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Flats Users... Please tell me about each brand

#41
My main experiences are with D'Addario Chromes and La Bella Deep Talkin' Bass 760FL.

Chromes start out somewhat bright, almost like tamed rounds or pressurewounds to my ears, but they wear in nicely. A higher tension string, it's a pretty well rounded beast with plenty of bottom that I feel works for anything and everything. Never got a bad pack. My string of choice.

The 760FLs are a totally different sound. Very creamy and even more deep on the lower frequencies, these strings sound pretty dark out of the box. I went through a phase this year where I only wanted to play La Bella Flats, but I reverted when I got some inconsistent sets in terms of life. Pretty disappointing for expensive strings.

Both work well with a pick.
 
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#42
jessicabass said:
I want to know peoples take on the brands of flats please.
How they feel and sound for first few weeks and how so afterwards. Tension and such too.
Please be detailed as can be. I figured with all the users we can touch upon most every flat brand.
Click to expand...
1. Rotosounds---bright sounding when new, does get dull and sounds good, but I never cared for the feel of them.

2. GHS--very nice, one of the darker offerings out there, doesn't come in a gauge I like, though.

3. Labella--very thuddy, but mid scooped and extremely bright on its topmost treble response.

4. Chromes--bright and ringy at first, mellows out after a month and gets better as they go more dead. For me they're the closest I've found to the old Fenders.

5. EB's
6. Sadowsky

7. Fender--Old Fenders are my favorite flat, but I don't like that they never came in 40-95 gauges so I went to Chromes. New Fenders are more like Chromes to me. A good string, but just misses the magic of the old ones.

8. TI's--Most odd feeling, roundwound-sounding flats I ever tried. Used them 4 months and the ring would just never go away. Some love them like no other. I do not.

9. Detroit City
10. DR
11. Pyramids
12. Black Diamonds

The ones I skipped I haven't tried.
 
#44
I've only tried Labella Deep Talking Flats,43-104s, on my P/J and I love em. Nice thuddy Pbass tone on the P pickup, good zing on the J pickup. Overall a great tonal balance. They feel fabulous. Very smooth. Tension seems just right to me, not to floppy, not too tight. They've been on over a year and still sound good to me. If they do ever wear out, I will get another set of the same.

Years ago, early 90s? I had a Marcus Miller style Fender J bass that I puts some flats on and didn't much like them. Best I remember they felt way to stiff and to thuddy and muddy. They came off pretty quickly and I went back to rounds. Can't remember the brand, but they were most likely Fenders of some sort as I got them at a local shop.

I love these Labellas tho.
760FL.jpg
 
#46
I love TIs, they are great on Long scale, and on short scale as well. They are more floppy but kind of in a nice soft way. Very full sounding. It is the only kind I use at the moment and they seem to last forever.

The Rotosounds (77) have an amazing sound. They are bright, higher tension, but that can definitely be good on a Short Scale and Medium Scale bass. One thing to note, they do have separate sizes for Medium and Short scales unlike the TIs that have a one size fits all for Short and Medium. This can be helpful for when you are trying to fit them on basses with a floating bridge and require a bit more string than their scale length. The big drawback is that, in my experience, they die quickly. I am not just saying they dull, they die where one string will sound completely off and become unusable.

Chromes are nice, less pricey than TIs and Rotosounds. They are less bright, super smooth, but they are really really stiff, especially at comparable gauge. You will probably want smaller gauge ones.

Those are the only ones I have actually tried.
 
#48
I have been using Steve Harris Rotosound flats at the moment, and, while this may sound childish, the best way to describe them is:

Tone knob wide open: GRRAAARRRGGHHH!!!!

Tone knob rolled off: Grrrrrr

They are very present, deep and growly strings. The feel is definitely not for everyone, especially at first, but I am used to their stainless 66s anyway, so I find it fine.

The stiffness and tension feels, in my opinion, absolutely incredible. Pedalling is way faster, as the strings barely seem to move at all, and it forces you to to play with a light touch, while achieving the same result volume wise.
 
#50
I have a set of Fender flats on my Jerzy Drozd 6 string.... with a T. Infield - C string.

The Fenders are pretty stiff, and sound good after broken in. The B string is tapered, and sounds very good. The tone is very balanced throughout the set.

The TI C- string - very nice tension wise....after it is broken in, it sounds very good. Nice clarity with warmth, without being too bright.

I have a set of GHS flats coming to give them a test.
 
