Tone difference between flatwounds

[Deacon_Blues]

Hi,

I've had a set of Steve Harris flats on my Jazz (Fender '62 RI, USA vintage pups) now for a bit over half a year, and though I loved the tone of the strings the first few months, it's now too "hollow" for my taste. I'd like to try something with a more "defined" tone (more mids?) that lasts. This SH set of flats are the first flats I've used on this jazz.

I have a set of TI flats on my Squier VM fretless J and they sound like I want my bass strings to sound, but I hesitate to put on a set of them on my fretted J because of the low tension. I guess I would have to raise my action a lot to avoid string buzzing with the TI's. The main reason why a bought the SH flats was because of the high tension.

I'm thinking of getting a set of standard gauge chromes. Do they offer the definition I want in my strings in the long run? Or could maybe my problem be the pickups? The Squier FL has way hotter pickups than my Fender, and could the reason I like the TI's so much tone-wise be mainly because of that?

I haven't seen a set of Labella flats in any shops here (in fact it's generally hard to find any flats in the shops here), but how would you describe their tone in terms of definition and sustain? Should I perhaps order a set of those?

Any other options I should look into? I'd especially appreciate replies from people that have used the SH flats, but all comments are welcome.

Thanks.

[stflbn]

D'addario Chromes - Good mids and tend to stay a bit edgier than others I feel.

[kirkm24]

What about Thomastik's? They are pretty midrange focused strings. They are low tension and pretty comfortable on the fingers. They are not as low end focused as LaBellas but they have a nice full body sound to them.

[mellowgerman]

I tried the normal GHS flats just recently on my Guild and really didn't like them. Not enough lows. I've tried Pyramid Gold flats which were probably my favorite of all but they're more than 60bucks and generally impossible to find locally. I find myself just going back to fender flats. I've probably had 10 different sets of these over the years, of which I've liked 2. But I keep coming back to those two sets. I consider them to be second only to the pyramid golds. so i guess what i'm saying is that you could always grab a set of fenders and hope that you get a good set

[Deacon_Blues]

Thanks for the responses.

kirk - I'm hesitating to buy the TI's because of the low tension. (see my first post). Thanks for the comparison with the labellas though.

Mellow German - How would you describe the tonal characteristics of those Pyramid Gold flats and the Fenders? What about their tension?

I checked out Thomann to compare prices. The Labellas are the most expensive (over 60€), the Fenders are the cheapest (20€) and the rest are between 30 and 50 € per set. It would be cool to try those Pyramid strings but I'd like to know a bit more about them before ordering.

[Turkeybasster]

Standard Ernie Ball Rounds! 20 bucks. Done. And best is, they are commonly available. In America that is. They work for everything.

[kencasino]

I put GHS flats from the chop shop on my DOuglas fretless, and I like the mid frequencies that I get, but maybe that is also a function of the active preamp and pickups, and not very attributable to the strings themselves.

[mellowgerman]

Originally Posted by Deacon_Blues

Mellow German - How would you describe the tonal characteristics of those Pyramid Gold flats and the Fenders? What about their tension?

pyramid golds had a very huge, well balanced sound. quite a bit of tension. i liked them a lot. jack casady used to use them back in the 60s and they really helped me nail his sound combined with my dark star pickups.
since the fenders do vary quite a bit... i'll just comment on the two good sets i've had/have. they don't have as much character as the pyramid golds, but they do have a big sound. medium tension. when they're new I put moisturizing lotion on them to help break them in. then they're good to go.
also I don't really like bright sounding flats too much, so keep that in mind when considering my opinion
hope this helps!

[Deacon_Blues]

That helps. I think I'll try a set of those pyramid golds just for curiousness. I think I'll order a set of chromes as well though just in case.

[mellowgerman]

Originally Posted by Deacon_Blues

That helps. I think I'll try a set of those pyramid golds just for curiousness. I think I'll order a set of chromes as well though just in case.

let me know what you think. i have heard they sometimes vary since they're handwound, but i loved them.

[SteveC]

I have Chromes on my Squire VM Fretless and I think they are too...metal? I don't know, I can't describe it, but I am going to order some TI Flats again. I had them on my previous fretless absses and liked them. I thought I'd try the Chromes for a change, but I like the sound - and feel - of th eTI's better.

[Deacon_Blues]

Ok, after a long waiting for the delivery, I got the strings and put on the Pyramid Gold flats (.040-.105). I love the sound, very well balanced. Let's see how it changes as the string breaks in...

They're rather low tension compared to the other strings I had on, so a completely different setup is necessary. I raised the strings a bit and increased the relief by loosening the trussrod, but I can't get the G string to stop buzzing. It buzzes more or less the whole way up, especially when plucking hard/medium hard. The relief is now about 1 mm (when pressing down the first fret and in front of the last fret) and I wouldn't like to raise the string much more but it seems to require even more room to vibrate. Do you have any tips on what I could do to solve this problem?

Luckily I'm not using that string very much and the buzzing isn't picked up that much by the pups. It's still annoying though when playing unamplified.

[fretlessguy]

I use GHS Precision flats on a couple of my basses and really like their sound. They seem tosplit the difference between TIs and other brands in tension (I use the .40-.95 set). They do have a pronounced midrange, but it still doesn't overide the lows to my ears.