 Brightness to noise ratio?
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I've been messing around with a few different strings, pickups and preamps lately with my active jazz bass and have found I tend to like a fairly harsh bright sound with this bass. Unfortunately this comes with a lot of string noise. I had been using Hi-Beams and like them a lot but now and then I'll notice quite a lot of finger squeak when changing position. I've got some D'Addario XL half rounds on right now and they do a good job killing the squeak, but when I turn the treble up enough to get a nice bright sound from them, they're pretty clanky on the frets. I have some LaBella tapewounds on order and I know from trying them before that they will kill the squeak and most of the clank, but I can't remember how bright they were(n't).
I had tried the T-I flats and the LaBella tapes along with a bunch of flats on other basses, but I was going for a darker mellower tone at the time and it's been a while so my memory isn't too clear on those.
I'd like to get that brilliant piano tone without all the noise and without having to crank the tone knob and pull the bright switch. Longevity is important too. I think the Hi-Beams were probably just about perfect for the first few days but either I got used to the brightness or it went away pretty quickly. If I can't get at least a month or two of good sound from a set of strings, they need to be really cheap so I can afford to use a bunch of them. I'd settle for a little less brightness on a string that's almost there tonewise but doesn't fade out on me for a good long time.
What do you think, Chromes, tapes, T-I Jazz rounds, Elixirs, something else? Any suggestions that will help get me in the right neighborhood? | 
