RotoSound, based on my experience. GHS might be another option if they are still in production.
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TapeWound Club~Anyone?
- Thread starter .BumeStik.
- Start date
RotoSound, based on my experience. GHS might be another option if they are still in production.
I liked Chromes the most out of the many flats I've tried. But as soon as I tried D'adarrio tapes I was instantly sold. They felt nearly identical to me in tension and feel to the DR rounds I was used to, had plenty of highs/mid character, lots of thumpy thick lows. Best of all, virtually no string noise and just so easy on the fingers. I play every day (can be hard hitting) and my callouses have nearly disappeared AND I actually get better tone out of my fingertips as a result. All-in-all, I don't think I can ever go back to rounds for use on the daily! I just don't see any benefits. And I feel they actually sound better than rounds for 90% of the playing I do. I'm happy.
I will say though.. I've had my first (or maybe second) string break in all my years of playing last month. The string didn't fully snap but the tape broke on me. It got severed on the witness point at the bridge baseplate (string through) before the string heads over the saddle. Ive heard of this happening... and it happened to me.
I installed some Labella Black Tapewound strings on a Michael Kelly Dragonfly acoustic/electric 5-string fretless back in the 2000's. I used that bass on several recordings, ran it through a Boss AD-5 DI box with moderate compression and got some badass tones. I'm thinking about trying some Gold/White Tapes on my ESP Fretless coffee table bass.
I love the D’Add tapewounds on my MK Dragonfly 4. Have them on my fretless MIM JB and the fretless 4, I finished building last fall.
It'll always depend on the desired sound and the musical context: Bass in a more or less Rock band has different demands as bass in a Jazz band or Solo stuff. For the latter i clearly need brighter tapewounds, i.e. LaBella White tapes, while for (my faible for) Classic Rock the darker sounding Tapewounds really shine.
Let me pick this up:
Can anybody describe the tonal difference between the LaBella black tapes and the white ones, please? I do know the white tapes in all three variants (and would clearly prefer the gold ones if they were still made in short scale). I also do know (and actually use on certain basses!) the Pyramids and the Daddario black tapes. So where do the LaBella Black tapes stand in relation to white tapes and Daddario ETB92?
What i need: sufficient overtones for synthetic flageolet playing at least on D and G, and the warmth that steel strings usually do not have. Plus the smoothness of the tapewound surface. The Daddarios are usually too dark and lack warmth (great strings for powerful oldschool rock, but what i'm currently looking for).
Can anybody describe the tonal difference between the LaBella black tapes and the white ones, please? I do know the white tapes in all three variants (and would clearly prefer the gold ones if they were still made in short scale). I also do know (and actually use on certain basses!) the Pyramids and the Daddario black tapes. So where do the LaBella Black tapes stand in relation to white tapes and Daddario ETB92?
What i need: sufficient overtones for synthetic flageolet playing at least on D and G, and the warmth that steel strings usually do not have. Plus the smoothness of the tapewound surface. The Daddarios are usually too dark and lack warmth (great strings for powerful oldschool rock, but what i'm currently looking for).
There are a lot of posts discussing the relative brightness of various La Bella tapes. Consensus is that white tapes are brightest, then coppers, and then black are the darkest sounding. Wish I could help more but I'm a noob when it comes to tape wounds, I have only recently started dipping my toes into this pool.
Here's one thread that might give you relevant info: La Bella white/copper/gold tapewounds vs. DR Sunbeams
Here's one thread that might give you relevant info: La Bella white/copper/gold tapewounds vs. DR Sunbeams
I have not yet played all 4 La Bella tapes, only the gold and the black. I didn't enjoy the gold much, they were too bright for my taste, sounding too "middle of the road" but that is a very personal thing and others will find much merit in those strings. The black ones are much darker and mellower sounding but not dull, similar to the GHS nylons, but again, that is an acquired taste and some might miss the high end zing.
Here is a basic summary on the La Bellas:
Are the strings depicted have the right silk colors? My Copper White Nylons have black silks on both ball end and tuner end sides.
