Acoustic Electric Bass Strings

[Gato]

Recently bought a Fender Kingman. Love the bass, hate the squealing squeaking on the strings through the amp. (It has the bronze strings that came with it)
I like a bright sound, but not the squeak.

I have read completely opposing views on whether to go with tape wounds, flatwounds, groundwounds, nickel rounds... everyone has an opinion. Guitar Center near me (Brea, CA) carries nothing but the bronze, and the counter person advised against using any strings not specifically tailored to acoustic/electric instruments.

Opinions from those who have tried different types of strings on A/E basses?

 

[arock0627]

LaBella black tapewounds. Low tension, no squeaking, looks awesome. $25 at Carvin.com the last I checked. Has a decent bright and slap/pop on the ADG strings, especially with a pick, but can also do a warm P-Bass/Upright Bass intermediary.

 

[Dan55]

TI Jazz Flats will work great, also.

 

[Ian Perge]

If you're a fan of the bright "Phosphor Bronze" acoustic guitar-type strings but would like to tone down the "squeak", fret noise & high-end, I highly recommend Invalid Link Removed. I've tried numerous "coated" strings, and D'Addario's made an extremely nice impression: on my 1996 Taylor AB-2 they still sound like an "Fretted Acoustic Bass" to my ears, which is the sound I'm going for, but as stated above "naturally EQ-out" the squeak, upper-end fret noise, and the high-end of phosphor bronze string material.

 

[Gato]

Good ideas here. Thanks for the input!

 

[bassist4dalord]

I've had the following strings on the following acoustic-electric basses:

Fender BG-31
Fender 7250 Nickel-Plated Steel rounds (blah; nothing special. Not bad, not good)
D'Addario Phosphor Bronze rounds (finger noise galore, clanky, smelly; least favorite)
D'Addario Chromes flatwounds (medium-high tension, good volume, thuddy tone with some brightness)
D'Addario Tapewounds (low tension, bright-but-broken-in unplugged sound, never plugged in with these strings)

Ibanez AEB5E
Factory Phosphor Bronze rounds

I no longer own the Fender. My favorite strings on that were the D'Addario Tapes. Soon I'll be purchasing a set for my Ibanez. Absolutely delightful feel and tone from those strings.

There's a reason so many acoustic-electric basses are strung with tapewounds- it's like peanut butter and jelly or like Precision basses and flatwounds. You can't go wrong.

 

[heynorm]

LaBella black tapes play like butta' on my Ibanez acoustic. My wife especially likes the lows from them!