It is a bit a jungle with all those string options…
Thanks for clarifying!
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Don’t sugar-coat it, Pam. Let us know how you really feel.
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I am a big fan of D’Addario Nylon Tapewounds. They feel super smooth and I also like the similarly smooth sound I get from them. They eliminate nearly all sliding sounds I get from other strings.
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I love them too. They are my second favorite after the LaBella Deep Talking Bass flats
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You could do like I did and get Fender Flats. They were under $25.00 shipped and if I did not like them, I wasn’t out a lot of dough. But, fortunately, I love them and they are staying on my J-bass.
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So far my experience with flats is limited to GHS flat wounds (45-105) and Rotosound 77 (45-105). They are absolutely different. The GHS on my G&L and Squier 51 Vintage vibe are deep and retro (Khruangbin tone). The Rotosound on either bass have a tone almost in between rounds and flats. They also feel very different. The GHS feel flat and with less tension compared to the Rotosound that feel almost as rounds. Both really don’t sound like rounds, though. I like them both.
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@franx , you are the only othe person I saw on the forum with GHS flats. That’s what i have on my P-bass now. What are your thoughts on them? I find them very deep and round, and very little treble… a true old-school sounding flat, even though they’re SS, which should be a little brighter.
Because I’m turning my P into a Steve Harris fanboi machine, I’ll be putting SH monel Rotosounds on it along with the SH pickup. I was wondering if you could describe your experience with the Rotosound flats a little more.
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Hi MC_C! I should really point out that besides being a beginner, I only play at home by myself and at low volume since I live in an apartment. But as far as my experience goes, first of all the tone I like seems to keep changing. I love the GHS for that vintage sound. They feel great on my single coil P-bass and I don’t expect huge differences in tone other that from using foam and as far as tone can be adjusted. On the G&L (L-2000 with double humbuckers) I was able to almost reach a similar tone but get much more mid-tonens and I personally liked the variety depending on the settings, all within the GHS retro-styled tones.
As far as the Rotosound are concerned, they are relatively new and I’m not sure how much they have really been worn in but they have gotten much better. GHS are really smooth to the finger unlike the Rotosound. The texture is much more pronounced. They sounded almost like rounds on the G&L (which I really dislike) and very “metallic”. They have gotten less noisy, smoother and they definitely have more mid’s. I get a variety of tones out of them on the G&L. I’m really starting to like them a lot and they are worth the try. I would tell you to get them since you already know the GHS. But they certainly don’t have that deep vintage tone of the GHS. They sound more like British psychedelic 60s. I hope that helps! Cheers
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That helps a lot! Thank you. I do want brighter sounding flats for my P.
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This is very accurate…
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And this, too.
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This is an absolutely great comparison.
While the SH set is still my favourite (SH fanboi, duh!) but the Billy Sheehan ones are a close contender. They’re both so bright for flatwounds! Those JazzBass ones sounded muddy by comparison (even though they’re not muddy, really, as flats go). I could totally see myself using the Billy Sheehan signature set on my bass.
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The Billy Sheehan are rounds…
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OK. Thank you. You are correct. I didn’t realise that. That shows how bright the SH flats are.
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And the story is that he changes them every show to keep that brightness…
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I just got in my TI Jazz Flats. I’ll report once on my Jazz and played. I love my Fender flats but just checking out the TI’s. I hope they sound as good as the price would dictate. ($83.00 total from Sweetwater)
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That TI flats are very cool, but, very different, you either love them or hate them.
Give them a bit more time before you make a decision.
In the end, I did not like the thinness of them, YMMV
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I read every review I could find. I hope they replicate the sound I hear in my head. Most reviews said the bottom was great, the mids popped and the highs were chimey. I was going to originally get Labella LTF’s but they were back ordered. I have a problem that once something jumps in my head, I have to do it. The TI flats jumped in my head. I plead insanity.
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First impressions on the TI Flats. Slicker feel than the Fender Flats. You will probably have to tweak your string height as they are really low tension and do tend to buzz, clack and clang. Took about 10 minutes to get the string height to a position that generated no buzz. Then when I hit the first open E I had to dial my amp a little differently from the Fenders. Rolled back the bass, rolled up the mids a touch, then backed off the highs. Once I did that, my Jazz turned into a different instrument. It was beautiful to hear. The lows sounded almost like an organ, so smooth and articulate. The mids at first were really pronounced but by playing with both low and high mids on my GK amp, I got them to sound so good and almost alive. At first the highs were almost too much. Again, the EQ to the rescue. Rolled them down a touch and the sound they produced was almost violin-like. I hope ya’ll understand these comparisons. Being a newb to bass, I can only relate to what I have heard before. I think these are my new favorite bass strings and from what I have read, they tend to get better over time and last forever.
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After further playing and tweaking the action, I have these things set really low, no buzzing with a light touch and EQ is perfect. I did roll the front pickup to about 90% full and the rear to about 90% off. The articulation is superb. I love these strings. They play effortlessly and they actually have made my technique better. You don’t need to dig in. Just do like Steve Harris. Light pluck and increase volume on amp. You will be rewarded with notes that bloom. I may get a set for my LTD B-50 P/J bass and see how they sound. Worth the price and 5 stars so far. I read they get better with time. They are wonderful now and hard to imagine much better.
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