do the get more upper mids or highs than the ribbon round gold & whites? thanx. p
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I put a set of LaBella flats on my Carvin and noticed an almost tacky feel compared to the LaBella flats on my Hofner. Weird. I wiped them down with alcohol the other day and got some residue of some kind off of them. I'll be gigging them this weekend so we'll see if the wipe down helped.
If that's the piezo-in-the-saddle type that relies on the string as being part of the circuit, they should work just fine as they are electrically conductive.
Edit: But I find the stickiness comes from the material that they are made from easily oxidizes, so that conductivity may change over time. However, the important conductive part would be the part were the string meets the saddle, and that part may not oxidize easily, or at all.
So... technically, they should work, but if they start to oxidize, sound quality may suffer over time. Guess that wasn't very helpful after all... :/
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My short review:
In my opinion, these strings are what would happen if LaBella Deep Talkin Flats and D'Addario Chromes had a baby. I have a P-Bass with LaBella's and a couple other basses with Chromes. I really like both the regular LaBella's, and the Chromes, but I'm not sure these strings accomplish any of my musical goals by combining characteristics of both.
I'm not sure I concur with LaBella's description of "meticulous method of hand polishing is applied to each string surface ensuring a smooth feel and easy playability". To me, they felt no smoother than other flats, and I would not describe the finish as having easy playability (due to stickiness/drag), at least not for my particular technique (such as it is). Full disclosure, the gig I played with these was outdoors, so they may have been subject to humidity, although the weather was not extremely hot or humid.
I did not care for these strings due to the stickiness of the feel of the finish. Playing these on the gig I got a blister on my forefinger about an hour in to a 2+ hour set. Keep in mind that I play at least 3 multi-hour gigs a week, so I have pretty decent callouses already.
I don't mean the above comments to be 100% negative - it's just that for me, if I want high-tension fundamental thump, the regular LaBella's have got that territory covered - for modernish flat feel and sound, the Chromes do that for me quite satisfyingly. I did like the sound of these, but it wasn't drastically different from what I get from Chromes. On paper I really wanted to like these.
YMMV
In my opinion, these strings are what would happen if LaBella Deep Talkin Flats and D'Addario Chromes had a baby. I have a P-Bass with LaBella's and a couple other basses with Chromes. I really like both the regular LaBella's, and the Chromes, but I'm not sure these strings accomplish any of my musical goals by combining characteristics of both.
I'm not sure I concur with LaBella's description of "meticulous method of hand polishing is applied to each string surface ensuring a smooth feel and easy playability". To me, they felt no smoother than other flats, and I would not describe the finish as having easy playability (due to stickiness/drag), at least not for my particular technique (such as it is). Full disclosure, the gig I played with these was outdoors, so they may have been subject to humidity, although the weather was not extremely hot or humid.
I did not care for these strings due to the stickiness of the feel of the finish. Playing these on the gig I got a blister on my forefinger about an hour in to a 2+ hour set. Keep in mind that I play at least 3 multi-hour gigs a week, so I have pretty decent callouses already.
I don't mean the above comments to be 100% negative - it's just that for me, if I want high-tension fundamental thump, the regular LaBella's have got that territory covered - for modernish flat feel and sound, the Chromes do that for me quite satisfyingly. I did like the sound of these, but it wasn't drastically different from what I get from Chromes. On paper I really wanted to like these.
YMMV
The particular Invalid Link Removed I was referring were announced in December of 2016, and began shipping in 2017.
Thinking about getting these strings for my Sterling By Music Man Bass as well but mine would have frets. Would you recommend?
I have these on a Peavey B-Quad 4 & 5 string fretless. I love the way they feel. Like smooth flexible glass. No issue with the sound or any "sticky" feeling.
I had Optima gold plated round wounds on the fretless 4 and those sounded very "clanky" on the graphite neck/phenolic fingerboard. Interestingly, these sounded just fine on a fretted B-Quad.
I had Optima gold plated round wounds on the fretless 4 and those sounded very "clanky" on the graphite neck/phenolic fingerboard. Interestingly, these sounded just fine on a fretted B-Quad.
Put these on an Ibanez SR2600 yesterday. Smooth on the fingers. Sound lines up pretty well with what my research suggested they'd sound like on this instrument.
I likes em.
I likes em.
I bought the Labella Gold Flats 5 String set and love them. Zero stickiness. Here is a sample of me playing them.
(P bass) + (any Labella string) = Truth, justice, and the Fender way.
Sounds great. Glad you like 'em. I didn't have the same experience, but that might have been due to playing my first gig with 'em outdoors, in humidity. Didn't spend any time breaking them in.
I'm impressed with how they seem to sound for you. Can you tell me the signal path? And how you've got that Sadowsky EQ-ed?
Nice playing on "I Wish". We just started covering that one too, quite a work-out!
Thanks for the compliment.
Sadowsky controls: Volume = 10 - Pickup Blend = Bridge - VTC = 5 - Treble = 5 - Bass = 5
Phil Jones Micro 7 Controls: Level 3 Bass 10 Mid 10 Treble 5 Volume 3.
Cali 76 Compressor Controls: Ratio 4 Attack 3 Release 8 Output 5 Input / Comp 7
Nice man. Those strings seem to get that warm flatwound growl that the regular Labella deep talkin bass strings get, but with more mids. I might have to put a set on my other P-Bass and see how they sound live. They look damn cool too! 
LaBella's are very substantial strings, as such, they're not very flexible. I'd say it depends on how much of a bend is needed for through-body strings. Even if that part worked, I'd be concerned that the rigidness of these strings wouldn't give you a clean, natural "witness point" for intonation.
I wouldn't want to discourage anyone from trying any combo of gear, but there might be issues right out of the box with these in a through-body config, because of the sharp turn.
kinda. not knowing any better I have my old Asian thru-P performing pricelessly with the gold banding on the E passing 1/4'' after the nut once in tune (I'm in D for the E).
these golds are new and seasoned yet only sound good matched with certain amps so far on this trebly bass, the vaunted strong mids are wonderful and throaty, hoping they tame a bit and age well. I dig them so much now I'll mod the wiring to expand the tone range before I give up on them.
