Tapewound vs Flatwound Strings on Fender P Bass
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- Опубликовано: 1 мар 2019
- Comparison of Fender 9120 Nylon Tapewound bass strings, vs Rotosound Jazz Bass RS77 LE Flatwounds.
To me the recorded sound is very similar, but the feel is completely different... the tapes are really low tension, whereas those heavy gauge flats feel super tight and made my truss rod cry during set up.
The tapes are more enjoyable to play. The downside is some unwanted fret/finger noise.
Gear used:
- Bass: Fender American Standard Precision Bass
- Guitar: Squier Classic Vibe 50s tele
- Keyboard: Roland FP90
- Recording: iPad + iRig + GarageBand
- Camera: Sony A500
- Editing: iMovie (MacBook Air)
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When isolated the tapewound strings sound nicer, but in the context of a mix I think I prefer the low-mid thickness of the flatwounds.
I like how the tapewound still has a little punch.
The LaBella tapewounds are much brighter than these, they almost sound like rounds just don't have that super bright highs
White Labella forever ❤️
I think tapewounds have more punch but I don't like the clickiness. The string just is too noisy, while the flats make a really nice warm and solid steady tone. Ideally the flats could have a bit more attack. For my taste.
*Tapewounds secretly being Roundwound with an extra "tape" wrapping.*
@@MartialdjsHudsonJeanMDH Do all tapewounds manufacturers do the same thing, rounds with tape wrapping? I know the LaBella are constructed this way, but what about the other brands?
I've been looking for a video like this for ages. Great comparison
Great comparison, exactly what people want when trying to decide, thanks for sharing. Nice playing and cool groove too.
Killing playing dude! Loving the sounds
The sound of those tapes is lovely, and they have been intreguing me a while now, also that first bassline is so cool sounding i love it!!
Excellent video- well done Jules... The best video for choosing flats or Tape's on a P bass...
This was shot and edited really well good work
Cool vintage vibes
Great video. Best example of flats vs tape on RUclips!
I could listen to that all day, great sound and great playing
I like them both! Hard to tell the difference.
Great video could listen to you play all day.
For a bass player, the deciding factor is going to be the substantial difference between the feel of the strings, because the differences between the two sounds (at least to my ears) are so subtle that nobody, even bass geeks, would ever be able to tell while listening live or to a recording, which is which.
Tapes and flats are pretty similar, but it’s pretty easy to tell if rounds are being used
They do sound and indeed feel really different
Tape wound : clunky attack , short decay
Flat wound : darker , smoother attack , longer sustain
They do sound and indeed feel really different
Tape wound : clunky attack , short decay
Flat wound : darker , smoother attack , longer sustain
found it interesting on this video at least that the tapewounds had more finger noise, when they're always described as having 0 finger noise. probably due to their overall sound being slightly brighter than flats.
@@rchrd3353 I would not say you get finger noises with tape wounds but you definitely get more fret noises than you get with flats . This what give them this 60s clicky attack if played with a pick
I have US Fender PB5 with flats on it. It is the best "band" tone and so inspiring to play the way, we were supposed to play in a first play :-). Great playing skills here in the video.
I heard them with headphones, and I can say that I notice 2 things:
1)tapewounds are punchier and darker that flats
2) yet, flats have a little more definition
Yup. I have a new set of Da'D Chromes and La Bella Tapes. Deciding which to put on my '08 Am St P-5, Cola/Maple. More for finger tip comfort. And I know either will sound good.
@@ernieD I've read a few comments about Tapes not removing string frequency hum because the player isn't acting as an earth (or ground depending on your terminology), have you experienced any issues like this?
I'm considering a set and would be interested to know if you found any down sides
@@Bertanerny yes, that's indeed a problem with tapes.
There’s a beefier presence in the mid lows on the flats and a bit more bite on top with the tapes to my ears. Definitely prefer the flats.