#51
My favorite Flat Bass Strings I love using are the Magma Stainless Steel Flat Bass Strings (those start off as Round Wounds & then they literally Flatten the Wrap Wire all the way down so they're actually Super Groundwounds) & those have a fairly low tension (it's a bit lower tension than the Thomastik Strings) plus the sound they make I describe is "Crisp".
 
#52
The ones I've tried:

GHS: Lots of mids. Very old school. Very little break in time. The gauge with the 105 E is pretty stiff. The one with the 95 may be a little too thin, but both are fun and useable. I prefer the vibe to La Bellas. They sound positively archaic, but in a good way.

Dunlop: I like the 40-100 sets of these. I've heard about some players having intonations problems with these, but it's never happened to me. I love these when they're new and bright. They have a completely different kind of brightness from roundwounds and other bright flats: clicky and twangy, but without too much zing or clank. They age a bit faster than some of the other strings I've tried, but they're good for 6 months. If you like em dark, they'll obviously last a bit longer, but unlike most flats, frets can eat away at em over time.

La Bella: Not my favorite, although I can see why other's love them. Very slick and shiny. There's something about the EQ structure and feel that doesn't appeal to me as much, but nearly everyone else loves them. The low end sounds a bit overbearing to me on modern equipment.

Fender: These are among the most inexpensive bass strings I've tried, and I like them a lot. I like the 9050-L and 9050-ML. They're a little middier than most flats, with a little more high end than many when new. Their mids aren't the old-school mids of La Bellas or GHS. It's more of a grindy thing. I love the way they mellow out as they age.

D'Addario Chromes: A lot like Fenders, but with a little more high end and clanky upper-mid, and more scooped in the regular mids.

Ernie Ball Slinky Flats: These are brighter than most. They don't age quite as well because they can rust. They're advertised as having the feel of flats and the sound of rounds. I wouldn't go that far. The vibe I get from them seems very dependent on which bass is wearing them. On some basses, they do seem to combine the best of flats and rounds (the articulate attack and thump of flats with the high end of rounds), on others, the worst (nothing much of anything - the mids don't punch like other flats and the highs don't cut like rounds). I'd say they sound better on a brighter-sounding bass.
 
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#53
Well...
I was going to grit my teeth and work my way thru the OP's list, since I use - or have used - all but the Black Diamond flats; as well as a few that aren't on there. However...
Since the OP posted this 10 years ago? It seems like a waste of time on my part. I'm pretty sure he's decided on the strings he likes, a long time ago. And, since I'm also trying really hard not to write the Great American Novel, every time I post something? I'll just say "good night, Gracie", and stop here...:whistle:
 
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#54
iiipopes said:
G## D#####!!! THEY DO NOT!!! FENDER BOUGHT THE V. C. SQUIER COMPANY IN 1965 AND MAKE THEIR OWN STRINGS!!!

THIS DAMN URBAN MYTH MUST DIE. NOW.

IF YOU LOOK CLOSELY, YOU WILL SEE THEY HAVE DIFFERENT WRAPS IN OPPOSITE DIRECTIONS, DIFFERENT CORES, THE WRAP WIRE IS DIFFERENT WIDTH AND THEY HAVE A DIFFERENT SHINE TO THEM. THE FENDERS HAVE MORE MIDS WHEN NEW, AND THE CHROMES HAVE MORE TOP END WHEN NEW. THE BALLS AND ATTACHMENT ARE DIFFERENT.

NOW, EVERYTHING ELSE COULD BE DIFFERENT, BUT YOU CAN'T CHANGE THE STRING MACHINE HOW THE BALL IS ATTACHED TO THE CORE. IT IS DIFFERENT.

D'ADDARIO DOES NOT MAKE THE FENDER FLATS.
FENDER MAKES THE FENDER FLATS!!!!
Click to expand...

I'm curious about where Fender's string manufacturing facility is now.
 
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#60
Grinderman said:
I'm curious about where Fender's string manufacturing facility is now.
Click to expand...
With apologies to - and sympathy with - iiipopes? Fender no longer makes their own strings. For at least a decade, their strings actually have been made by D'Addario. However, like all the strings that D'Addario makes for other companies (like Rickenbacker, for instance), they make the strings to that company's specifications. So, they aren't just D'Addario brand strings, in a different package. The Fender 9050 Flats do not sound - or feel - like D'Addario Chromes at all. Just between you and me? I think that the 9050's sound more like TI Jazz Flats, than anything else. And, yes; I use the TIJFs, too. They have slightly more.... orchestral, harmonic... overtones than the Fenders, but for Rock N' Roll? Those subtleties are pretty much wasted, anyway... :cool:
 
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