Evah Pirazzi Weichs (also good for jazz)
 

Ok, now that I've had some time with these strings on several of my basses (all only briefly) I can comment on them with more experience in the tests I did. (some Jazz related content included within)

I used the Weichs on 2 of my basses for a short time. These were some good basses as well. One was the Mougenot and the other my Big Gamba. I put them on the Mougenot after I brought the Gamba in for a C-extension. When the Ext. was completed I brought the Mougenot in for restoration and took the strings with me. Afterwords, I didn't have an Ext. E/C for the Weich set so I put a regular set of Evah's that had been on my Gilkes earlier. The only 'new' set tested was on the Gamba for a few weeks before it went in the shop.

I had heard from one of the string distributors I met while at the ISB that there was now a Weich E/C string available. So a few weeks after returning from the show I called and ordered a few sets. I put that set on my Hart which had a fairly newish set of Belcantos on it. While doing this I layed out my Martini on another bench and pulled off the 92s putting the Belcantos on the Martini while putting the new Ext. Weichs on the Hart, one string at a time.

When it was all done I actually liked the Martini with the Belcantos better than the Hart with the Weichs as far as improvements go. The Hart being an older flatter arched Top with numerous repairs as compared to the Martini, half the age of the Hart, with a high arch and only a fraction of the repairs.

As time went on, because of the shoulders mainly of the Martini as compared to the wider Maggini model Hart, I stuck with playing only the Martini. I went back and forth between all 4 of my Basses here for a period of about 4 weeks, each time ending back with the Martini for comfort reasons mainly.

I had thought to myself over and over 'how would the Martini sound and react with the lighter tensioned Weichs on it being that it has such a strong Top. Switching strings between two basses and tuning them back up (both with bow quivers attached) takes me about 2 hours in total from start to finish. The Extension string taking the time of 2 strings on and off per bass. It's tight up in there.

So last night while working late I said, 'maybe I can try this now', looking up at the clock..10:30pm.. So.. I did it and switched the Belcantos back to the Hart and the bass actually thanked me.. I think.. smooth Bel's sing on that bass and the Weichs on the Martini feels like I have an improved bass.

Ok, orchestra bowing wise, you can 'hammer' Bel's and Flexocor's all day long but the Evah's are half way between gut and steel in playability. The Pizz on the martini for jazz is the best it's ever been in the 5 years I've had the bass. The string response being softer is no less powerful than the heavier Bel's. The feel under the left hand I must say is about as good as it gets for me.

So, Evah Weich's with the Ext. E/C has just given new life to the Martini. Also, I will be using mainly this one bass through out the season so I will have a lot more to report back about once the Orchestra season starts. All I have to do now is fit my pickup into the bridge wings so I can take it out on the few Jazz gigs I do during the year. That's if the venue is safe for an expensive bass on the gig location..

I've just installed a set of EP weichs on my Christopher carved flatback. Right out of the pack, I like them. They are pretty loud pizz, perhaps not as much as Spiro weichs, but I think that's as much to do with their voicing -- a bit less of the middy cut and growl and the long sustain that make Spiros what they are, and what I like about them. The EPs have a bit more "thud" about them without being dead, but still have a clear attack that makes them more articulate to my ear than the Corellis the bass was strung with before (the nickels, that is; the tungsten-wrap TX-gauge Corellis are probably a little closer to Spiros). They are definitely louder than the Corellis.

I don't think I have much of an ear for bowing (yet, I'm trying to work on it), but I can draw pretty clean notes without too much effort.

Lots of breaking in to do, but I think I'm going to enjoy doing it. Hopefully the tuning will be more or less stable by tomorrow's gig ...

How are those strings going Shane? I'm quite interested in getting a set.

I'm enjoying them. They are well and truly settled in (and have been for some time, I should point out). I think they're a great all-round string, and I won't be changing them in the foreseeable future.

Our mutual friend seems to like them, too. He's currently playing Belcanti on his ply (still has the Spiros on the Christopher) after a brief period of tenor madness with ADGC Corellis on board. No contest between those strings, really.

I'd have to say that I'm pretty happy with how my basses are strung too. I must have more of a play on your bass Shiney.

