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Just checked these out, they look right up my alley.
Until I looked at the price tag. TIs are worth pocket change in comparison.
This is probably the best description of TI jazz flats that I've read. I use them predominantly because I like a darker sound and with my tone knob rolled back they're the only string I've encountered that manage to keep a massive fundamental and everything in-between. I can't stand their top end but man how I love that there's so many mids on offer to scoop and sculpt to your liking without killing all presence. Sorry to hijack the threadA couple of years ago, I posted a thread inquiring about Dogal flatwounds. Here's a link:
Dogal Traditional Vintage Flats ?
Since then, I've tried a ton of other flatwounds but never pulled the trigger on the Dogal Jacos or Dogal Traditionals. I scored a set for Xmas (what a cool surprise) so I figured I'd post my initial impressions here since they seem to be a pretty rare string.
First off, the packaging is the only thing I really have a gripe about. It's minor, so don't let it color the rest of the review for you, but the strings came with a blurry photocopied sleeve inside the standard plastic package.
I'm not sure if this is standard packaging for Dogal, but for a $60-70 set of flatwounds you'd think that they'd have something less blurry & which didn't look like it was printed in my High School Computer Lab back in 1991. I'm fully into DIY / small batch / funky boutique aesthetics, but it just made me chuckle to see the corny photocopied graphics.
The individual strings themselves are packaged in high quality envelopes, very pro. No gripes there.
I put these on my main P Bass, and strung up the E string first. I wanted to play them side by side with the TI Jazz Flats which were previously on the bass so that I could get a good feel for tonal / tension differences. TI Jazz Flats have become my "standard" on this P Bass, though I've also loved GHS P Flats and La Bella LTF on there too. I'll compare them all as I proceed.
Feel: My set is 45-105, and they're round core. In hand, the strings are not as "noodly" as TI Jazz Flats, and feel a bit more like GHS Precision Flats (lights) or La Bella Low Tension Flats in their flexibility. The silks are a nice deep shade of turquoise. These are nice & smooth, not tacky,grippy or sticky, though there is some polishing residue on my set. (Left a "graphite" haze on my finger tips when first playing, no big deal though.)
Tension:Tension wise, the Dogal Jacos are pleasantly mild. Pretty close to the tension of La Bella LTF, actually... just a touch tighter. (LTF are .100s and these are .105s, though, so keep that in mind) They're supple & easy to fret for the left hand, but provide nice resistance to the plucking hand. Great balance, so I was impressed by their feel right off the bat.
Unplugged sound:Tonally, these have less center mids than the TI Jazz Flats which doesn't surprise me because the TI mids are pretty unique. There is a pleasant "hollow" character to these Dogal Jacos that I noticed right off the bat when playing unplugged. They have a terrific tight low & low mid quality, but the mid frequencies which are "bumped" in the TI Jazz flats are "notched" a little in the Jacos. Highs are present but subdued, similar to TI Flats when new.
Amplified sound: The acoustic attributes mentioned above still apply here, but the lows really project in a nice way right out of the package. These aren't "thumpy" old school flats like La Bella or GHS P Flats, though they have a nice full low and low mid presence. There is a lot of clarity and plenty of "note" to the E and A strings, and even when dialing the tone knob back I've still got quite a lot of definition.
One thing I love about TI Jazz flats on a P Bass is that, because the mids are so prevalent, I can roll the tone back gradually and get lots of varying shades. With these Dogal Jacos, I don't get quite the same broad range out of the tone knob because the midrange is a bit scooped. The positive side of this is that I can run the tone open wider without fighting mids on the amp like I sometimes do with TI Jazz flats. I also notice that cutting the tone way back to about 2 or 3 still gives me the cool slightly hollow, defined low & low mid content of the strings' natural voice... really cool for someone like me who likes a rootsy, deep sound with more note definition than some traditional flats.
I'll have to let these age and settle before I have a real feel for their personality, but I'm really impressed with them so far. They sound clear and defined, but not bright & modern like Chromes or EB Cobalts. They have solid fundamental without being overbearing or muddy. I can compensate for their mid scoop by bumping the mids on my amp a little, so that's not a huge deal either.
Initial impression? I'm really impressed by their mixture of depth & clarity and I feel that these are some of the more unique flatwound strings I've tried in the past couple years.
PICS:
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When I was a dealer for them, many years ago they were a pure stainless chrome wound string like the Spirocore upright string that is so popular.. The big deal was, back then, is they were like a Spirocore but for electric.
I'm following up on the break-in of the Dogal Jaco set (45-105).
According to Dogal's website, these strings sound "very similar to the one of the round wound strings". Do they? Thanks.A couple of years ago, I posted a thread inquiring about Dogal flatwounds. Here's a link:
Dogal Traditional Vintage Flats ?
