D'Addario ETB92 Nylon Tapewound Strings

[gsgbass]

If you ever thought about going long scale Nylon strings? The D'Addario ETB92 strings are great. Smooth and quick, with a tone that the bass was intended to put out. Gauge of the strings, .50, .65, .85, .105.

Edited May 24, 2011 by famstd

[Beer of the Bass]

I put a set of these on my five string yesterday (mine are the ETB92-5 set). They're interesting strings - notably brighter and crisper in the attack than a typical flatwound, but without the metallic zing of rounds. I was concerned they might feel floppy, but they don't feel unusual at all. You often see tapewounds described as being dark, thumpy and "upright-like", but these are punchy, clear and articulate. They certainly have enough highs for rock-ish pick playing and even a bit of slap, and they do the palm muted tic-tac thing very well. Played fingerstyle, they're somewhere between flats and rounds - quite old-school sounding but they'll still get growly when played harder.
If I'm going to criticise anything about them, it would be that the B-string is thuddier than the rest of the set, especially further up the neck. It's far from unusable, but the transition from the B to the E string is quite noticable. Despite this, if you use the B-string sparingly as I do, or you're playing four string, they're well worth checking out. It's hard to say at this point how they'll sound when they've been played in more, but other reviews suggest that the sound doesn't change dramatically from new.
EDIT; Several gigs and a couple of rehearsals in, they're still sounding much like they did a fortnight ago. However, the thuddy B string was driving me nuts, so I've replaced it with a DR Black Beauty .120 gauge, keeping the tapewounds on the other four. It's a shame the B doesn't have a bit more life to it, as the top four strings are great.

Edited October 8, 2012 by Beer of the Bass

[JellyKnees]

I've had these on my tune bass 4 string fretless for a while now, and I really like them. I wanted something between a round and a flat, and experimented with both roto pressure wound and daddario half rounds for a year or so, but ultimately found that they both had too much tension/stiffness for my liking, so these are a good lower tension alternative (they're not LOW tension, just lower than the halfs that I tried)

The daddario tapes are nice and punchy, well defined and really glassy smooth. Also, you can get them for just under £30, which is kind of my cutoff price with strings these days (I have paid more in the past, but I'm less flush than I was a couple of years ago). I have also tried the status tapewounds, but they didn't sound nearly as good to me - a bit thin sounding tbh. Not tried the la bella tapes, which have been recommended to me, but am put off by the price and also the fat gauge - I don't really want to have to muck about with the nut.

I've not noticied any change in the sound since I got them so I would imagine that they will last a long time.. all in all excellent strings, definitely worth a try...