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TapeWound Club~Anyone?

Closest you’ll get for both is TI Jazz flats. Low tension and pretty smooth. One of the brightest sounding flats out there and very flexible/ low tension

if you prefer rounds - I really like dr pure blues and ghs round core boomers. I haven’t tried TI jazz rounds but hear the are excellent and also very low tension/flexible.

Do you happen to know if the TI rounds have silk and how long they last? I thought they’d be cheaper than the flats… $75 is expensive for rounds.
 
Do you happen to know if the TI rounds have silk and how long they last? I thought they’d be cheaper than the flats… $75 is expensive for rounds.

it is a lot and probably why I haven’t tried them yet. Flats last a long time so I can justify it but I don’t know how long those rounds last.

personally I find my rounds last longer than most - I don’t need all the zing some people do. My DR pure blues are over a year old and still have way more zing than my flats and I’m on the TIs which are pretty bright for flats.

saw a thread in here where people who have tried the TI rounds absolutely love them. I will eventually try them but for now I have no first hand experience. I’m sure if you search TI rounds - you’ll get some first hand feedback on them.
 
it is a lot and probably why I haven’t tried them yet. Flats last a long time so I can justify it but I don’t know how long those rounds last.

personally I find my rounds last longer than most - I don’t need all the zing some people do. My DR pure blues are over a year old and still have way more zing than my flats and I’m on the TIs which are pretty bright for flats.

saw a thread in here where people who have tried the TI rounds absolutely love them. I will eventually try them but for now I have no first hand experience. I’m sure if you search TI rounds - you’ll get some first hand feedback on them.

Do you think the La Bella Low Tension Flats may be a better option than the TI Jazz Flats on the basis that the 750T and the LTF are both SS vs. the TIs are nickel?

Also, may I ask where you buy your strings in Canada? We seem to have so few options and all are quite expensive compared to the US...

Thanks!
 
Do you think the La Bella Low Tension Flats may be a better option than the TI Jazz Flats on the basis that the 750T and the LTF are both SS vs. the TIs are nickel?

Also, may I ask where you buy your strings in Canada? We seem to have so few options and all are quite expensive compared to the US...

Thanks!

Low tensions are great strings, but are much more classic flat, and miss some of that magic that tapewounds have. Great for that flat sound, not so much if you're trying to emulate tapes. Not bad strings at all. I'm just saying it's vannila ice cream vs. chocolate. Different flavor. I read his question like he's looking for french vanilla instead of original. FWIW I have LaBella LTF on a bass, and they're great.

Sorry if yall just got hungry. Ice cream was the best analogy I could think of that everyone would be familiar with.

perhaps a half/ground wound? I haven't tried those though
 
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perhaps a half/ground wound? I haven't tried those though

Usually the ground rounds aren't as smooth as they are not polished after they are ground.

Tapes are definitely their own sound. I think most of that is due to the elimination of the metal on metal fretting sound. Most of the high end attributes that people hate with brighter wire round-wound strings is caused by the fretting contact and release. You can have a bright tape wound and it just sounds like clear crystal "airiness", as evidenced by the 760T's.

I'm curious if an on-board buffer would cure the ground hum for those unfortunate unshielded single coil wielders that enjoy tape wounds.
 
Usually the ground rounds aren't as smooth as they are not polished after they are ground.

Tapes are definitely their own sound. I think most of that is due to the elimination of the metal on metal fretting sound. Most of the high end attributes that people hate with brighter wire round-wound strings is caused by the fretting contact and release. You can have a bright tape wound and it just sounds like clear crystal "airiness", as evidenced by the 760T's.

I'm curious if an on-board buffer would cure the ground hum for those unfortunate unshielded single coil wielders that enjoy tape wounds.

Isn't an on-board buffer be what fixes the grounding issues with tapes + active basses?
 
Isn't an on-board buffer be what fixes the grounding issues with tapes + active basses?

Email John East Preamps. See what they recommend so you can play those tapes. They seem to be industry leaders on preamps that everyone else copies..... Lowendlobster has several videos with a John East pre on a jazz bass. His newest one does. I bet John East could tell you how to fix it quicker than we could.....

I've never used them, but they appear to be top notch.
 
We'll, if it's a ground problem, the opamp could fix it....looks like was unaware of the large meat antenna we are being the issue.

So, for single coils, shielding may diminish the problem, but you will always be an antenna. Without some other device to cancel the noise out of phase, it will always exist to some level.

Wear a grounding strap while playing and you'll be fine...
 
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Do you think the La Bella Low Tension Flats may be a better option than the TI Jazz Flats on the basis that the 750T and the LTF are both SS vs. the TIs are nickel?

Also, may I ask where you buy your strings in Canada? We seem to have so few options and all are quite expensive compared to the US...

