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j-bass with flats: any good?

#28
For what it's worth, I HATED flats when I tried them years ago. Now they are the biggest part of my sound -- I realized that warmth was what I'd been missing for years.

John Paul Jones played Jazz bass with flats, and so did Joe Osborn, among many other greats.

I think the difference between pick and fingerstyle is just relative. Just because a number of players used pick with their flats does not mean it won't work great for you.

I use TI Jazz Flats on bpth my Hamer Cruisebass (which is very much like a V/V/T jazz bass) and my Musicman, playing fingerstyle, and I like my tone on both of them now more than I ever did.

I like Chromes too though, and that would be my second choice. Those are the flats I tried first.
 
#35
ok so here's another question: I've read somewhere here of people able to slap and pop with flats...I have tried with no success. What's the secret? I absolutely could NOT slap my p-bass when it had flats. I don't actually slap that much but I do pop high notes here and there. How does one do that? Perhaps with a j-bass it'll be easier?
 
#36
I have TIs on my Jazz with SCN noiseless pickups and the sound and feel are incredible. At a rehearsal last month, a musician came from upstairs to see what was making that great, rich sound. My Jazz with rounds is just not getting played these days.
 
#38
williamk said:
cuz it's hell to swap and re-swap strings if I hate them...I'm lazy
Click to expand...

Wow that IS pretty lazy. What does it take? Ten minutes? Just sayin....

How much time did you put in with flats in your previous encounters? They definitely take some getting used to, and most people say they don't really "open up" for weeks to as much as a month.

Slap 'em on and play the hell out of it for a month. Bring it to band practice to see how it sounds in context. It's really the only way you're ever gonna know for sure if you like 'em or not. Especially since you don't have to lay out any cash - you already have them sitting right there in front of you.

For the record, I'm about to put a set of TI Jazz flats back on my J. I tried going back to rounds on that bass and I just miss the TI's too much.

'nuther thought: I have Chromes on both my P's and though I love them in that application, I'm not sure I would like them on my J - too stiff (that's what she said). I like a little fret noise and clank on a J and the lower tension of TI's does the trick beautifully. So if you end up rejecting the Chromes, make note of specifically what it is you don't like about them. If it's tension, I'd highly recommend trying the TI's - very different feel.
 
#40
When you put flats on a JBass you tend to rob it of it's full tonal range. JBasses have a lot of built in tonal expression based on the blend of the pickups and the tone pot itself. Flats will only rob some of that and make it more monotone.

Try Pressure Wounds as a step away from Rounds without losing the tonal expression of the bass. I like them so well I don't know that I'd ever go back to playing full rounds on a JBass again. These fit the character of the bass and my playing style very well.

I'm a fingerstyle player but they brighten up dramatically with a pick if you want more high mids and attack. The only style I would not recommend them for is slap.
 

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