Nothing to do with your problem, but just a side note for *after* you've got the situation sorted out.
In my experience Ernie Ball stainless flats take several weeks if not a couple of months to get to the point where they're truly awesome but, once they do, they're a real hidden gem.
Labellas tend to be excellent out of the packet and just get less-zingy / broken-in as time goes on, which is why I generally use them. However: I recently had to switch to Ernie Ball flats with a new 5-string bass that the Labella tapered-B absolutely doesn't work with, and only EB and GHS do readily-available monorail-compatible 35" non-tapered flats.
A couple of notes: They are *very* zingy and metallic out of the packet (to the point where they don't really sound like flats at first) and they're coated with some textured substance that almost feels like galvanic dipping, which can feel unpleasant and almost gritty on your fingers if you're not used to them. Short version: Initially, I genuinely didn't like them. At all. However: the zingy-ness dies off over the first few weeks (much faster than with a Labella) and the coating blows-off/wears-off over the course of 2-3 months. Somewhere around month 3, they start to become *genuinely amazing*, so stick with them, as I came this close to sh**-canning them on day four and, truth be told, the only reason I didn't was that I was already out a 5-set of Labellas and a 5-set of Ernie Balls and didn't fancy forking out for a 5-set of GHSs on top of that. Thanks to a couple of knowledgable posts on here, I found the hint that I should just stick with them and watch them bloom, so I'm passing it on.
They're great. Just give them time to mature, is all I'm saying.
In my experience Ernie Ball stainless flats take several weeks if not a couple of months to get to the point where they're truly awesome but, once they do, they're a real hidden gem.
Labellas tend to be excellent out of the packet and just get less-zingy / broken-in as time goes on, which is why I generally use them. However: I recently had to switch to Ernie Ball flats with a new 5-string bass that the Labella tapered-B absolutely doesn't work with, and only EB and GHS do readily-available monorail-compatible 35" non-tapered flats.
A couple of notes: They are *very* zingy and metallic out of the packet (to the point where they don't really sound like flats at first) and they're coated with some textured substance that almost feels like galvanic dipping, which can feel unpleasant and almost gritty on your fingers if you're not used to them. Short version: Initially, I genuinely didn't like them. At all. However: the zingy-ness dies off over the first few weeks (much faster than with a Labella) and the coating blows-off/wears-off over the course of 2-3 months. Somewhere around month 3, they start to become *genuinely amazing*, so stick with them, as I came this close to sh**-canning them on day four and, truth be told, the only reason I didn't was that I was already out a 5-set of Labellas and a 5-set of Ernie Balls and didn't fancy forking out for a 5-set of GHSs on top of that. Thanks to a couple of knowledgable posts on here, I found the hint that I should just stick with them and watch them bloom, so I'm passing it on.
They're great. Just give them time to mature, is all I'm saying.
