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Tapes on a Jazz?


The59Sound

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Hello all,

I have just joined a 70s rock covers band and am thinking of putting flats back on my Jazz. I usually use a Bearfoot Blueberry to get a bit of grit and having flats on the Jazz bass gives me a really nice 'vintage' tone (think JPJ on early Zep records).

I've always been curious about tapes and woud like to know how they differ from flats in feeling, tension and sound. I have no experience playing tapes but thought they would be quite similar to the flats I normally use. My nut has already been filed for thicker gauge strings so fitting tapes shouldn't be a problem.

Any help or advice welcome!

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As a general rule, flatwounds are quite high in tension vs nylon tapewounds which are known for having a much lower tension. I guess the order of string tension from highest to lowest would be flatwounds > roundwounds > tapewounds. If you’re used to flats then tapes will be quite a change!

Edited by CameronJ
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Worth noting that a lot of Tapes can't be strung through-body.....so if you have a US Jazz (or similar) that allows for that, string it through the bridge instead.

But as mentioned, much lower tension than Flats and Rounds. I've become very interested in trying the LaBella Gold White Nylons on my 5 String Lakland, they seem very cool.

Si

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My jazz Flea bass is wearing D’Addario tapewounds. Working for me at the moment. I am an big fan of Chromes but the tapes sound and feel better on the jazz. Chromes on pbass - fretted and fretless. Also look good! Big fan of Herbie’s playing and his bass. No nut adjustment needed with these tapewounds. 

Edited by Mister RLP
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15 minutes ago, The59Sound said:

From what I’ve found online, Rotosound, La Bella, GHS, Fender and D’Addario all make tapewounds. Does anyone here have experience with those on a bass?

Rotos: very heavy gauge, may need nut filing, soft warm sounding, medium tension, yellow silks.

La Bella: slightly narrower gauge, nut should be fine, brighter but still mellow sounding, medium tension, purplish silks.

GHS: slightly heavier gauge, less bright, mellow, red silks.

Fender: Feel more like coated roundwounds than tapes, so rougher feel, medium tension, brighter sounding, black silks.

D'Addario: never tried them but I believe very low tension, blue silks

Pyramid: medium tension, mellow sounding, tape feels almost cloth-like, golden silks.

Probably not very helpful, there's no substitute for trying them all. I don't myself think there's anything wrong with any of them on any bass, it's merely your personal preferences

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Absolutely, tapewounds will sound great on a J. I have D'Addario's on my PJ (as well as 2 other P's) and it sounds really good with the bridge solo'd. They have a really satisfying tone that no other strings can get near, but the way you play and the setup of your bass will determine how much you like them.

If you have a light touch, you may find them too mellow. If you play a bit more dynamically, you will love them. If you play metal, you will hate them, but for anything funk / jazz related they're perfect. Also they're not as close to flats as you'd think, they sound more woody and less metallic than flats or rounds.

I used to have them strung through the body on my fretless and it was never a problem but apparently you shouldn't do that.

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I tried a set of Roto 88s on my 5 string Harley Benton acoustic after the original brass ones were way too zingy, and loved them.  

I then bought another set and put them on a modded Squier P5 I have.  I noticed when gigging with it that there was one song we did with a lot of repeated fast notes in it where it felt like the strings were struggling to keep up with my fingers due to the low tension.  

I normally play fairly high tension flats, so may just be what I'm used to.

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2 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Roto Jazz 77 flats are techically tapewounds according to their website.

 

I just got a set an I'm loving them. They can be bright and brash (Steve Harris' favoured strings) but get nice and old school with the tone down.

Tension is much higher than rounds though - my bass needed a big set up.

All flats are technically 'tapewound',  but with metal tape rather than nylon. As such, flats tend to refer to metal tapes and nylon (be it black, white etc) to nylon tapes.

Si

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