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Double Bass Evah Pirazzi Slap Strings
- Thread starter Bobby King
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- evah evah pirazzi slap strings
I've been doing some more bowing on the Slaps, and I'll upgrade my rating from "fair" to "decent". 
It seems like the tone is improving as they break in and I get more used to them. Personally I think steel strings are best for arco. Orchestral players often use Flexicor or Helicore Orch. - dark, steel strings. If you are a Jazz player who does a lot of arco, then Spiro Weich, Solo Gauge or old Mittels. I've heard that some orchestral players like regular Evah too. Bowing on Pirastro Flexicor is a real pleasure, but pizz is not
It seems like the tone is improving as they break in and I get more used to them. Personally I think steel strings are best for arco. Orchestral players often use Flexicor or Helicore Orch. - dark, steel strings. If you are a Jazz player who does a lot of arco, then Spiro Weich, Solo Gauge or old Mittels. I've heard that some orchestral players like regular Evah too. Bowing on Pirastro Flexicor is a real pleasure, but pizz is not 
Oh man I just now put a set of the evah slaps on my Shen SB200, the willow 7/8 flatback, and my first response is DISLIKE! Ugh, where did all my volume go? I had Zyex's on there but they were three years old and I thoght it was time for a change.
So far--so far it's only been half an hour--I'm thinking "this was an expensive mistake." The Slaps are very low tension--OK, I expected that--but also very low volume and very indistinct sounding, with very very little sustain. I expected less but not this bad.
I have to leave the house for a few hours so I'll let the strings sit and stretch and see what's up when I get back. I have a gig saturday and was thinking of giving them a test run but they may not stay on the bass that long. Unpleasant to play and now I'll have to lug an amp to gigs where I didn't need on before.
Of course I have had this experience before--when I first put the zyex's on there I said OMG stop that horrible banjo-ish twang! But they settled in. We'll see
PS lots of experience with other synthetic core strings--obligato, animas, zyex, others.
So far--so far it's only been half an hour--I'm thinking "this was an expensive mistake." The Slaps are very low tension--OK, I expected that--but also very low volume and very indistinct sounding, with very very little sustain. I expected less but not this bad.
I have to leave the house for a few hours so I'll let the strings sit and stretch and see what's up when I get back. I have a gig saturday and was thinking of giving them a test run but they may not stay on the bass that long. Unpleasant to play and now I'll have to lug an amp to gigs where I didn't need on before.
Of course I have had this experience before--when I first put the zyex's on there I said OMG stop that horrible banjo-ish twang! But they settled in. We'll see
PS lots of experience with other synthetic core strings--obligato, animas, zyex, others.
I lost a fair amount of acoustic volume on my Kay as well, but IMHO the tone and flexibility between pizz, arco, & slap was worth it. I have yet to find strings that do all 3 as well as these. YMMV
Earl
Supporting Member
They sound better after a few days. They are also very dark strings so your perceived loss of volume may be because you are hearing less overtones (which make a string sound louder under the ear). Have someone play your bass and go out and listen and I bet you can hear it fine.
Let them settle and stretch for a few days, crank the bridge up, and play facing into a corner.
The synthetic low strings sounded mousy on my bass in the middle of the room, but the reflected soundwaves were going WHOOM WHOOM WHOOM. Deep as all hell too.
Thank you for the replies
Spent some more time with them Saturday, still really disliking them a lot, but I went ahead and did a two hour gig with guitar and sax, just standards. I brought an amp but didn't use it.
I would say they have a good sound in that context, very old school and not unlike the sound of gut strings on record. I found them challenging to play, because the low tension kept messing with my time, and hard to solo on. But the other two guys said "you sound great," so I'm leaving them on for a while longer
Spent some more time with them Saturday, still really disliking them a lot, but I went ahead and did a two hour gig with guitar and sax, just standards. I brought an amp but didn't use it.
I would say they have a good sound in that context, very old school and not unlike the sound of gut strings on record. I found them challenging to play, because the low tension kept messing with my time, and hard to solo on. But the other two guys said "you sound great," so I'm leaving them on for a while longer
I would suggest you don't think of them as synthetic but as a gut set, after all, that is their intended purpose. I have the set with gut D & G and I find the E & A to be a great match but I don't want them to compare to Evah lights or Zyex.
My other suggestion is to raise the string height a bit to give them room to move.
My other suggestion is to raise the string height a bit to give them room to move.
I just got a full synthetic set on my Chadwick, and have played a few gigs so far. They definitely do seem quieter from the drivers seat, but I’ve played alongside an acoustic guitar, dobro and a mando and was told I was holding my own.
I’m liking them more every day as they seem to break in. The note envelope is quite nice, and the stage sound is pleasing amplified as well. I’ve never experimented with guts of any kind, and these are the lowest tension strings I’ve ever had on the bass. I think I’m honing in on the technique changes, and liking them more and more. Tonally, there’s a good round fundamental with a nice point to the start of the note. It’s what I was hoping for. I cranked up the bridge adjusters a full turn and it seems good
The arco does seem a bit more difficult than my previous strings (Innovation 140B, Spiros and EP, both weich), but tonally nice, although the G seems to stand out with a nasal character. I’m hoping continued break-in will sort that.