Really good review. I liked how you didn't forget about pick players
4 out of 5 of my Fender basses are currently strung with either flatwounds or tapewounds. I simply put 'em on and leave 'em on forever. They sound even better the more worn in they get over time. I only keep fresh roundwounds on my single Jazz bass. Back in the 80s I ONLY played roundwounds and even though I would routinely boil them in an effort to keep them as bright as possible as long as possible, I still spent hundreds annually. Honestly, the primary reason I only played through cheap combo amps that entire decade was because of how much money I spent on strings. I could of had a GK or a Trace Elliot if it wasn't for how much money I wasted on my bright Rotosound rounds obsession. Thank God I finally discovered James Jamerson and my entire attitude about bass tone was changed forever.
@craigdamage - Ha! I remember boiling my Rotosound roundwounds to get a longer life outta them… I thought I was alone in that regard - or just one among a very few!
@@danopticon james jameson used to do that because the junk kept the funk I have. 3 basses. With wireround flatwound and tapewound for different tones and a lot of the time I use my semiacoustic bass that has flatwound strings and I almost get a double bass sound with the strings it is good to have different types of strings to get different types of tones on the bass
I always preferred flat rounds for multiple reasons. Your experience gave me a lightbulb moment on perhaps why all new basses ALWAYS ship with round wounds. I bet it's instill that preference in the player, in order to SELL them a recurring stream of new bass strings. It's the time honored "FOLLOW THE MONEY".
Nice playing BTW..... I just moved over to Tapewounds on my fretless and I am loving them so much I am thinking of putting them on all my basses....
Superb demo
Lowkey love the tapewounds with pick tone
I think the tapewounds sound best in a low volume situation where the subtleties can be heard. The Flatwounds have more bite for real-life gigs.
Thanks for the demos...great help. BTW thank you so much for not compressing the life out of the kick...it sounds great although a sample lib. Im sure the bass/string match has a lot to do with it...Im looking for a double bass kind of tone (micd). Cheers
I like both!!
No fuss, no muss, great tunes and great playing, thank you!
Tape with a pick sounded better than expected.
Thanks for including finger+pick and foam muting.
Great sound comparo !!!
Nice clean playing. Thanks!
Really nice playing
Nice skills!
Man I love how warm and (good) mushy those tape-wounds are
I think for old school that more lo fi blending in the low end where it isn't entirely clear is so pleasant sounding
They both are
I hear from some people that tapewound strings have no warmth... I don't hear what they're referring to at all lmao they both sound great. Tapewounds seem better for melodic lines, flatwounds are probably better for more low-end type bass lines, especially for folks that like motown type stuff. Thanks for the vid!
I had tapes on my P for a long time. Tapes put far less tension on the neck than flats and sound pretty much identical.
My dad got me started on flatwounds but seriously want to try some tapewounds.
Thanx great job 💥🙏
Love the quick back and forth. There is s clear difference. Flatwounds for me. The Tapewounds are slightly deadened. But with many basses, I'll eventually string one with tape wounds for versatility.
Very close but I have to say the flats are a shade deeper and darker. Little more punch and brightness with the tapewounds. I play classic rock only so the flats are the first choice.
Nice video and play
I like the sound of the tapes more, so beautifully warm
Nice comparison and a breath of fresh air to have a video without a lot of some dude talking into the camera 😂
Flat. All day. (I have a set of Half-rounds on my 6string bass, but have never put a set of half-rounds on the Pbass...) we need more half-round to flat and tape comparisons. :) thumbs up on great video!
I listened twice and with my eyes closed I really couldn't tell which was which. I've had tape wound strings before and i really like them because they're so smooth feeling. I only play flatwound strings and La Bells Deep Talkin', in my opinion, are the smoothest, best flatwounds that you can buy...aside from tapewounds.
Great!
Thank you for the demonstration. The flatwounds are clearly sounding much better.
To my ears the tape wounds have a little more clank to the attack of the strings. Great comparison! Cheers!
Hi!! great sounding there, question here those black nylon from fender. did you have to wide the nut? or they fit just ok to P bass, having Fender 70 and dont really want tot mess with nut widening. thanks
Hi Tomas. For me they fit fine. In any case the tension is low and easy to play, so not as essential to get perfect nut set up compared to flats. I have tried these strings on a couple of basses when I want that sound, but always go back to rounds, so wouldn’t recut the nut unless I was keeping them on permanently.
