Double Bass which Nylon strings?

[edshred]

Hi. I'm looking to change to nylon strings as I prefer the tone and the lower tension seems better for my wrist. I play mostly jazz and swing with latin and funk influences. I also play folk so use a bow occasionally. I have played on 140 super silvers and really liked them. Are there any other options I should check out before buying a set of these..?? Ideally with the get lowest tension I can get without loosing to much sustain, volume or tone..
Thanks,..

 

[WilliamJames]

Get the super silvers. They are great.

 

[jon3673]

I played for years on the Thomastik Weich strings and loved them. However, I started checking out some other strings and found the Innovation Honey would give me just as good of a “growl” and were much less expensive.
I have not been able to try any of the other Innovation strings because it appears that the Innovation Honey is the only set available in 5 string. However, this set has proven to be wonderful on my bass. I will try them on my Eminence EUB in a couple of months.
I was curious about the Innovation Super Silver that you use and was glad to hear that you like the sound. I would also love to hear the Innovation Ultra Black, because I often work with a guitar player that uses this type black nylon wound string on one of his hollow body guitars. He gets a great sound.
If you do go to a different set, please let us know the results.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

The 140B are also available with low B and high C (there is a better high C in development for both 140B and 140H).

The 140B has a bit less tension than the 140H but I prefer the 140B's sound over the 140H's. A bit more modern sounding, some more highs than 140H to get some "air" but also a little bit less midrange than 140H. The E and A needs some playing/bowing or soft bending treatment over the whole length of the string to open up and get a better sustain. Kind of a less dark Evah (Weich) with less tension. Probably a bit too less tension for a 105 cm scale or shorter, but nice for my 109 cm scaled bass. I could play for hours on them. I like to play jazz pizz on them as well as bowing. At least nice for small jazz groups, because it they have a soft, round attack.
For some time I have mixed them with Spirocore Weich 4/4 E and A (before I found out what to do to open the 140B E and A up using my bending procedure) and they mixed well for pizz and acceptable for bowing. The 3/4 Spiro Weich has a bit more tension than the 4/4 version on the same scale.

The 140H is more sounding like the amp sound of a 12" speaker. Almost no highs but some more mids and good low range.

 

[Michael Glynn]

Are you looking for nylon-core or nylon-wound? For nylon wound strings (often with all or partial nylon core), Innovation and Eurosonic are the main brands.

If you are interested in metal-wound, nylon-cored strings there are more options. Metal wound will probably give a better arco response as well.

Since you are looking for low tension, you may want to look at solo gauge strings, tuned down to concert pitch. I've used Thomastik Dominant solos on the G and D and thought they sounded and felt great for pizz and arco. A nice, low tension bybrid string. There are also solo gauge Innovation 140B, Pirastro Evah Pirazzi and Obligato, but I don't have much experience with those.

 

[DoubleMIDI]

I won't tune down a solo 140B, they already have low tension and going much less would reduce what I call dynamic response. Plucking harder won't give more volume and might rise in pitch at the beginning. I haven't tried that myself but tried a lot of strings, so I think I can interpolate what could happen.

For any of your music styles except funk the 140B is nice. For funk I would use something with more highs like Spiros (OK, too much tension for you), SuperSensitive Pinnacle (similar basic sound as Spiros but lower tension and less power) or probably Velvet Compas 180 (which might work for all your styles with a little compromise for funk, but you may want the lower tension SUIT version). Since the Compas 180 are twice as expensive than the 140B I would try them or the Pinnacles first.