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Double Bass Zyex medium vs. light

Selim

Selim

Supporting Member
Jun 2, 2008
2,070
2,062
New York City
#1
Would appreciate hearing from those who have played on both gauges of Zyex. I experimented with a lightly used set of the light gauge for about a month, and while there are some things I really liked about them, I pulled them off last week and put my Flexocor Deluxes back on.

Here's what I liked about them:

Subjectively louder than any string I've used.
the D & G strings - nice pizz., also good with the bow.
Good feel, easy to play

Did not like:

A & E under the bow
The set sounded "light" (I prefer a string with a more complex sound).
While I play 50/50, I need a set with a good arco sound.

I'd love to hear other's impressions on the differences between these gauges, in particular why you stayed with one gauge over the other.
 
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#2
I Have used both. I like the whole light set. I agree it does sound "light" but it sounded like a set I actually liked the A under the bow and the E not as much. The mediums however I only liked the D & G. I did not care for the A or E at all. If I only played Pizz I would have no problem using the Zyex light or the D & G Medium.
 
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#3
One thing I think I discovered from trying the Zyex lights: my bass opens up with a lighter gauge. I haven't used a lighter gauge set in probably 10 years or more, when I was using Spiro Weich. My bass never sound very good (or very loud) with mittels, but Spiro weichs were a different story.

If they only bowed well....

Do they bow well? I can't even remember.

My bass is about right in the middle of the brightness bar.
 
#4
i think they may or may not have reformulated the strings since i first tried them

my first set was mediums, and now on that same bass (and on my other instrument) i've got lights.

if they haven't changed the formula, i'd say the lights E and A are way harder to bow at first but after settling in sound and respond really, really well under the bow. im very happy with the lights.
 
#5
My bass universally responds better to less tension, but that said I found the mediums to be very stiff and the lights to feel just about right. Not really a subtle difference to me, but again, my bass doesn't handle tension well, so on a different instrument, I wouldn't be surprised by a different result.
 
#6
TroyK said:
My bass universally responds better to less tension, but that said I found the mediums to be very stiff and the lights to feel just about right. Not really a subtle difference to me, but again, my bass doesn't handle tension well, so on a different instrument, I wouldn't be surprised by a different result.
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groooooove said:
i think they may or may not have reformulated the strings since i first tried them

my first set was mediums, and now on that same bass (and on my other instrument) i've got lights.
if they haven't changed the formula, i'd say the lights E and A are way harder to bow at first but after settling in sound and respond really, really well under the bow. im very happy with the lights.
Click to expand...
Thanks, TroyK and Groooove. I will revisit the lights. But I don't think the E will ever work, unless it is able to do a Lazarus - very dead, very quiet.

My set of lights had about 2 months of play on it before I got them.
 
#10
I bought a set of lights from here used and was happy with them. My new bass came with the mediums and I didn't think thew were as good arco as the lights. I only had them for a couple months but I liked the feel and tension of the lights better.
 
#13
Bigbassguy said:
My silks are different colors
But i was told he strings are zyrex
Click to expand...

Your ball end should be kind of fire orange and red to be zyex.

Bigbassguy said:
Does anyone know if Upton bass uses lights or mediums zyrex strings on their Standard basses?
Click to expand...

I think they string them with mediums. If at the peg they are solid colors (I think it's green, blue, yellow, red) they are mediums, if it's the same colors with a yellow rig at the bottom they are lights.
 
#18
stefaniw80401 said:
My polychrones got flat and boring so I put the old zyex over HH hybrids back on.
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Polychromes?
They sure went a far cry from the best synthetic core strings in 15 years ... are you sure you didn't just play them out and needed a new set?

In any case, perhaps you could comment for the rest of us, on the polychrome's lifespan for you, how long and how much you played on them before they got flat and boring.
 
#20
Yes...I bought G/D/A polychromes from Gollihur back on 9/17/2017 -- put them on and matched them with a 370TX long-E for my C-extension. For first coupla months, the polychrome-G reminded me of Olive-G. And, no, the polychromes on my 42" bass do not feel "low tension".

The poly-TX was a good combination for the first half of my 2017-18 orchestra season, but now they seemed to have lost some life (i.e. do not get better with age), so I took them off 2-weeks ago and they're resting in my box-o-strings now for a few months before use again later...I rotate my strings. Prior to the polychromes, I had flexocore deluxe (FD) full set -- these are good on my bass, and are on-deck to go on for the 2018-19 orchestra season.

So now, I put my old Zyex G/D med over Helicore Hybrid A/E+ med combo -- it's the third time around now for these strings, then they're probably done after that. That said, and after coming from polychromes, the Zyex/HH combo is really good on my bass for pizz and arco.

FD's are a bit tight on my 42" bass for pizz, but bow great ... oh to find the FD sound with the Zyex light feel would be the holy grail!
 
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