Flats that retain "brightness" over time

[Chicken Wing]

Tried em all. Cobalt flats sound like what you are looking for

 

[growlypants]

I'm a Chromes fan. In all honesty though, I've never even tried the TI's.

 

[jcburn]

That's a lot of great responses - thank you.

Maybe my original description was a little misleading. I do realise that all string no matter what the construction will have a break in period and lose that initial super brightness and airiness. Maybe what I am after is a set of bright flats that maintain a tone AFTER they break in, but I don't want that tone to be dark or thumpy per se.

I do realise that the flats I have described will all have an initial zing that will disappear after a few weeks, but if I'm not playing too many sweaty band gigs are there sets of these that would maintain decent brightness for at least months?

If my question is too hard to answer I do understand! I will go on this journey but thought I might narrow down the search a bit first. I do know the EB Cobalt flats will have the tone I'm after, but I disliked the metallic smell that got all over my hands.

 

[burgerdj]

EB Cobalt Flats

</close thread>

 

[Altitude]

Just to muddy the waters even more by adding more choices, one of the reasons i love La Bella Tape-wound strings is because they kinda split the difference between flats and rounds. I used to think flats were too dark sounding but i always hated the sound of new rounds. I'd always get new strings and then play them to death the first few weeks to get the "new string sound" out of them. I feel like the La Bella Copper Whites, or Gold Whites sound like that right out of the box. And then how you play them can make them sounds more like flats or more like rounds, if you ease-off or dig-in, respectively.

From darkest to brightest tones they go: Black, Copper White, Gold White, White.

The Scott Devine video on flats/rounds/tapes was mind blowing for me. I always figured tapes were even more mellow than flats. Not at all what I expected.

 

[Altitude]

That's a lot of great responses - thank you.

Maybe my original description was a little misleading. I do realise that all string no matter what the construction will have a break in period and lose that initial super brightness and airiness. Maybe what I am after is a set of bright flats that maintain a tone AFTER they break in, but I don't want that tone to be dark or thumpy per se.

I do realise that the flats I have described will all have an initial zing that will disappear after a few weeks, but if I'm not playing too many sweaty band gigs are there sets of these that would maintain decent brightness for at least months?

If my question is too hard to answer I do understand! I will go on this journey but thought I might narrow down the search a bit first. I do know the EB Cobalt flats will have the tone I'm after, but I disliked the metallic smell that got all over my hands.

That EB Cobalt smell is a real thing. It doesn’t bother me but for sure it’s there.

 

[DCCat]

Maybe my original description was a little misleading. I do realise that all string no matter what the construction will have a break in period and lose that initial super brightness and airiness. Maybe what I am after is a set of bright flats that maintain a tone AFTER they break in, but I don't want that tone to be dark or thumpy per se.

I do realise that the flats I have described will all have an initial zing that will disappear after a few weeks, but if I'm not playing too many sweaty band gigs are there sets of these that would maintain decent brightness for at least months?

This is all why some people have suggested tapewounds. They start out like a set of broken-in rounds (how broken in depends on the brand/model), and then they keep that tone, with maybe only a little additional attenuation, for a very long time. More or less like what you said you wanted from rounds in your OP.

 

[jcburn]

Tapes are getting too much attention for me to ignore here.

What do tapes feel like under the fingers? I had a bass player friend try a set once - said he likes the tones, but string slides caused a friction burn on his fingers!!!

 

[J-Bass RMR]

IMO / IME Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats are the only flat that can pass for a round.
Chromes are a close 2nd when new, but all others are just "bright flats".
I've revived the cobalt flats by cleaning with denatured alcohol.
I've never experienced the other issues I've read about with them, other than they will occasionally break at the post when re-winding. I've never had this issue with any other string.
They are my most used string.


I'm new to tapes the past 6 months.
They're a great alternative, but I find them a bit "noodle-ly", and was hesitant to go to a heavier gauge set, but would do so next time...

 

[Jazzdogg]

That's a lot of great responses - thank you.