Shiney came around yesterday and I played his EP Weichs. Love the sound, especially in the upper register (arco)! I've got some on order and they're going straight onto my main bass.
He commented that the SpiroWeichs (on my bass at present) sounded like a violin and the EP Weichs sounded like a cello. The EPs were certainly fun to play!

Violin? Cello? Which strings will make your Bass sound like a Bass? Is there a Viola sounding set you failed to mention? :rolleyes:

It was just a comparison thing. I was playing in thumb position and the spiros were brighter, but the evahs had this nice dark sound. Okay, they both sounded like a bass but it's like when you try a nice Merlot Cabernet and you describe the bouquet as tasting of blackcurrent and cherry flavours. We humans are big on comparison, hence the popularity of similes and metaphors in our language. Life is more fun when it is colourful.
I used to play a bit of viola when I lived in Tauranga (about about fifteen years ago) - there was a desperate shortage of viola players in the area, so I resurrected some old violin playing skills for a while. I've always thought that, if I wasn't a double bass player, the viola would be a great instrument to put one's time into. So, which strings sound like a viola? I'm definitely going to go with Bel Canti.

Evah Pirazzi Weichs on.

Evah Pirazzi Weich strings- I like them very very much. In fact, I suspect that they are my favourite string of all time - for both arco and pizz.
But how do they amplify? I did a gig with my brother a little while ago and it was the first time I'd amplified these strings.. the first time I'd played them through my amp. They had a lot more bottom end (than the Spiros and BCs), which threw me a little, but they did the job fine.
Today I played amplified in a venue in Wellington that is known to be boomy. The EPs had a great fundamental and handled the gig well. These are great strings and I love them.

But how do they amplify?
 

I used them twice with an amp over a year ago on two different basses, my Martini with a big band and the Mougenot (before restoration) with an Orchestra Pops concert doing some Ellington and Gershwin playing in the rhythm section. I generally use a Shadow brand pickup that looks like an Underwood copy. I think pickup type might matter here as well for how they amplify.

They seems to have a wider type sound response almost like with gut strings but being that the were on bigger, deeper type basses than the typcal 3/4 German carved bass used by so many in Jazz, I ended up playing harder on the strings at times resulting in getting a blister from chasing the attack of the string. If the bass is loser feeling with these Weichs, they you can't play them too hard. Right now, I have another new set on the Mougenot post-restoration, put on at a request of a customer trying out the bass a month or so ago. They sound good now as they did before but for bowing, I would prefer a full bowing metal string like Belcantos, Jargars, Flexocors, Passiones or Orig FlatChromes which all seem to grab the bow faster and cleaner sounding as well.

I don't find that they have a looser feeling than, say, spiro weichs. I'm very pleased with the feel and sound from pizz. The bowing sound is fantastic all over my bass. Interesting what you say Ken.

Spiro weichs are light strings too. I would have some of the same problems with them on the tension if they were too loose for the bass they are on. Tighter strings have a quicker response. Lighter strings need to be played lighter or otherwise, you will be over playing them and waiting for the string to bounce back for the next note in pizz. This kind of overplaying is not good for the fingers, or the music!

Very true.
That said, I think the pizz response is better that the spiro weichs, by a bit, for quick playing and much better than the BCs (yes, I know they're a bowing string). I actually like bowing the EP weichs more than the BCs.

At the moment I'm sold on these strings too.
As we say back home اللي مايطول العنب ,حامض عنه يقول - "When someone doesn’t reach the grapes, that person says that they are sour".
In my humble opinion these are a very good and versatile string.

I liked that quote Bin.

Thanks Terry.

I still love the EP weichs.

Hey, they're a good string! I've got them on right now.

What the heck, I may as well chime in. I've had EP weichs on my Upton for about a year and a half; before that EP regular (mittel?). Used them for full on arco gigs, including recording with a very good chamber orchestra, and totally pizz stuff. Just put an old Olive G on to try, and I'm not sure it's an improvement. The balance on the EP weichs is really good. Never have any problems with amplification (Upton rev solo pickup and Acoustic Image Coda amp), or anything else for that matter. Not quite as dark as the regular EPs, on this bass, which is a good thing. I'll probably stick with them.

They're probably not my choice for my old French bass, though. Still in a state of flux there. Maybe the regular EPs... or Kaplan... :confused: