Flats -darkest to brightest list

[slombovia]

There's a little confusion about the "scooped" mid sound of a "Jazz" bass. Let me clarify my own situation. I mentioned I have extended scale boutique 6-strings ( New York Bass Works ) but they are "Jazz" basses in MUCH of their design and including as far as the single-coil, passive, VVT electronics. A "Jazz" style setup is scooped when both pickups are maxxed. THE MORE YOU START TO TO FAVOR JUST ONE PICKUP THE LESS SCOOPED IT IS - the solo bridge being more articulate (higher mids) and the neck pickup thicker (lower mids). Just one of the reasons I enjoy TI JF strings (more mids)- because I max out both my pickups (less mids). It's a great match.

 

[jking138]

There's a little confusion about the "scooped" mid sound of a "Jazz" bass. Let me clarify my own situation. I mentioned I have extended scale boutique 6-strings ( New York Bass Works ) but they are "Jazz" basses in MUCH of their design and including as far as the single-coil, passive, VVT electronics. A "Jazz" style setup is scooped when both pickups are maxxed. THE MORE YOU START TO TO FAVOR JUST ONE PICKUP THE LESS SCOOPED IT IS - the solo bridge being more articulate (higher mids) and the neck pickup thicker (lower mids). Just one of the reasons I enjoy TI JF strings (more mids)- because I max out both my pickups (less mids). It's a great match.

This was my thinking from what I've read on this forum and my own experiments.

This is exactly what I'm considering doing with my Jazz as an affordable alternative (at least for now) to having to invest in a P bass. Simply by have a parallel/series switch installed on my J, I can have more tonal options. Not exactly a P bass tone, but at least closer.

I'm not a big fan of the P bass sound (sacrilege, I know) but I could definitely go for the series wired 'Jazz on steroids' sound, more like a humbucker.

i apologize, FL means Labella 760FL they are the slightly scooped sounding strings. Just solo your bridge pickup and your neck pickup and listen to the different tones. Just because the bridge is burpy doesn't mean it's middy. Tim Lefebvre played a Jazz solo'd neck pickup for a while (read some interviews) cause he liked that sound, now he just plays precisions because well it's that sound but beefier.

It's ok, I like my LaBella deep talkin' flats. With the neck solo'd it was pure low end very much a reggae/dub sound but with the bridge solo'd it did seem to lack power and depth.

 

[One Drop]

This was my thinking from what I've read on this forum and my own experiments.



I'm not a big fan of the P bass sound (sacrilege, I know) but I could definitely go for the series wired 'Jazz on steroids' sound, more like a humbucker.



It's ok, I like my LaBella deep talkin' flats. With the neck solo'd it was pure low end very much a reggae/dub sound but with the bridge solo'd it did seem to lack power and depth.

With the neck PUP rolled off halfway and a bit of bass boost EQed at the amp, and some OD, you can get a killer '70s funk sound, fat and articulate with lots of punch.

 

[jking138]

With the neck PUP rolled off halfway and a bit of bass boost EQed at the amp, and some OD, you can get a killer '70s funk sound, fat and articulate with lots of punch.

That's my usual tone, it's the best I've found for the music I play. Jazz basses just seem to love OD, especially with flats it brings everything to life, I all ways play with at least a little.

 

[nerkoids]

Someone mentioned earlier that there were no middle of the road flats... well, I think the Optima flatwounds would qualify as a 5-6 in comparison to the other flats on the list.

They have a very clicky top-end, scooped mid to mid-lows. Deep bottom. Percussive. Can be thumpy, but more click than thump.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Revision of revised Darkest to Brightest

Pyramid

GHS Precision

LaBella

Ti's

Sadowsky

Fender

Chromes

GHS Bright

Rotisound 77

Does look roughly accurate?

I used to miss midrange and still do when analyzing tone. The best way I can describe it (not a low mid or high mid bump, but a boosted midrange) is thickness to the tone. Like girth and heft. The labella has a low mid burp to them but the rest of the midrange is scooped. GHS has a overall midrange boost and thickness to them. The fenders if they are new are chromes which have a high mid bump but the mids and low mids are scooped.

the fender jazz is inherently scooped, the precision is midrange heavy. that's why a precision has that punch in the gut thickness (midrange) while the jazz has the burpy punch (scooped tone).