The flats have more punch, definitely - and the incidentals aren’t so loud as with the tape-wounds.
Flatwounds Baby!!!
Hi there. Can you please tell me if using a pick on tapewounds will (eventually) destroy the strings? Thanks!
Great video. But as a tapewound string lover, my experience has been that Fender tapewounds are the worst. If you're thinking of trying them, get the D'Addario, the RotoSound or the LaBella. All of them are far superior to the Fenders IMO.
I agree. Rotosound's tapes sound and feel much better than Fender's.
Which are the better brand?
@@oliverbentancour IMO D'Addario, RotoSound and La Bella are all high quality and very similar. But Fender's version has a very thin nylon coating that isn't much better than black paint.
@@oldbridgemaker2094 thanks
i just tried d'addario as my first tapes and was quite disappointed. the silk windings were all frayed, and the nylon wrappings had a lot of inconsistencies/see through spots. but besides the poor quality (may have got a bad set, it happens) ..they also just sounded kinda meh . kinda just like rounds with the tone rolled off.. but at max tone.. and completely useless with the tone actually rolled off. i'd say get flats for the dark/thumpy sound and rounds for the bright/buzzy sound.. tapes are the worst of both combined.. at least the d'addario i tried.
I keep forgetting to compare the groove is sos good
Get a room !
Flat for me. By the way, this bass looks gorgeous
Will tapewound strings wear out faster than flat strings? (especially with a pick)... do the nylon tape wear out?
That first bass is great.
I have tape wound on my Jazz and MusicMan and flats on my P.
This video gives me vulfpeck vibes
Motown vibes for me during the foam mutes
Can you do a tapewound on a fretless accoustic bass vs. flatwound on a headless fretted with distortion?
whats that gonna achieve exactly???
What is that he has between the bridge and the pickups?
Haven't played bass in years but looking to get back into it. Haven't played in probably 10 years. Fender J-bass btw.
I recall switching to flatwounds near the end of my playing, I just liked the smoother quicker feel. Played a lot of classic rock, some Rush, Yes, that type of stuff. These days I want to get back into it and veer more into more metal technical playing.
That being said, this video is really cool (I'd never even heard of tapewound, but to be honest I don't hear a _huge_ difference between the two). I also completely forgot about gauges.
Any advice for someone with a fender J looking to play some rock/metal decide between flats or tapes?
Tapes have much lower tension, so if you’re playing more aggressive styles could feel flabby. I’d say Flatwound are more suitable, but max 100 gauge on a Jazz.
Tapes will never work for metal unless you're looking for an early Tom Araya sound. Flats would be the better choice of the two but still not the best option for metal, I'd look at a set of GHS or Rotosound roundwound nickels to start with.
You could also look at stainless if you really want that Metal "clank" sound, especially if you play with a pick.
I have used all sorts but have settled on DR Hi Beams or Lo Riders. They sound immense for everything. I also use the DR Black Beauty strings on my 74 Gibson Grabber as their tone really suit that instrument. All DR strings feel beautiful under the fingers too. Expensive but worth it. Good luck in your search
@@JulesGuitar Why max 100 gauge? Are you referring to max 100 gauge for the tapes? Otherwise I’m extra confused due to that being light for a jazz bass. (I have no pretensions about knowing anything, just curious)
@@profile2047 i mean max 100 gauge for flats, because the tension is higher and with jazz having a thin neck heavier gauges can make it hard to keep the neck straight enough. The tapes have much, much lower tension, so 115 will be fine.
A P-bass with some flats and a mute and I’m a happy chicken.
So Flats seems to have a tad more low mids and the Tapes a bit more brightness but to me .. on this vid atleast.. it's not night and day. So what would be the benefit of one over the other ? I'm mainly a flatwound person but i'm intrigued by the tapes. Great playing BTW
Tapes have much lower tension and feel looser to play, which I like.
Bravo Jules! Is this the stock pickup?
Yes, everything stock
What MODEL si a bass ? Thanks !
