Baloney Balderdash

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.

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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?

I usually try to aim for about two, that is one half wound, then one full, and finally one more half.

I always adjust saddle height first, then tune, then relief (trussrod), then tune once again, and then finally intonation (with whatever fine tuning that might require).

The first 3 sounded very similar, but I am slightly leaning towards the 1st one as my favorite, as it sounded more open and had a bit more sparkliness going for it, something that the other 2 perhaps were slightly lacking at, all 3 had a nice thick lushness to them though, the 3rd to me sounded pretty much like the 2nd one, just with a bit more low end, I think maybe from having the balance between the modulated signal and the clean signal tipping slightly more towards the clean signal than the 2nd chorus, out of those 2 I personally preferred the slightly wetter and slightly brighter tone of the 2nd chorus. The 4th as several people already has pointed out had a quite flanger like quality to it, actually to me it sounded more like a flanger with a strong chorus -esque character than an actual chorus effect, it didn't sound bad in anyway though, as far as I am concerned it actually even sounded pretty great, just not something I would pick if I were going for a straight chorus effect. The 5th was brighter than the others, but not in sparkling kind of way, rather in a slightly unpleasant/annoying, at the same time both somewhat anemic and biting, way, to my ears at least, seriously lacking lushness, and to my ears it also had a somewhat artificial/synthy flavor to it that I personally don't think suits a chorus effect. My guess is that the 1st one could very well be the Zoom emulation of the Boss CE-1 from the stomp box multi effect pedals, which happens to be my own favorite of all the Zoom chorus models, including those of the newer Zoom line of multi effects, though if the Zoom chorus you chose is not actually the Boss CE-1 model then the last, 5th, one could very well also be the Zoom chorus in this test, my first guess however still is that the Zoom chorus is the 1st one and the CE-1 emulation. As for the 4th flanger like one my best guess is an EHX Deluxe Electric Mistress, or at least some variant or clone of that circuit. @stewblack Please PM me the results, as I am very curious.

Will do. But please note that it will sound close to the clip I referred to, and pretty far from your 8 string bass in your clip. I don't happen to have an actual 8 string bass, so I can record reference clips, so I'll have to refer to a video with someone playing one that sounds like what I am going for, right?