Since then, I've tried a ton of other flatwounds but never pulled the trigger on the Dogal Jacos or Dogal Traditionals. I scored a set for Xmas (what a cool surprise) so I figured I'd post my initial impressions here since they seem to be a pretty rare string.
First off, the packaging is the only thing I really have a gripe about. It's minor, so don't let it color the rest of the review for you, but the strings came with a blurry photocopied sleeve inside the standard plastic package.
The individual strings themselves are packaged in high quality envelopes, very pro. No gripes there.
I put these on my main P Bass, and strung up the E string first. I wanted to play them side by side with the TI Jazz Flats which were previously on the bass so that I could get a good feel for tonal / tension differences. TI Jazz Flats have become my "standard" on this P Bass, though I've also loved GHS P Flats and La Bella LTF on there too. I'll compare them all as I proceed.
Feel: My set is 45-105, and they're round core. In hand, the strings are not as "noodly" as TI Jazz Flats, and feel a bit more like GHS Precision Flats (lights) or La Bella Low Tension Flats in their flexibility. The silks are a nice deep shade of turquoise. These are nice & smooth, not tacky,grippy or sticky, though there is some polishing residue on my set. (Left a "graphite" haze on my finger tips when first playing, no big deal though.)
Tension:Tension wise, the Dogal Jacos are pleasantly mild. Pretty close to the tension of La Bella LTF, actually... just a touch tighter. (LTF are .100s and these are .105s, though, so keep that in mind) They're supple & easy to fret for the left hand, but provide nice resistance to the plucking hand. Great balance, so I was impressed by their feel right off the bat.
Unplugged sound:Tonally, these have less center mids than the TI Jazz Flats which doesn't surprise me because the TI mids are pretty unique. There is a pleasant "hollow" character to these Dogal Jacos that I noticed right off the bat when playing unplugged. They have a terrific tight low & low mid quality, but the mid frequencies which are "bumped" in the TI Jazz flats are "notched" a little in the Jacos. Highs are present but subdued, similar to TI Flats when new.
Amplified sound: The acoustic attributes mentioned above still apply here, but the lows really project in a nice way right out of the package. These aren't "thumpy" old school flats like La Bella or GHS P Flats, though they have a nice full low and low mid presence. There is a lot of clarity and plenty of "note" to the E and A strings, and even when dialing the tone knob back I've still got quite a lot of definition.
One thing I love about TI Jazz flats on a P Bass is that, because the mids are so prevalent, I can roll the tone back gradually and get lots of varying shades. With these Dogal Jacos, I don't get quite the same broad range out of the tone knob because the midrange is a bit scooped. The positive side of this is that I can run the tone open wider without fighting mids on the amp like I sometimes do with TI Jazz flats. I also notice that cutting the tone way back to about 2 or 3 still gives me the cool slightly hollow, defined low & low mid content of the strings' natural voice... really cool for someone like me who likes a rootsy, deep sound with more note definition than some traditional flats.
I'll have to let these age and settle before I have a real feel for their personality, but I'm really impressed with them so far. They sound clear and defined, but not bright & modern like Chromes or EB Cobalts. They have solid fundamental without being overbearing or muddy. I can compensate for their mid scoop by bumping the mids on my amp a little, so that's not a huge deal either.
Initial impression? I'm really impressed by their mixture of depth & clarity and I feel that these are some of the more unique flatwound strings I've tried in the past couple years.
PICS:
View attachment 2854718
View attachment 2854719
View attachment 2854720
Yes and no. They have more of that sound than other flats...they are bright enough to slap and feel flexible enough to tap or slap, but if you roll the tone knob back on a P pickup you can still get that Motown vibe. They are the most versatile set of flats I’ve tried, and they feel great...really easy to play.
When new, the Dogal Jacos have a clear, somewhat modern top end - but they’re not clanky or overly bright. I’d say that Dave’s description below is pretty accurate in describing new Jacos.
As they mellow out, the top end gets nice & smooth but they retain that nice depth... they actually really remind me of a new-ish set of Pyramid flats once they age. (The Jacos have more output than the Pyramids though, and a touch more definition in the lows... They feel very very similar to me.)
Thanks for the info. By the way, could you tell me how these strings sound compared to Thomastik flats? I've seen videos of Thomastik flats and they sound very much like rounds to me.
I think he was using the Rotosound, I am unaware that he used the Dogal. Found this on the web site "Portait of Jaco" from an interview he made back in 1978...
The story is that he had a gig in Italy and they took him to the factory for a tour and they made him sets of strings right on the spot. He used them and worked out an endorsement with Dogal. The endorsement was probably limited to Europe since Dogal was not exporting bass strings to the USA at that point in time.
Here's how I hear the difference (once each set has aged), on a scale of 1-10:
Sorry,thats what I meant to say.Through the bridge.When you do that is there enough silk at the post?
