Good to know I’ll stock up the next time I see the sales.
Since I have a few basses more than average hoarders, I can’t afford to have a favorite expensive strings. 
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My feelings on this topic are both and then some.
I have round wound D’Addario NYXLs on my Fender Jazz Bass.
I have flat wound D’Addario XL Chromes on my Squier Fretless Jazz Bass.
I have semi-flat wound D’Addario XL Half Rounds on my Sterling StingRay 4HH.
These expand my available sonic palette.
The NYXLs on my Fender Jazz Bass have a bright, lively sound.
The XL Chromes on my Squier Fretless Jazz Bass have a warm, smooth sound.
The XL Half Rounds on my Sterling StingRay 4HH enhance the versatility of this bass.
They are all a pleasure to play.
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@Al1885, this is the current price for the TI Jazz Flats Super Long (JR364, 36” scale) I use. It’s about 8 bucks more than the lowest price I’ve seen, but it’s still a deal compared to other vendors.
I opt for these super longs because of the gauge they offer as opposed to the 34” scale which I find too light for me.
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Thanks @MikeC
Just ordered 2, why buy one when you can have two twice the price,
Did they change the packaging? It used to be yellow. Now the yellow one is 5 string.
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Cool! I’ve got these TI Jazz Round Super Longs on my two Mayones. Love ‘em.
The packaging for these TIs is for non-USA markets. I know that global brands differentiate product marketing per geographical regions, but that’s cool; the strings are exactly the same regardless of the color/layout of the sleeve they’re covered in. 
Glad you got some. 
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I keep trying to train myself to enjoy rounds because the internet says that’s the “real” way to make guitar strings, and I’m just being a sissy So I tried flats to meet in the middle between tapes and rounds.
Rounds are rough and produce a lot of noise that I don’t enjoy. I don’t understand how people say flats are grippier than rounds, but I haven’t played every string out there. The flats I use feel sticky out of the package, but an alcohol wipe takes whatever that coating is that feels sticky away. Then I rubbed my fingers on my nose, play a few songs and I’m good to go. No grippiness in my use case.
I like flats on the acoustic because the string noise easily overtakes the instrument itself. For electric, I’m not giving up my tapes. The LaBella 750N ( standard gauge) strings give a very nice growl, very low pressure needed and seem to last forever. I imagine they’d be worthless to someone using a pick, though.
LaBella is made in USA with USA wire, according to the package. I don’t know where other strings come from, but I can appreciate that fact.
D’Addario are made in New York. Not sure about Elixir and Ernie Ball.
Love the roundwound string noise myself, adds human feel to the music 
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Hmm, $90 on the dot here locally, I’ll try Amazon Global and see.
edit: $79.99 and $11 shipping there, same
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Tape is actually the middle,
Yeah! that’s actually why I love rounds. It takes so little effort to produce different sounds I like. It would take considerably more effort on the flats.
You may want to try the coated rounds. DR black beauty and Red Devils are great if you don’t like a lot of string noise.
I feel that way, too! Supposedly (according to Internet research…yay) it’s round are bright, flats are muddy, tapes are extra muddy. But I feel like my tapes are just as bright as the rounds I’ve used, but will allow a light touch and give a nice growl down low.
But I’ve never used any quality rounds… probably. Just whatever came originally on my TRBX 174 and Schecter. They are probably fine strings, but I wouldn’t know the difference TBH.
I only just discovered the coated rounds, Black Beauties, a few days ago. At first I thought they are just a tape wound, as LaBella standard tapes are rounds under the tape, not I’m not sure what’s up there. Are they comparable to tapes in construction, or is it something else going on?
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No not at all, Tapewound especially La Bella looks like a skinny version of a Flat wound set, but on a D’addario it’s black nylon.
DR Coated string feels like a very smooth rounds and much much duller than rounds. I have them on a few of my basses for looks mainly. I like no love bright strings that’s why my favorite strings are Optima Gold strings, they are definitely the brightest set of strings, they sounds like piano.
You can roll off the brightness or plug the string in the way to make your tone deep and accent it with some articulations on the round wounds but you can’t get extra brightness effect anywhere on Flats
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More internet myths? Supposedly tapes last forever. Even heard people talking about 20+ year old tape wounds still doing fine.
Changed out my 1 year’ish old tapes for identical freshies and the difference is obvious, even to a pleb like me that can’t do anything by ear 
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Nothing lasts forever yeah. And the internet is what it is.
There’s this weird worship of tales of Jamerson never changing his strings but when you read between the lines it’s pretty obvious Jamerson’s bass was a complete piece of shit and not something to emulate.
Contemporaries referred to the thing as unplayable junk. Jamerson would humbly say the gunk made the funk, but no, no it did not. Like most true masters Jamerson never gave himself the credit due - the funk came from him, not the instrument.
“Worked great for him” does not imply “will work for you”.
Jamerson didn’t change his strings regularly, but he would boil them to clean them. Electric basses were relatively new phenomena back then, and boiling strings was considered to be preferable to shelling out cash for new ones.
Based on stories by his contemporaries, he would only change a string if one had broken.
Jamerson was undoubtedly a bass genius, but he also suffered from many personal issues, including alcoholism and drug use. Those issues could likely have contributed to his lack of concern for caring for his instruments, most of which were stolen from him.
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Not to mention that the action is as tall as the building he’s playing in. He prolly thought, man this 1/2” action is so low compared to the upright he used to play, so awesome so awesome
Another famous bass string tale is ABBA Bassist would change string on his bass and handed out to a touring friend to age the string. He’d collect the bass after a couple of years and started playing it. Then you have the opposite end of the spectrum, my boy Phil (McKnight) who would change his strings sometime as early as a couple of sessions because the “new string” Zing is gone.
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I watched a gear rundown with Justin Chancellor (Tool) and his guitar tech where the tech talked about changing strings before every show and also mid-show when he switches basses for a couple songs in a different tuning. I love the zing of fresh rounds, but that still seems like overkill!
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I probably have change more strings than many members here I’m very confident with my string changing kung fu but that’s next level to do it mid show. If I’d changed my string for a gig I’d do it the day before so I’m not worrying about anything going out of tune.
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The reason for most people to “never” change flats is, of course, that their tonal quality does not change anymore (they have reached their global maximum of dullness).
That’s all good, but Evan Marien pointed out an interesting aspect in a recent interview, where he said the main reason for him to change strings after a few months is when they start to lose intonation.
Makes sense to me, even though I had never thought about that aspect before, but a string continuously kept taut is likely to experience some material fatigue that makes it harder and harder to maintain good intonation.
Of course, for all those of you never venturing beyond the 5th fret, that is hardly an issue 
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@JoshFossgreen , @Gio : it seems we still have two thread with almost identical names and focus of topic… (this one, and one called “Flat wound vs. round wound strings”)
Is there still a chance to merge them, or are they too far gone by now!?!?
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Never had an issue with intonation. My newest bass is only a couple weeks old, but even the cheapo Glarry would stay in the for months with no issue.
The difference old tapes and new tapes is clarity. Low notes are clearly distinguishable vs being blurred together. Higher notes not strongly affected beyond overall volume being louder with the fresh strings.