Author Topic: My Bass Sounds better as the strings age.... (Read 823 times)

tubeperson · « **Reply #15 on:** April 18, 2013, 01:01:54 PM »

Losing high end hearing has some perks. When my wife asks me to do something, I see her lips moving, but she speaks in a frequency that I know I have some hearing loss, thus I cannot hear her. What's a guy supposed to do? What did you say?

??

tubeperson · « **Reply #16 on:** April 18, 2013, 01:06:32 PM »

Stout71, Better to have high end and attenuate it, then never have it and have to add it artificially. If you like roundwounds, they sound even better with the Alembics. At least that is my experience with fretted bassess. I cannot address a fretless Alembic since I have never palyed one. It is on the bucket list.

that_sustain · « **Reply #17 on:** April 18, 2013, 01:56:38 PM »

I like a good cheap bass for fretless, using rounds and all. The fretless(for me) has to be made of a lightweight basswood and have a Badass II bridge(more options for intonation requiered). I couldn't have a fretless Alembic.

The hearing thing...can anybody here tune their bass up by resonance alone? I can actually feel the pitch of my Distillate. And when I do it by ear(using 5th 7th fret harmonics) and get it perfect, I notice an overflow of harmonics that doesn't exist in other basses. Noticed it with the Essence I had, also. It gleams out like a drawn sword. Good stuff.

stout71 · « **Reply #18 on:** April 18, 2013, 03:20:50 PM »

When I tune mine, I roll off all the treble so that the tuner is receiving mostly fundamental frequency. While it may work in practice, chances are tuning by 5th/7th fret harmonics will not be as in tune as it would be otherwise.

gtrguy · « **Reply #19 on:** April 18, 2013, 06:21:52 PM »

If you want to try something goofy, put your teeth lightly on your instrument's body and listen to it inside your brain!

gtrguy · « **Reply #20 on:** April 18, 2013, 06:22:54 PM »

If you want to try something goofy, put your teeth lightly on your instrument's body and listen to it inside your brain while playing it!

that_sustain · « **Reply #21 on:** April 18, 2013, 07:27:06 PM »

Stout...I'd like to know a bit more about the possible negatives of harmonic tuning. It's not something specifically easy to find online, elsewhere. thanks.

slawie · « **Reply #22 on:** April 18, 2013, 07:32:50 PM »

Discussed here;

http://club.alembic.com/Images/449/151253.html?1361956277

slawie

that_sustain · « **Reply #23 on:** April 18, 2013, 07:51:33 PM »

Thanks for the link. I don't know about accepting any of what he alone said as fact, but it was a decent read.

adriaan · « **Reply #24 on:** April 18, 2013, 11:41:29 PM »

I always tune by 5/7 harmonics, and the only deviation on an E-A 4 string bass is that the G string needs to be just a touch sharp. On a guitar, I seem to spend on awful lot of time getting the B and high E strings right - perhaps I should cave in and buy a tuner - nah, why break a habit of 35 years?

edwin · « **Reply #25 on:** April 20, 2013, 12:57:12 AM »

The hearing thing...can anybody here tune their bass up by resonance alone?

What's weird is that when I change a whole bass at once and randomly bring the strings up to pitch, with no reference or tuner, more often than note, at least one string will be totally right on. I guess I'm just subconsciously used to the tension of the strings.

pauldo · « **Reply #26 on:** April 20, 2013, 05:00:25 AM »

Edwin, I have had similar situations when putting on new strings. Which doesn't happen as often as I find my self leaving a set GHS Boomers on until they start to need to be re-tuned more often (this is usually prior to breakage).

So, yea, I like them old strings. Before I do the barbecue sauce trick I think I'll actually put on some flats.

Does this mean the Distillate sounds better with aged strings? I'm not so sure. I was listening to some old recordings and heard a VERY strong, Entwistle/ Squire influence in my sound. These days I find myself looking for the Willie Weeks type tone. Not so much a lead bass tone but more of a Bass bass tone. Doesn't mean the bass sounds 'better, but I do like the way it sounds more. ...

I think I might be rambling here. . . Too much bourbon last night. . .

pauldo · « **Reply #27 on:** April 20, 2013, 05:00:39 AM »

Yeah, rambling AND double posting . . . 07:00 isn't too early for a nap is it?

(Message edited by Pauldo on April 20, 2013)

alembickoa · « **Reply #28 on:** April 24, 2013, 01:24:17 PM »

I have to agree...I like my strings better older. They settle into a nice thump with the highs sort of sent to the rear of the choir. The strings I use (D'Addario XL170) are just really good at settling into this nice mellow tonality that has the bite when you need it. And with Alembic, frequency manipulation is so much easier that you can actually run with a set for quite a while. My tendency over the years as a fairly busy on-call type of player, is to just run with a set until one breaks, then change them all. One thing is certain...the process never ends and is always fresh!! 8^)

coop · « **Reply #29 on:** May 09, 2013, 09:30:19 AM »

I kind of split the difference. I just re-strung with D'Addario Half-Rounds. I've always loved those strings and the mellow quite nicely. Truly in between a round and flat.