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Double Bass What did I do wrong?

#2
I'm not sure that you did anything wrong, but here's two things that come to mind:

Growl is often a function of string height. A lower string height should give you more growl - although too low and you'll start to sound like a fretless bass guitar.

Obligatos, possibly more than most strings, seem to be very bass-dependant. By that I mean that on some basses they work (sound) great, while on others they don't. On my bass they didn't, but I've played them on other basses and they were great.

If they don't work for you then you may have good results from Thomastik Dominants (there's lots written about them in these forums if you do a search) - they are also synthetic cored strings, and that's what worked for me.
 
#4
I agree with Airbass's overall prognostications. In my case, however, the Obligatos did sound very good on my bass. Coming from Helicore Hybrid strings, the Obligatos were like a dollar over a dime. There was no comparison in any regard.

The E string will have some nice modern jazz growl to it when set to the right string height. If you set them too low, however, you will loose some volume because they need a little room to move around.

Farin is correct that Spiros will have more growl than about anything out there. The Obligatos will have a much warmer and organic sound however, especially on the D and G, and they bow better.

You might consider playing them a couple or three weeks to get used to them while they settle in before dinking around with your set-up too much. It usually takes a little getting used to how any new strings react under your touch.

Also, Pirastro could not have sold a ton of these strings if they weren't pretty good. I think that you'll end up liking them quite a bit.

Good Luck . . .
 
#11
poptime said:
Does scoop have anything to do with the growl?
Click to expand...

yes it does. my luthier asked me what i played....mostly jazz....result, he set my fingerboard up with almost no scoop....flexocors have plenty of growl on my bass :hmm:
even with moderate string heights, something around 6,7,8,9 string heights.
 
#12
I dunno, I bought Obligatos get LESS growl. Mind, I had been using Spiros before that, though. Right now they're mixed with Pirastro FCS on the bottom two strings, and they sound great mixed together. The FCS growl really nicely, though. I love dropping low G's and F's into tunes with this setup because the E string isn't just full sounding, but it has just that right amount of growl to add a bit of raunch when I want it to.

*shrug* I dunno man, if you want a lot of growl, the Obligatos might be a way to go...or you might want to try some all-steel strings like Spiros or FCS.
 

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