'64 TBird II unbroken at Norms

[Dave W]

There are some flats that can feel a bit gooey, true. Not D'Addario Chromes though.

TIs feel gooey. But I dislike Chromes. Too bright for flats, too high tension. LaBella DTB or Ernie Ball "group" flats are in-between in feel and IMO sound better. To each his own.

[Pilgrim]

I've never had a problem with flats either, and I've used Chromes and some others, but the Labella 760FL sets are on almost all my basses.

I'm not fond of rounds at all, either their abrasive texture on the fingers or the bright sound.

It's all OK, you get to play what you like. 

[uwe]

"Too bright for flats, too high tension."

Both true.

But they also have the slinkiest feel of all flats I've played (slinkier than Labellas, Pyramids, Rotos or the honey fly trap TIs) and their initial presence subsides eventually and they then keep their sound for a decade or more, not just years. And the high tension makes them excellent practice strings. I have Chromes on - inter alia - my Washburn AB-20. I have way better acoustic basses (strung with Ernie Ball or D'Addario bronze rounds mostly), but no bass gets as much playing time as the AB-20 and the Chromes on it just never age. Noteworthy, their extreme pull is withstood by the AB-20 bridge and top (but has pulled the plastic nut into pieces more than once!), the action of this bass approaching now close to 30 years in my hands remains fine. And if you can play a bass line with a lot of note pulling on my AB-20, I swear you can play it on any long scale bass in this world. It's boot camp for the fingers! 

The AB-20 actually even rests in a stand in our kitchen close to the kitchen table so I can grab a hold of it at whim to run a couple of lines or new ideas. (I do most of my lap top work there unless I'm outside on our porch like I am just now.)