Thomastik-Infeld Jazz Flats Review

Here’s a new review of TI Jazz Flats by the excellent string reviewer Jonathan Wong.

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I appreciate how he compared directly with the LaBella Low Tension flats. I’ve o ly gotten through the playing portion of the video so far but I was looking at the LaBellas earlier today to replace my DTBs as they’re just such a higher tension on my shortscale than I want right now. I didn’t hear a 3x difference in the TIs over the LBs for the cost difference. I’ll watch the rest of the video tomorrow before making a decision, but I’m leaning LB Low Tension right now.

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If you haven’t watched it yet, here’s his complete LB LTF review.

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Heyyyyy… a fellow glove player :smile: Digging it!

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That’s a non-linear comparison criterion. TI Jazz Flats feel and play amazingly well, unlike any other flats I’ve played, including LaBella varieties.

But there is a price for their tone, feel, low tension and long life. Still, taken in aggregate, their voice combined with their ease of playability - over a very, very long time - is why I play them. That said, budgets are real considerations as well. YMMV

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Over here in the UK you can get TI jazz flats (they’re what I use) for around £56 and La Bella Low Tension flats for around £43. So it’s not really a huge price difference for us. I believe you get stung rather more in the US. (Maybe I should start a little side line!!!)

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I’ve bought TI Jazz strings (flats and rounds) for actually less than the USD equivalent of £56.

Not recently, though.

First, I haven’t needed new sets as I stockpiled some over a year ago. :smiling_face_with_sunglasses:

And, second, with the tariffs bullshit still fucking things up, TI prices to the US have skyrocketed. :rocket:

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Interesting.

I just found TI Jazz Flats (JF344) on Amazon (US) for $77.20 (the equivalent of £56).

It’s an unexpectedly good deal.

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Yeah, Guitar Center and Sweetwater both have the short scale jazz flats (JF324) for $130.95. Regular scale is a bit less I think, but doesn’t help me for my use case. Direct from TI would be about $103 and change. Ordering from Thomann would be $80.16 plus an unknown VAT for the tariff charge. And there’s a seller on Reverb that supposedly sells them for $85.99.

Or I can just get the La Bella LTF-4A-S Low Tension Flexible Flats for $45.95 USD about anywhere. They seem like a decent path to try before going all out for the TIs.

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Where are you located? Sounds like you’re in the the US.

If so, there is no VAT on Thomann orders. There is shipping, though.

Regardless, the LaBella strings seem best for you.

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Another thing to mention is the long life usage. I have a set of the Ti Flat on my CLF SB2, it’s been on for 4-5 years and it’s just so awesome, super smooth and awesome tone. The new one is on my Caprice that one is pretty new. I installed it maybe 18 months but only has about 200 hours of play on it. It’s not technically broken in yet, may be another 200 more hours. It offers much better feel as it aged.

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I’m impressed you average 30 minutes a day on any typical instrument you own, given the sheer number :slight_smile:

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@Al1885 has reached a stage where he lives outside of our spacetime, as the sheer weight of his bass collection created his own personal black hole :slight_smile:

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Ummm! Maybe that number is a tad high. My personal hours on it probably closer to 60 but that’s the bass I put on the rack so my daughter(s) can grab it and mess around with it. I can’t possibly put that much hours on a single bass. Plus I loaned this one out to my nephew for a few months and I know for the fact that it was the only bass he plays so it really got some good use.

The Cutlass got some time on it as it’s the first P bass I grab. then the Big Al.

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Not to mention that I’m fully immersed in the world of IEMs now. I have more than 100 set, luckily both my daughters are into the hobby too so they got some good use.

Have you tried to AutoEQ yet? Install the Power Amp EQ, it’s one of the most accurate representation. It should get you pretty close to another set if the graph can make the match. Install it, see if you like it. I think 30 days free and it’s a one time buy of $7.

I just got the CrinEar Reference, It’s modern-day Flat tuning. You’ll like it.

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I don’t EQ my IEM, as the tone is very good for my use case (playing in the park).
Got the perfect IEM now, thanks again!

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Not EQ. AutoEQ.

In the nutshell. It turns your Cadenza into another IEM like my reference, for example. It’s a frequency compensation matching one to another. You can take a glimpse into what the ont $1000 set sounds like. Not all the time but most of the time it’s pretty close.

I don’t EQ mine either just AutoEQ only.

Yeah, but I use the IEM only connected to my Zoom AMS 24 DAI, which connects to my Windows laptop.

For plain listening on my smartphone, I use my WF-1000XM6 or my absolutely fantastic Focal Bathys.

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That’s quite a purchase for a thrifty Dutchman :rofl:

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It translates to selling my old body to drunk bachelor party chicks for about 4 weekends at the red light district around the corner :slight_smile:
When I bought the much more expensive Focal Bathys I could get away with one weekend, but then I was in better shape. The Focal Bathys were worth every unspeakable act I had to perform!

The WF-1000XM6 sound great, but the ANC s#cks (compared to my previous Bose Ultra 2), in case you want to get them. It seems to be a firmware issue though that does not affect all devices…

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