Warwick acoustic strings - black vs. red?

[Maxra]

I have an old Warwick Alien 4 string acoustic bass strung with Warwick Red round wound phosphor bronze acoustic strings - the Far East made ones. They're really cheap but OK once played in, if a bit noisy and bright till then. I see there are US made Warwick Black acoustic p.b. roundwound strings available at roughly three times the cost. Does anyone know if the US Black strings are any better and/or louder acoustically?

Thanks, Max

 

[GTHintz]

I have an old Warwick Alien 4 string acoustic bass strung with Warwick Red round wound phosphor bronze acoustic strings - the Far East made ones. They're really cheap but OK once played in, if a bit noisy and bright till then. I see there are US made Warwick Black acoustic p.b. roundwound strings available at roughly three times the cost. Does anyone know if the US Black strings are any better and/or louder acoustically?

Thanks, Max

I've never played the acoustic strings but I have played the electric. To me the black labels feel better but sound worse while the red label feels rough and grabby but has a better tone. Blacks seem to hold a broken in tone longer but reds seem to sound better before they die off. I'd honestly recommend DR black beauties for that bass. They won't be as harsh as what you're playing now but they will hold a nice tone for a long time. I've found that I really like the sound of round core strings acoustically. Fat beams, hi beams, black beauties all sound great unplugged. Also they will be smoother than most bronze strings I've played.

 

[Aussie Player]

Black absords heat so the black ones should sound warmer?

 

[GTHintz]

Black absords heat so the black ones should sound warmer?

In theory. I like the acoustic sound of the black beauties on my Ibanez SR. It sounds like it would go awesome on an acoustic. If I had one I'd probably try those first.

 

[D. Matthews]

I’d love to hear any feedback as well on the red vs black strings specifically on acoustic bass guitar. Thanks in advance.

 

[Maxra]

I think the Reds are amazing value, but that's cos they work OK and they're amazingly cheap (less than £10 sometimes). I put Rotosound phosphor bronze 45-105 Acoustic strings (£25-ish) on the Alien recently, and they're better balanced and better sounding - BUT they do feel higher tension at the tuners. That's not a problem for this old Alien that's built like a tank and will take a fair bit of truss rod tension, but it might be for some acoustic basses.