Maybe my original description was a little misleading. I do realise that all string no matter what the construction will have a break in period and lose that initial super brightness and airiness. Maybe what I am after is a set of bright flats that maintain a tone AFTER they break in, but I don't want that tone to be dark or thumpy per se.

I do realise that the flats I have described will all have an initial zing that will disappear after a few weeks, but if I'm not playing too many sweaty band gigs are there sets of these that would maintain decent brightness for at least months?

If my question is too hard to answer I do understand! I will go on this journey but thought I might narrow down the search a bit first. I do know the EB Cobalt flats will have the tone I'm after, but I disliked the metallic smell that got all over my hands.

I have TI Jazz Flats on almost every bass I own, and have for more than 20 years.

For me, there's nothing that comes closer to the ideal sound I have in my head. My first set was installed the day of a gig, and has been on the same bass for more than twenty years; they still sound great to my ears.

Don't worry about their high initial cost; when you only change strings once per decade, the amortized cost is much lower per year than rounds that are frequently replaced; unlike rounds, there's no need for boiling or frequent replacement to keep them sounding good.

 

[brianrost]

Tried the EB Group Flats too and thought they sounded OK but it's a long time ago.

I had a Group Flat set put on my two vintage Ps when I bought them from Bass NW. The 62 iad them string with mediums. Bass NW didn't have any mediums in stock when I got the 53, so I had them put lights on.

Two decades later, the 62 is all thump and the 53 still has a lot of zing (even unplugged), enough so I run the tone control between 50-75%. I have no idea why the two sets aged so differently.

 

[Rocket Queen]

The best flatwound bass strings 2023: how to choose the right flatwounds for you

 

[Rip Van Dan]

Hey everyone - I'm gonna go on a journey to try and find a flatwound string that I like. I like roundwound strings at the point that they are played in and lose their initial super-zing, but dislike the way that they aged past that.

So my thought process - find a bright flatwound string that can deliver the played in rounds tone, but hopefully (because of not having the roundwound "valley" of each wind) a string that will keep that original tone for a decent amount of time.

I'm also not doing a lot of band gigs these days, so less sweat = less string deadening.

My initial thoughts around what I will try are listed below, but don't have much experience with any of them. I have tried the Cobalts before. They sounded good but smelled bad (strong metallic smell). Tried the EB Group Flats too and thought they sounded OK but it's a long time ago.

EB Cobalt flats
D'Addario Chromes
Rotosound Jazz 77
EB Group Flats

Appreciate and comments of experience. In short I'm looking for bright flatwound strings, hex core, that will keep their original tone for a decent amount of time (at least a few months us what I'm after).

I currently play rock covers on a passive PJ bass with EMG GZR pickups. Play mostly with a pick, but also sometimes fingers.

Cheers!

I've been really pleased with LaBella White Tape Wound Strings. In 1985 when I bought my '82 Jazz, it came with a set of Dean Markley Blue steel round-wound strings on it. I replaced them with the same sets about 3 or 4 times and then switched to DR Black Beauty strings. I like the Black Beauty better because they had a more balanced sound string to string, but after a while my Black Beauty strings turned into Mottled Gray non-beauty strings. That was about 5-years ago and, hearkening back to my early bass playing years of 1965-1976, I decided I wanted to try flats again.

I watched a Scott's Bass Lessons video where he was comparing round wound, flat wound, and tape wound strings. He compared them playing the same thing on the same bass, rotating the strings through. I was intrigued with the tape wounds because they had more of the high harmonics that are usually missing from flats. LaBella makes their tape-wounds in black, white with copper core, white with gold core, and just white, which has a silver core. The white tapes are semi opaque and the black is entirely opaque. I bought the white to go with my all-white Jazz bass and, come to find out, that is the brightest of the LaBella tape-wounds. The black is the darkest sounding and the copper and gold core are in between the white and black.

