DA Black Nylon tapes review

[Chef]

I have LaBella black tapes on my 1972 ash/maple Telecaster. I've replaced the humbucker with a big single coil Dark Star, which really made the bass lots more usable, to me. Big, clear, even, and plenty of treble even shoved up against the neck like it is.
This results in a huge, smooth tone, which is great for jazz, and ligher duty blues where the drummer and guitarist aren't pile driving..in other words, the mix still kinda needs to have open space, yes?
I really like the LaBella tapes on here. Warm, deep, organic, with big blooming lows, and very extended, clean highs that create a bit of natural scoop, which really adds a nice acoustic feel to things. This is probably why they sound so great on Rob Allen's basses.

I recently got a set of DA's new black nylon tpaes to compare to.
I put the DA's on my 1972 fretless P-bass, which is alder and maple. The glossed maple board really grinds and mwahs well. I usually keep DA XL 170's on there; and it's just ridiculous how well this bass slices thru a mix.

The DA tapes don't seem as smooth and shiny, visually, as the LaBellas.
They seem "more even" in terms of tone, not quite having the big acoustic-y lows, nor the "glassy" highs the LaBellas have initially.
In contrast, this adds up to the LaBellas seeming a little more scooped than the DA's, which I think is great if you want a more acoustic type vibe.
Though visually the DA's don't seem as smooth visually, they feel fine, and seem to be about the same tension as the LaBellas; in other words, a little looser than average for a medium gauge string. Not a bad thing, especially on fretless.

Of course, the DarkStar and a split P are really quite different things. It'll be a few days before I can play the DA loaded P with a band, but these seem a little more mid present, and neither quite as deep, or high as the LaBellas. I suppose I'd really need to put the on the Telecaster to see how much of that is me versus the pickup differences.

[NickMonti]

Excellent review. thank you!
I purchased fender nylon tapewounds and will try them soon.
Now I will definately check out labellas for my bullet p bass.

[chuck norriss]

will you post a photo of your telecaster? sounds ideal. I love blacktapes.

[FunkMetalBass]

Clips?

[Chef]

shot of the P didn't turn out well, but:


As I really like the tapes on the DarkStar Tele, I may move the DA's to a DarkStar P and see how that goes, at some point.


Might try them here too:


Might be that for me, I prefer the LaBellas for the more acoustic type vibe.

[Chef]

funkmetal:
i'm not clip ready, sorry.

[Rezdog]

Greetings from the North,

Those sure are some fine lookin basses Chef. A/B'ing the DA's and LaBellas on that P would be pretty interesting. But then again you know I'm kinda partial to the LaBellas lol.

Rezdog

[Chef]

Howdy from the South.

Concur.