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What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

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  • ItsaBass
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    ^

    I've got one bass (a short neck 30" scale) that I keep light gauge rounds on, just to play with the very different feel than I'm used to.

    But I generally play somewhat akin to the style of an upright player (since I learned on flats, and play upright), so heavy gauge flats work best for my "general purpose" bass strings.

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  • DavidRavenMoon
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by ItsaBass View Post
    You should pick the strings that give you the amount of push back and "rubberiness" that feels best to you. The tone can all be tweaked with various adjustments (pickup height, e.g.).

    To me, light strings feel bad, on both hands. They are harder to control, because they don't "settle" well to my taste. Heavier strings feel far more stable and predictable to me; they are always right where I expect them to be, and I never miss a beat. On light strings, I stumble, sometimes even after I get used to them. Others who play differently will have different experiences with light and heavy strings.

    Also remember that string height goes a long way. Light strings can be made hard to play if they are set high...and heavy strings can be made easy to play if they are set low.
    What I like about them is you can be very nuanced in your playing. I do vibrato and blend notes. And depending on how I pluck the strings, I can get a nice snap. I always liked the tone Stanley Clarke got. He uses very light strings on a 30” bass, and plucks hard.

    On guitar I use 9s for the same reasons. I play both with a 1.14mm pick (or sometimes my fingers).

    But I don’t like very low tension strings like Thomastics. Too soft. D’Addario have just the right amount of tension.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • DavidRavenMoon
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
    Nice setup. Wasn't Soundgear associated with Ibanez? Or am I thinking of something else? Do you sell those pups?
    Thanks! Yes, SoundGear is Ibanez. It’s one of their model lines.

    Yes I sell those pickups.


    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk

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  • dystrust
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
    My luthier friend did a setup and fixed the nut after I swapped the bridge for the Fender Badass clone. But there's a couple things about that bridge that I don't like. So I already ordered the Hipshot version. Hopefully, will arrive tomorrow. My friend is going to do a new bone nut at that time. However, she plays great, sounds amazing right now.
    longcat has one of those Hipshot Kicka** bridges on her Squier Bronco, and it lives up to the name IMO. Just out of curiosity, what didn't you not like about the Fender version?

    Leave a comment:


  • ArtieToo
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Thanks. Good info. I'm still a bass newbie, so it's going to take awhile for me to figure out what feels natural to me. The good news is that this new P-Bass is really inspiring me to learn it better. I just don't know what there is about this thing. Maybe it's just that the classic "Fender Bass" is so iconic. I can't remember the last time an instrument so begged me to pick it up so much.

    Leave a comment:


  • ItsaBass
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    You should pick the strings that give you the amount of push back and "rubberiness" that feels best to you. The tone can all be tweaked with various adjustments (pickup height, e.g.).

    To me, light strings feel bad, on both hands. They are harder to control, because they don't "settle" well to my taste. Heavier strings feel far more stable and predictable to me; they are always right where I expect them to be, and I never miss a beat. On light strings, I stumble, sometimes even after I get used to them. Others who play differently will have different experiences with light and heavy strings.

    Also remember that string height goes a long way. Light strings can be made hard to play if they are set high...and heavy strings can be made easy to play if they are set low.

    Leave a comment:


  • Adieu
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
    Nice setup. Wasn't Soundgear associated with Ibanez? Or am I thinking of something else? Do you sell those pups?
    Soundgear is an Ibanez bass subbrand. For some reason they started putting that instead of Ibanez on most bass headstocks right around '87, when they began phasing out the RG-series' pointy and passive counterpart basses the RD series for the rounded, mostly active, often 5- and 6-stringed Soundgear/SR basses

    Since the 80s pivot from Fender and Gibson copies to own original designs, all high end Ibanez stuff is always made by Fujigen Gakki, a prolific Japanese contract manufacturer (also known for some Fender Japan, Jackson, own brand FGN, etc.)
    Last edited by Adieu; 05-03-2019, 11:02 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • ArtieToo
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Nice setup. Wasn't Soundgear associated with Ibanez? Or am I thinking of something else? Do you sell those pups?

