Damn...6 months flew by! Haha. When ya know ya know.
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POLL: I always come back home to La Bella
- Thread starter Bruiser Stone
- Start date
Damn...6 months flew by! Haha. When ya know ya know.
The problem is I don't know 
I'm going to give the FM's a fighting chance. It's a bit harsh to judge them so quickly.
I've decided after acquiring a used set of La Bella LTF's that they are indeed the bomb diggity on my P bass. Not just for easy tension, but tone.
They. Sound. Beautiful.
They. Sound. Beautiful.
Glad you found a set you're pleased with, but the Jamerson set to Low Tension Flats is quite a jump.
- Steve
I have a question for all you LA Bella users. I was wondering about the 760fx set (six string). I hear a lot about the thump of these strings.
How are deep talking flats with chords? Are they clear? Do they sustain?
I use D'Addario XL Nickel Rounds and Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats both of those types perform well with chordal material, different than each other but both good. I just wondered about the chordal ability of these. I personally wouldn't be using the B so the 760fx set with the .096/.077/.056/.039/.029 + a plain .020 looks likely to work well, I just wondered if any La Bella users had good results with chords.
How are deep talking flats with chords? Are they clear? Do they sustain?
I use D'Addario XL Nickel Rounds and Thomastik Infeld Jazz Flats both of those types perform well with chordal material, different than each other but both good. I just wondered about the chordal ability of these. I personally wouldn't be using the B so the 760fx set with the .096/.077/.056/.039/.029 + a plain .020 looks likely to work well, I just wondered if any La Bella users had good results with chords.
Grab some coffee first....
For the fretting hand, yes, but not so much for plucking. I still love the feel of the big ones (0760M and 760M) under my right hand. And for pure thump, they're hard to beat. My initial post in this thread also detailed some of my frustrations with the trade offs.
I've been a skeptic of LTF's based upon some of the tonal descriptions...even after reading this wisdom earlier in the thread:
I've now tried every set of DTF's except for the lightest gauge. FL's are perhaps my all-round favorite except I just don't like that G string. FM's slightly edge out Jamersons for improved intonation and a noticeable difference in tension with very similar tonality. But again, I haven't let the larger two sets stay on long enough to properly cure. My fretting hand keeps telling me not to.
Forgetting tension for a moment, none of the DTF's, when new or lightly used, have sounded as good as these LTF's on this particular P bass. They blew me away with their clarity and richness. Richness is a La Bella flats quality that sets them apart from other brands to my ears. The challenge has just been how to get the tone I love in a set both my hands are comfortable playing. I've stubbornly equated old-school tension with old-school sound, and at least on this Fender, I've been very wrong. No, they don't quite "thump" like Jamersons, but they do everything else better up and down the neck with virtually no loss in fundamental low end.
And as for tension, they are plenty stiffer than TI's, not just for fretting but also plucking. Admittedly, I wouldn't say they are as versatile as TI's, but that's not really what I'm after. @uwrossl was correct. They are nothing like TI's: they are an improvement on FL's.
Caveat: I'm interested to find out how these age. The only DTF's I really allowed to break in were FL's, and apart from that G, they do sound amazing. But I truly prefer the out-of-the-package tone of the LTF's. The annoying new zing is almost nonexistent. Unless the TB seller played them longer than he stated in his ad, this is perhaps the most pleasant distinction from the DTF's. As time goes by, I wonder how they'll hold up. Even if they lost some mojo after a year, I think LTF's would still be worth the swap.
So my two cents is newer technology seems to have worked its magic in taking the best of a signature tone and making it even better. At least on this bass. And I've shelled out some $ to
figure this out.
Glad you tried them and liked them. La Bella did a really great job with the LTFs. They feel and sound great right out of the pack and rank right up around the top of my list with TI's and Dunlops for favorite flat. I do still want to try the FLs at some point.
You are well beyond my numerical string comfort zone, but if you're playing lots of chords, the lighter the gauge the better IMO for articulation. I think the LTF's only go up to 5 string sets (?)
Yeah I know it's a bit out there, I was just hoping someone does or has played chords with these. Absolutely understand that is not a bass players usual thing.
I agree about the gauges, which is why the 760fx appealed to me, I need a C string so it either get a Six set and not use the B or get the C as a single, La Bella said I could get that from them.
So if no one plays chords with them, what about fretless, flats and fretless are cool. Anyone jam with these on fretless.
Guys,
does anyone know if LaBella did change the 760FS? I just got a brand new set and replaced my 5 year old ones and I could swear that they do feel more flexible and less stiff.
To me they are much closer to the 760FL that I've just tried and found to be sonically excellent but not stiff enough to me. My old 760FS are way different.
does anyone know if LaBella did change the 760FS? I just got a brand new set and replaced my 5 year old ones and I could swear that they do feel more flexible and less stiff.
To me they are much closer to the 760FL that I've just tried and found to be sonically excellent but not stiff enough to me. My old 760FS are way different.
I had a good long look before choosing this particular DTF thread to bump with a couple of questions I've got about them.
Firstly, if you skip to 5'00" in this very enjoyable Ed Friedland video, you'll get a minute on a 23 year old set of 760FMs, with him pointing out that the attack and clarity are still there.
So question #1 is: do the 760FS also retain that clean attack once they're fully broken in?
Question #2 is about how much extra flexibility comes with the breaking in. The longest I've ever kept a set of rounds was 4 months for a set of Pro Steels. When I replaced them, I realised how much more pliant they had become over the 4 months. Since, once broken in, DTFs are supposed to last for all eternity (o.n.o.) I don't mind a few months of finding them a bit more stiff than ideal. But spending six months working on a set of 760FM just to find them still too stiff would be..... frustrating. Would it be fair to expect a fully broken in set of 760FM to be similar in feel to a brand new set of 760FS?
Firstly, if you skip to 5'00" in this very enjoyable Ed Friedland video, you'll get a minute on a 23 year old set of 760FMs, with him pointing out that the attack and clarity are still there.
So question #1 is: do the 760FS also retain that clean attack once they're fully broken in?
Question #2 is about how much extra flexibility comes with the breaking in. The longest I've ever kept a set of rounds was 4 months for a set of Pro Steels. When I replaced them, I realised how much more pliant they had become over the 4 months. Since, once broken in, DTFs are supposed to last for all eternity (o.n.o.) I don't mind a few months of finding them a bit more stiff than ideal. But spending six months working on a set of 760FM just to find them still too stiff would be..... frustrating. Would it be fair to expect a fully broken in set of 760FM to be similar in feel to a brand new set of 760FS?
