Optima Gold vs Labella Hard Rockin'

[Cieran]

At the risk of incurring the wrath of the TB community I have yet another question regarding string types.......

For those who haven't seen my other recent posts I am fairly new to the world of bass (been playing guitar 5+ years) and have just purchased a 30" Gretsch G2202 electromatic junior jet.

So far I have tried some D'addario chromes which I did not like the tone of, then I tried the D'addario nickel EXL's which were much closer to the sound I am after.

However I still find the E string slightly floppy in regular tuning and am hoping to play drop D if possible. The 2 choices I have narrowed it down to are:

1. OPTIMA GOLD rounds: 50-105 - have read that these are extremely high tension (which i like) and have slightly more punch & brightness than nickels but are warmer than steels.

2. LABELLA HARD ROCKIN' (drop D variety): 54-111 - heavier gauge will obviously help with the E string but cannot easily get hold of these in the UK (juststrings charge $40 to send any size item internationally) and i get the impression they do not have the warmth/ bottom end that the Optima's have but on the other hand are slightly brighter.

I have spent a good few hours reading everything I can find on both these strings in the TB forums, so once again I am asking the good people of TB to share their knowledge and expertise to help me out (as my money is rapidly dwindling!)

Thanks,
Cieran