I have Chromes on my P bass and absolutely love the way they sound and feel. To try something different, I recently put LaBellas on my Les Paul. That may have been a mistake. So far, I don't like them as much as the Chromes and may ultimately put Chromes on the LP as well.
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Feelings about Flatwound D'Addario Chromes?
- Thread starter Decoyx7
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I had roto 66s on my '12 fender select jazz....great classic rock sound but those select pickups r wound so hot that I was having to roll off a lot of treble on my tone control to tame all that loud string racket and clickety clack. I have never been a flats player nor ever owned a set but I've been in to jamerson for quite a while so I decided to buy some chromes after all the positive feedback from here and man....I was just looking for a good classic motown sound but found THE SOUND. It makes all the notes sound full and tight...great sounding hammer ons slides, great everything fingerstyle...like they were made just for that bass and I now run the tone 100% and now the tone control acts more like a master volume knob. A real inspiring purchase and will definitely be outfitting some more of my basses with these. I like the increased tension to make fast runs faster and smoother.
I personally don't like them. To me, they sound like a lot of top end, a lot of bottom and just a smidgen of mid range.
I also find them to be quite unbalanced and high in tension. Everyone seems to love the heck out of them though.
I also find them to be quite unbalanced and high in tension. Everyone seems to love the heck out of them though.
Which gauge Chromes are you using? I'm going to be picking up a brand new Jazz this week and am planning to put Chromes on. I'm looking for good tension, and wasn't sure if it would be too much for the Jazz neck.
The 100-45...I actually wanted the 105s but they were out of em but the tension on these lighter ones seems to be perfect for my touch...def firmer than roto66 and those r pretty high tension feel to me so the 100 work perfect with my jazz and I didn't have to adjust the truss rod at all.
I've tried Chromes, TI's, and Fender flats and the Fender (50-105) are my favorite.
No idea about the LaBellas....
No idea about the LaBellas....
Initially, wasn't a fan of D'addario Chromes. I got a 5 string set for my Yamaha TRB1005J and i didnt like the tackiness/resistance of them when sliding. I took them off and stuck them on practise bass and after a few months after they had worn in, i liked them.... A LOT!!! They are brilliant on fretted basses and possibly going to put a set of these on all my basses, they have a great bottom end and a nice brightness in the higher register but nothing too clanky. I use Thomastik-Infield on my fretless, as they are really low tension and i feel to me as though they play better on fretless than D'addario Chromes; and vice versa, Thomastiks aren't too great on fretted basses in my opinion.
With strings it's best to just spend the money and try them out of a while. You'll learn far more than you would reading other players opinions. I see it as inexpensive education.
Also, be sure that you play a few gigs with them before settling on your opinion.
Also, be sure that you play a few gigs with them before settling on your opinion.
One thing I am finally starting to see is flats of all strings really work with some basses better than others even if they are the same make/brand. I just got a 08' MIA P bass and took of the strings off a bass that was part of the trade for the MIA ...TI's an older set. I have loved and hated them but on this MIA P they sing and even feel different tension wise than the other P bass a MIJ.
Chromes are also like this, some basses they sing on others they don't but they are still a great string.
Chromes are also like this, some basses they sing on others they don't but they are still a great string.
True. I guess part of my disdain for Chromes stems from the fact that for my hands, they just do not suit the types of necks I like (C shaped, 1.75 nut). Labella being sort of in the the same camp. LOVE them of jazz necks, but cannot adjust to them on most P necks. My last AV 58 P had a "large C" and I tried several brands of flats until I settled on GHS. That neck just demanded heavier, higher tension strings. TI's, my usual favorite went on and came right off. The Chromes (45-100) actually felt ok on that neck but after a couple rehearsals of spending more time fiddling with my EQ than playing, they had to go as well. I gave them a fair shot (and gave them away to another TB'er) but everything I thought I didn't like about them was confirmed. It's hard to quantify and I'm trying to avoid using the cliched "cut through/sits well in the mix" terminology here, but that has always been the case for me and Chromes.
People love them and its funny how some people tend to describe them in the exact opposite way as myself. In my experience and in my humble opinion, the are everything that I personally do not like about a string: High tension (or stiffness...whatever you want to call it), clanky and lacking in fundamental. None of this is a rule, it's just my experience with them. Would they break in if I actually left them on and got some real playing time on them? Probably. Is it worth it for me to sacrifice playability and tone until this happens? Definitely not. But it all comes down to ones own personal preference at the end of the day. Every so often, a thread like this pops up where someone tries Chromes as their first step into the world of flats and is disappointed or left wondering why their bass is so hard to play. That's why I tend to steer people toward GHS or lighter gauge LaBellas as a first flat.
A lot of this can be overcome with knowledge of a bass's mechanics and how to properly set up a bass to accommodate whatever strings one decides to use. That said, I just don't feel right using a string that so drastically effects relief so as to increase the bow of a neck to the point where it needs major truss tweaks just to achieve my idea of optimum playability. If my preferred tone was there, as is the case with equally taut strings such as LaBella or Fender flats, than the sacrifice would be worth considering. It's just not though to my ears. So there's my point of reference I guess.
Understood. Chromes are great strings but they take time to really get their tone and shine. I see a few on here who put them on and take them right off...again I understand. I did this with halfrounds, in time they would of been good maybe but they were to rough and grabby and since my finger know flats they were unplayable for me.
I like you notice how some strings work better on basses even if they are the same basses and makes.
Yeah, i see where your coming from, I didn't get on with Chromes at all at first they were such a drastic change from the feel of roundwounds. After switching them to a 4string practise bass i used them regularly for a good 6-8months and they started to come to life, lose their friction/resistance feeling, the tension loosened up and began to get a nice patina on their tone. They're back on my 5 string now and make that bass sound outstanding - although the B string is still a little tacky and bright - its getting there.
Recently I obtained an AVRI 57 P-bass, my first p-bass, (every bass player should have one), and I decided to have it set up with chromes, and I'm not totally sold on these strings.
There's been plenty of discussion on the tension of the strings, and overall they feel slightly tight, with the G string being very tight as compared to the other strings. I heard that D'addario makes unbalanced strings, so I guess that's why there's a taughter string.
The other issue is the bass itself. Maybe due to the 1.75" neck, this bass is very labor intensive to play, more so than my other basses.
I'm not sold on flats just yet, but I'm willing to try other brands.
There's been plenty of discussion on the tension of the strings, and overall they feel slightly tight, with the G string being very tight as compared to the other strings. I heard that D'addario makes unbalanced strings, so I guess that's why there's a taughter string.
The other issue is the bass itself. Maybe due to the 1.75" neck, this bass is very labor intensive to play, more so than my other basses.
I'm not sold on flats just yet, but I'm willing to try other brands.
Try the GHS Precision Flats and especially on a gig and see what you think of flats. Just my opinion. I'm not a fan of Chromes but a lot of players who I respect like them.
+1
Thomastik Infeld Jazz flats might be worth a try too, seeing as you're finding some difficulty with the new neck dimensions. You're already adjusting to a new bass neck, you don't need the high tension issues to boot.
As petri said. Thomastiks have a very low tension to them, you will probably need to do truss and bridge adjustments to get them into a playable state as they don't bow the neck enough. The last time i put my Thomastiks on a fretted bass they just rested on the frets, all in correct tune. I wasn't prepared to make the required adjustments though .
