I have a private gig coming up this weekend and would like to hear some brand names dropped on this thread. Tapewounds/flatwounds whatever string can produce a warm upright tone.
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Best strings to emulate an upright bass
- Thread starter sonojono
- Start date
Just to get things started, I'd say either tapes or dead flats. What kind of bass are we talking about?
Ooohh, these are dangerous waters to wade in.
However, sticking strictly to strings, tapewounds in the darker regions of the type, and heavy ones, might suit you. I use Roto 88 Tapes (65-115) on a Rogue VB-100 to pretty good effect for an upright-ish sound. La Bella Black tapes might be good, too. For flats, probably the La Bella Jamersons... TI flats, maybe? I have no experience with those.. but yeah, flats and tapes will start you on your way.
However, sticking strictly to strings, tapewounds in the darker regions of the type, and heavy ones, might suit you. I use Roto 88 Tapes (65-115) on a Rogue VB-100 to pretty good effect for an upright-ish sound. La Bella Black tapes might be good, too. For flats, probably the La Bella Jamersons... TI flats, maybe? I have no experience with those.. but yeah, flats and tapes will start you on your way.
IME flats on an electric don't always have a native uprighty tone, it depends on the bass. However, they are the closest you can get to upright (metal) string construction, which translates to a more correct touch (if you bother to apply a little upright technique to your style when playing walking bass or jazz ballad stuff - using the side of your index, plucking on the fingerboard, with some authority), which in turn modifies the note envelope a little towards what happens on uprights - well, close enough for
OTOH, tapes, or at least some of them, get you a little closer to that uprightish tone even with a more normal bass guitar technique, or that's what I've read/heard on videos - no personal experience with them.
Popular suggestions for this specific purpose are Rotosound Tru Bass 88 and the .115 La Bella black nylon set. (NINJAEDIT: GIBrat beat me to it.)
These posts about Pyramid tapes may also be of interest.
La bella black tapewounds with the treble knob at 0... depends if you like the feel of flats or tapes. pyramids and thomastik for flats are real vintage sounding and dark.. I think Buster Williams and Ron Carter use la bella black tapewounds for their upright playing
I also use LaBella Black Nylon Tapes on my G&L 2500 fretless. I own 2 2500s and have modified them to full passive and run both pickups on the outer coils.
I also run my amps with the EQ set mostly flat so the sound I hear is just my bass.
with that I also pluck higher up the neck using the side of my index finger. This combination gives me a very close upright sound.
I hopened this helps.
I also run my amps with the EQ set mostly flat so the sound I hear is just my bass.
with that I also pluck higher up the neck using the side of my index finger. This combination gives me a very close upright sound.
I hopened this helps.
Thanks for the suggestions. My main instrument is now an EUB and I don't like the sound of my P with DR Brights anymore. I want to find something closer to the Obligatos on my upright.
On a fretless electric bass, I found the Rotosound 88s to sound somewhat more URB-ish than the LaBellas; not sure if that difference would carry over to a fretted bass or not. In any event, here's a test recording of the Rotosounds on a fretless Fender Jazz bass, neck pickup only:
Thank you all for the suggestions. Will definitely research these string names on YouTube for sound demos 
Whatever you choose (I use LaBella tapes) , it is important to play around the bottom of the neck, and I find a foam mute near the bridge helps a lot also to shorten the sustain.
probably as much technique as tone of any string ... it's way to late to get a new set of flats well broken in ..!
dead flats takes quite a while ...!! or buy an old used set ..!
or ... put some kind of 'mute' down by the bridge ...
dead flats takes quite a while ...!! or buy an old used set ..!
or ... put some kind of 'mute' down by the bridge ...
You can get a warm, thumpy, woody tone, but there's no good reason to call it an "upright" tone. Essentially any flat or tapewound with foam at the bridge ideally on a fretless will do.
buldog5151bass
Kibble, milkbones, and P Basses. And redheads.
What the Captain said. Good news is it doesn't matter. The actual sound doesn't matter NEARLY as much as your feel and approach to playing the music.
I've been told my mim p with nicke xls sounds upright ish. I'm a firm believer that it's in the hands. For that wooden tone I had good results with a restless j, rosewood board, and black tapes
I find that muting either with your palm or a hunk of foam at the bridge goes a lot farther at getting that upright sound than any particular string.
+1 for the La Bellas. Add a foam mute at the bridge. Play over the end of the neck and use a soft attack. I angle my right hand so I am hitting the strings with the side of my finger or I use my thumb.
