Flats with punch?

[micguy]

I’ve been on the hunt for a mute that adds sustain and brightness.

It's called a set of rounds....

 

[tminus10]

That's relative too.

Dang dude, you must be the life of the party

 

[Grinderman]

Dang dude, you must be the life of the party

Also relative.

 

[Deleted member 271037]

@micguy

With "punch" I suppose I mean low mids with a "thickness" to their tone, no "puffy" sound. For example, I find the Dunnlop flats as well as the Fender 9050s to have lows and low mids but not much "thickness". Sorry for not being more objective with the use of adjectives...

Good to hear about the Rotos being very punchy. The tension of the Roto 77 45-105 set shouldn't be an issue, I play 9050Ms at the moment and find them quite agreeable tension-wise.

I'm not sure about the tension values but Rotos will feel stiffer and be slightly harder on your hands than Fender 9050M.

I would describe them as having punchy low mids as well as more upper mid presence than most flats.The lows are deep but tight rather than fat/warm. Definitely not suitable for "thump". They aren't thumpy at all. The dynamic response, or should I say "envelope", is quite flat/stiff (for a lack of better words). They're not "bouncy" and the notes don't "bloom". The stiffness means they're not the most articular strings for soft playing. They work best when digging in HARD in my opinion and they're also great with a pick. They're very ROCK-oriented flatwounds. Lots of 70s British rock bands used them. I'm generally a fingerstyle player but Roger Waters' tone at the Live at Pompeii video is one of my favourite bass tones: Fender Precision, Roto 77s, pick, Hiwatt. That's what a relatively new set of 77s sound like when played with a pick. Much closer to roundwounds than most flats, but stiffer.

They're definitely not the right strings for all situations and I know lots of players hate the stiffness but for the right style of music they can be absolutely amazing!

 

[FishDub]

I have had TIs on my P for years and I cant take them off. If I EQ correctly and change right hand positioning lower, I can come close to a J sound. They are awesome and WELL worth the price. I found a set on amazon a few months ago for $60, so I bought 2

 

[tminus10]

Also relative.

Predictive

 

[Killing Floor]

Seriously there’s no best. Keep trying different sets. I know what I like because I’ve tried everything I can get my hands on.

 

[Phaidrus]

I'm not sure about the tension values but Rotos will feel stiffer and be slightly harder on your hands than Fender 9050M.

I would describe them as having punchy low mids as well as more upper mid presence than most flats.The lows are deep but tight rather than fat/warm. Definitely not suitable for "thump". They aren't thumpy at all. The dynamic response, or should I say "envelope", is quite flat/stiff (for a lack of better words). They're not "bouncy" and the notes don't "bloom". The stiffness means they're not the most articular strings for soft playing. They work best when digging in HARD in my opinion and they're also great with a pick. They're very ROCK-oriented flatwounds. Lots of 70s British rock bands used them. I'm generally a fingerstyle player but Roger Waters' tone at the Live at Pompeii video is one of my favourite bass tones: Fender Precision, Roto 77s, pick, Hiwatt. That's what a relatively new set of 77s sound like when played with a pick. Much closer to roundwounds than most flats, but stiffer.

They're definitely not the right strings for all situations and I know lots of players hate the stiffness but for the right style of music they can be absolutely amazing!

The Pompeii soundtrack must be one of the greatest psychedelia tracklists ever. Yes, Waters' Rotos sound very tight played with a pick. And yes, I need more Pbasses for string experimentation. That said, some days I find the 9050M to be punchy. I suppose it's mood-dependent, at least partly.

 

[Rolling Thunder]

I find Rotosound Monel to have a pleasant punch

 

[Jscriv]

Ernie ball cobalt flats, there's no competition in my mind

 

[Richard I]

I absolutely disliked D'Addario Chromes, not only for the feel, but also for thei EQ.
Rotosound flats sounded too "woofer" to me, but I used to play them very long time ago.
The flats I've been using sing 2020 are the Thomastiks, I like them for both feel and sound. Correct amount of (tight) bass freq., along with enough clarity and mid presence. Approved, especially on Jazz Bass style basses!

 

[Grinderman]

I'm not sure about the tension values but Rotos will feel stiffer and be slightly harder on your hands than Fender 9050M.