I’ve broken the bass down daily as well and they seem to fare quite nicely (as did the EP weich). Time will tell. This could be an expensive experiment. Although I did email Pirastro, and they had no qualms about recommending the all-synthetic set. I imagine the lower tension could save some wear and tear. Or, I’m hoping...wish me luck!
I’m liking them more every day as they seem to break in. The note envelope is quite nice, and the stage sound is pleasing amplified as well. I’ve never experimented with guts of any kind, and these are the lowest tension strings I’ve ever had on the bass. I think I’m honing in on the technique changes, and liking them more and more. Tonally, there’s a good round fundamental with a nice point to the start of the note. It’s what I was hoping for. I cranked up the bridge adjusters a full turn and it seems good
The arco does seem a bit more difficult than my previous strings (Innovation 140B, Spiros and EP, both weich), but tonally nice, although the G seems to stand out with a nasal character. I’m hoping continued break-in will sort that.
I’ve broken the bass down daily as well and they seem to fare quite nicely (as did the EP weich). Time will tell. This could be an expensive experiment. Although I did email Pirastro, and they had no qualms about recommending the all-synthetic set. I imagine the lower tension could save some wear and tear. Or, I’m hoping...wish me luck!
Hey all! I am still liking the full synthetic set on my bass, and I recently bought a set with the gut G&D for my son. He has a nothing special, Strunal hybrid bass and has used various strings. The last were Spiro Mittels, and frankly they didn't sound very good on the Strunal, even after being well broken in. I put on the Evah Slaps, and I think (he does too) they sound GREAT on his bass. I think the Mittels were too high tension for that bass, and the sound and projection were choked. Different basses really respond differently to different strings. Too bad it costs a fortune to experiment. Here's a clip of my son, Alex King playing on the new strings. He just got married, and recorded this the day before his wedding:
If you don't need to play the bass for a few weeks, you can take a higher tension set like Spiro Mittel and check how it behaves after a week (when the bass have settled) and then tune it down a halftone. Wait another week, check again and then tune down a halftone again. If you have the time, do the same again and write down the normal tension of the strings used and then how much you need to tune down the bass until it sounds good.
Then you can use my formulas.html file from my Dropbox (search for postings from DoubleMIDI that contain Dropbox) loaded into a browser that supports JavaScipt.
Find the right formula and enter the data to get the tension value for the detuned string.
Then have a look at the Excel file from the same Dropbox to find strings in that tension range.
A bit of homework but can reduce the number of string sets substantially and save a lot of money.
Then you can use my formulas.html file from my Dropbox (search for postings from DoubleMIDI that contain Dropbox) loaded into a browser that supports JavaScipt.
Find the right formula and enter the data to get the tension value for the detuned string.
Then have a look at the Excel file from the same Dropbox to find strings in that tension range.
A bit of homework but can reduce the number of string sets substantially and save a lot of money.
I've done a couple more gigs with these and the rest of the band likes the sound. I'm still unconvinced. I feel like I have lower volume and they are a bear to solo on, but again that may be be partly because the feel is so different
Do you miss the sustain of the lower strings when playing ballads? My experience is similar to yours. I removed them after five days because practicing with them wasn’t gratifying. Perhaps I need to look beyond that and consider how they sound in a group context.
Sorry to Hi jack, but could someone explain the "Tuning down" surely unless you bump strings they only tune to their register or a bass wouldn't be tunes to EADG, if I have missed the obvious please feel free to kick me. lol.
Besides orchestra tuning, there's also solo tuning, which is a whole step above, so F#BEA.
Solo-tuning strings are thinner, so using them at orchestra pitch will provide kind of an extra-light gauge.
I think what he was referring to is figuring out what tension of strings your bass likes. By getting spiro mittles (which I think is the highest tension set after Starks) you can tune them to EADG and listen to how your bass responds to the tension both sound and feel. Then you tune it to EbAbDbGb and wait a week and see how the tension feels. If you like it more than standard tuning, tune it to DGCA and try that out. THEN if you want to go further tune down one more half step. That will let you know what kind of tension your bass likes. He has a chart that lets you figure out the tension of the strings at different drop tunings. For example:
Spirocore solo strings are designed to be tuned F#BEA (one step up). From my understanding at that tuning they feel like medium tension spirocores but if you tune them EADG then they will feel looser than spirocore weich.
Lazarus: All DoubleMidi is trying to show is tension. Detune to the point where you and your bass like the tension. Then check out his charts to figure out what that tension is. Then you can see which other brands of strings have the tension you like. He's trying to show how to save us a few bucks by narrowing down the tension choices that we like. This has nothing to do with tuning.......because all you have to do is find a set of regular strings that have the tension you need at orchestra pitch. If you like Spiro's you are in luck. If the 3/4 strings have too much tension....you can try the 4/4 version which will have a lower tension at the same pitch.