Baloney Balderdash

Agree.... However I actually did name my main Ibanez GSRM20 Mikro Bass "Dud Bottomfeeder", and my Epiphone SG Special, main electric guitar, "Epicphoneya". Those names are pretty tongue in cheek though, and I would never call them by gender. But I do perfectly understand, and am first hand familiar with, the concept of getting attached to an instrument on a level where they take on an actual personality.

Bangs (by They Might Be Giants)

I didn't literally ask OP that specific question, no, but I did in fact actually explain what type of strings they should get according to what kind of tone they was looking for, in my reply right above your post (well, at least explaining what to expect tone wise from respectively flatwounds, nickle rounwounds and steel roundwounds). I did then proceed with a recommendation based on my personal preferences, yes, but that was after guiding OP in the general direction of what type of strings to get depending on the tone they was looking for.

Fire of the Mind (by Coil)

If you want a thumpy deep tone with not a whole lot of high end zing going on, and I guess more mellow tone, then some kind of flatwounds, but if you want a more lively bright tone with a good amount of zing and snap, and I guess more aggressive tone, then go for nickle roundwounds, or steel roundwounds if you want even more snap, zing and aggression. I can warmly recommend the D'Addario NYXL nickle roundwound strings, they are not coated but will last longer than regular roundwounds (2 to 3 times as long seems to be the general consensus), due to the tighter rap, which will also make the string feel slightly smother, and the special formula carbon steel alloy core, and in my opinion they also sounds much better than regular strings, they are slightly more expensive than standard strings though, but that pretty much will equal up to them staying fresh longer, so you don't have to change strings nearly as often. As for roundwounds in E standard tuning I would properly go for a gauge .100 to .045 set.

Ah, right, I misunderstood that, cause I am quite sure it wasn't actually what Leonidaslost that you quoted meant.

@Leonidaslost Or a compressor with a really short attack time and a relatively fast release time, with a medium kind of ratio setting, a hard knee, and just the right threshold level, for the same effect (I would think at least, but I am not exactly a compression expert, so might have gotten something wrong regarding the details of the specific settings needed, no doubt a compressor with controls of the parameters mentioned would be able to do it though). A multiband compressor with the option of customizing the frequency reach of the different bands and the compression of each individual band would be ideal, like for instance the 3 band TC Electronic SpectraComp bass compressor, to have the above mentioned compression mainly affect the treble and high mid frequency spectrum, like everything above about 600 or 700 Hz or so, to allow for the thudy kind of attack of a double bass to come through. Then add a fairly subtle detune effect blended with the clean signal to that, finish off with a subtle touch of room reverb, and I would think it's about as close as you can get using common effects to emulate it. Though this digital NUX Optima Air pedal can load impulse response files from acoustic guitars, that way emulating the characteristics of different acoustic guitar models, and there's a chance that it might work with a double bass as well if you can just find a double bass IR and load into it, or know how to capture it yourself (Thomann lists it at 166£.) : Another option would be to get the fretless Harley Benton Beatbass FL VS Vintage Series (Violin/Beatles bass) that Thomann offers for just 152£ : https://www.thomann.de/gb/harley_benton_beatbass_fl_vs_vintage_series.htm?ref=intl&shp=eyJjb3VudHJ5IjoiZ2IiLCJjdXJyZW5jeSI6IjQiLCJsYW5ndWFnZSI6ImVuIn0%3D I bet that fretless violin bass would be capable of getting you pretty close to a double bass kind of tone even without use of additional effects.

...Deleted...

My 50 Cent on bass compression is that despite the fact that I really rather use compression as a means to subtly adjust fairly minor details of the tonal character of my signal, than as a way to control or uniform the dynamic range of it, and the fact that the TC Electronic fully programable digital 3 band SpeactraComp bass compressor that I own really allows for some very detailed customized adjustments of the compression going on, I found that I actually preferred the tone that I got from using 2 single band compressors with fairly limited controls over the compression parameters, which are a quite subtle compression from the digital model of the DBX 160A compressor in my lowly Zoom G1Xon multi effect, using a high threshold and a relatively low 2.5:1 ratio, going into my very much analog tube driven optical compressor, the EHX Black Finger, also set to a very subtle compression with a high threshold and a relatively slow attack time and low ratio, actually having a quite negligible effect on my playing dynamics, but just adding a bit of extra snap and punch, as well as making my tone sound slightly more defined, focused and tight.

I Want to Be Alone (by Jackson Frank)

Might not be the best, but damn I am in love with this deep dark purple patterned one, and I think I might need to buy it (It's an Ernie Ball Jacquard Guitar Strap - Purple Paisley, and it's even quite cheap, just about 22£/24 Euro) :

I prefer my nuts to be of flesh and blood. To each their own, just be aware that it'll affect your ability to reproduce if you go through with this.

Did You See Me? (by Ween)

I actually got one more, which might seem like odd to most people, a faulty Behringer UV300 Ultra Vibrato. Yup, it's true, something's wrong with the buffer in it, but it doesn't actually suck tone in a traditional sense, not as much really deteriorating the signal going through it as it just kind of alters it to something somewhat different. On bass that gives a more mids focused, tight and snappy kind of tone that I really like. So not even an always on pedal, in fact it is rather rarely engaged, just the fact of me actually liking what the faulty buffer of this pedal when disengaged does to my tone.

Sometimes when the full signal through a pedal is too much and becomes a deterioration rather than an improvement, an improvement can sometimes still be achieved by using the same pedal but mixing the signal from it with the raw bass signal, like for instance via a Boss LS-2, I experienced this in more than one case with the Joyo Orange Juice.

So curious about what people's always on secret magic tone sauce pedal is, be it a preamp, a compressor, and equalizer or perhaps a subtle chorus effect or whatever it might be. Mine is my EHX Black Finger, tube driven optical compressor, that run it's 2 preamp tube at proper high 300V voltage, and which beside adding a quite subtle compression to my signal actually more so functions as my tube preamp stage, beefing up the signal slightly, making the low end slightly more pronounced and tight and adding a bit of tube flavor and warmth, having the input gain turned up to just bellow the breakup point when I dig in the hardest. Here it is in all it's glory : And here's a bass player that uses it very much like I do, though with other settings (he mentions it briefly around the 4:37 time mark :

Among His Tribe (by Ween)

Composition: Angelo Badalamenti/ Lyrics: David Lynch, performed by Julee Cruise :

Questions In a World of Blue (Composition: Angelo Badalamenti/ Lyrics: David Lynch, performed by Julee Cruise)

My Name is Mud (by Primus)

Love Calls You By Your Name (by Leonard Cohen)

( $ $ $ $ $ $ ) O o

115 strings, now that's something. Sure it's a bass and not a harp?