I've got EP Weichs on my hybrid and EP guts on my ply. There is NO QUESTION that I prefer the guts over the Weichs for BG. No contest. But opinions differ.
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Double Bass Recommend Strings for a Bluegrass Noob
- Thread starter DFreshest
- Start date
Earl
Supporting Member
My experience is that EPs are darker, Zyez brighter.
EP slaps are a nice set. I played the E and A over an Oliv D and G for two years and it was lovely — then I tried out the Aquila Sugar Slaps and they’re perfect for what I do.
I like both the EP Weich and Slap sets (both with gut and full synthetic.) The slaps on the basses I’ve tried them on are about the lowest tension non-supernil set I’ve used. They need slightly higher string height than steel strings on my basses, but still feel good. Very similar to gut, and pretty dark from the driver’s seat. They sound more complex out front IME. They have a reedy, gut like sound arco but bow a LOT better than nylon strings.
I have my reservations about the synthetic G string from the slap set. I like how it sounds but it’s slightly sticky, turns my fingers black, doesn’t bow as well as the E-D, is and can sound a little “nebulous” pitch-wise on some of the basses I’ve had them on. It also has had unwinding issues compared to most other strings I’ve tried. Despite this I used it for years, and didn’t feel like it held me back and I never felt like I needed to rip it off the bass.
The gut D+G are good, and well priced. Some people haven’t liked the gut D at all (it’s relatively thin and some find it too slack) but on my bass it performed as well and matches the set when reverse strung through the tailpiece. The G is excellent, like any other well-made gut G IMO. All in all I like both iterations of the slap set, and have had perhaps the luck with mixed set of synthetic E-D with the gut G.
The Weich set is really great, and it’s one of the most popular (non-sprio) sets I see in the “real world” for good reason. They are close in feel to a standard medium tension set but still have a nice flexibility compared to steel core strings. You can set them at a “standard” string height and they still speak, and I can really dig in on them compared to the slaps. A good compromise between sprios and gut-like strings. I can play slap on the Weich, but they are right on the line of comfort for me and might not be the best choice for anyone who is going to be doing 50/50 pizz slap kind of gigs. They bow notably better than the synthetic slaps with a richer sound and have better pitch definition (particularly on the G string.) Unless you want to try real gut or need to do slap-specific gigs I think they are one of the best options out there.
I have my reservations about the synthetic G string from the slap set. I like how it sounds but it’s slightly sticky, turns my fingers black, doesn’t bow as well as the E-D, is and can sound a little “nebulous” pitch-wise on some of the basses I’ve had them on. It also has had unwinding issues compared to most other strings I’ve tried. Despite this I used it for years, and didn’t feel like it held me back and I never felt like I needed to rip it off the bass.
The gut D+G are good, and well priced. Some people haven’t liked the gut D at all (it’s relatively thin and some find it too slack) but on my bass it performed as well and matches the set when reverse strung through the tailpiece. The G is excellent, like any other well-made gut G IMO. All in all I like both iterations of the slap set, and have had perhaps the luck with mixed set of synthetic E-D with the gut G.
The Weich set is really great, and it’s one of the most popular (non-sprio) sets I see in the “real world” for good reason. They are close in feel to a standard medium tension set but still have a nice flexibility compared to steel core strings. You can set them at a “standard” string height and they still speak, and I can really dig in on them compared to the slaps. A good compromise between sprios and gut-like strings. I can play slap on the Weich, but they are right on the line of comfort for me and might not be the best choice for anyone who is going to be doing 50/50 pizz slap kind of gigs. They bow notably better than the synthetic slaps with a richer sound and have better pitch definition (particularly on the G string.) Unless you want to try real gut or need to do slap-specific gigs I think they are one of the best options out there.
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Ok, to report back again, I did go ahead with the Evah Pirazzi Slaps, and I am very pleased in general, but especially with the D and G. They definitely are darker-sounding as some have suggested, but have a lot more "thump" and richness than the steel strings I had on before.
After a couple hours of practice last night, my right hand fingers were definitely getting tender, but not nearly as bad as with the steel strings! It was awesome.
I'm satisfied for now, enough that I probably won't buy anything else to try for a while. I think the only string that I have any issue with is the E. I had the same feeling about the steel E too. I guess the best way to describe it is that it just doesn't sound very crisp, clean, or even thumpy. It's just there, lol. I get a decent sound when I intentionally pluck it a little lower down below the fingerboard, but I may look for something different to try in the future for that one. For now, my budget is tapped out.
I really appreciate all of the great recommendations!
After a couple hours of practice last night, my right hand fingers were definitely getting tender, but not nearly as bad as with the steel strings! It was awesome.
I'm satisfied for now, enough that I probably won't buy anything else to try for a while. I think the only string that I have any issue with is the E. I had the same feeling about the steel E too. I guess the best way to describe it is that it just doesn't sound very crisp, clean, or even thumpy. It's just there, lol. I get a decent sound when I intentionally pluck it a little lower down below the fingerboard, but I may look for something different to try in the future for that one. For now, my budget is tapped out.
I really appreciate all of the great recommendations!
Hey @DFreshest ... I was going to comment "do you have any steel E strings you might want to try along with the EP Slaps ADG strings?" but I got to thinking that when I had my EP Slaps initially on my bass, I left them on from Spring thru to Fall for an entire "summer gig season" before I changed anything. I learned an awful lot about EP Slaps by committing to them for a solid time period with lot of gigs. One thing you should know is that these strings speak pretty well even at a lighter touch, also they were friendly with bowing (for me anyway). Like I said in another post, I have Spiro Mitt E & A with EP Synthetic Slaps D & G currently on my Upton. They are working quite well and are at a higher action for maximum thump.
I went with the synthetic for now. I see that Gollihur sells single strings, so I thought I could experiment in the future and see how the guts are.
@Sam Reese Yeah, I think that's a good idea — to live with these for a good while before making any changes. Overall, I'm really pleased with them! I would like to raise the action a bit, but my bridge adjusters are already almost maxed out, so I'd probably have to shim it up.