Thomastik Flat attack?

[f.c.geil]

...and they feel great, too.

Yes, they do!

 

[totallyfrozen]

Let me know what you think once you've played yours a bit, would you?

I will. I expect to have a guitarist come over for a songwriting session this weekend. I will see what I get out of the TIs then...and I'll post my opinions here.

 

[totallyfrozen]

Over the years I've played Chromes, La Bella Deep Talkin', TI Jazz Flats and Sadowsky flats...I rank order them...

Thanks, Joe. I found that post very helpful in giving me an overview comparison. I've only had some experience with Chromes and TI Jazz so it was nice to see them in reference to each other and the other two brands.

 

[f.c.geil]

Cool, thanks!

 

[fourfinger]

If you have not already done so... try foam muting.

TI's may have less thump than the others, but TI's with foam muting at the bridge will have more thump than any of the others without it. Foam lets you play a bit harder without as much flop, too.

 

[Thumper]

Also keep in mind that what you hear is not what the audience hears. The most compliments I've received are from TI equipped basses (Sukop 5 fretless, Zon 5/1 fretted).

That said, I prefer what I hear on-stage from Sunbeams or nickle Low-Riders

 

[f.c.geil]

Always something to keep in mind about everything we do. Thanks, Thumper.

 

[totallyfrozen]

I will. I expect to have a guitarist come over for a songwriting session this weekend. I will see what I get out of the TIs then...and I'll post my opinions here.

Well, to follow up...I finally had a chance to get together with my guitarist friend this weekend. The TIs removed the "zing" that I don't like from the Rounds. They were plenty clear, though. Using the tone knob on the bass and boosting the Mids on the amp, I was able to get a tone that I really liked. More importantly, it's the tone that he likes. I say that because he's writting originals and has asked me to add the bass lines and to help him write the songs so I think it's more important that he likes the tone since these are his songs...but I REALLY like the tone too.

Although the bass is passive, it has a MusicMan type H pickup at the bridge, and I was able to EQ a good modern tone with plenty of "growl and snort". The strings are brighter than I expected.

The strings themselves had enough punch for what I was doing but they didn't seem as punchy as the Chromes on my P-bass. The TIs are new strings so that may account for some of the brightness and clarity. I don't know how they will mellow over time, but at this point, they have GREAT tone and the feel...man, I haven't felt strings this good before!

They have the flexibility of nickel roundwounds without the grip and traction that rounds have. I don't like the traction of rounds because it catches my finger stips and slows me down. These TI flats are very smooth right out of the bag and my fingers just glide over the fretboard. I'm very pleased with that. They also do not have the tension of stainless steel flats (like the Chromes) so fast fretting is easy and only requires a light touch on the fretting hand. I found it easy to play some busy lines and to play for hours without any hand fatigue whatsoever.

I may still need to try a set of Sadowsky flats just to compare, but for the time being, I couldn't be happier with these TI Jazz flats.

 

[Coolhandjjl]

No mention of Pyramid Golds yet? I just bought a pair. They have that old school thunky attack. I really like them.

They sound like this, even without a pick:
Danger Mouse & Daniele Luppi - Black - starring Norah Jones - YouTube


For attack, I also get great results from D'Addario XL, nickel rounds. They seem to produce more attack than their Chromes do.