Tried out Rotosound 88 nylons (short scale)

[megatrav]

About a month ago I picked up a SBMM short scale StingRay bass.
It’s a killer bass! Light weight, comfy, pretty balanced, and it sounded great with the round wounds that were on it.

I primarily play at church so I wanted to experiment with some flats or nylon tape wounds on it.

I got lucky and a guy had an unopened set of short scale Rotosound 88s in Marketplace for $20!

I have had them on the bass for a few weeks and I’m not sure if they sound the best with this bass. The bass is passive and has a 3 way rotary for series/split/parallel. I also use an HX Stomp which has a large variety of tonal options.
I’m not sure what I was expecting but I guess I imagined deep low end and smooth top and feel. I was thinking they would make the bass better suited for church music (primarily acoustic and piano accompaniment) and less of a driving rock tone. It seems like they are pretty dead sounding. They have the thuddy sound associated with tapes but they lack character. I’ve tried a variety of amp models, compressors, and EQ. I can do a lot with those options but the mid range is still weird.
They are also far stiffer than I was expecting.

At this point, I’m not sure if I should consider flats or go back to rounds. Or possibly try different tapes?

I play with my fingers vs a pick to keep the attack softer and fit the more mellow band sound.

What do you guys think? What’s been your experience?

 

[pingvuiini]

Try D'Addario black tapes. They have a tiny bit of roundwound zing to them, perhaps even enough to slap with. They are also very smooth and absolutely dead quiet when moving your fingers around. And cheap too!

 

[megatrav]

Try D'Addario black tapes. They have a tiny bit of roundwound zing to them, perhaps even enough to slap with. They are also very smooth and absolutely dead quiet when moving your fingers around. And cheap too!

I thought about those or LaBellas.
Brighter would probably work better with the pickups

 

[ajkula66]

If you need bright tapes, La Bella White Nylons are the way to go.

 

[GIBrat51]

About a month ago I picked up a SBMM short scale StingRay bass.
It’s a killer bass! Light weight, comfy, pretty balanced, and it sounded great with the round wounds that were on it.

I primarily play at church so I wanted to experiment with some flats or nylon tape wounds on it.

I got lucky and a guy had an unopened set of short scale Rotosound 88s in Marketplace for $20!

I have had them on the bass for a few weeks and I’m not sure if they sound the best with this bass. The bass is passive and has a 3 way rotary for series/split/parallel. I also use an HX Stomp which has a large variety of tonal options.
I’m not sure what I was expecting but I guess I imagined deep low end and smooth top and feel. I was thinking they would make the bass better suited for church music (primarily acoustic and piano accompaniment) and less of a driving rock tone. It seems like they are pretty dead sounding. They have the thuddy sound associated with tapes but they lack character. I’ve tried a variety of amp models, compressors, and EQ. I can do a lot with those options but the mid range is still weird.
They are also far stiffer than I was expecting.

At this point, I’m not sure if I should consider flats or go back to rounds. Or possibly try different tapes?

I play with my fingers vs a pick to keep the attack softer and fit the more mellow band sound.

What do you guys think? What’s been your experience?

Well...
If they don't work for you, then they don't - and you should try something else. For me, personally?
I use the Roto 88m's on two basses - and I like them very, very much. But, I have them on basses that are very different from your bass...
One is a '90s MIK Rogue VB-100 violin bass. Pretty much the equal of a Hofner CT 500/1 - but without the center block. On the VB-100, they tuned up and intonated with no problem whatsoever - which is unusual with basses that have floating bridges and trapeze tailpieces (I know; I own several of them). Roto88's are known as the darkest tapes around, but on a violin bass? They are dark, but... very deep, and very woody - which IMO, is what a violin bass is supposed to sound like. They've been on that bass for over 15 years, now. I like them very much; Sir Paul seems to like them on his Hofner, too... And his Rickenbacker, as well...
The other bass is a custom made Canadian bass - a 32" scale, '93 Fury Anthem lined fretless bass. It's custom-wound pickups are intended for tape wound strings only; and, to sound as much like an upright bass as possible. Which, with the Roto88m's, it very, very much does.
So... yeah, roto 88's are the darkest tapes around. And, yeah; they're pretty stiff, too. They work a lot better when they're played with a pick, though - which is how I play them. The tone is not nearly as muddy when you use a pick. And, yes, there are tapes that sound a lot brighter than the Rotos. La Bella's line of White Tapes might be a better choice for you. I'm about to try them on a bass, myself. But, any other tapes - like D'Addarios, or La Bella Black Tapes - are also pretty dark sounding, so... pay your money, and take your chances...