OK here's two questions:

1) @markjazzbassist - when you say GHS are you speaking of the Precisions or the Brights?

2) I'm have LaBella DTF's on both my Jazz and my Precision. The P sounds AMAZING no matter what I play. It really drives the band. Fingerpicking, slapping, whatever. The Jazz couldn't sound better when I play with my fingers. Deep, a little punchy, clear and never muddy -a really classic tone. But when I slap, it's pretty dull sounding. Could it be that the scooped sound of the Jazz and the scooped sound of the LaBellas are not the best all around match? Should I be looking at a set of strings like the GHS or some thing brighter like the Ti's or the Sadowskis or the Fenders? I tried Chromes on it a while back, and they were way too bright for me.

 

[markjazzbassist]

OK here's two questions:

1) @markjazzbassist - when you say GHS are you speaking of the Precisions or the Brights?

2) I'm have LaBella DTF's on both my Jazz and my Precision. The P sounds AMAZING no matter what I play. It really drives the band. Fingerpicking, slapping, whatever. The Jazz couldn't sound better when I play with my fingers. Deep, a little punchy, clear and never muddy -a really classic tone. But when I slap, it's pretty dull sounding. Could it be that the scooped sound of the Jazz and the scooped sound of the LaBellas are not the best all around match? Should I be looking at a set of strings like the GHS or some thing brighter like the Ti's or the Sadowskis or the Fenders? I tried Chromes on it a while back, and they were way too bright for me.

GHS precision, the brites are not flatwounds but halfrounds/groundwounds. not the same thing.

slapping on flats won't sound good anyways, they aren't made for that. slapping is a rounds thing with that treble and bite. flats don't have that. if you want an in between flats and rounds type flatwound try TI, chromes, Sadowsky. The GHS are very dark like labella, pyramid, slapping will sound the same as they do on the labella.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Well, I went out and bought some TI's and strung 'em on my 'Ray. They sound great, but I just can't hang with the ultra low tension. If they were just a little stiffer or maybe if they were 105's I could hang, but it seems like no matter how soft I play, I get a little fret buzz. I 'spose I could raise my action, but I don't really want to. I use my hands to get a lot of punch out of my bass, and I can't get to my happy place with the TI's.

Oh well, search continues...

 

[slombovia]

Well, I went out and bought some TI's and strung 'em on my 'Ray. They sound great, but I just can't hang with the ultra low tension. If they were just a little stiffer or maybe if they were 105's I could hang, but it seems like no matter how soft I play, I get a little fret buzz. I 'spose I could raise my action, but I don't really want to. I use my hands to get a lot of punch out of my bass, and I can't get to my happy place with the TI's.

Oh well, search continues...

Keep those TI JFs. Try them on a different bass next time. They might surprise you.

 

[Freekmagnet]

Keep those TI JFs. Try them on a different bass next time. They might surprise you.

I'll keep 'em around for a while, but if I find a more suitable string they're out the door. The tone the TI's have is there - the tension is not. I feel like I'm handling a dainty princess as opposed of the brazen, thunderous beast that it should be.

 

[Freekmagnet]

The Sadowski Black Labels came in today, and the TIs came right off. What a relief! I like the Sads. Not nearly as mids-forward as the TI's, but not quite as scooped as the LaBellas. A little brighter than the LaBellas, too. Overall, they render a nice, bassy tone. I definitely feel like I'll be commanding the rhythm section with the Sads, a vibe I definitely did not get with the TIs. I could use a little of those mids that the TIs had, though.

The Sads have much higher tension than the TIs obviously, but not that much less than the LaBellas IMO. I was kind of hoping for a little less tension, but not nearly as low as the TIs.

I have to find a string for my Jazz Bass as well. The LaBellas somehow take too much of the J character away. Maybe the scoopines of the LaBellas and the scoopines of the J create a perfect storm of too much scoop. I may have to bite the bullet a buy a brighter set of strings. I had Chromes on it at one point, and it just sounded too thin.

 

[Levin]

I had Chromes on it at one point, and it just sounded too thin.

After years of searching for strings on my jazz basses I found what I wanted in all aspects when I tried the fender flatwounds CL. They stopped selling those but a similiar gauge is available. Really nice compliments a jazz tone and reasonable tension. Tone similiar to chromes without the weird stuff and IMO a better tone, just in the same league. Just bought another jazz bass, tried rounds on it but missed the fenders too much so I put on my other CL set. Really versatile string when broken in, even more so than the Sadowsky flats in my experience!

