D'Addario NS EUB Traditional Vs. Contemporary strings...

[moonbass]

Hi,
Having recently acquired an NS CR5M I'm looking to change the strings. Same old-same old I'm afraid: these things are incredibly expensive and I would rather not be massively disappointed!

I actually quite like the (what I presume are) D'Addario Contemporary strings that came fitted on my WAV4, so I'm not desperate to get dedicated double bass strings, especially as this will be for pizz. use only. Plus the D'Addario EUB strings are definitely the correct scale length and won't necessitate changing tuning pegs, etc as I've seem on some other threads.

BUT, I can't find any comparisons between the traditional and contemporary sets other than the manufacturer's blurb that the trads have higher tension and are better for arco. I would like as 'db' a sound as possible, but also quite like a slightly lower tension string.

Any thoughts would be muchly appreciated (also if anyone has had a good experience of fitting other makes of db strings to an NS CR bass, it would be good to hear from you.)
Cheers,
Andy

[Bobby K]

[quote name='moonbass' post='1222933' date='May 7 2011, 10:27 AM']Hi,
Having recently acquired an NS CR5M I'm looking to change the strings. Same old-same old I'm afraid: these things are incredibly expensive and I would rather not be massively disappointed!

I actually quite like the (what I presume are) D'Addario Contemporary strings that came fitted on my WAV4, so I'm not desperate to get dedicated double bass strings, especially as this will be for pizz. use only. Plus the D'Addario EUB strings are definitely the correct scale length and won't necessitate changing tuning pegs, etc as I've seem on some other threads.

BUT, I can't find any comparisons between the traditional and contemporary sets other than the manufacturer's blurb that the trads have higher tension and are better for arco. I would like as 'db' a sound as possible, but also quite like a slightly lower tension string.

Any thoughts would be muchly appreciated (also if anyone has had a good experience of fitting other makes of db strings to an NS CR bass, it would be good to hear from you.)
Cheers,
Andy[/quote]

Hi Andy

About five years ago, I put some Pirastro Orchs on my CR4M, as recomended by another NS player. I was trying to get closer to the DB sound, for an album session I was working on.

I had mixed feelings about the results. The Pirastros were really good for arco playing. The strings also seemed to have a lot more low end than the NS factory ones and the endless mwahhh of the factory ones was pretty much eliminated. Slightly annoying was the fact that the sustain across the strings was pretty uneven. For instance, the E was totally dead sounding, almost too dampened and the D and G a little less so. Then the A actually had quite a bit of sustain to it, with a decent amount of mwahh I think they were low tension too.

The results were definitely closer to DB though, but perhaps not close enough. I find the NS in general to be very much a sound of its own, somewhere in between DB and bass guitar. mixing and matching separate DB strings isn't unheard of though, to get the right balance but like you say, they cost a fortune, so it's not something I did a lot of! I think the pirastro Orchs cost around 120 quid!!

Give me a shout if you'd like to hear any sound clips from the above mentioned recording session...

*I remember there was a guy on Talkbass called Francois, who was a bit of a strings expert and gave good advice on stuff like this, maybe look him up too

Edited May 7, 2011 by Bobby K

[moonbass]

Thanks Bobby, that's useful to know. Uneven sustain would be a bit annoying. I'm mostly playing in situations, where bass guitar would be more accepted (folk-rock, funk) so I don't really mind about the greater sustain from the D'Addario NS's.
To be honest I don't know what the CR5M is strung with, but I know they're not the originals, although they seem to be dedicated EUB strings - as far as I know only D'addario do these, but happy to be told otherwise; so I wonder if they are in fact trads. I may never know. It would be good to hear what your Pirastro's sounded like if you fancy posting here or messaging me. In the interests of experimentation I'll try and post some sound clips of my current CR and WAV below (but please excuse the shoddy playing, just thought I'd do a quick recording with no processing to aid choices!)
A.
[attachment=79249:CR5M_Pizz.mp3]
[attachment=79250:CR5M_Piz..._pickups.mp3]
[attachment=79247:CR5M_Arco.mp3]
[attachment=79248:CR5M_Mix.mp3]
[attachment=79251:WAV4_Pizz.mp3]

Edited May 7, 2011 by moonbass

[Bobby K]