I never paid attention to this but I just took a peek through the sealed plastic pouch of the copper white, black and gold whites that I have in front of me and they all have black or very dark silk wraps. Maybe earlier on they used different colors, that comparison i posted is years old.
That might be it. I don't know how long La Bella has been making the white nylon series, but despite mine has just been put on no more than a month ago, I got them in 2018. Black/dark color silks they have.
At various times, I’ve had two sets of Fender tapes on three different basses and all of them had horrible dead spots, mostly on the G. Liked the tone otherwise. Not looking to bash, just reporting my experience.
Ductapeman
Ringmaster and Resident Geriatric
I guess I've been asleep, never noticed this topic before-- I've used Rotosound RS55 tapewounds for several decades now on my fretless Jazz, most likely getting into them because I was running RS66es and 77s on my other basses. I ran LaBella heavy flatwounds when I first started playing in 1966-67 when I was a kid, mainly because they were cheap, but they were also the heaviest I could find, and I had this thing about metal-mass in the magnetic field of the pickup (and my Harmony H25 was a piece of crap)-- eventually I figured out that Gauss count and tone were not necessarily the same thing, just about the time the Rotos hit the US market in the late '60s and I've run them ever since. But listening to you lot, I may have to try some LaBellas.Photo is from a refit some years back-- the Jazz was a '64 I bought already badly mauled in the mid-70s, still has the original control electrics and bridge pickup, I played that beast until some of the frets are actually below the fretboard, and slapped a Warmoth neck with ebony board on it, and it has been a happy combination-- the bridge pickup has been in the Circasssian walnut body next to the Jazz, which was made for me by an old friend many years before Boogie Body or Warmoth. It has a '65 Precision neck and pickup on it in about the same shape as the Jazz neck, thanks to a decades-long diet of Roto roundwounds, and has had a number of pickup combinations over the years. I would give up a kidney before I parted with either of them.
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Does someone know these strings - they were originally mounted on my AGB, but the previous owner did not remember the brand. Long scale strings on a tiny short scale AGB... (that's why i took them off in favour of Pyramit black nylons.)
I definitely know it is neither LaBella, Pyramid, GHS nor Daddario because i have used all of these (the black LaBellas not on one of my own basses). The silk is black, btw., and the ball ends are not color coded.
What brands remain? Fender? Rotosound?
Please note the reflecting and "hard" surface; these strings are less smooth than the others
BTW: the Warwick tapes look iand feel dentical, but they are not - too young and those below are steel under the nylon wrap, and the Warwicks are bronce strings. The ones below are steel round wounds under the cover.
I definitely know it is neither LaBella, Pyramid, GHS nor Daddario because i have used all of these (the black LaBellas not on one of my own basses). The silk is black, btw., and the ball ends are not color coded.
What brands remain? Fender? Rotosound?
Please note the reflecting and "hard" surface; these strings are less smooth than the others
BTW: the Warwick tapes look iand feel dentical, but they are not - too young and those below are steel under the nylon wrap, and the Warwicks are bronce strings. The ones below are steel round wounds under the cover.
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Based on the shininess and the silk color, these are very likely to be Fenders.
Quick verification help: would the D'Addario medium-scale Tapewound ETB92M set fit a string thru-body Mustang bass (34" ball-end to silk)?
I generally use La Bella 760F-MUS (.043, .060, .082, .104). First time trying tapewounds... it seems that D'Addario ETB92M would be a good first set to try.
If you play a short-scale, string thru-body bass (34" ball-end to silk), what tapewound set is your preferred one?
I generally use La Bella 760F-MUS (.043, .060, .082, .104). First time trying tapewounds... it seems that D'Addario ETB92M would be a good first set to try.
If you play a short-scale, string thru-body bass (34" ball-end to silk), what tapewound set is your preferred one?
If the neck length is a 30.0", I would think the ETB92M (medium) may be a better fit. I had a Mustang through the body a few years ago, and I think I used the ETB92M on it, and it was a good fit.
