I know they are not supposed to, but I've done it before. Volume is a bit lower sometimes, but they work in principle, at least steel core ones (like most of them have), not sure whether the TI's with their silk core actually would. The D'Addarios I now use don't seem any quieter than regular strings to me, but I was holding my breath when I tried it. Silver strings just looked wrong on that bass.
Many moons ago there was a now sadly deceased German bassplayer (Horst Stachelhaus of Satin Whale and Birth Control fame or non-fame) and he started stringing his Ovation Magnum II with Ernie Ball Bronze Wounds (made for the Ernie Ball acoustic basses of that time) and liking the sound, advocating them as "the best strings ever" for him.
That's him, albeit not with his Magnum and most likely not playing Ernie Ball Bronze strings:
That's where I picked it up from. IIRC, JE liked Maxima Gold Strings (until the company went defunct) and those weren't the loudest strings either, probably due to the gold coating. These days with amps having so much headroom, string volume really isn't an issue.