They are super easy on the fingers of course because they are smoother than flat wounds and they are much better balanced from string to string than any other bass strings I've used. There's no problem at all playing an E on the 2nd fret of the D-string instead of up on the 7th fret of the A string; or the A on the 2nd fret of the G string instead of the 7th fret of the D string. Sound is very close between 2nd fret of higher string and 7th fret of lower string, so I can just play it in whichever location is most convenient. And still, it is much brighter than other flat wounds that I've heard. I really love these strings and highly recommend them.

 

[wintremute]

Might I suggest, GHS Brite Flats.

 

[Yahboy]

That's a lot of great responses - thank you.

Maybe my original description was a little misleading. I do realise that all string no matter what the construction will have a break in period and lose that initial super brightness and airiness. Maybe what I am after is a set of bright flats that maintain a tone AFTER they break in, but I don't want that tone to be dark or thumpy per se.

I do realise that the flats I have described will all have an initial zing that will disappear after a few weeks, but if I'm not playing too many sweaty band gigs are there sets of these that would maintain decent brightness for at least months?

If my question is too hard to answer I do understand! I will go on this journey but thought I might narrow down the search a bit first. I do know the EB Cobalt flats will have the tone I'm after, but I disliked the metallic smell that got all over my hands.

That EB Cobalt smell is a real thing. It doesn’t bother me but for sure it’s there.

That metal smell are depand to player hand sweat ph.
Mine dint has metal smell , but a month ago, after I apply the GHS fast fret on it, the metal smell appear. Also happened on Labella LTF4A too. Luckiy me I dint apply the fast fret on Ti flat.

Some ppl mention that fast fret could make old string sound alive, but I dint found any improvement on cobalt flat , she just give me smoother string surface feel.

 

[Tim Skaggs]

Hey everyone - I'm gonna go on a journey to try and find a flatwound string that I like. I like roundwound strings at the point that they are played in and lose their initial super-zing, but dislike the way that they aged past that.

So my thought process - find a bright flatwound string that can deliver the played in rounds tone, but hopefully (because of not having the roundwound "valley" of each wind) a string that will keep that original tone for a decent amount of time.

I'm also not doing a lot of band gigs these days, so less sweat = less string deadening.

My initial thoughts around what I will try are listed below, but don't have much experience with any of them. I have tried the Cobalts before. They sounded good but smelled bad (strong metallic smell). Tried the EB Group Flats too and thought they sounded OK but it's a long time ago.

EB Cobalt flats
D'Addario Chromes
Rotosound Jazz 77
EB Group Flats

Appreciate and comments of experience. In short I'm looking for bright flatwound strings, hex core, that will keep their original tone for a decent amount of time (at least a few months us what I'm after).

I currently play rock covers on a passive PJ bass with EMG GZR pickups. Play mostly with a pick, but also sometimes fingers.

Cheers!

I’ve used EB Cobalt Flats. TI Jazz Flats, Chromes, Fender Flats, D’Adderio black Nylon smooth ground.

My recommendation for your needs is EB Cobalt Flats and a clothes pin.

 

[Yahboy]

I had a Group Flat set put on my two vintage Ps when I bought them from Bass NW. The 62 iad them string with mediums. Bass NW didn't have any mediums in stock when I got the 53, so I had them put lights on.

Two decades later, the 62 is all thump and the 53 still has a lot of zing (even unplugged), enough so I run the tone control between 50-75%. I have no idea why the two sets aged so differently.

Beside gauge different, there are vary factor on sound different from different bass, 62lp Vs 53p. I prefer EB flat on my previous Indo CV50P with Fralin split 51p pup loaded, wild and angry.

 

[Chrisk-K]

I’ve tried all kinds of flats. EB Cobalts are the brightest. Even EB Cobalts don’t provide the sizzle and explosiveness of rounds, though.

 

[Timothy Brosnan]

Might I suggest, GHS Brite Flats.

Or, Ken Smith Slick rounds. Basically the same string.

 

[John Stephen]

Might I suggest, GHS Brite Flats.

I second the motion. Of course it's a very individual thing, but Brite Flats seem to meet the description of your OP.