Heads up - Thomann has great prices on TI flats. Cheaper than some used sets here in the classifieds.
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LaBella Low Tension vs TI Flats
- Thread starter Marcury
- Start date
yeah, but shipping is about $34 to St. Louis. Same shipping cost for multiple sets so it works out pretty good if you are buying 2 or more. For me, works out to about $65/set for 2, $60/set for 3. When i got my first set earlier this year, I got them at $60 at Amazon . . . . but, I've been watching . . . . price has not been that low since.
Thanks for the heads up! For me looking at it in the checkout process, shipping would be $34, so that makes them about $9 more than getting them through Amazon.
Still a deal in the States if you are ordering multiple sets, though - when I had two sets (4 and 5 string) in the cart, the shipping was the same.
Yahboy, can you describe what you're talking about: better, worse, dead, fantastic?
There is no better or worst, just different voice character.
LTF has natural thumpy tone, jf344 has woody mid voice. Sure the fresh LTF E string has right amount of brightness, but she will change to their Labella signature voice after few week (faster than DTF ser); meanwhile JF344 need more than 3 years to sound close to vintage old school but not thumpy.
Above is my personal opinion on both LTF and jf344.
So, I just threw a new set of the LTF's on my backup Pbass, and I'm not hearing any brightness out of the E string. I really want this bass to have some thump, but Labella DTF's lose a lot of clarity and definition on the E and A after a week or two. I would typically run Sadowsky Black Labels (thump with clarity!) instead, but the only set I have is the heavier gauge.
If these LTF's maintain clarity on the E and A over time, then these may be keepers. They feel great!
If these LTF's maintain clarity on the E and A over time, then these may be keepers. They feel great!
Rehearsal last night. So far I'm really liking these in the mix. I have two short solos without the guitar and drums and they weren't cutting it then. Trying to figure out what the proper EQ is and also waiting to see what happens as they age per @Yahboy's post.
That’s why I come back to this thread. Looking forward to your update.
I'm really liking these strings. I felt like I had to adjust to my time to TIs because of the looseness. The stiffness of the LTFs feels right. Now I have to adjust back. So far they just sound better on this bass than the TIs an if I dig in the mids I'm looking for are there.
Still a work in progress, but more and more I'm sold!
Still a work in progress, but more and more I'm sold!
I’ve been in the TI camp for a few years now and have been curious about LTFs, so it’s been interesting to read people’s different impressions and experiences. Put a set of LTFs on my Sadowsky PJ yesterday, took ‘em off today and put a new set of TIs back on. They seemed very uneven and not much like a “set” of strings to me. It was time to change the TIs anyway, they’d been on there about 4 years. And - I’m just one more data point in the impressions and experiences, lotsa folks seem to love the LTFs - and that’s cool. In fairness to the LTFs, I’ll give ‘em a whirl on my 70s P bass and see how they sound.
Regarding the unbalance tone, I believe your ear has the Ti flat voice, yes, pretty even string to string tone. The LTF has bigger and darker tone on E A, meanwhile both D and G sound bit brighter.
How about give LTF a try and play it more than 3 week, I am sure you will notice she get better balance day after day.
Hopehelp
For me, after a while, the LTF just feel too loose and rubbery.. and the slick surface can be sticky at times, completely ruining the way I play. Plus, the G string just sucks. It's WAY brighter than the other strings (in most packs - that's another thing, the LTF quality control isn't that great. The G string is very different from pack to pack.) I tried to love them for years, but I finally jut ordered a set of TIs for my Precision. Now all 3 of my basses (P,J,SR) have TIs - the best strings ever made.
I still have a set of LTF’s around here somewhere. I tried them on my L2K while using TI’s on my L1K for a comparison. They just didn’t do it for me. If it’s not TI Flats, is TI Jazz Rounds. That’s what all my basses use.
I think it comes down to what flavor you like. Some like vanilla, some like chocolate. Some like Chunky Monkey. No wrong or right, just what makes you feel most comfortable.
I think it comes down to what flavor you like. Some like vanilla, some like chocolate. Some like Chunky Monkey. No wrong or right, just what makes you feel most comfortable.
I've purchased maybe 8-9 sets in my life and every time the G is different. Visually on the wrap and the sound itself. It's only matched maybe 1 our of every 4 packs. If you have a good one, don't EVER change it.
Interesting, I've used TI flats for many years and only purchased one set of LTFs to try out, have had them on a P-bass for a good while now. They replaced a set of TI flats that were on that bass for many years. I've been happy with the LTFs on that bass, didn't have any issues with the G string or any strings, and the E string has a stronger fundamental than the TI E string so I've enjoyed that. Based on your experience, I'm wondering if I got lucky or if it's just that these strings match well with this bass.
They are great strings, but I just like TIs more. I am having second guesses about changing the LTfs now haha.
The LTFs are definitely way more bassy / fundamental, as they are supposed to be.
Could be the bass/string combo. Never tried LTFs until the above bass I mentioned but regularly used La Bella DTF flats over the years and found the set of LTFs I tried to be similar sounding.
I only have experience in 3 sets. All sound fine and overall stiffness get stiffer once break in compare to 4 years old Ti flat. I will make short record on LTF4A again when i am free.