 

[TN WOODMAN]

I have Tru 88s on my ‘65 Rivoli semi hollow body. On my solid body basses my go to tapewound are GHS. I have Fender tapes on a fretless . The Fender have a good tone but rougher texture compared to the others.

 

[iiipopes]

My experiences:
1) The Rotosound G string is too tight and is hard to play. On the acoustic-electric bass I had them on I changed out the Rotosound G string for a La Bella regular gauge black tape string, which improved tone and feel.
2) D'Addario, especially in the short scale, are too floppy. Underneath the nylon tape, which adds about 15 thou to the diameter of the string but no additional tension, is the same as a 35-90 set of conventional rounds; wayyyyy too floppy for a short scale bass.
3) I have tried the Fender. I agree: too rough, and light tension.
4) GHS had a different tone than expected. But the set I had was some years ago before GHS changed the formulation. I will have to try them again at some point.
5) The best compromise I have found after trying just about all of the domestically reasonably available tape wound strings is a set of La Bella regular gauge, 60-115, in the scale length required. Similar dark tone, if not just as dark as the Rotos, but with better feel, definition, and balance. I have these on a mid-scale bass with good stability, tone, and feel. Again, because the nylon tape adds about 15 thou to the diameter without any increase in tension, these strings have about the same tension as a set of 45-100 regular rounds underneath the nylon tape. Somewhere in the past is a thread where I go into excruciating detail of having dissected dead strings and compared everything I could get my hands on.

 

[megatrav]

My experiences:
1) The Rotosound G string is too tight and is hard to play. On the acoustic-electric bass I had them on I changed out the Rotosound G string for a La Bella regular gauge black tape string, which improved tone and feel.
2) D'Addario, especially in the short scale, are too floppy. Underneath the nylon tape, which adds about 15 thou to the diameter of the string but no additional tension, is the same as a 35-90 set of conventional rounds; wayyyyy too floppy for a short scale bass.
3) I have tried the Fender. I agree: too rough, and light tension.
4) GHS had a different tone than expected. But the set I had was some years ago before GHS changed the formulation. I will have to try them again at some point.
5) The best compromise I have found after trying just about all of the domestically reasonably available tape wound strings is a set of La Bella regular gauge, 60-115, in the scale length required. Similar dark tone, if not just as dark as the Rotos, but with better feel, definition, and balance. I have these on a mid-scale bass with good stability, tone, and feel. Again, because the nylon tape adds about 15 thou to the diameter without any increase in tension, these strings have about the same tension as a set of 45-100 regular rounds underneath the nylon tape. Somewhere in the past is a thread where I go into excruciating detail of having dissected dead strings and compared everything I could get my hands on.

Thank you for the detailed reply with your first hand experience.
Labella black and white nylons intrigue me. It’s an expensive rabbit hole to go down.
I also have a feeling (perhaps wrong) that since this SBMM is passive, the darker tone doesn’t really work with it.

I have a medium scale j-style bass and I bet nylons (black or white LaBellas) would be a better fit for it.

Nothing against Rotosound. I bet they would be killer on a hollow/semi-hollow bass

 

[iiipopes]

Thank you for the detailed reply with your first hand experience.
Labella black and white nylons intrigue me. It’s an expensive rabbit hole to go down.
I also have a feeling (perhaps wrong) that since this SBMM is passive, the darker tone doesn’t really work with it.

I have a medium scale j-style bass and I bet nylons (black or white LaBellas) would be a better fit for it.

Nothing against Rotosound. I bet they would be killer on a hollow/semi-hollow bass

Yes, I suggest the white tapes if you want a slightly brighter (in the context of tapewound strings) tone. The problem is that they do not come in medium scale, only short and long. Yes, Sir Macca used Rotosound 88's on one of his Hofners during some of the Abbey Road album sessions to great effect: round, dark, but still with presence. Remember that for the Hofner he would have had to use a medium scale string, due to the distance between the bridge and the string anchor. That set still has the too-tight 65, however.