 

[tallboybass]

I'm in the process of breaking in a set of 9050CL's on a Jazz and loving them so far! The only difference between the L set and the discontinued CL set is the E string being a .105 on the CL, so I stole one from a new pack of 9050M's.

So far they're really bright with a little less mids than the Chromes. We'll see how they sound after the shiny top end sound starts to fade, but they seem like a perfect fit for the Jazz!

 

[Freekmagnet]

After years of searching for strings on my jazz basses I found what I wanted in all aspects when I tried the fender flatwounds CL. They stopped selling those but a similiar gauge is available. Really nice compliments a jazz tone and reasonable tension. Tone similiar to chromes without the weird stuff and IMO a better tone, just in the same league. Just bought another jazz bass, tried rounds on it but missed the fenders too much so I put on my other CL set. Really versatile string when broken in, even more so than the Sadowsky flats in my experience!

I'll have to give the Fenders a try. I really didn't like the Chromes, but it seems like a lot of people like them. Aston Barrett uses Fenders, and he's got no problem sounding gigantic.

I'm liking the Sads for now, but I have to admit that despite hating the TI's, I am missing a little of that really sweet, complex midrange they had. Not that I'm going to go back - that spaghetti string vibe was the real deal killer for me. Had they been a little stiffer or heavier, I could have made them work. It seems that the TI's had this nice way of making every note sing which was really cool, but for me i'm more concerned with driving the song and making the band sound huge. I need more of a thump! than a pop!

If I could find a string that has the strong mids that the Ti's have, the nice bottom end like the LaBellas or the Sads have, but with just a little less tension...

 

[michael_t]

After years of searching for strings on my jazz basses I found what I wanted in all aspects when I tried the fender flatwounds CL... Really nice compliments a jazz tone and reasonable tension...Really versatile string when broken in...

I'm in the process of breaking in a set of 9050CL's on a Jazz and loving them so far! ...So far they're really bright with a little less mids than the Chromes. We'll see how they sound after the shiny top end sound starts to fade, but so far they seem like a perfect fit for the Jazz!

The 9050L on my J is two and a half months old now and it's starting to blossom real nicely.

Just this past weekend, right after church, the audio tech comes up to me, asking, "Have you done anything different to your bass in the last couple of months?" "Why?," I said. "It's sounding really good lately, with a nice, full-bodied and meaty tone!," was his response. So I told him it was my new secret recipe.

So, there you go...

 

[tallboybass]

Yes, 'meaty' is a good description! I wish Fender would reinstate the CL's but I know most people don't care about balanced tension. In fact, I didn't care about it until a couple of months ago!

 

[Levin]

If I could find a string that has the strong mids that the Ti's have, the nice bottom end like the LaBellas or the Sads have, but with just a little less tension...

Oh, you mean Spirocores! No wait... wrong forum.
Seriously though, TI flats have their own sound. If I could handle the low tension (which I have done for months at a time just to get the tone) I would have them on almost every bass I own.
I find the Fender flats not to have the same kind of bottom end like the Sads or LaBellas, just a different sort, in a diffuse way. Both sound big and like what you want in the low end department, it's just... Fenders sound 'meaty and tight' whilst LaBellas sound 'meaty, woody and a bit boomy' to my ears. The Sads sound meaty and tight too but a bit different again to the Fenders, it's... all so confusing some times. Darn.
And like always, trying to talk about how things sound is very much like dancing about algorithms. Cliched.

 

[Camaro]

I'll have to give the Fenders a try. I really didn't like the Chromes, but it seems like a lot of people like them. Aston Barrett uses Fenders, and he's got no problem sounding gigantic.

AFAIK, the Family Man still uses an old set of the Mexican made Fender Flats, not the D'Addario made you can buy now.
Very different sound.

 

[Freekmagnet]

AFAIK, the Family Man still uses an old set of the Mexican made Fender Flats, not the D'Addario made you can buy now.
Very different sound.

So wait - are you saying the Fender strings are just warmed over d'Addario Chromes? I didn't care for the Chromes myself.

 

[michael_t]

So wait - are you saying the Fender strings are just warmed over d'Addario Chromes?

No. The Fender 9050 flats are NOT the same as Chromes. Certain family resemblance, but two different personalities.