Flats with lots of mids?

[Ryan Mohr]

I'm looking for some flats. Here are my criteria:

lots of mids (low-mids and mid-mids, 200-500 Hz mainly)
fat bottom
no zing, but plenty of clarity
reasonable tension

I'm considering the following:

D’Addario Chromes
DR Hi-Beam Flatwound
Fender Stainless Bass Flatwound
La Bella Deep Talkin’ Flat Wound
Thomastik-Infield Jazz Flatwound

What do you guys think?

[Wesley R]

May be the ticket! Do be prepared for 3 days to aweek of breakin time. During this time many harmonics and overtones will occur.

Wesley R.

[Darkstrike]

Chromes or TI's, definatly.

[Ryan Mohr]

Thanks, but I have heard that the Chomes are zingy. I don't want zingy highs, that's why I want flats. I don't want the "feel of flats but sound of rounds".

[Rawkabilly]

I'm no flatwound expert, having only only used TI Jazz flats and DA Chromes, but I will say that TI's have mids out the wazoo. You either like the tension and feel or you don't, though.

[Kael]

While chromes are zingy for a flat, they still sound like a flat. TI's in my experience sound less like a traditional flat. TI's sound great, but less flat like than chromes.

The tension on those two are drastically different too. TI's were floppier on my bass than most rounds.

[Prof.Dr.Metz]

i had a set of ghs flats on a '95 atk bass, and that gave me a nice shove in the midrange. they come in various gauges and are relatively cheap. come to think of it, i think i'll change out my labella flats on my g&l for these.

[Human Bass]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mohr

Thanks, but I have heard that the Chomes are zingy. I don't want zingy highs, that's why I want flats. I don't want the "feel of flats but sound of rounds".

By no means Chromes have zingy highs, they are flats afterall.

[Ryan Mohr]

Originally Posted by Prof.Dr.Metz

i had a set of ghs flats on a '95 atk bass, and that gave me a nice shove in the midrange. they come in various gauges and are relatively cheap. come to think of it, i think i'll change out my labella flats on my g&l for these.

How would you compare the LaBellas to the GHSs? Thanks

[kirkm24]

Originally Posted by Wesley R

May be the ticket! Do be prepared for 3 days to aweek of breakin time. During this time many harmonics and overtones will occur.

Wesley R.

A break in period? I guess I could given them more of a chance. I put a set on my P bass and they were as bright and clanky as a set of stainless rounds. I had to roll the tone knob back about 75% to tame them down.

[kirkm24]

Originally Posted by Human Bass

By no means Chromes have zingy highs, they are flats afterall.

I thought they were extremely bright and clanky. I have tried almost every flat available and the Chromes I tried were by far the brightest and clankiest sounding flats of any of them.

[kirkm24]

Originally Posted by Ryan Mohr

How would you compare the LaBellas to the GHSs? Thanks

La Bellas have more tension and are thumpier than GHS. They are also more expensive but in my opinion are a very high quality string. GHS are good for the price though. Especially if you're just trying strings out.

[bassbully]

Chromes tame way down just give them time. TIs are more mid heavy and woolfy if you push them. Chromes have more low mid and more classic thump or closer to a classic thump of flats in time. TIs have a woody sound of their own.

[steamthief]

Fenders have the thump. Are you putting these on your P, Ryan?

[JimmyM]

+1 for the Chromes. Chromes are pretty zingy out of the box, but in time they mellow out. They gain some bottom but they don't lose the mids.

TI's are right out if you don't like zing, though. They're the middiest flat out there, and they never lose their zing. I hated 'em.

[Ryan Mohr]

Originally Posted by steamthief

Fenders have the thump. Are you putting these on your P, Ryan?

I think I'm gonna put them on my SX Jazz.

[Aurel]

Originally Posted by kirkm24

La Bellas have more tension and are thumpier than GHS. They are also more expensive but in my opinion are a very high quality string. GHS are good for the price though. Especially if you're just trying strings out.

+1
Labellas are high quality strings, and have a very deep (but not dark) sound.

Also, don't forget that you'll always get more mids out of your strings with a P-style or humbucker pickup than with J-style pickups.

[Prof.Dr.Metz]

hey ryan, yeah the labella's to me sound smoother and even. they are a medium gauge set (49-109). the ghs set were more concentrated in the mids (med gauge), the guitarist in the band at that time even commented how good the bass sounded.

i should say that the bass i'm using the labella's on is a g&l sb-1 (p-bass). it's a mid heavy bass to begin with, sorta like the ibanez atk.

i'm using this bass in a band with horns, so i really need to fill out the bottom end, hence the flatwounds.

[Sundogue]

Chromes excel at low-mids.
TI's excel at the hi-mids and highs (for a flat).

Chromes are bright and clanky but will settle down and become smoother sounding from lows to highs. The TI's I have (3 years old) are still very bright in the hi-mids/highs.

Chromes maintain the lows but with great clarity and distinct low-mids that cut. But they aren't that old fashioned thumpy kind of flatwound either.

[Ryan Mohr]

Thanks for all the opinions guys, I'm gonna try out an old pair of GHS flats I have. If I'm not happy, I will try out some LaBellas most likely.