TI Jazz Flat Users: I want your honest opinion!

[madbassplaya]

I have a G&L Jb that is my main main bass. Love this beauty to death. It has vintage frets though and recently I noticed the rounds are digging into the frets more than I thought they were. My hand technique is pretty heavy as well.

The primary place that I play this bass is church/worship events. This is not and will not be my bar bass. I want to keep it in great condition. I may go ahead and use rounds if I can't find what I'm looking for in a flat, but I hear great things about the TI's and wanted your opinions.

Please keep in mind that I play in church. No this is not "Urban Gospel" but more Christian rock/Praise and worship.

Also keep in mind I just tried out Chromes. The first Sunday I played them I loved them. They had a great bit of zing to them. The next Sunday that had worn off and I couldn't brighten my tone up enough to sound good in the mix.

So, will TI's work for what I need or should I stick with rounds?

[BadB]

TI flats have very low tension, but sound great. If you play hard, you might find that they are not for you. I actually used them to help lighten up my technique, as I have played too hard for years. If you need zing in your sound, no flat string will give you that. Some are brighter than others, but not much.

[MarkusBass]

I don't think TIs are going to give you the zing of new Chromes. If week old Chromes don't have enough top for you, then in my opinion, you need to stick with rounds. If you want to save your frets but have a great musical top, I'd say Dunlop Nickles.

[pedroims]

I used my highway one with TI for the service last Sunday, Hillsong-Chris Tomlin etc, my wife's words at the end of the service: That bass sounds really good with this type of music honey.

I also got an email from the leader saying how good the bass sounded last service. I am going to try my Jazz with fat beams this weekend to see what the people think now.

[mambo4]

yes, TI flats have very low tension...for Flats.

Compared to rounds they strike me as in the middle, tension wise.

i don't know what "zing " means to you. Rounds will always win in the brightness and high frequency bite. They lack the bite, but TI's have a fantastic tone of their own, certainly not just low end thump. I can only describe it as very musical... every note you fret has a strong fundamental and lower order harmonics. It's a sound that seems to emphasize pitch over timbre, if that makes sense. My experience has been that they hold their own quite well in a pop/rock setting, maybe not for metal tho.

[Marton]

IMO, TI are just a good set of flats, not the holy grail of strings. If you like roundwounds, you should use roundwounds. The worst that can happen is a refret in 10 years ?

But you can find some less agressive-for-the-frets rounds, sunbeams come to my mind, as they're nickel, and slighty buffed, so smoother.

[CapnSev]

We've talked before, but I'll give my observations again.

I second a lot of what mambo said, they are very 'musical' strings. They are extremely clear strings, but I wouldn't say they have a lot of 'zing' to them. The closest description I can give is that they sound like deadened rounds with a lot more clarity.

They're not like any other flat, but they're certainly not rounds either. I kind of put them in their own camp.

[jgroh]

How about half rounds? Something like Ken Smith slick rounds?

[DavePlaysBass]

If you are worried about fret ware and you want zing, find some Nickel plated round wounds or use DR steels which are about the smoothest steel string out there.

What brand and gauge are you using now?

I personnally love TIs, but it does not sound from your description that they are what you are after. I find Chromes to be clankier and zingier than TIs.

[mccartneyman]

Sadowsky flats have a bit more zing than TIs and a bit more tension. Haven't had them on long enough to know how long the zing lasts. I used TIs on my 55-94 on a church gig for 3 years without changing them and found they had enough top end.

[superiorpine]

I am a TI fan. You should know: they are much softer to play after they break in, which is not a quick process. They exhibit a dominant fundamental sound without lots of overtones either high (zing) or low (boom). They last a long time. I think they would be fine on an G&L which is voiced a bit on the aggressive side. Finally, with the lower tension and softer feel, and with action set low, really digging in produces an interesting grind from the fret noise. Not a clang or a clank, but a midrangey grind. Playing lighter gives a different tone, aptly described above. Because of this, I think they are very versatile. Buy a used broken in set from the classifieds. Lower cost, quicker test. Because they are really different, please you probably should try them for more than one week. Then decide for yourself.