LaBella or TI's on a Jazz Fretless?

[mr80htz]

I have a Washburn Taurus Fretless (has 2 J pickups) and I want to choose one of these brands but it's totally on the names without experience. I'm open to string gauge ideas too, but I usually use 45-105 on my basses. I have .22 caps on the tone knobs to trim some of the highs in the pickups. If You were me, what would you choose and why? I see lots of comments on P Basses but this is a bit different.

Cheers

 

[Hillbilly Sam]

A couple of things to help you decide:

- Gauge: you say you're used to 45-105. You can get that with the La Bella DTF Standard set (45 65 85 105), but the Thomastik Jazz Flats only come in 43 56 70 100.

- Tension and stiffness: given those 2 sets, the La Bella will have a higher tension. And, unless you go to their light tension set, the La Bellas will be much stiffer feeling than the Thomastik.
If you really hate loose feeling strings, Thomastiks might not be for you.

- Tone: main difference, to me, is that the La Bellas would be the classical thumping flats, whereas the Thomastiks tend to have a more woody and focused sound.
La Bellas are moore boomy/fundamental/raw; Thomastiks are quite more harmonic/mid-rangey (this is how I hear them after trying both in several basses).

Also, on a fretless, both will go "dead" eventually, so they aren't the most "mwah' friendly strings. I've found that the Thomastiks give a bit more of mwah or "singing/ringing" tone, on a fretless.

- Flats on a Jazz: lastly, after having tried many brands of flatwounds on several types of basses, I've found that, for my taste, Thomastiks are the ones that suit Jazz basses the best.
I like both Thomastiks and La Bellas on Ps, but on Js, I've found that the more "focused" sound of the Thomastiks is a better fitting.
I find La Bellas on J a bit too "burpy/open" sounding, while the Thomastik give me a much more articulated and defined sound, specially in a mix.

Hope this helps you a bit

 

[HaphAsSard]

I have a Washburn Taurus Fretless (has 2 J pickups) and I want to choose one of these brands but it's totally on the names without experience. I'm open to string gauge ideas too, but I usually use 45-105 on my basses. I have .22 caps on the tone knobs to trim some of the highs in the pickups. If You were me, what would you choose and why? I see lots of comments on P Basses but this is a bit different.

Cheers

If you meant flats, see above. Both companies also make rounds, and you haven't specified which type.

 

[Bodeeni]

The TI flats definitely hit a middle ground and sound somewhere in between a flat and a round. Labella flats just sound like flatwounds. I have been using TIs on my fretless basses for about 20 years and they have been a great compromise after previously using only roundwounds for 20 before that. I like labella flatwounds too and have them on fretted basses, but it is for that flatwound 'classic' sound. I guess you have to decide what you are going for.

 

[roccobass]

Lol!
I have two fretless Jazzes and each has set of each. I like them both. Pickups too make a difference.

I have La Bella Lo Tensions on one. My p/u ‘s are Bart B-Axis and I love it. It really has an old school sound which came out of nowhere. Thumpy, but with sustain.

The second Jazz has TI JF 344s (light too) and my pickups are Bart originals.
It gets a more modern defined tone also, which I like. Not as stiff and unforgiving as the Chromes.

 

[michael_t]

TI's are called "Jazz Flats". Does that tell you anything?

 

[roccobass]

Never researched it that far. The term Jazz has been absconded by so companies that I pay no attention to whether it’s meant for the genre/bass model or not. In fact, it’s only by accident I’m using them now. I had points to burn at GC and I used them to get the TIs. Glad I did.

 

[mr80htz]

Thank you for the suggestions peeps. I think I'm leaning TI's as the mid range characterizes might work well with the scoopy nature of J pickups. Cheers all

 

[Killing Floor]

No best strings.

