My Bass Sounds better as the strings age....

[georgie_boy]

I've always fancied those for my fretless.  
Think they'd get that real grunge sound (if you want that) instead of the beautiful upright Mwah I'm getting at the moment...........
Maybe I've not been too well lately??
 
Sorry
 
George

[tubeperson]

George, the D'Addario half rounds will give you plenth of mwahhhh, plus high end grundge for funk.  You can always attenuate the high end.  I use them on most of my fretless basses, including my Pedulla Buzz basses, which have a fretboard coated in polyester.  They are definitely worth a shot!

[terryc]

From a medical point of view I do about 10 audiometry tests per day in my job. Noise Induced Hearing Loss(NIHL) is due to continuous noise which flattens the hairs in the cochlear. High frequencies go first(above 3Khz) obviously as low frequencies move slower so you don't hardly lose them.
There is a condition called Acoustic Neuroma which is a tumour(tumor USA) on the 8th nerve, this produces a marked hearing loss over the whole frequency spectrum.
 Then again, we all begin to lose high frequncies as we get older, in audiometry, we use a program which takes in consideration the age and sex of the client.
The test goes through the sound spectrum of
1Khz,1.5, 2,3, 4, 6Khz, so you are testing individual frequencies
 In the UK there are 4 catagories:  
Cat 1 - acceptable hearing ability for age group
Cat 2 - Mild Hearing Impairment(around 20 % of the population)
Cat 3 - Poor Hearing
Cat 4 - Rapid Hearing Loss
Some clients show Cat 2 when they are young but don't change so when they get older they become Cat 1, sort of your age catches up with your hearing.
If you are exposed to 80dB for more than 8 hours in your job role you must wear hearing protection and be audio screened every three years(UK - HSE)
So going back to the flatwound versus roundwound, it would be difficult to realise the sound difference that accurately because we all know a vibrating string or vocal cord produces mixed frequencies.
Losing high frequencies also reduces your ability to filter out conversation in a crowded place. Oh yes Tubeperson..not hearing the wife is called selective deafness of which it is a common complaint in husbands LOL
(Terry C with a Dfung explanation) Bet you are all bored in reading this!!!!

[jacko]

Actually terry I might send this on to my guitarist to explain why he always thinks the Bass is too loud at our gigs when all I can hear is his amp :-(
 
Graeme

[jazzyvee]

I have to say I prefer bass strings fresh as possible though one of the problems I have is them losing that brightness too quickly and too much finger noise when new. For guitar though I tend to prefer them worn it for a while with a more mellow tone but I generally when playing reggae I have to change them pretty regularly because of the risk of them breaking as I use a hard 3mm dunlop pick for a fatter tone.
I prefer d'addario XL's generally for guitar but tend to use Elixir coated strings when touring as they last longer and are not initially as bright sounding.
 
The bass I use on most of my reggae gigs have strings that are about 18 months old and sound good. I do think you can get away with older strings on Alembics tho.
Jazzyvee

[that_sustain]

You get a great tone going jazzyvee.  
 
Maybe someday soon I will do a bazillion gigs a year like some of the members here.
 
(Message edited by that sustain on May 10, 2013)

[lbpesq]

I used to use D'Addarios (.10 on top) for years for my guitars.  In the last couple of years I've changed to GHS Boomers.  They seem to be a little smoother feeling than the D'Addarios.
 
Bill, tgo

[5a_quilt_top]

Yes, I've found that I can get away with using older strings on Alembics because they reproduce high end so well. So well that I had to adjust my technique to avoid excessive unwanted finger/string noise.
 
Re: guitar amp being too loud - yes, in its immediate proximity on stage, an amplified guitar will be loud. But, step out into the club away from the direct projection of the guitar speaker cabinet and it will magically vanish under a barrage of low end from the bass (and drums).
 
And, I've found the opposite to be true - bass can be muddy and virtually inaudible on stage and clear as bell and thunderous out in the club.
 
Guitar is very directional while the low end from the bass and drums tends to surround the listener. This probably has something to do with the size of the sound waves produced by each instrument and how far they can travel.
 
I once read (maybe on this forum) that the sound wave produced by a low E on a bass guitar in standard tuning is over 30 feet high! Makes me wonder what the low B is.
 
That's pretty awesome and one of the reasons I wanted to play bass - having that much power under my control is too cool.
 
All the more reason to make sure that your strings are to your liking (and in tune)!

[sonicus]

The thing that I like about older strings is the feel played finger style plucking. I like the snap like on a double bass . In my opinion the BIG bonus with the Alembic electronics and pickups is the extended frequency response so that you can pickup all of the sonic information that is produced by the string . On NON Alembic electronics and pickups the same OLDER strings might just sound  LAME , not as much the case to my ears with Alembics ;___those strings  still seem to be useable , less high end of course but still usable for many of my varied applications.