Using nylon coated flats on my alembic.

[jazzyvee]

I recently put some labella deep talking nylon flats on my signature europa bass which is my goto bass for reggae. I took it to rehearsal last night to try out before my gig tomorrow night.
 First thoughts are they sound deeper and fuller in the bottom end but less attack than my regular alembic strings. The mids have a P-bass tone which is not my favourite bass tone and I usually use that tone as a signature to change strings. 
Anyhow, I was posting here to see if my understanding of another aspect is right. When I was playing last night I noticed that when I went to the D and G strings the output of the bass was much lower than the thicker strings which I need to attend to. As far as my grasp of how these strings are constructed, they have a core wire and then a number of nylon wraps to reach the required string thickness. So the actual metal part of the string that interacts with the magnetic field is slightly further away from the pickup magnet than it would be on standard all steel strings, and with the thinner strings that core would be further away than the thicker strings. So I realise I have to alter the pickup height to correct this but I just wanted to know if my assessment of the situation is correct or is there some other dynamics with using nylon coated flats at work. They are certainly more floppy.

[edited for formatting]

[growlypants]

Sounds like you need a different set of strings!!  (Why are you trying them, anyway?  Quieter?)

[jwright9]

I think he’s attempting to get a thuddy reggae/dub sound.

[mario_farufyno]

Everytime I try flats, pressure, groundwound or even the coated ones I get this same feeling of already decaying roundwounds and step back, can't get used to any of them. Funny because I don't like how steel strings feel and roll off the filter by a good amount to tame fresh strings sparkling highs, but can't stand how they got sounding after a month...

[hieronymous]

jazzyvee - did you give the bass a setup after changing the strings?


I put some nylon strings on one of my P-Basses and they were interesting but I didn't feel like tweaking it other than raising the action - regular flatwounds are going back on.

[jazzyvee]

@growlypants i was just curious to hear what they would do for my sound on reggae gigs. My regular strings on that bass are alembic strings or d’addario pro steels which i eq to get the sound i want. There is nothing wrong with the sound i get from either of those strings its just i’ve never tried flats before. @Harry, yep i did a setup had to adjust the truss rod and intonation as the tension is much less. I have a gig tomorrow so ideal chance to try them out live.
J9, that heavy dub sound is certainly available but much less punch than roundwounds.

[StephenR]

I put a set of Chromes on my 78 Series bass, first time trying something other than round wounds. I liked the way they felt smooth under my fingers but the guy we always use for FOH told me he was having a difficult time getting any punch out of my bass. I also missed a certain quality that I like to hear in the midrange which was non-existent.

Interested in hearing how you like the nylon strings in a gigging situation.

[jazzyvee]

That has been my initial feeling too StephenR, but I will feedback after the gig tonight.

[jazzyvee]

Well I still am not keen on the feel of these Labella strings and the lower tension makes them more floppy than
I'm used to. Also the sound I hear on stage doesn't sound like anything I can't get by EQ'ing my bass amp. The attack is not as strong nor as punchy sounding as the Alembic or d'addario strings that I have used on the bass before, neither am I hearing the the sound quality I'm used to. Usually when I put new strings on a bass I have that lovely clear thick sparkly sound that you only get from new roundwounds strings so to put on new strings and have the bass sound duller than before is kind of odd because I would change my strings well before the sound like these.
So my view at the moment is that i don't feel there is any overwhelming positive benefit or wow factor I am getting from these strings and I'm more than likely going to put them on my acoustic bass guitar instead and put the previous Alembic strings back on this bass.
 

[hieronymous]

I tried nylon strings recently - the LaBella Tiger's Blood white tapewounds. They are interesting but like you say they are pretty floppy (they are probably similar to the ones you got) - I much prefer a set of relatively high tension nickel flatwounds. I don't play with a light touch, I have to back off too much with the nylon tapes.

One of my favorite sounds I ever got, though, was with my AlFembic with the PJ setup and roundwounds - had just the P pickup with the baked-in boost (pre-Q-switch) and the frequency set looooow - not sure that it lacked anything that I could get from flats. Though I have yet to replicate the sound...

[sonicus]

I tried a set of Labella tape wound strings on the first bass that I  owned in 1970 , an EB-O . My amplifier was a NECOMB Tube PA amplifier and my speaker was a 15" Radio Shack speaker that I mounted in an Apple Box with cardboard fortification taped and tacked on the sides and back . I practiced through that until my Mother felt sorry for me and through her kindness funded me for a Guild Starfire , I still own that bass although it is no longer stock   ( Alembic Bridge & Tail piece with High A pickups . )


 

[keith_h]

I used tape wounds on my Vox Mk IV in the 70's as well. I played it through a Univox Minimax amp. Although I wanted to play rock gigs that paid were dinner dance and polkas for which the strings worked well. I would never use them for any style where you want a solid attack or a the ability to add a little zing. 

[StephenR]

Thanks for sharing your thoughts about the nylon flats Jazzy. Sorry they weren't what you were looking for. I think one of the issues with moving from roundwounds to any kind of flatwound string is that you have to learn to re-hear your bass, temper your expectations, and cultivate a playing style that takes advantage of what they can bring to the table. Easy to be disappointed to realize they aren't ever going to be able to also provide the sound you get from roundwound.

When I was in my teens I played guitar in a band with a bass player who played a Hofner Beatle bass strung with tapewound strings. At the time we all thought it sounded great and it was an excellent bass for creating feedback, something our teenage view of music at the time embraced.

[jazzyvee]

After getting asked to do a short notice dep gig for a UB40 tribute band I thought it would be a good opportunity to try them again for a small gig where the bass would not be going through the PA. Last night I lifted the G-side of my neck pickup from 3mm to 2mm just to see it would make much difference to the lower volume on those strings. Anyway it didn't make enough difference to keep the balance right between all strings so to keep the meat in the notes I adjusted my playing so that I stayed mainly on the BEA strings.

This next bit  is going to be hard to describe but bear with me and I hope it makes sense to someone other than me as it's been another of those things that have been bugging me about these strings, and I will be happy that I'm not mad. :-)
 
Now when let's take the example of playing a group of triplets on one string with my plucking fingers. When playing the triplets in time it means I have to 'A' keep my fingers moving in time within the triplet group and after the triplet phrase to the next note afterwards and "B" those moving fingers also need to compensate for the amount of grip the string has on my fingers as they are plucking.

I've always found new steel roundwound strings to be a tad rough when new so I have to put more effort to staying in time because of the extra grip on my fingers between the touching and releasing the string whilst plucking. So I feel there is a need for me to start a note marginally early so that by the time my fingertips leave the string the note is being played in time. Now with these nylon strings the opposite is the case. The strings are so slippery that I find it hard to slow my fingers down to play faster passages in time and today I found that I was ahead of the beat for some of the faster songs because I couldn't compensate for the lack of grip on my fingers in the time between touching and releasing to sound the note.

[jwright9]

Sounds like you should stop using those strings.
If you don't like them, you don't like them. No need to try and force it.