My own perspective is I love TI flats and have them on multiple basses. But on my fretless basses I prefer DFT LaBella. They both are great sets. I like the little extra tension on fretless. I think if I’m already playing loose wrist with vibrato the softer feel of TI didn’t suit me. It works elsewhere on fretted for me though.
I grew up on violin and to me the LB feel right on the wood.
I like LB on fretless. YMMV there’s no wrong answer

 

[Kael]

Meh, I'd use rounds personally. The whole you need flats on a fretless thing is malarkey. Use the strings you want. The damage to fingerboards is miniscule bordering on non-existant. I've used D'addario xl's (a rather abrasive round) on an untreated fingerboard for about 15 years now and I have seen virtually zero wear.

Of course, if the tone you want is flats, that is a different thing altogether. In that case roll with one and swap it out if it doesn't trip your trigger. I personally found the TI's far too floppy even in comparison to rounds. Others do not find them so. No one is going to be able to tell you if you will like something.

 

[trothwell]

I rather like GHS Brite Flats on fretless Fender-esque instruments.

But between the two options, if flatwound, I'd probably go with TI, or maybe the Labella Low Tension flats.

 

[jdaunt]

I used a set of LaBella White Tapes on my last fretless and really liked them. Brighter than normal tapes, probably brighter than TI flats really, could get plenty of mwah with technique when i wanted, but could also get thumpy when i wanted. But if tapes aren’t your thing, if you’re going for an upright sound it’s LaBellas (and a PBass), if you’re looking for more modern fretless, which it sounds like you are, i’d definitely go with the TIs.

 

[lowfreqgeek]

TI Jazz Flats on a fretless J are superb! IMO, of course.

I mostly use rounds on fretless, but the TIs have their own thing going, so I keep a J w/TIs on it and have used that in the studio with good success. I can't comment on LaBellas for fretless, but the TIs sustain and sing like rounds, but have more of the attack and punch of flats, if that makes sense.

 

[BigBadBen67]

I have TIs on this fretless Jazz:

The tone is pretty freakin' magical. But it's distinctive. Very lush. It's a great tone but it sure as hell ain't Jaco, if you know what I mean.

 

[bigjames]

A couple of things to help you decide:

- Gauge: you say you're used to 45-105. You can get that with the La Bella DTF Standard set (45 65 85 105), but the Thomastik Jazz Flats only come in 43 56 70 100.

- Tension and stiffness: given those 2 sets, the La Bella will have a higher tension. And, unless you go to their light tension set, the La Bellas will be much stiffer feeling than the Thomastik.
If you really hate loose feeling strings, Thomastiks might not be for you.

- Tone: main difference, to me, is that the La Bellas would be the classical thumping flats, whereas the Thomastiks tend to have a more woody and focused sound.
La Bellas are moore boomy/fundamental/raw; Thomastiks are quite more harmonic/mid-rangey (this is how I hear them after trying both in several basses).

Also, on a fretless, both will go "dead" eventually, so they aren't the most "mwah' friendly strings. I've found that the Thomastiks give a bit more of mwah or "singing/ringing" tone, on a fretless.

- Flats on a Jazz: lastly, after having tried many brands of flatwounds on several types of basses, I've found that, for my taste, Thomastiks are the ones that suit Jazz basses the best.
I like both Thomastiks and La Bellas on Ps, but on Js, I've found that the more "focused" sound of the Thomastiks is a better fitting.
I find La Bellas on J a bit too "burpy/open" sounding, while the Thomastik give me a much more articulated and defined sound, specially in a mix.

Hope this helps you a bit

I would have to double check, but in my experience TIs are harder to find and more expensive as well. If that matters to you....

 

[GazzBass]

TI's can take a bit of getting used to. I found the gauges a bit odd. They aren't the best if you like to play with a heavy touch.

 

[REV]

To me the LaBella 760FX set works really well on a fretless bass. To me they sound a little mid forward and the give the bass a little extra presence.

 

[DrBnz]

I like the sound of the TI - I like the feel of Labella. Although the difference is very slight - so I'd chose Ti

 

[WillyW]

I like nickle rounds on my many fretless basses.

labella and ti flats are probably the two brands I won’t buy again, just not a fan.

Pyramid golds are my favorite flats.

the next best is a distant second, EB Cobalt flats. (But that’s on fretted)

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

I tried them both and will always use Dogal carbonsteel flats. The others are Cadillacs and BMW's compared to the Rolls Royce Dogals.