Tape Wounds by LaBella actually although not sure you could call them flats. They are smoother than any flats I used in the 60's and 70's (when flats were just about the only thing available). When I bought my '82 Jazz in 1985 it came with round-wound strings and so I used those for about 33-years. Then saw a video comparing different strings on the same bass playing the same licks. Was surprised how good the Tape Wound Strings sounded, especially since they had far more higher harmonics than the flat-wounds I used to use. I had worn a set of DR Black Beauties into being DR Mottled Gray Uglies and needed a new set. So I ordered the LaBella White Tape Wound strings from the TalkBass store.
I put them on and those are the only strings I'll use on my '82 Jazz. They are super smooth which took a big of getting used to after using round wounds so long, but the tape wound was exactly what I was looking for. Has more of the high harmonics that previous flat-wounds I'd used and there was a better string to string balance that any strings I've ever heard or played. Often on the D and G strings, the notes on the lower 5 frets sound weaker or thinner than on the E and A strings on those 5-frets. So in the past I often would play the E on the 7th fret of the A string instead of the 2nd fret of the D string. Same thing with the A on the G string. With the round wounds (Dean Markley Blue Steel and DR Black Beauty) they sounded thin and weak. But with my LaBella Tape Wounds they don't. They sound so good across the strings that I can play those notes either down in the lowest 5 frets or up between the 6th fret and the 12th frets, whichever is most convenient for my current hand position.
LaBella offers 4 versions of their Deep Talking Tape Wound Strings. Black Tape Wound Strings are the darkest sounding, White Tape Wounds are the Brightest sounding, and the White Tape over a gold core and white tape over a copper core have a sound in between the two. I like them a lot and after 5-years of use they still sound good. I bought the White Tape Wounds because they went nicely with my white Jazz Bass. It wasn't until after I was using them that I found out they were the brightest option of the Tape Wounds. By the way, the White Tape Wounds are semi-opaque so you can see what core you have under them. The black ones are opaque.
