D'AddarioBass Guitar Strings, XL Nickel Half Rounds, ENR71, Long Scale, Regular Light Gauge 45-100, 4-String Set, Pack of 1

These half-round bass strings give me the full tonal Range I desire, plus a tonal Quality that is even more impressive.And what's Really going to sell you is the Feel!Smooth as silk compared with round-wound, can hardly feel the difference vs. flat wounds, but they give you the full traditional Motown punch with the highs rolled off, Plus the ability to go Entwistle or Squire on a scoop tone... deep lows and bright highs with proper EQ.My favorite feature of these strings is that I can mimic a fretless bass (acoustic or "Jaco"). You want to slur up or down to a note and apply finger vibrato on the sustain?DONE! No scratchiness on the slur (again, silky) and the string gauges are light enough to allow an easy vibrato... no chorus required. (I'll also fret Back from the fret to induce a little growl, and work off the bridge pickup if I want to really try to emulate the Jaco Jazz tone.)As long as these are for sale, I have no reason to try another set... I can't imagine a string feeling and sounding 3x better (and that's what I'd have to pay to move higher from here.)

These feel and sound absolutely wonderful.

I have been a roundwound player for 90% of my time playing bass. 10% of the time was flatwounds, and while I liked them, for some things they were just too dull or were missing something depending on the song or style of music. I decided to give these a shot, as I've been curious about them for a few years, and I'm not sure why I waited so long to do that!The feel of the strings is very different. When people say these strings have a "sticky" feeling to them, they're not wrong. Its the in-between of having a round and flat that is a bit confusing, since its not totally rigid like a roundwound string is, yet it isn't completely flat like a flatwound. It took me a few days to really get used to the feel, but once I did I found I really liked the feel and vibe of what I'd say is an extremely broken-in and old bass string. The fact that fret noise is largely taken out of the equation is also very nice. There is a slight increase in tension, but again, once you get used to that, it really isn't a problem.I did have to tweak my amp and pedals a tiny bit to accommodate for the slight volume difference, which was mostly due to me changing the way I was playing but also the strings themselves (acoustically) being a tiny bit quieter. They are a pretty mellow string, but don't lose too much with the brightness. To my ear, its a perfect balance. With the band I gig with, we mostly play pop/alternative rock and r&b/rap. For that gig, these are great, but when I'm playing at home I'm either playing sludge/stoner rock or some kind of poppy jazz. These strings are great for all of those, and the sounds that the strings produce work extremely well with overdrive and fuzz. The strings also retain a nice brightness if you are someone who plays with a pick (I tend to go back and forth depending on what I'm playing).They're pricey for sure, but much cheaper than flats, and I think over time as I break them in more these will still sound great. I don't foresee me really going back to playing roundwound strings on bass for any reason.

Hard to find in short scale but sound great.

I originally wanted strings that would be less bright and rough on my fingers. D'Addario's Half-Rounds seemed the best way to go. I've played them for years on several different basses and with one or two exceptions (probably bad runs), they performed as advertised. As I mentioned, I had a couple of sets over the years that must've been made wrong, because they sounded very dead. I'd replace them with another set of the same strings and they would sound just fine again.One recent development that puzzles me: what is this recent trend with 4-string long-scale basses coming from the factory with 45-105 gauge strings? I normally use the 45-100 strings, which seem (to me) to be the best balance between thickness and tension, while retaining good intonation throughout.The 105s I've had to deal with so far tend to sound muddy and feel leaden under my fingers. I want to start using flats on a couple of my basses in the near future, so I'm going to experiment with D'Addario's Chromes. However, I'll stick with the 45-100 gauges, since I'm used to them. I've had far more success over the years with D'Addario strings and far too many problems with their competitors' products.