New EB Cobalt Flats?

[Doner Designs]

If would recommend the middle set. I like thick flats and normally use Group 1 in the regular flats and use 55-110 plus the 130 B cobalts. I’m a BEAD player and like the thick set but keep a few extra D strings on hand because I break the 75 D string on install half the time. I have broken G strings before too but normally don’t wear them.

The cobalt flats are my go to string but recently tried TI flats again and loved them in spite of the light tension, so I might migrate to the lighter cobalts too. Would make buying them a helluva lot easier since the 5 string set only comes in one gauge which is very annoying because it’s hard to get the B string as a single.

Thank God for Jason at bassstringsonline (now fret nation)!

 

[mouthmw]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of trying a set of Cobalt flats on my 2 band Stingray. I exclusively use Super Slinky 45-100 on my Stingray, and La Bella flats on my P bass (which I adore), so I wanna try some flats action on my ray now, for a change. Anyways, are the QC problems with strings breaking solved by now?

How does a set of 45-100 cobalt flats compare to Super Slinky (45-100) roundwounds tension and flexibility wise?

Thanks!

 

[Briton]

I have them both on a Classic and a Bongo 5, they are great strings the closest you will get to Rounds and are made for any EB Bass so there is nothing to worry about. Regarding tension I can only compare them to TI's and they are much stiffer in tension and you will not really notice any difference between the Slinky's and the Cobalts. As for the string breaking problems, well that occured years ago on some of the early batches, and has now been rectified. I will always use Cobalt Flats on my EB Basses, but on my P Basses it will always be TI Flats.

 

[Britbonic]

Hey guys, I'm thinking of trying a set of Cobalt flats on my 2 band Stingray. I exclusively use Super Slinky 45-100 on my Stingray, and La Bella flats on my P bass (which I adore), so I wanna try some flats action on my ray now, for a change. Anyways, are the QC problems with strings breaking solved by now?

How does a set of 45-100 cobalt flats compare to Super Slinky (45-100) roundwounds tension and flexibility wise?

Thanks!

The issue with breakage has been addressed AFAIK. That said, be very careful installing the D and especially the G strings. Wind them very slowly. Problem I had is that they got stuck in the nut so I just kept string out of nut on initial winding until it got close to tension.

In terms of tension, can't compare to Super Slinky but to me the 45 - 100 feels just about right. I tried the lighter ones 40 - 90 and they were too slinky.

 

[maplenecked]

I think I’ve strung like 5 sets of these at this point, never had an issue with them. Good strings and yeah feel pretty close to regular slinky’s

 

[mouthmw]

Thanks everyone, I've ordered a set of Cobalt flats (45-100) and a set of TI JF344 flats. I've used Ti flats quite a few years ago on my P, and they were a bit too floppy for me, but I have to tune my P bass half a step down. Wanna give em another try with my Stingray, although Cobalts are going on first.

 

[Hypercaffium]

I liked Cobalts with my passive Fender P, but they didn't last long since I came back to Fender 9050L. Nothing wrong with the Cobalts, I just realized that I prefer the vintage thump that the 9050L give me.
I consider Cobalts a great halfway between rounds and flats, definitely a good overall solution for most music genres. They're bright, snappy, even clanky when using a heavy pick, with enough output to drive my amp/preamp and dirt pedals pretty well, while the kind of flats I like sounds a little bit "dull" with dirt. Cobalts are not as smooth as traditional flats under the fingers, like I said they're halfway between rounds and flats imho. Tension is good, not floppy at all.

 

[hotbass57]

Thanks everyone, I've ordered a set of Cobalt flats (45-100) and a set of TI JF344 flats. I've used Ti flats quite a few years ago on my P, and they were a bit too floppy for me, but I have to tune my P bass half a step down. Wanna give em another try with my Stingray, although Cobalts are going on first.

I just put that set on a Squier VM jazz. I just followed their instructions. Went on without a hitch. Great strings really like them so far.

 

[Briton]

I just put that set on a Squier VM jazz. I just followed their instructions. Went on without a hitch. Great strings really like them so far.

I have always strung them the standard way and have never had any problems.

 

[hotbass57]

I have always strung them the standard way and have never had any problems.

I had followed the thread on strings breaking, so it was just easy to follow their instructions. Any other strings I'm string the traditional way.

 

[mouthmw]

Just got a set of Cobalt Flats 45-100 and put em on my 2 band Stingray. I've strung them the way I always do - 3 tuning pegs distance from the tuning peg I'm stringing, 90 degree angle and cut. No problems.

Tension is pretty close to Super Slinky roundwounds I've always had on it (standard tuning), and similar to La Bella 760FS (45-105) that I have tuned half a step down on my P bass. So that's great. They actually feel pretty smooth to me, I expected them to feel a bit more tacky from what I've read from other people, but that's pretty good. Not as smooth as La Bella, but smooth.

