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What has a brighter tone, tapewound or flatwound strings?
- Thread starter Sean775
- Start date
Tapes are brighter than flats. There's a great explanation of the construction of both types on bassstringsonline.com
I'm glad that was answered so definitively!
The first 2 basses here - a Carvin LB-20 and a Rogue VB-100 - both have tape wounds on them. La Bella Black Tapes on the Carvin, Roto 88s on the Rogue. The last 2 - Fender P-Bass and an Epi EA-260 - both have flat wounds. Fender Flats on the Fender, La Bella DTFs on the Epi. Notice that there is a solid body, and a hollow body, in each pair. So, in this group, which is the brighter string, given that none of these strings are really what you'd call "Bright"? From brightest to darkest:1. The Fender flats on the P-Bass. Some flats are brighter than these; most are at least a little darker; but, here, they're the brightest string.
2. The 10+ y/o La Bellas on the Epiphone. No one would ever accuse them of being bright, but, in this sample, they're a slightly less shade of Dark..
3. The Rotosound 88 Tapes on the Rogue. Very woody and dark, but still very articulate. IMO, THIS is what a violin bass should sound like..
4. The La Bella Black Tapes on the Carvin. To be fair, they're the 65-135's from a 5-string set, and strung BEAD. But, dark? They sound like they're way down at the bottom of a deep, deep well...
The thing to remember, though, is that these are my basses, played through my amp, and heard with my ears. YMMV, etc. .....
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From my experience, tapewounds are brighter than flatwounds. I have tried La Bella black tapewounds, which are supposed to be the darkest of their tapewound sets. They are definitely brighter than La Bella's flatwound (760FL) set. To me, tapewounds sound like round wounds with the very top end frequency removed. And they do not even come close to having the level of thump that flatwounds have.
It depends on which tapes & which flats.
I've found Cobalt flats to be brighter than tapes I've tried.
I've found Cobalt flats to be brighter than tapes I've tried.
Some flats are brighter than other flats.
Some tapes are brighter than other tapes.
Some flats are brighter than some tapes.
Some tapes are brighter than some flats.
So, it all depends on which flats and which tapes you're comparing as to which is brighter. Clear as mud.
Some tapes are brighter than other tapes.
Some flats are brighter than some tapes.
Some tapes are brighter than some flats.
So, it all depends on which flats and which tapes you're comparing as to which is brighter. Clear as mud.
Rotosound are actually rounds underneath, i got curious once and autopsied a set
- Oct 18, 2012
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Thomastik Infeld flats are incredible strings, they can be somewhat bright and get that "jaco" tone with harmonics really well. On my fretless here - a real nice string for that instrument. Ti JF344 is the model... $75 for a 4 string set and worth every penny.
Depends. Chromes and Cobalts are pretty bright sounding flats. But tapes are generally brighter. The LaBella White Nylon series are probably the brightest sounding tapewounds I’m aware of.
Above all they'll be bright in different places. New flats and inherently bright flats have a metallic chime to them that most nylon tapewounds don't come with. Tapes are generally growlier than flatwounds though: spikier, less tame in some midrange band or the other.
IME.
IME.
