Alternative to TI Flats

[tomwilliams1983]

Ive been using TI flats for awhile and I really like them but I need something with more tension, are the any flatwounds that are like TI's but with more tension?

[guroove]

Have you tried LaBellas?

[nic salsus]

Nothing else really sounds like TIs. How long you been playing them? Took me 3-4 months to get completely comfortable with them.

[tomwilliams1983]

Ive had them on a good few months and I think theyre great and I prefer them to anything else ive tried but I would enjoy more tension, not much more, I had a set of steve harris flats and they were too tense.

And no i havent tried LaBellas what are they like?

[RCCollins]

la bella makes a range of gauges, but they are fairly high tension and thumpy - totally different sounding from the TIs.

[Hollywars]

My Deep Talkin' LaBella's are pretty high tension.

[nic salsus]

Can someone comment on Pyramid Golds? I played a bass strung with them last year and my recollection is they were similar in sound to TIs...can't recall if the tension was any higher though. My impression is they were but I could be misremembering and don't want to recommend them as such and be wrong.

[lhoward]

Originally Posted by nic salsus

Nothing else really sounds like TIs. How long you been playing them? Took me 3-4 months to get completely comfortable with them.

+1

I've used TI Jazz flats for about 5 years and love the tone of the strings, but the low tension is at times frustrating since I also play double bass and I have to play with a much lighter touch on the TI's.

Over the last couple years I've also used LaBella 760FM flat wounds and although they're higher tension, they are not as high tension as the Jamerson strings, 0760FM, which I'm playing on an almost 35" scale fretless and that increases the tension even a little more. I've also used the D'addario Chromes, but its been over 15 years since I've used them. They are also a somewhat higher tension, maybe close to the 760FM strings, but since its been so long since I played them, I can't do a valid comparison to the TI's and the two LaBella sets. Perhaps someone else will chime in with a recent comparison.

I think the FM760 strings would be the ones to try and give them a few months of daily playing to settle in. I have bought most of my recent sets from Elderly. Their prices are such that its not too expensive to try a few sets over 6-12 months.

Lloyd Howard

[derelicte]

i agree with much of the above. if i'm not using TI Jazz Flats, I use La Bella Deep Talkin Flats. The increased tension is noticeable but the feel is still infinitely better on the TI's. I slide around a lot, and i find the La Bella's still a little stickier than the TI's, both have been worn down for over 2 years. I haven't tried out any other flats, but I'm quite content, sound-wise, and feel-wise in both.

[jasper383]

La Bella makes a set of flats that is actually pretty close in stiffness to the TI set. The 760FX set is quite nice, try it.

[tomwilliams1983]

How well do the Labellas play? Ive heard theyre quite difficult

[guroove]

Originally Posted by tomwilliams1983

How well do the Labellas play? Ive heard theyre quite difficult

They come in so many gauges, that statements like this are just plain wrong. I have some light gauge strings on my jazz, and I actually find the tension a little too low for my tastes. The tension for the gauges is actually quite close to what they would be for rounds. Most people who find the tension high have either been playing the medium (.109 - .049) or the Jamerson sets.

[winston]

There's nothing like the TI's, which have that dampening layer of silk between core & winding. Out of all the other flat's I've tried--Ernie Ball, Sadowsky, Dean Markley, LaBella, GHS--I felt like lighter-gauge D'Addario Chromes were the closest to TI.

[tomwilliams1983]

I was about to mention D'addario Chromes, i think what with all ive heard and read i'll buy them and hope for the best. thats the annoying thing about strings you can't go into a shop and try them (at least not where I live)

[Jazzdogg]

If anyone comes across a repository of clips of various flatwounds, please provide a link. I am chagrined that most of the clips I run across feature rounds.

[tomwilliams1983]

Originally Posted by Jazzdogg

If anyone comes across a repository of clips of various flatwounds, please provide a link. I am chagrined that most of the clips I run across feature rounds.

I hear you there man its hard deciding what to buy based on peoples descriptions alone.

[nic salsus]

Originally Posted by tomwilliams1983

I hear you there man its hard deciding what to buy based on peoples descriptions alone.

Nice thing about flats is that used ones are very useful so a collection isn't an unreasonable thing to think about.

[Jazzdogg]

Roundwound players who change strings frequently seem most likely to amass a collection of used strings. I can go years between string changes with flats; the strings I have "laying around" are either strings I tried but didn't love (and didn't throw away or give away), or the rounds that new basses were stung with, which were immediately replaced with flats.

[guroove]

Originally Posted by Jazzdogg

If anyone comes across a repository of clips of various flatwounds, please provide a link. I am chagrined that most of the clips I run across feature rounds.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HDZJMKfgaCk

[Jazzdogg]

Thanks! Have you tried TI flats yet? They're all I've used for several years now.