying to cover up their lack of talent. I think that flexocores and bel cantos sound pretty dull, for pizzicato at least.

Every string gives you a certain range of sounds that you can get, and some of those sounds are easier to achieve than others. I think that in many ways spirocores do cover the greatest range of possible sounds, but how you play them is a big part of this.

You gave the example of Red Mitchell having a warm sound, which is true, but you can see in videos of his playing that he plucks way up the fingerboard, which helps with this. Also, he was quite particular about the electronic end of his sound. If you want to pluck at the end of the fingerboard with higher strings, and you happen to use a bp-100 into a cheap bass amp, you may have a more difficult time getting a warm and mellow sound with spirocores.

I'll grant you, though, that if people are trying to cover up a bad sound or bad intonation with string choices, then they're not doing themselves any favors.

 

[Nathan Parker]

It's true, gut strings are the worst. No one can ever hear me on the bandstand. I'm literally shocked any time I get a call for a gig. It must be my ass.