J bass moving to flats, help
 

I currently use Marcus Miller stainless. They sound good and I like the fullness of the E and G string as they are compresses strings; however, I do have issues being heard sometimes so I wanted to try flats. I looked on TB and YouTube for clips. I like the Labella and the Chromes are okay but I am a little unsure which one to try first, and maybe like good enough to stay.

The Chromes I heard on YouTube seem to have more highs and maybe would give a little more options for different sounds on the Jazz?

The Labellas seem real steady and put out consistent sounds.

Please help me decide.

Thanks for your help,

Don

I used Chromes and LaBella's for years. I put a set of Sadowsky Black Label flats on my new bass and love them.

George Biondo ( ex-steppenwolf ) turned me on to Labellas and I havent looked back. Nice fat tone and you can slap 'em too if you want. If your looking for modern bright grindy tone it probably isnt going to work for you. Chromes have more tension and a twangy sound to my ears, The Labellas have a more suple feel and have a fuller tone, finger style, pick or slap style its all good. I would like to try the sadowsky flats sometime.

as far as for the jazz bass, don't overlook the Fender 9050 flats. I cannot comment on Labellas but to me the chromes (for a jazz) were too stiff and I felt the top end was out of control. depending on your tonal goals this can be good or bad. To me it was not my thing.
The fenders are very full range sounding and the feel (I use light gauge) is right in the middle. Not stiff but not as loose as say sunbeams.They respond well to EQ. Sometimes I don't even feel like I have flats on. Kind of like rounds without the zingy piano thing, fret noise, or rough feel.
Of course I can only speak in regards to my own preferences, but I feel that stiff, thumpy sounding strings are better suited for a P than a jazz. Why hamper the speed and tonal versatility of the jazz?
Don't rule them out in your test drives. Good prices too.

What I can add about my playing is it is aggressive, I pull hard at times. Lower tension strings may be an issue on the E and G string. I did try ghs boomers rounds before and they were not tense enough, if I remember right.

+1 for the Fender flats on a Jazz. Listen here (first half): https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QF5e...e_gdata_player

Fender 9050's .)45 guage

$27 shipped from Amazon for the Fender 9050 45s. I will try those first. Good price and good reviews. Thanks for all the input.

Here's a quick a review I did on some flats I've used....I love flats on Jazz Bass.
http://fenderbassplayer.com/index.ph...-string-review

+1 for Chromes on the Jazz. Definitely a darker sound than with rounds, but still bright enough with lots of sustain, and they let a lot of the Jazz bridge pickup growl shine through.

What he said. I have a set on my 5-string P/J, about a year old, and they are sounding great. Medium tension, somewhat slappable, killer finger and pick tone. The tone is really well-balanced, permitting a wide range of uses.

Do you know if you can go through body on these ?

I had a set of Chromes on mine for a few months. They are great strings with great tone. I switched back to D'Addario nickel round wounds today. I think I'll stick with the rounds for more punch.

+1 for everything above.

I just put labellas on my jazz bass....Its a real flat full tone. I also just put Lindy Fralin 10% overwounds on too...so the combo of the 2 makes it really fat sounding.

.
I tried GHS Flat Boomers on my US Jazz recently.

It was a mistake. They sounded terrible.
I'm sure they work beautifully on some basses, but not a J bass IMHO.

I have D'Addario rounds on it now. It has transformed the instrument.
It now has a lovely tone, much more definition and a much less boomey sound to my ears
(I see why GHS call them Boomers!)

I'd like to give a set of TI JF344's a shot when I can afford them.

Greg

I've tried both Chromes and LaBellas on my Jazz.

IMO the Chromes had more zing, but they sort of lacked any real character overall. The LaBellas were definitely thumpier straight out of the pack, but seem to offer a broader spectrum of tonal options through various pickup/tone settings. I can't imagine playing anything else now.

cool topic im thinking about the same right now.
i dont want to hijack the thread but how do pyramids compare to labella soundwise?

Pyramids have more defined tone and a natural short decay as if they're dead right out of the package. I used LaBella flats for years until I found Pyramids. I really like their unique sound. But I'd have to say that my very favorite strings are now Sadowsky Black Label flats. They have just the right balance of every attribute. I can't think of one thing I'd do to make them better. But I still use Pyramids and TIs on different basses to get different sounds. If I were going to put flats on my jazz, I'd choose Sadowsky.

I have LaBellas on my MIJ '62RI Jazz, and I love 'em. I've tried a bunch of different flats, some of them are more "in-between" in tone, like the Fenders, but if you're ready to dive in, go with the LaBellas.

To me, they have a more flexible feel than the Fenders, and more of a traditional flatwound sound (as one would expect). Don't let anyone tell you you can't get Jazz Bass "growl" from flats. Just check out anything Jerry Jemmott played on, or any early Earth, Wind & Fire album.