[quote name='moonbass' post='1223059' date='May 7 2011, 12:08 PM']Thanks Bobby, that's useful to know. Uneven sustain would be a bit annoying. I'm mostly playing in situations, where bass guitar would be more accepted (folk-rock, funk) so I don't really mind about the greater sustain from the D'Addario NS's.
To be honest I don't know what the CR5M is strung with, but I know they're not the originals, although they seem to be dedicated EUB strings - as far as I know only D'addario do these, but happy to be told otherwise; so I wonder if they are in fact trads. I may never know. It would be good to hear what your Pirastro's sounded like if you fancy posting here or messaging me. In the interests of experimentation I'll try and post some sound clips of my current CR and WAV below (but please excuse the shoddy playing, just thought I'd do a quick recording with no processing to aid choices!)
A.
[attachment=79249:CR5M_Pizz.mp3]
[attachment=79250:CR5M_Piz..._pickups.mp3]
[attachment=79247:CR5M_Arco.mp3]
[attachment=79248:CR5M_Mix.mp3]
[attachment=79251:WAV4_Pizz.mp3][/quote]

Hi Andy, I'll give these a listen later and try to sort out some sounds from my pirastros for you to hear in due course.

What I do know is that the factory strings on my NS were made by D'Addario especially for NS Design and were supplied on all the NS basses. They just seemed like really sustainy flatwounds to me. I did buy in 2002 though, so dunno if it's changed since...

Edited May 12, 2011 by Bobby K

[BassBus]

If it's any use here are some sound clips of my CR4M with Flexocor strings. Again, scuse the dodgy playing. Bass is set flat and played through Markbass Superbooster with VLE and VPF set to 12 o'clock.

[url="http://soundcloud.com/bassbus/arco/"]Arco.mp3[/url]
[url="http://soundcloud.com/bassbus/mix-pizz-arco/"]Mix Arco-Pizz.mp3[/url]
[url="http://soundcloud.com/bassbus/pizz/"]Pizz.mp3[/url]

[moonbass]

Thanks for that Bass Bus. I'm coming to the realisation that the strings are not going to be the biggest factor on tone as so much can be done with onboard and outboard pre amps. In fact, when played unplugged my WAV4 sounds much better than the CR5M (well certainly more db like). I suspect the main factor on preference will be the feel of the strings and tension, which is of course even harder to quantify than tone. I think I'm going to take a punt on the D'Addario NS Trads and see how it goes. Any other opinions gratefully received though! A.

[Bobby K]

hi guys, sorry I'm so late with this...

Here are clips from my CR4M, strung with Pirastro Flexocor Orchs. Just recorded straight into pc, bass and treble at halfway on the bass itself. Playing is a bit flappy, apologies


[url="http://soundcloud.com/bobbie-k/arco"]Arco[/url]

[url="http://soundcloud.com/bobbie-k/mix"]Mix[/url]

[url="http://soundcloud.com/bobbie-k/pizz"]Pizz[/url]

obviously, as these strings are rope core, they don't work with the EMG's (Ok, you knew that, doh!!)



Come to think of it, the EMG's hardly see any use on my NS!

Edited May 12, 2011 by Bobby K

[moonbass]

Thanks Bobby. I'm still not sure I can hear a great difference between the pirastros and my current strings (whatever they are!) Did you prefer the feel of them when you changed them? The one thing that seems fairly clear to me is that the mix sound on the CRM seems to be best for pizz. followed by arco then (weirdly) the pizz. setting! To my ears the pizz. setting sounds just like a fretless bass with very little db character. A.

[Bobby K]

[quote name='moonbass' post='1229570' date='May 13 2011, 03:39 AM']Thanks Bobby. I'm still not sure I can hear a great difference between the pirastros and my current strings (whatever they are!) Did you prefer the feel of them when you changed them? The one thing that seems fairly clear to me is that the mix sound on the CRM seems to be best for pizz. followed by arco then (weirdly) the pizz. setting! To my ears the pizz. setting sounds just like a fretless bass with very little db character. A.[/quote]

Yes mate, I think your summing up of the three sounds is spot on! In pizz mode (especially with metal core strings and the EMG's on) you've got the biggest fretless in the world, with tonnes of sustain

these pirastros did feel lovely when I first put them on, lovely smooth slinky feel to them. But like i said before, the sustain across the strings is a bit frustrating. For example, the E string is dead as a doornail in comparison to the other three strings! It's particularly noticeable when bowing (which is something I do a lot with the NS) - I think with these strings, my favourite sound is probably the arco mode (for both pizz and arco playing) as it's most DB like to me.

Genearally, you get a [i]damper[/i] sound overall with these strings, but like you say, it's not a massive difference overall on the NS, whichever strings you use. I think in future, when I eventually change strings, i'll be looking for a set where the sustain is matched across the strings - this is something I did at least get with the NS factory strings