Thanks!

a lot of people like the low tension flats but sonically the TI is more mid forward and from what I hear maintains it’s sound longer. My Ltf info is all hearsay however since I haven’t tried them myself.

You could try Prospec in Canada. I usually call them to see if they can move on the price - first time I got a good deal as I was buying a few things but the last time he mentioned costs going up and not much room… never hurts to ask though.

sometimes Amazon US has a deal on the TI under accordion accessories… don’t know how that came to be but with shipping it’s sometimes a better deal…

where are you in Canada? If you are near I will give you the tape needed to do the shielding maybe even coach you through the screwdriver spinning part!
 
I think I really need to get some White Nylon Tapes for my SBMM Ray5. I currently have DR Pure Blues 45-125 on it.

I’ve got a set of the light gauge White Tapes on my Ibanez AEB5E acoustic and I play that with such a gentle touch and get a wonderful tone. With my Ray5 I find myself digging in more and it doesn’t feel great. I think I’d probably stay with the light gauge for my Ray5 because I don’t want to modify the nut. Although I like the idea of just a little more tension. So who knows.

Next time I’ve got some spending money I may order a set.
 
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Not that long... I was experimenting with quite a few types. I had the 760’s in a 4 string set actually found them a tad tight so ordered a set of 750’s for a 5 string fretless I have yet to acquire. I tried dr blues Wooten set (rounds) the boomer round cores and these before trying the TI flats- all my fretted basses now wear the TI but I liked the la Bella’s quite a lot...

Can you comment on the difference in feel between the 750 and 760? Could you compare the 760 to another string in terms of feel?

I’m on the fence. I’ve got 750T White Nylon Tapes on my Ibanez AEB5E acoustic and I really like them. I’m considering the 760T-B or the 750T-B for my SBMM Ray5 and just can’t decide.
 
Can I join? La Bella black nylons on my Inby SRH505F!
20220205_151753.jpg
 
I tried the copper whites, in the smaller gauge to avoid nut work. To me they sound a lot like an acoustic instrument, and very beautiful. I'll remember this.

Next time, when I'm ready to do the nut work, I will try the whites in the larger gauge because I do want to sound like an electric bass. I look forward to it.
 
To me they sound a lot like an acoustic instrument, and very beautiful.
To be clear, I meant that they sound like a nylon stringed acoustic instrument. But no, they don't sound plastiky to me, which I had feared. They sound like a big nylon stringed acoustic guitar, but in the best way, without any rubbery transients.

The larger gauge will have more metal, and I'll try that next.

I will certainly set up one of my basses for this kind of tone, so they get a big plus from me.
 
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Hey tape club! Do you guys think that a preamp like a Sansamp with ground lift would take away the notorious tapewound hum? I just put some tapes on a passive humbucker bass and the local luthier sides with the faction on here that says shielding will help a little but not cure the issue. Was thinking about that before importing a bunch of copper tape (none sold here locally).
 
Hey tape club! Do you guys think that a preamp like a Sansamp with ground lift would take away the notorious tapewound hum? I just put some tapes on a passive humbucker bass and the local luthier sides with the faction on here that says shielding will help a little but not cure the issue. Was thinking about that before importing a bunch of copper tape (none sold here locally).
I would like to put some tapes on a 90s Epiphone Accu-Bass (their P-bass version), but it already hums quite a bit. I wouldn’t want to make it worse. The crazy thing is that I used tapes on a fretless viola bass and I don’t get any hum at all. That’s just a free-standing wood bridge. That one must be grounded at the tailpiece.
 
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maybe this question has been answered in this thread, but if not,
what is a tape wound string?
not its merits/faults but what is it physically?
a string wound with tape?
for total length of neck?
what kind of tape?
and why would you do that to a string?
asking this, with no experience, with the tape wound string.
my string prefs, through the years, have been every string available.
then settled on, and rotated, ground rounds, pressure wounds and flats.
curious about tapes. need education. TBThanks!
 
maybe this question has been answered in this thread, but if not,
what is a tape wound string?
not its merits/faults but what is it physically?
a string wound with tape?
for total length of neck?
what kind of tape?
and why would you do that to a string?
asking this, with no experience, with the tape wound string.
my string prefs, through the years, have been every string available.
then settled on, and rotated, ground rounds, pressure wounds and flats.
curious about tapes. need education. TBThanks!
The tape wound string is like a metal string (it could be a round wound or flat wound) with an additional exterior winding made out of nylon tape.

Why would you do this? Tone and feeling.

The winding very effectively suppresses all parasitic noises that you may hear with a metal wound string (in particular round wound strings produce a lot of annoying parasitic noises). The tone of a tape wound string is much less metallic than other strings. It can be said to be "woody". Those tape wound strings are very smooth and are gentle on your fingers and on a fretless fingerboard. They are used by many fretless players.