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La Bella low tension flats. Dumb question


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12 hours ago, Reggaebass said:

More like labella FS , but lower tension and not as bright as TI’s 

Agreed, quite dark and thumpy, without the brightness and mids of TI flats. To my hands, they don't 'feel' as low tension as TI flats which I attribute not to the tension itself but to the fact the A and D are somewhat chunkier and less flexible feeling than the TI equivalents

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2 hours ago, Clarky said:

Agreed, quite dark and thumpy, without the brightness and mids of TI flats. To my hands, they don't 'feel' as low tension as TI flats which I attribute not to the tension itself but to the fact the A and D are somewhat chunkier and less flexible feeling than the TI equivalents


Yep, spot on to my ears and hands. Very much a La Bella sound but a TI-ish feel, with slightly more tension which I love. The perfect flats in my opinion!

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I got some this afternoon. I don’t like Darth Bezos but same day delivery is handy.
 

Put them on a J.

Played along to my practice playlist and they sit in the mix very nicely, with a much fuller low end than the previous rounds.

 

Next big band session is after the jubilee so I’ll give them a proper go then.

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I just purchased some low tension flats but when they arrived I’d actually bought Labella 760fl’s 🤪

In for a penny on they went and they sound great but much more tension than my usual TI’s, I shall break them in though and give them a chance because they sound great new too 

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5 hours ago, fretmeister said:

Anyone tried the 5 string set?

Is the B string any good?


I have the 5 string set on my Xotic XJ5 Lite (the gold Jazz in the video quoted earlier) and find them to be the best 5 string flats I’ve used for both feel and sound. The feel of the B string on the LTFs is more consistent with the rest of the strings than the low B of a set of TI Flats, in my opinion.

 

The fact I don’t really think about the sound of the B when playing a groove or passage says a lot. It just works and I don’t lament any weird consistency issues compared with the other strings. It seems like a B string that has been properly integrated into the rest of the set, rather than a B that has been bolted onto a set which was only ever designed to be for 4 strings…

 

Saying that, I’ve never heard the low B of any set of strings sound bad on these Xotic basses (there’s a reason I own 2 of them) so whatever special sauce lies in the construction and pickups of these basses could well be sweetening my impression of the LTFs. I’m working away from home right now otherwise I’d knock together a quick video showcasing the LTF Low B, to lessen any risk of this post being taken as hyperbole xD

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I used them at big band rehearsal this morning.

 

Went for a Duck Dunn thing and turned the treble down on the amp to about 2. Small boost to the mids. Bass just a smidge above noon.

 

Quite a narrow frequency sound but that let me be louder and not get in the way of the other instruments including a couple of bari saxes and the piano.

Sounded bloody awful on it's own :D and ace in the mix.

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2 minutes ago, fretmeister said:

turned the treble down on the amp to about 2. Small boost to the mids. Bass just a smidge above noon

That’s pretty much  how i eq normally and just add bass to suit, glad they worked out for you fretmeister 👍

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  • 3 weeks later...

I'll take advantage of this topic to ask a question. I have just yesterday switched a P bass from TI to Labella LTF. They are new so they have to break in. At the moment they are weird. Very thumpy E and A, quite a loss of clarity compared to the TIs, especially on the E but I guess that could be a trade off for the thump. The attack differs quite bit between E and A. And when it gets to D and G, they sound as if they came from another set. All bright but in a dull way. Not really thumpy. If I play two notes jumping from the E string to the D it's just weird.

I wonder if that was everyone else's experience, and if all strings will balance out with time. Or whether say the E is maybe dead (which funny enough I do not dislike necessarily)

I appreciate I would know the answer in a few weeks anyway. Just thought that's interesting to discuss

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12 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

I'll take advantage of this topic to ask a question. I have just yesterday switched a P bass from TI to Labella LTF. They are new so they have to break in. At the moment they are weird. Very thumpy E and A, quite a loss of clarity compared to the TIs, especially on the E but I guess that could be a trade off for the thump. The attack differs quite bit between E and A. And when it gets to D and G, they sound as if they came from another set. All bright but in a dull way. Not really thumpy. If I play two notes jumping from the E string to the D it's just weird.

I wonder if that was everyone else's experience, and if all strings will balance out with time. Or whether say the E is maybe dead (which funny enough I do not dislike necessarily)

I appreciate I would know the answer in a few weeks anyway. Just thought that's interesting to discuss

 

I have a set on my AVRI Precision and like you had previously used TIs.  At first I thought ‘what have I done?’ as the E string sounded so dead and dull, I thought there was something wrong or I had wrecked the string when cutting it.  However after a few weeks they all balanced out and I love them. The used TIs went on a Jazz Bass and that was a good move too!

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3 hours ago, MungoBass said:

 

I have a set on my AVRI Precision and like you had previously used TIs.  At first I thought ‘what have I done?’ as the E string sounded so dead and dull, I thought there was something wrong or I had wrecked the string when cutting it.  However after a few weeks they all balanced out and I love them. The used TIs went on a Jazz Bass and that was a good move too!

That's exactly what I was hoping to hear! For now I have raised the pickup for D and G relative to the other one a bit so I get more punch which makes their brightness is less annoying :)

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  • 2 weeks later...

Happy to report that, yes, after just two weeks the strings were starting to even out. Very thumpy sound all over the fretboard as long as I turned the tone down just a little bit.

 

Unfortunately, as I had to remove the strings a second, I gave them a very good wipe because, I thought, surely there is more to breaking in than some grease. But no, strings are back as new, with annoyingly bright D and G :D

 

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19 minutes ago, Paolo85 said:

But no, strings are back as new, with annoyingly bright D and G :D

That’s strange, they are my normal strings and I’ve swapped quite a few sets about from different basses, I’m sure they will even out again , perhaps they need a good slapping 😁

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14 hours ago, Paolo85 said:

Happy to report that, yes, after just two weeks the strings were starting to even out. Very thumpy sound all over the fretboard as long as I turned the tone down just a little bit.

 

Unfortunately, as I had to remove the strings a second, I gave them a very good wipe because, I thought, surely there is more to breaking in than some grease. But no, strings are back as new, with annoyingly bright D and G :D

 

 

I have switched flats from bass to bass before and not noticed any adverse effects.  I’m sure they will soon be fine again.

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57 minutes ago, MungoBass said:

 

I have switched flats from bass to bass before and not noticed any adverse effects.  I’m sure they will soon be fine again.

Thanks. I doubt it is the switching per se, more wiping the strings extremely thoroughly with a good cloth. Ibhave good hopes grease will come back!

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