I would describe them as having punchy low mids as well as more upper mid presence than most flats.The lows are deep but tight rather than fat/warm. Definitely not suitable for "thump". They aren't thumpy at all. The dynamic response, or should I say "envelope", is quite flat/stiff (for a lack of better words). They're not "bouncy" and the notes don't "bloom". The stiffness means they're not the most articular strings for soft playing. They work best when digging in HARD in my opinion and they're also great with a pick. They're very ROCK-oriented flatwounds. Lots of 70s British rock bands used them. I'm generally a fingerstyle player but Roger Waters' tone at the Live at Pompeii video is one of my favourite bass tones: Fender Precision, Roto 77s, pick, Hiwatt. That's what a relatively new set of 77s sound like when played with a pick. Much closer to roundwounds than most flats, but stiffer.

They're definitely not the right strings for all situations and I know lots of players hate the stiffness but for the right style of music they can be absolutely amazing!

+ Binson Echorec.

The Pompeii soundtrack must be one of the greatest psychedelia tracklists ever. Yes, Waters' Rotos sound very tight played with a pick. And yes, I need more Pbasses for string experimentation. That said, some days I find the 9050M to be punchy. I suppose it's mood-dependent, at least partly.

I've got 55-105 Fender 9050M flats on my Jazz, 45-105 RS 77 Jazz flats on P #1, 55-105 GHS P flats on P #2, and 44-106 GHS Balanced Nickel rounds on P #3 for the moods.

Edit to add: I've been messing with P #3 tuned to F# standard for fun.

 

[Lance Bunyon]

D'addario Chromes. No affiliation, but they should start paying me commissions
..

 

[Mechayoshi]

All my basses are since learning about compressors, but if you must get this from strings and flats in particular, I’d vote for light gauge EB cobalt flats.

 

[Phaidrus]

All my basses are since learning about compressors, but if you must get this from strings and flats in particular, I’d vote for light gauge EB cobalt flats.

Ah, good call! How would a compressor help get punch out of flats? Apologies for digressing the thread.

 

[Phaidrus]

I've got 55-105 Fender 9050M flats on my Jazz, 45-105 RS 77 Jazz flats on P #1, 55-105 GHS P flats on P #2, and 44-106 GHS Balanced Nickel rounds on P #3 for the moods.

 

[J-Mags]

To me, "punch" means the sound jumps outta the amp quick. It's often more of an amp issue or am EQ than a string issue.

Dunlop: 40-100 seem speedy and aggressive to me. When they're new, it's easy to make your whole P, Mustang, or J Bass sound like a giant, twangy Fender guitar. That works great in any number of mixes.

GHS: for old school sounds I find these punchier than LaBellas because they've got more mids and slightly fewer lows. I used the 50-105 gauge.

I currently use Fender 9050s. I wouldn't say that they're at one end or another of the punch spectrum, other than to say that if you really work the 100 gauge E with a pick, it sounds like a machine gun, and I've put this to use in a pink rock band.

I don't remember the Ernie Ball slinky flats that well, but I bet they'd be great.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Flats are usually discussed as being "thumpy" or "thuddy" - or not so much. But which flats have the most punch?*

*All opinions, subjective or objective are welcome. I have no adequate definition of thump, thud, or punch to propose, just an intuitive feel for these attributes, I hope.

IMO, punch comes mostly from the EQ and your choice of cabs. I’ve used round wounds exclusively since 1977 and I have never had a problem developing “punch”. Just at thought here, might be a better idea before investing a lot of dollars in the search for the holy grail of strings, to start with twisting some dials first to rule what you currently are using.

Best wishes on your search.

 

[Nebadon2000]

The Cobalts are likely my favorite flat at this point.

Just read bold print if not interested my first flats journey

When I came out of my 3rd retirement I had sold my Bass and Gear

So when a friend asked me to join his band I thought I would get just mid level equipment that should be competent for local bar gig's so got SBMM 34QM Stingray and used Markbass Mini CMD 121P.

They played mostly Blues, classic and Southern Rock [Dead Horse/Fossil music]

I am not a Flats Guy [played American P bass from1975 to 2013] never used Flats never considered Flats for good reason in my experience.

But with Music Band was playing I thought flats might work but being cautious I choose Cobalt Flats
They sounded Great

To the point
With long rehearsals/Gigs they got 'Sticky' and also left this Black goop all over my hands and on the Bass
Have they fixed that [ bought in 2019]

Got rid of Bass [didn't really like, wouldn't hold a setup, stay in tune, QM had 1.5 nut] with Cobalts

Bought Ultra Precision even with 7250's NPS came with sounded fantastic with Band [now use Markbass NPS Ultimate soft touch] smooth defined mids/upper mids / punchy mid bass / zero harshness clank and a nice grind digging in.

 

[Thebiggestjerk]

Wow I just changed strings today from Labella flat black tapes to EB cobalts. The tapes just don’t have enough output.