LaBella DTF Jamersons new found fan .

[johnh89]

Always been a Rotosound guy . Electric/Acoustic guitars , banjo etc etc etc . All my basses are strung with 88 tru bass Rotos . Even have a set of extra long 77 Jazz bass for new bass . I picked up a brand new Yamaha BB734a with the intention of taking it home to fit the 77s to it , strung through the body .
The dealer I bought the bass from does not keep Rotos so I picked up a set of Labella DTF original 54s on a whim . I am used to 50-110 Rotos so not bothered by the tension of the Jamersons .
Fitted to the Yamaha top loaded and blown away by the feel and sound of them . I still love my 88 tapes but these are my new favourite strings .
The combination of the active Yamaha and the Jamerson Labellas is hard to put down .

 

[michael_t]

No pic, no new strings.

 

[johnh89]

There you go

 

[michael_t]

View attachment 4847318 View attachment 4847319 View attachment 4847321

There you go

Very nice! I wanted to see the bass just as much as the strings themselves as I'm a big fan of Yamaha basses.

 

[Pilgrim]

One must develop a taste for those, IMO.

I tried the original Jamerson set and found them to be like trying to play suspension bridge cables. Replaced them with my preferred Deep Talkin' flats in light gauge.

 

[Yahboy]

Always been a Rotosound guy . Electric/Acoustic guitars , banjo etc etc etc . All my basses are strung with 88 tru bass Rotos . Even have a set of extra long 77 Jazz bass for new bass . I picked up a brand new Yamaha BB734a with the intention of taking it home to fit the 77s to it , strung through the body .
The dealer I bought the bass from does not keep Rotos so I picked up a set of Labella DTF original 54s on a whim . I am used to 50-110 Rotos so not bothered by the tension of the Jamersons .
Fitted to the Yamaha top loaded and blown away by the feel and sound of them . I still love my 88 tapes but these are my new favourite strings .
The combination of the active Yamaha and the Jamerson Labellas is hard to put down .

Hopefully the 5pc BB neck has no problems to handle those incredible tension.

 

[johnh89]

One must develop a taste for those, IMO.

I tried the original Jamerson set and found them to be like trying to play suspension bridge cables. Replaced them with my preferred Deep Talkin' flats in light gauge.

I have already developed a taste for them . Easier on the fingers than the Steve Harris roto 77s IMO .

Hopefully the 5pc BB neck has no problems to handle those incredible tension.

I have no worries at all about the neck . Came fitted with D'Addario 40-100 and perfect neck relief . Put the Labellas on and it needed less than 1/4 turn of the truss rod . This think is built like a tank .

 

[michael_t]

I have no worries at all about the neck . Came fitted with D'Addario 45-100 and perfect neck relief . Put the Labellas on and it needed less than 1/4 turn of the truss rod . This think is built like a tank .

Wow, that's quite impressive! I own two American Fenders (= graphite reinforcement) and a Yamaha (TRBX505) and I can attest to the fact the Yamaha's neck is the most stable of the three.

 

[TrevorG]

Bought my first LaBellas a few months ago and they may be my last as I am never taking them off. It’s made me start looking for strings that suit my Jazz as well as the flats suit my PJ!

 

[thisheregiraffe]

I tried the original Jamerson set and found them to be like trying to play suspension bridge cables. Replaced them with my preferred Deep Talkin' flats in light gauge.

For me, it would be the DTF *Extra* Light set! (760FX)

Part of me would like to test drive the Jamerson set someday, just to see what it feels like to play such different strings compared to what I normally play. I don't want to buy them and install them on one of my basses though. I guess I need to find a friend that plays these strings and take their bass for a spin...

 

[Deleted member 271037]

Very nice! I wanted to see the bass just as much as the strings themselves as I'm a big fan of Yamaha basses.

I'm a huge Yamaha fan too! They make excellent instruments in every price range and their quality control is absolutely superb.

 

[jdjk7]

Always been a Rotosound guy . Electric/Acoustic guitars , banjo etc etc etc . All my basses are strung with 88 tru bass Rotos . Even have a set of extra long 77 Jazz bass for new bass . I picked up a brand new Yamaha BB734a with the intention of taking it home to fit the 77s to it , strung through the body .
The dealer I bought the bass from does not keep Rotos so I picked up a set of Labella DTF original 54s on a whim . I am used to 50-110 Rotos so not bothered by the tension of the Jamersons .
Fitted to the Yamaha top loaded and blown away by the feel and sound of them . I still love my 88 tapes but these are my new favourite strings .
The combination of the active Yamaha and the Jamerson Labellas is hard to put down .

I'm a fan of the Jamerson set too. I don't even just play stuff like r&b on them... if you EQ them right, they can be a great sound for rock or punk, and unlike floppier strings where playing them harder makes them buzzy and exasperated, playing the Jamersons harder just makes them sound better.

