• TalkBass has been independent since 1998. Add your voice.
    Create a free account to reply to discussions, view embedded media, and browse with fewer display ads.
    Join free Log in
    Want zero display ads or expanded classifieds tools? Compare plans.

Fender Flats

#121
Grinderman said:
Let me put it this way, I'm 80% sure it's flats on 100% of what they recorded with a bass.

Or let me put this another way, I'm 100% sure it's flats on 80% of what they recorded with a bass.



Ain't that the truth... like always.


I tried Fender 9050L flats on my Jazz with Fralin pickups before I chose to keep 9050Ms on it. For what it's worth, I'd characterize 9050 flats on my Jazz as keeping use of the VVT and the mixing of all three extremely relevant. I can go from a tubby dub bass tone to a somewhat bright grinding tone and the spectrum between with it. (e.g. Including that general-purpose Fender 34" scale bass tone that people who don't know struggle to discern as a P or a J.)

I briefly tried 9050 flats on a Nash PB but the combination didn't please me. IMO, they're in the flats for Jazz bass lane. It's connected with the relative openness and versatility of the Jazz bass sound.

Dunlop flats--if you get the G string to intonate properly--and Monel Rotosound Jazz 77 can suit a P or J, IMO.

I like the sound and feel of 45-105 or 50-110 Dunlop flats but they have some practical or mechanical issues I won't tolerate; they're so close but so far away from satisfactory to me.

GHS P flats and Labella DTB 760-series flats could probably work on a Jazz bass but IMO they best fit in the P bass lane.
Click to expand...

Would you say that the 9050 are not suited to Pbasses in general? My 2008 Am.Std. Pbass with PV63 pickup sounds the sweetest so far with 9050M. Pyramid flats were also very sweet sweet but didn't have the bouncy tone of the 9050. They were also stiffer than the 9050. Haven't tried GHS flats.
 
#123
I have 9050Ls on my Fender P Ultra and after three months of break-in, they're the best strings for this bass that I've tried so far, TIs included. It's almost as if they were made for this particular instrument.

Just my experience.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus
#125
Phaidrus said:
Would you say that the 9050 are not suited to Pbasses in general? My 2008 Am.Std. Pbass with PV63 pickup sounds the sweetest so far with 9050M. Pyramid flats were also very sweet sweet but didn't have the bouncy tone of the 9050. They were also stiffer than the 9050. Haven't tried GHS flats.
Click to expand...

I can't put it that plainly or bluntly because it's quite possible that those strings to someone else with some other P bass its different. All I know is that I didn't like them on the Nash PB with Lollar pickup that I had.

They seem to generally pair well with Jazz basses.
 
Last edited:
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus
#126
Adam "MCA" Yauch playing a Jbass with (apparently) 9050s


Adam_Yauch_1.jpg
 
  • Like
Reactions: Swerve, Kyle_S, Timothy Brosnan and 3 others
#128
SharpCat said:
9050L probably a permanent fixture on my J with Delano pickups. Now scratching my head on what the new J with Aguilars will like. But that’s for a different thread.
Click to expand...

I'm in the same boat as you. I've just acquired a second Jazz bass. Now that my old one has been happily reunited with the 9050L, I have to decide what to put on my new one. ;)
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus and SharpCat
#129
I just put 9050s' on my Jazz. It really suits the character of the bass well, but I do miss the clang of the GHS boomers that were on it previously. Let's see how they wear in.

Meanwhile, I have a set of LaBella's on the way for my PBass, which is currently wearing some GHB boomers while I wait.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus
#130
I’ve wanted to try them with my 99 Precision with a set of Bare Knuckle 58 pickups. Looking for that Klaus Vormann sound. Got a very good “70s FM” sound with LaBella Deep Talking flats, but still searching for Klaus, and playing his famous 62 Precision on JLPOB, Imagine, ATMP, etc.

I know he used Bassman amp, and muted flats, so just kind of figured he kept the Fender vibe going with the strings.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus
#131
  • Like
Reactions: HaphAsSard, Phaidrus and michael_t
#132
Timothy Brosnan said:
This picture was taken in 2007-2008. The Fender flats at that time had no silk at the tuner end, only the ball end. The post 2010 flats went back to silk at both ends.

If those are Fender flats, they are old flats!
Click to expand...

Quite possibly given that MCA went to such lengths as to order a custom transparent plexiglass SVT + fridge. Or did Ampeg actually market this rig?
 
  • Like
Reactions: Timothy Brosnan
#133
Phaidrus said:
Quite possibly given that MCA went to such lengths as to order a custom transparent plexiglass SVT + fridge. Or did Ampeg actually market this rig?
Click to expand...
Not sure about the Ampeg, JimmyM might know better. It is a cool rig though!
Phaidrus said:
Quite possibly given that MCA went to such lengths as to order a custom transparent plexiglass SVT + fridge. Or did Ampeg actually market this rig?
Click to expand...
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus
#135
Phaidrus said:
Quite possibly given that MCA went to such lengths as to order a custom transparent plexiglass SVT + fridge. Or did Ampeg actually market this rig?
Click to expand...
No, they never marketed anything acrylic except Dan Armstrong guitars and basses in the early 70s. I don’t know who built them either. They’re cool, though.
 
  • Like
Reactions: Phaidrus and Timothy Brosnan
#137
Add me to the list of fans! I had Sunbeams on my Vintera '60's Jazz and was trying to kill them (as I really like dead Sunbeams), but since I had a set of these Fender flats inbound, I thought "why not?" and wow are these newish Fender flats fantastic! Can't wait to see how great they get!!
 
  • Like
Reactions: michael_t

Latest posts

Top Bottom
Back