That's really good info for my application. Good to hear that you liked them with piezos and the bass I'm thinking of trying tapes on is a 32" scale.
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Nylon Tape Wound Ranking/Rating
- Thread starter KenD
- Start date
Yes, the 50's set does that, because they are roughly similar in tension to a conventional set of 35-90. The regular gauge 60's set is roughly equivalent to the tension of a conventional set of 45-100, so they feel more like most players are used to.
Uh oh. That sounds like some filing on the nut would be needed. Currently, the intended bass is running Rotosound Solo Bass 45-130.
So if my foray into the tone world of tape wounds doesn't work out (for whatever reason) I will be faced with the cost of replacing the nut in order to get back to status quo ante.
I say that because the bass on which i am thinking of using these is 32" scale, which already implies some tension "issues", particularly on the B and E. Using the light gauge La Bellas might not work out at all from a playability point of view.
I have the LaBella Tape wounds after playing round wounds (Dean Markley Blue Steel and DR Black Beauty) for 33-years. As you can see in my avatar I have a white Jazz with all-white accents and a maple neck. I tried a set of these because of a video where Scott from SBL was comparing some round wound, flat-wound and tape-wound strings. He kept going back to the Tape Wounds. I had just had a set of Black Beauty strings turn into gray speckled "what are you using?" strings. I bought the White Tape Wounds (semi-opaque) to go with my white bass.
On the video, Scott had a set of LaBella Black Tape Wound Strings, which come to find out have the darkest sound of their Tape Wound strings and the White ones have the brightest sound of their tape wounds. They have two others, the white over copper core and white over gold core, that are in between the sound of the black and the white ones. I really love these strings on my passive Jazz.
They just sound great. They have a lot more of the higher harmonics than the flat wound strings I used in the 60's and 70's and they also have the best balance of sound from string to string. With the round wounds I've used the low notes on the D and G strings usually sounded pretty thin or weak. So I usually played the octave E on the 7th fret of the A string to get more body into that note than I could get with the second fret of the D string. Same thing with the A, preferring the 7th fret of the A string to the second fret of the G string. I absolutely do not need to do that with these strings. Now it depends upon which location is the most convenient to reach from my hand position at the time. I'm on my 4th year with these strings and they still sound great! By the way you can get them right here at the Talkbass store.
For what it’s worth, I have the light gauge tapes and not knowing if I’d like them or not, I didn’t file the nut. Even after I decided I loved them I haven’t filed any nut that I’ve put them on. I’ve kept an eye on them but there’s no visible signs of binding and my tuning stability has been rock solid. Not saying your results will be the same, just that it’s possible to dip your toes in before diving straight in.
My fretless RA was a 32” scale, and Rob helped me order the medium length set of copper whites for it. Tomorrow I’ll dig up my paperwork and see if that’s exactly what I ordered for my 33” scale Muck.
edit: I think it might have been the 6 string set, though. I run most of mine E-C these days, and I don’t think they make that in a 5 string set. Either way, I’ve been using the B-G strings on my 33” scale and had no significant intonation issues or need to adjust the nut. But I perform sporadically these days, so no real workout on them this year.
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I’ve only used La Bella black and whites on my acoustic bass. Liked the sound of both but found the whites a bit too floppy on the short/medium scale (about 31 or 32” IIRC). Settled on the blacks. Here’s how it sounds through a flat MarkBass amp on a lockdown video we did for church last year - recorded just on the camera’s internal mic.
I've tried quite a few sets of tapes (though only the blacks in the LaBella camp) but one important distinction to make, also the reason why D'Addarios are my favorite, is that they have a soft satin kind of finish to them. Most other nylon tapes (all the others I've tried) have a shiny finish that does actually give them a little bit of audible plasticky "clack", depending on your bass; more noticeable with single coils and generally brighter sounding basses. I would think a piezo would also emphasize the clicking and clacking.
The D'Addarios just feel and play the best to me. Surely a hair darker in tone than a lot of others, but they don't have the clack. That said, I may be the only one bothered by this, but considering they're one of the cheaper options, I'd say they're well worth giving a try.
The D'Addarios just feel and play the best to me. Surely a hair darker in tone than a lot of others, but they don't have the clack. That said, I may be the only one bothered by this, but considering they're one of the cheaper options, I'd say they're well worth giving a try.
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I did the same on a P bass to get a young player going. Wanted something easy to play on. For me, they were a bit too floppy when using light gauge, but not something you couldn't get used to. I've also played them at regular gauge and prefer that.
@LowEndLobster put LaBella black tapes on an Affirma. I think he played slap on it too. Might be a good resource to hear the sound comparison (at least on that bass. it's a bit unique)
Interesting? I've use Rotosounds since the 80s and never got a thud sound? Maybe it's the instrument.
I am not a big tapewound fan, so please take my comments with a grain of salt. I have tried two types: Labella Black Nylons and DR Black Beauties. I thought the DRs felt better, sounded better and played more evenly than the Labellas. In the TRothwell scale, I would say the DRs are brighter than Labella Black, but cannot opine on where they sit in relation to the other Labella offerings. In both instances they were used on a 34” scale acoustic bass.
PS - I believe the DR Black Beauties are simply coated DR Hi Beams, but could be wrong.
PS - I believe the DR Black Beauties are simply coated DR Hi Beams, but could be wrong.
Yes. You will have to get a new nut if you go back to conventional strings. You are correct: due to the 32-inch scale having approximately 12% less tension on the strings than a regular 34-inch scale bass, they flop, light or regular gauge. I do not recommend nylon tape strings for any shorter scale, Sir Macca to the contrary notwithstanding.
Im a brand new rounds guy but I do have one J bass strung with flats and my Sekova EB-3 strung with tapes, both for recording purposes only if needed.....the Sekova is strung with D'Addario...while Im certainly no expert on tapes, I do feel that their purpose to minimize harmonic structure in the string itself really makes whichever string you decide on splitting hairs providing the string is from a reputable manufacturer imho
Fair -- I'm not sure I would really describe it as "thud" either; I was using the same terms as the original poster. Maybe "darker", "boomier"?