What about tape covered flatwounds?
Tight and right...
Do the tapes really cause a noise problem? Because you don't contact the steel directly?
Definitely more noise than the flats... party because of greater treble response picking up fingers and party because low tension allows more movement. To me they always sound best with tone control rolled off.
Flatwounds!
Sorta hard to hear a big difference.
you can dig in with tapes and get some nice expression, not so much with flats. You can hear that at points in these demos. More expressive
What are the songs you played?
just my own creations
The flatwounds sound a bit flat. The tapewound sound punchier, but only slightly.
I personally find it hard to like tape wounds :/ both looks and sound of flats sound cleaner and smoother
I think that Tapewound str produce a better deep sound with a lot of tension. But I can say that they both sound pretty good...
Tapewounds sound noisy against the fretboard.
I want to learn to play like this, with a pick
What bridge are you using on that bass?
It's the standard fender USA high mass bridge
What amp do you have and what tone is it on
Hi, I didn't actually use an amp - for this video I plugged straight into the iPad headphone socket with an iRig, then used 'Clean DI' preset in GarageBand.
I've watched this video 30 times. I hope an archeologist will find it in 500 years, so that he can see some of us were worth something.
Intonation of the tapewound seems much better.
Great demo ! That first riff is nice.
I've had Rotosound "Jazz RS77" in medium 45-105 on a P-Bass but never grew to like them ; rough (for flats) and have a really high tension (even for flats).
If I try them again it'll be the light set 40-100 ; I can't imagine how tight the 50-110 set must be...
May I ask what in what your bass was made ? Post-2014 ? (upgraded pickups)
Thanks for commenting! My bass is 2009, with the plain old non custom shop pickups. You're right about the tension, really tight to play and challenging to set the neck relief.
tape wounds, fretless p bass...
I'd like to try tape wounds, fretless p bass, slide and some heavy overdrive :D
To my ears the tape-wound have a sort of "fuzzy tone".
Steve Jobs is a sick bass player
What's that you put on the bridge? :0 seems like a toy part or a sponge
Yes, it’s part of a sponge.... helps to create an old school vibe as many Motown style players use similar
It mimics the old fender bridge covers
Jules Guitar what kind of sponge do you use? I recently learned that in the original fenders it was motor foam because it was dense and had rubber in it.
I'm just using a cut up sponge made for washing dishes
I'm using the sponge part that comes with a Gruv Gear Fret Wrap. I simply cut the strap off then used the sponge part, inserting it at the bridge of my S2 Classic 5 Strings Headless Status Graphite Bass
Which is last longer? Steel or nylon?
The flatwounds will last many many years, albeit with a dull thud type sound (but that's what most people buy them for).
@@JulesGuitar i thought tapewound will be long last than flatwound. Hehe
I have Rotosound tapes from the 70s that still sound good!
Flatwounds are better and more versatile. Pick, slap and pop sound better. I will be buying some Ernie Ball cobalt flatwounds that are more bright.
Basically no difference. I have a bass guitar with flats and a bass guitar with tapes. I like the feel of tapewounds better but sound-wise, there is not enough difference to care.
I think the tape wound strings sound better.
Optima Golds..... :))))
With the flatwounds that G string sounded like somebody kicked a goose.
Flatwounds is better. Nice video
They're good for fingerstyle, as what I've heard and seen and tried a bit, Flatewounds won't bend, So I guess it's a bit of a compromise when it comes to playing.
thicker Tapewounds are the best of both worlds. 60-115 ;) phattttt!!!
tapeworm strings
Old roundwound strings kicks both asses
Tapewounds for studio recording, flatwounds for live situations.
wayyyyy more records have been famously recorded with flats than tapes for a reason.
I wish folks with STOP doing string or pickup comparisons with music behind it like come on. ALL vids like this SHOULD have an isolated section and THEN a sec with a track. 🤷🏽♂️
I can hear the backing more than the bass.
Not enough of a difference to matter.
Flat sounds better.
When asked why I chose tapes over flats.
"They're black hihi."
who else thought he was playing badguy