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Flats on a jazz bass

manutabora

manutabora

Aug 14, 2007
492
3
Warner Robins, GA
soundcloud.com
#1
Hi Fellow TBers,
I happen to have two four string jazz basses, one as my main and one as my backup. However, I've been thinking about stringing one of them with flatwounds just to broaden my tone palette a little more. The thing is, I don't know what a jazz bass with flats sounds like.
My request is for you guys to maybe send me some links to youtube vids where I can hear a jazz bass with flats, or maybe you can share your own clip. Also, your opinions on the matter will be greatly appreciated. If you have a favorite kind of flatwound strings to use on jazz bassses, I would like to know about that too.
One more thing; I did do a search and couldn't find anything.
Thanks, enjoy your Sunday afternoon :)
 
#2
Flats feel nice to the touch, but I don't like the sound that much. I have tried to like flats on my jazz multiple times, but it isn't a very versatile sound. Anyway most people enjoy labella flats and ghs precision flats, both of which I tried on my jazz.

flats just sound...boring to me.

my 2cents, imo, fwiw, blah blah blah.
 
#4
There are lots of recorded examples of flats on J bass. Check some of the Mamas and Papas or Carpenters stuff with Joe Osborne on bass for one. As far as I know he always used a J bass with flats.

But remember, these are going to be just one brand of flats, probably the Fender strings that came with the bass. I'm not sure-I'm not a Joe Osborne fan but he does get the sound they wanted on record back then. There are many different flat wound strings out these days with different sounds and feel to them.

I've used a J bass with Thomastic flats and I thought it was a big improvement over the same bass with rounds. But the Thomastic flats are an exceptional string. I won't use anything else on any of my basses now. Others disagree and don't like the feel or the sound or the very high price. But I can get a great sound out of them, they record beautifully and last for many years.

Best thing is to get out to a store and see if you can find a J bass with flats on it and give it a try.

They'll for sure sound different from what you're used to.
 
#6
Joe's original recordings with everyone from Ricky Nelson through The Carpenters was a '60 Jazz bass with LaBella flats- the same set in fact. In a Guitar Player Magazine interview around the late '70s he said he'd put the LaBellas on shortly after he got the bass, and never changed them.

Mama's & Pappas stuff, plus that's him on "Aquarius/Let The Sunshine In" (and probably a lot of other 5th Dimension records), he's the bassist on the whole "Bridge Over Troubled Waters" album by Simon & Garfunkle (with a heart-breakingly exquisite bass performance on "Only Livin' Boy In New York", and as he discovered Karen and Richard Carpenter, he's the bassist on most of their stuff. He's also on a lot of the later stuff by America (like "Lonely People", "Sister Golden Hair", but NOT "Horse With No Name").

I'd also wager that Jerry Jemmott's work on B. B. King's "Completley Well", "Alive and Well" as well as the recordings he did with Aretha Franklin (that's JJ on "Think" and the whole live Fillmore album) as roundwounds weren't common at all in that era, and he always played a Jazz bass.

jte
 
#8
i've used labella 43-104, TI, ghs and fender flats on my jazz bass.
the TIs are very comfortable to play (low tension; similar to roundwounds), with the bridge pu soloed i've got a wonderful "jaco"-sound, and they emphasize the midrange, so there's some "singing"-quality to them. downside: they are not useful for slap&pluck-style playing.
the labella have decisively more tension, and no mid-emphasis (they also produce a convenient slap&pluck tone), but more deep lows then the TIs
didn't like the ghs (too dull sounding), and fender flats (tension to high; also more or less dull sounding).
 
#9
Jazz bass + Flats = WIN

After years of rocking GHS boomers, I've got my jazz strung up with Fender 9050 ML strings. Go with the ML set rather than the M set and you'll get a lower tension, better playing string. I would say in playability the ML set is about what a medium set of roundwounds sounds like.

Pretty Sure Aston Barrett from the Wailers played a Jazz with flats so you could youtube some Marley to get that sound.
 
#10
I put on some D'Addario ECB81 XL Chromes Flats on mine....I love them....I never thought I would...always been a roundwound player....but these things are so sweet...

You can dial in a fat, thumpy super deep bass tone with the neck pickup and then go the opposite direction and get that sweet bridge pickup tone....

Its a beauty!!
 
#19
I put super soft chromes on my '66J, tuned down 1/2 step, Classic Rock, and it is going to give my Sunbeam equipped '59P a run for the money in the rotation. I use TI flats for standard tuned instruments (Jack Cassidy and they are going on my Zon 5'er).

The Chromes sound great, and do sound good on either PUP or when the PUPs are blended. IMHO, they respond better to tone adjustments then the TIs. However, the TI's really cut through a mix! Both are great strings.
 

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