Chromes and TI's are lower in tension than Roto's. LaBella's are brutal for tension, stay away unless you like high tension. New Chromes are surprisingly bright, and sound nowhere near dead 66's. They will mellow in a few months, and stay that way for a while.
Actually, I have Labella 760FL's on a bass that has had other flats on (DR's, Dean Markley) and comparatively, I could almost increase the relief with the Labella's, so the Lights are nothing in tension compared to the other Labella's ... if concerned with tension, I would suggest trying TI's on the Geddy toothpick neck, they seem to be the lowest tension, and come available fairly often for $35 range used ... or, the FL's I am using maybe as a second choice, and then the lighter Chromes ... plenty of offerings out there in the lighter gauges for flats
... to answer the original question, DEAD rounds, just kind of go 'thud' in most cases ... I had an almost 10 year old set of rounds on a Jazz, and I actually liked that 'thud' for the church setting at the time .. now that I have been on 'Flats Shootout' of late, I have discovered some very interesting and unique characteristics of various flats .. none 'thud' ... some 'thump', some 'thump with a percussive type attitude', and some sound amazingly well rounded without the 'brittleness' of newer rounds ... so, bottom line, to predict what your selection would result for you on your bass, although a 'characterization' is possible, is almost going to be futile without YOUR personal take on them ... then, add your foam mute to the mix, and you have an even wider array of possibilities ...
... I may have just confused further, but hope not ... this make any sense ??
