Which bass for tapewounds?

[roccobass]

Welcome to the fabulous world of tapes!

Do note that tapes will probably be noisy with passive instruments, so you might want to look into an active bass. Something about your fingers not touching the metal of the string but the nylon and grounding.

Hmm. That’s good to know. No way to get around that? All my Jazz passive pickups are hum canceling Barts.

 

[rodl2005]

Hmm. That’s good to know. No way to get around that? All my Jazz passive pickups are hum canceling Barts.

I've not found this on regular magnetic pup passive or active basses , but have heard it may be a problem on piezo equipped ones

 

[Just Wrong]

I've not found this on regular magnetic pup passive or active basses , but have heard it may be a problem on piezo equipped ones

I had two Fender Custom Shops, a '64 Jazz and '63 Precision, and both were noisy with: D'Addario Tapes, La Bella White tapes and Black tapes and Pyramid tapes. The Jazz more so than the Precision. They weren't noisy with rounds and flats.

I don't know if the hum cancelling helps? Maybe ask in the Tapewound club thread?

 

[MegaSwing]

IME, on a passive instrument, if you roll off most of your highs with the tone pot, you won’t have any noise. But you won’t have any definition either.

 

[johnh89]

I've not found this on regular magnetic pup passive or active basses , but have heard it may be a problem on piezo equipped ones

No problem on my piezo J bass . Nothing in a piezo to pick up hum .

 

[MasterMonkeyMan]

It's an Overhead Bass by Journey Instruments. It has a carbon fiber body, a removable neck, and it fits into a backpack small enough to fit in airplane overhead. 27" scale, but surprisingly deep and resonant. I haven't seen that anyone else is playing one with tape wound strings, but to my ears they are perfect for this instrument. It's got a vibe!

Just looked them up. Might get in trouble now!

 

[bryansells]

Thanks for the good discussion, y'all. FWIW, your responses have convinced me that any old P bass would probably do if I want a sound like the one in Janek's video. But I'm also pretty tempted to throw them on a Hofner Beatle bass. I suspect that tapes would sound quite different but still good on one of those.

I'm not about to remove the flats from my FCS P bass to try tapes. I might remove the rounds on my Tacoma Thunderchief to try them on that, but I'm not sure that that will really scratch my itch.

 

[rodl2005]

Fender tapes sound great on a P bass..... just saying

 

[Ely Lyonblum]

Just put La Bella tapes on my F Bass AC5 - sounds extraordinary with the mag and piezo pickups!

 

[T-boneParish]

Just put La Bella tapes on my F Bass AC5 - sounds extraordinary with the mag and piezo pickups!

Bass porn

 

[skwee]

on anything!