The one thing I do is that I always turn the tone down, because as much as I appreciate the top end content these strings can have, I absolutely, absolutely hate the clicky sound they get with the tone full on, esp with a pick. Turning the tone back to 30%-ish gets me all the top and mid content I want without the click, especially if I boost select freqs later on in the chain.

I'm also fairly certain that there is no worldly force that could destroy these strings. I switched my Precision from a set of EADG Jamersons to BEAD by adding a 5 from the 0760M-B set, and this brand new B string did not look or sound scarcely different from the 4-year-old, regularly-gigged strings that were already on.

That said, the EADG set was murder on my poor Precision's neck. Luckily, according to my calculations, switching to the low B has let off about 25 lbs of tension off the neck. The G on that set is extremely high tension.

 

[johnh89]

I genuinely believe that most people who compare them to bridge cables haven't played them but buy in to the urban myths that are out there . I have found no problems with them . I am not as picky as many about all aspects of basses , but have found they are great played softly with a low action . Or they can take a real pounding . The tension on them is nowhere near as high as we are led to believe .

 

[pbass2]

The one thing I do is that I always turn the tone down, because as much as I appreciate the top end content these strings can have, I absolutely, absolutely hate the clicky sound they get with the tone full on, esp with a pick. Turning the tone back to 30%-ish gets me all the top and mid content I want without the click, especially if I boost select freqs later on in the chain.

Man, for me, a P with heavy Labellas (old and broken-in) and a pick, tone wide open, a little palm mute, nice DI straight in--heaven!
Every time I whip that sound out in a new situation at a rehearsal or whatever, everybody starts smilin' like someone just put on a slab of their favorite vinyl

 

[pbass2]

Bought my first LaBellas a few months ago and they may be my last as I am never taking them off. It’s made me start looking for strings that suit my Jazz as well as the flats suit my PJ!

I have Labella DTFs on one of my P's and also a J. They sound as great and classic on a Jazz as on a P. Same as with a P, you've got several classic tones at your fingertips--grab a pick for some Joe Osborn or McCartney, or roll off the highs, solo the neck pickup and it's Family Man time! Not to mention how tight and funky they can be with the bridge pickup.

 

[trothwell]

I genuinely believe that most people who compare them to bridge cables haven't played them but buy in to the urban myths that are out there . I have found no problems with them . I am not as picky as many about all aspects of basses , but have found they are great played softly with a low action . Or they can take a real pounding . The tension on them is nowhere near as high as we are led to believe .

While I am curious to try the Labella original 1954 set, just because it's such a classic, I have used Labella DTF in 45-105 and Rotosound 77 in 45-105, and found both of those too stiff for my taste. I suspect I would not like the 1954 set, but then again, I have heard it said that they are so stiff, in fact, that it becomes easier to play, not harder.

 

[pbass2]

While I am curious to try the Labella original 1954 set, just because it's such a classic, I have used Labella DTF in 45-105 and Rotosound 77 in 45-105, and found both of those too stiff for my taste. I suspect I would not like the 1954 set, but then again, I have heard it said that they are so stiff, in fact, that it becomes easier to play, not harder.

If you can get your action fairly low I think they feel really great. To me it's a different kind of playing experience, for lack of better term, more "percussive" feeling (aka THUMPY). I find I play more "upright-ish" on my bass with the Jamersons. If you're fond of lots of string bending though it can be a workout.

 

[truand85]

I use the Jamerson set also, it's a finger workout but they respond so well anything else just won't cut it anymore. I'm a lifer.

 

[johnh89]

While I am curious to try the Labella original 1954 set, just because it's such a classic, I have used Labella DTF in 45-105 and Rotosound 77 in 45-105, and found both of those too stiff for my taste. I suspect I would not like the 1954 set, but then again, I have heard it said that they are so stiff, in fact, that it becomes easier to play, not harder.

They will be different to what you are used to for sure . Whether that is to your taste I cannot say . I don't know what the actual tension is as they do not publish it , but I would say it is in the ballpark of Roto 77s . Tension and stiffness are not the same .
There is only one way to find out if they are for you I'm afraid . Buy a new bass and try them on that !

 

[Isaac_James]

Congrats on the bass, and I love me some Labellas too - my P bass wears a nicely broken in set of their lighter gauge DTFs. Not exactly ideal for my rock band most of the time but I love playing around with it at home.

Come on over to the Yamaha BB club if you're so inclined to share with other folks who love their Broadbasses. I've had a 735 almost a year now and it's a killer piece of equipment (you can see it in my profile pic, though it's hard to tell from the color mine is the Dark Coffee Sunburst color)