    Leave a comment:


  • DavidRavenMoon
    replied
    What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by Adieu View Post
    Dunno about the '87's (JJ pups, right?), but later Japanese 5string Soundgears with the soapbars really, and I mean REALLY benefitted from ditching the preamp and swapping in Duncan Actives with basic pots

    Moved them up from just plain good to downright ridiculously superior to anything you can buy off the shelf
    This is one of the first SoundGears made in the FugiGen factory before it burned down. It was $900 in 1987! Mine had active J size pickups and the two band preamp. They sounded good but were noisy. Then for a while in the 90s I had EMGs in it.

    Now it’s passive with dual rail neodymium jazz pickups I make. You are hearing both pickups with the bridge slightly higher in the mix. It was direct into Behringer UMC22 interface into Logic Pro X. I’m using the amp and effects plugins there.

    I like the Duncan active pickups. Had a girlfriend that played bass, so I built her a PJ style bass with the active pickups with the DIP switches back in the 80s. That was a great sounding bass.


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  • ArtieToo
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    My luthier friend did a setup and fixed the nut after I swapped the bridge for the Fender Badass clone. But there's a couple things about that bridge that I don't like. So I already ordered the Hipshot version. Hopefully, will arrive tomorrow. My friend is going to do a new bone nut at that time. However, she plays great, sounds amazing right now.

    Click image for larger version

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    Click image for larger version

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    The bridge I ordered:

    Click image for larger version

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    Last edited by ArtieToo; 05-03-2019, 08:15 PM.

    Leave a comment:


  • Adieu
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by DavidRavenMoon View Post
    You get more snap and grind.

    These are D’Addario XLs on an ‘87 Ibanez SR885LE. It’s running direct into Logic Pro X, with one of the amp plugins.

    Listen to Supercollider by RavenMoon #np on #SoundCloud



    Sent from my iPhone using Tapatalk
    Dunno about the '87's (JJ pups, right?), but later Japanese 5string Soundgears with the soapbars really, and I mean REALLY benefitted from ditching the preamp and swapping in Duncan Actives with basic pots

    Moved them up from just plain good to downright ridiculously superior to anything you can buy off the shelf

    Leave a comment:


  • PFDarkside
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by DavidRavenMoon View Post
    You get more snap and grind.

    These are D’Addario XLs on an ‘87 Ibanez SR885LE. It’s running direct into Logic Pro X, with one of the amp plugins.

    https://soundcloud.com/davidravenmoon/supercollider
    Yep... I thought I couldn’t slap on bass, then I put light gauge stainless on and wow... slap and pop fest!

    It’s probably best to have a jazz with light roundwound strings and a P with heavier flats for ultimate tonal versatility.

    Leave a comment:


  • donaldr
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    I put a set of DR Black Beauties 40-120 on my Jazz V, very good bass sound and I think more balanced with the smaller B string. Sounding as good as my medium (45-130) set.
    No you won't sound like a guitar.

    Leave a comment:


  • DavidRavenMoon
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    Originally posted by ArtieToo View Post
    I just "googled" that. Nice little bass. Part of the reason I want to try lighter strings is because I can't help playing my bass like a guitar. It's a hard habit to break. I'm wanting to try the more traditional "finger stroking" thing, but I keep coming back to thumb picking.
    I play with a pick most of the time. But sometimes with fingers.


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  • ArtieToo
    replied
    Re: What's the tonal impact of smaller gauge strings?

    I just "googled" that. Nice little bass. Part of the reason I want to try lighter strings is because I can't help playing my bass like a guitar. It's a hard habit to break. I'm wanting to try the more traditional "finger stroking" thing, but I keep coming back to thumb picking.

    Leave a comment:

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