Here's an excerpt from a review of flats that I've used and posted on my site:
* GHS Brite Flats - dull grey in appearance which is no big deal but they were a pretty high tension string with a sticky feel. What I mean with "sticky" is that the edges of the ribbons felt sharp so my fingers wouldn't glide smoothly along the surface. This did improve after several weeks of playing as the strings got gunked up with dirt and finger grease. Right out of the package the E strings always felt like an oddball... they felt and sounded lifeless in comparison to the A, D & G strings. Despite their name I never found these strings to be very bright at all... just run of the mill flat average.
* Fender 9050 flats - decent strings at a relatively inexpensive price. All four strings felt smooth and consistant but sounded rather typical for flats. I guess they're great strings for that old MoTown sound because they lose what little brightness they have pretty quickly.
* RotoSound RS88 TruBass tapewound - super smooth low tension (yet thick gauged) strings. These are probably the dullest strings I have ever played but not in a bad way. RS88s are stellar sounding for that old school R&B and MoTown sound. Strike the string and they boom with authority and then quickly die. Don't expect sustain or harmonics from these babies... instead rejoice in the fact that these are probably the closest you can come to emulating the James Jamerson sound without having to play them for a few years first.
* RotoSound RS77 Jazz Flats - a fairly high tension string, not super smooth but smoother than the GHS Brite Flats. These strings sound a little livlier than the Fender 9050s with good sustain for flatwound strings. They also do a good job of ringing out harmonics. They are my second favorite string to use on my fretted and fretless basses.
* D'Addario Chromes (ECB84) - light gauge and medium tension strings with a high shine and super slick feel. These strings are my absolute favorite to play. They are consistent, don't have the clanky harshness of steel or even nickel roundwounds yet they have a welcome level of brightness and livliness not present in any other flatwound I've played. On a fretted bass these strings are convincing for slapping and on fretless they can growl and sing harmonics to satisfy most any Jacophile. Truly amazing strings!!
Nice- But, the GHS Brite-Flats, despite the name, are not a flatwound string. They're a modified roundwound, like D'Addario's Half-Round series. The critical factor is that real flatwound strings use a flat wrap wire, like a ribbon. Half-Rounds and Brite-Flats and Dean Markely's Ground Round Wound all use a round wrap wire, then modify the outter wrap after it's wound to flatten it out. The idea is to make a string that retains the SOUND of a roundwound with the reduced fret- (and figer-) wear of a flat. How well they do that is pretty subjective.
Two factors in how different flats compare are the space between the final wrap, and how the strings are built up. TI flats have a small space between each wrap on the string. It helps make the string more flexible, giving it some of the clarity that most flats don't posses. The other is whether the inner layers are flat ribbon wire or round wires. The flat inner wires contribute to a generally stiffer string and more dullness (in general).
Something I suspect in these discussions of flats is the difference between "twang" and just high end. I hate Fender flats because they're so bright sounding. They don't have the springy twang of a good roundwound, but they have a harsh and very bright high. I haven't played Fender flats since I stopped using Studio Bass flats in 1985. I tried a set of their more recent ones (9150s?) and even leaving them on for three weeks didn't tame them enough to make them attractive.
I really liked the sound of TI strings, and never thought of them as "dull" at all. They have a good amount of traditional flatwound thump on the bottom, but a really nice definite note in them too. But they don't sound that much like the traditional flatwound sound to my ears. That combined with the really low tension (too much difference between the feel of the TI strung basses and the other basses I use on stage) made me stop using them.
My first reaction to the OP all those pages ago is if they're tring to find a flat that's got some roundwound twang, then to try the TI, try some highly moddified roundwounds (Brite Flats, Half Rounds), and some of the less highly modded rounds like GHS and Ken Smith make (I don't recall the names they use but it's a round wound string wtih a rolled edge rather than a buffed wrap).
jte