They sound like a modern flatwound to me, now that they're fresh. Definitely not the old school thump, but still smooth and nicely focused and well balanced. No dead sounding strings in this pack, they're all nicely balanced. They grind if you dig in so I get the whole roundwound tone comparisons. Slapping is pretty roundwoundish too. I dig em, I'm keeping them on the bass to see how they age. I wouldn't mind them getting a bit more gunkier sounding, and a bit more smoother.

Yeah, pretty cool flats in my opinion! Since I dig their tension as much as I do, I'm wondering if I'll ever be able to get used to TI flats lol. TI flats will have to wait their turn and sit in the drawer.

 

[mouthmw]

Played them for a couple of hours today. Lubed em up a bit with Fast Fret before using the bass, and they were smooth all the way today. Great strings definitely, very pure sort of output. I really wonder how they age. I compared them to my 2 year old flats on my P bass and they sound "hi fi" compared to those lol, but that's to be expected.

 

[Yahboy]

Put my few months old Cobalt 2814(from fretless P) to my Squier VM77J yesterday which using Ti flat currently. Surprise that the old cobalt flat still sound brighter than A week old Ti flat.
I found myself prefer the tone from the combination of Stock pup + Cobalt 2814 which produce nicer growl J tone than Ti flat.

 

[/\/\3phist0]

Played them for a couple of hours today. Lubed em up a bit with Fast Fret before using the bass, and they were smooth all the way today. Great strings definitely, very pure sort of output. I really wonder how they age. I compared them to my 2 year old flats on my P bass and they sound "hi fi" compared to those lol, but that's to be expected.

Nearly year old, still brighter than Chrome's, and more defined. More supple, and strong mids, I like the feel and sound. Most of the time on my L2500, now on my Ibby fretless.

 

[-Asdfgh-]

My experience is a bit different and for me they age just like TIs. They certainly seem to have some typical flat thud, but with a larger frequency range so 'bigger'.

 

[mouthmw]

I'm liking them a lot, the feel is now just superbly smooth ever since I lubed them up just once. They're still very clear and bright, and even though that's not really the characteristic I was looking for in a flatwound tone, I'm finding it hard to take them off and to test out TI flats that I got along with them. I think I'll test TI flats today, and see which set I prefer on my 2 band ray.

Last time I tried TI flats on my P bass, they felt like noodles, but the way I play with flats has changed significantly since then, and I tend to use a lighter touch with flats anyways. Still, if TIs end up being too much like cooked noodles - cobalt flats are coming back on.

EDIT: I also ordered a set of Ernie Ball Flatwound Group IV (40-95), as I'm curious about those as well (more traditional flatwound). I took the smaller gauge as I expect them to have more tension than Cobalt flats of the same gauge. Either way, I guess I'm doing a bit of flats testing on my Stingray.

 

[JeffJ2112]

I just had a weird break on my D string of the EBCF(.110-.55) yesterday. Been on oh, five months or so.

I was tuning up and it broke right around the 5th fret. Never had that happen with them before.

 

[mouthmw]

Yo guys, put Cobalt flats back on my Stingray yesterday.

Had TIs on the ray for 2 weeks. TIs definitely sound more old school, more thud, and more mids. Cobalts sound cleaner, bigger in lows and highs, but more scooped and modern. Even though I really loved the sound of TI flats, they are just so soft and pliable and low tension. It kind of threw me off when I went back to play my P with La Bella flats. Like I lost my finger strength lol.

Put Cobalt flats back on, and yeah, much better tension and feel. The tone though, hmmh, I kind of want a more old school sounding flat. Still waiting for EB traditional flats to arrive. Until then, Cobalts it is.

 

[StayLow]

Well, these flats don't have an old-school flat sound by design.

However they are currently on sale at FretNation.com (formerly Bass Strings Online).

 

[engedi1]

Yo guys, put Cobalt flats back on my Stingray yesterday.

Had TIs on the ray for 2 weeks. TIs definitely sound more old school, more thud, and more mids. Cobalts sound cleaner, bigger in lows and highs, but more scooped and modern. Even though I really loved the sound of TI flats, they are just so soft and pliable and low tension. It kind of threw me off when I went back to play my P with La Bella flats. Like I lost my finger strength lol.

Put Cobalt flats back on, and yeah, much better tension and feel. The tone though, hmmh, I kind of want a more old school sounding flat. Still waiting for EB traditional flats to arrive. Until then, Cobalts it is.

Man I LOVE cobalt flats on my Ray. That's the perfect fingerstyle tone, and I love the tension. I'm over TI flats tbh, which I used for many years.