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Double Bass Zyex medium vs. light

#23
Bigbassguy said:
does anyone have experience with zyex mediums on a Kay bass?
I'm thinking giving them a try. would appreciate feedback. just playing standards.
thanks
Click to expand...
Not on a Kay, but two bassists I know get very nice sounds with Zyex mediums on an Upton ply and in the E ply Gollihur sells. I've played both of these basses and they feel great. The Gollihur bows particularly well fif an inexpensive ply.
 
#26
Bigbassguy said:
does anyone have experience with zyex mediums on a Kay bass?
I'm thinking giving them a try. would appreciate feedback. just playing standards.
thanks
Click to expand...

I enjoyed my zyex mediums on my upton ply. They eventually died so i started experimenting with other string sets, but i had a positive experience with them. I'd love to try the lights someday, the mediums were a little bit hard to bow and i'd reckon the lights are slightly easier.

Only real disclaimer is that these are synthetic core strings and definitely have a life span before they become unusable. I'd say somewhere between 1-2 years depending how much they are played.
 
#27
I had spiro reds for e and a
fairly new sound tinny
evah lights for d and g.
bass does not sound fat and thick just kind of hollow.
maybe guys under the spiro reds.

thoughts ?
thanks
ps: I'm sick of the weak sound. maybe it the 61 bass I'm sick of.
 
#28
Honestly, I would look into setup. Strings will make a difference once it's dialed in, but if every set that you try is disappointing you it could well be the setup.

I'm not a big fan of Evah Pirazzis, but they have their folks. Spirocores can/do sound overly bright until the break in, but they are tameable with technique. I personally like Pirastro Jazzers on my bass. Sonically in the direction of Spirocores, but feel better on my bass. Everything else that I've tried has been a trade off/compromise, but working with a luthier to resolve some issues that I didn't really understand existed made a much bigger difference. Once I got the setup dialed in, then I can really live with any string set and I just pick my favorite at the moment.

Possibly it's the bass. Maybe your ear has outgrown it and is wanting something else, but Kays can sound really good when set up properly. If you have a chance to play some other basses it might help you sort out what you're hearing.
 
#30
Bigbassguy said:
thank you. I have a craved bass and two hybrids. maybe I'm just getting sick of the kay (not very wood like sound) thought on guys d and g under the sprios? it was set up last year

thanks
Click to expand...

tension from A-D is weird. Had the charlie haden setup on my bass briefly and didn't like it. SpiroEAD and a heavy gut G was nice for a moment. Theres a thread on spiros and gut on here.
 
#31
Bigbassguy said:
thank you. I have a craved bass and two hybrids. maybe I'm just getting sick of the kay (not very wood like sound) thought on guys d and g under the sprios? it was set up last year

thanks
Click to expand...

Ah, well, that's different then.

Maybe it's not a good bass for you or it still could be a setup issue. What strings do you like on your other basses?

If I had multiple basses, I have to think that one of them would be strung with gut or Garbo or some combination of the two and a '61 Kay sounds like a good candidate for that, but it depends on what you are going for.
 
#37
I have a pre war Kay M-1 heavily modified. It doesn't sound like any other Kay. I have Zyex mediums on it for a while now. It is mostly my pizz bass but I did use it for orchestra rehearsal when the Wan Bernadel was in the shop. Also I bowed some at a Sinatra tribute gig. I think these strings are very good, better pizz than Arco, but if you try to find the bow that works they sound pretty good.
 
#38
After using Obligatos for years, I decided to try the Zyex. I liked the idea of the lights, but a .101 E sounded a bit wimpy. So, working with Mark Gollihur, I put together a set of light G-D-A plus a medium E-string (I think it's .104). The set did sound balanced and the heavier gauge E was more to my liking ...not enough though. They have a great sound - much more "present" than the Obs, but I couldn't get used to the feel. I only played them a few times, maybe an hour at most, pizz only.

The whole Zyex set is up for sale - $80 shipped CONUS - I have no original packaging, but I have my invoice from the purchase at hand. I'll post a classified ad later.
 
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#40
TomB said:
After using Obligatos for years, I decided to try the Zyex. I liked the idea of the lights, but a .101 E sounded a bit wimpy. So, working with Mark Gollihur, I put together a set of light G-D-A plus a medium E-string (I think it's .104). The set did sound balanced and the heavier gauge E was more to my liking ...not enough though. They have a great sound - much more "present" than the Obs, but I couldn't get used to the feel. I only played them a few times, maybe an hour at most, pizz only.

The whole Zyex set is up for sale - $80 shipped CONUS - I have no original packaging, but I have my invoice from the purchase at hand. I'll post a classified ad later.
Click to expand...

I forgot about the E string in the set...not a great E string and probably the weakest point of the Zyex string in general.
 

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