Very first set of flats?

[BassAt33]

Just got my first set of flats too! They are Ernie Ball group II and were $30 and I couldn't be happier with them.

 

[BassAt33]

these guys

 

[geoff_in_nc]

@petrus61 Why would you not recommend Chromes as a first flat? They're all I've tried in flats and really like them (but I'm not using flats now) so I'm wondering if there's something negative I missed? Thanks!

 

[JKB1957]

I use GHS Precision flats on the two P-Basses in my pic. Great feel, sound great. If I want to go for an even more vintage sound I put a piece of foam, or cotton cloth under the strings by the bridge. Keep the groove.

 

[nate56]

TI Jazz flats, JF344. First and last flats, because they are the goods and they last forever. Guys will run a set of TI flats for years, decades even.

You can resell them if you don't like them. Take them off, play with other strings, put them back on, and you'll like them even more. I had a set that stayed for three basses. I'd sell the bass with some other strings and keep the TI's.

Doesn't matter what your bass cost, strings are what you touch, how you interface with music. Don't cheap out on strings.

+1 they don't get muddy sounding in recordings to/take less effort to EQ in the studio. They are well worth the money

 

[Impetus man]

How did things turn out with Oli?

 

[lazarusdoom]

I really like the LaBella low tension flats.

 

[KickingBass]

I'm thinking of trying flats on a jazz soon, I've never tried flats either and my biggest fear is high tension especially on 5 strings.

 

[Lia_G]

TI Jazz flats, JF344. First and last flats, because they are the goods and they last forever. Guys will run a set of TI flats for years, decades even.

You can resell them if you don't like them. Take them off, play with other strings, put them back on, and you'll like them even more. I had a set that stayed for three basses. I'd sell the bass with some other strings and keep the TI's.

Doesn't matter what your bass cost, strings are what you touch, how you interface with music. Don't cheap out on strings.

These are my favorites as well. I had them on a Roscoe fretless five for seven years, same set. Still sounded and felt amazing. I have them in my main bass now as well, a Sterling Ray34 CAFL fretless. And I've had them on two P basses, one fretted and one fretless, and they were great.

They are expensive though. But like @singlemalt says, you can sell them if they don't work out.

All that said, I bet the fender or labella recommendations would give you a good taste of the flat sound. I don't think they live up to the TI product though, but ymmv of course. Best wishes!

 

[Joshua Pickenpaugh]

Buying some used flats over on the TB classified section can be a great option to test out flats on the dime.

 

[BASSically Awful]

Die young.... Die strong........Steve Harris Tow Wench Cable Strings.

 

[jj4001]

LaBella 760FL is such a great place to start you may never find a reason to switch. ;-)
The key is patience at first. They take time to break in.

 

[oysteivi]

Some people sound good playing Rotosound 77, but when I played them, they sounded hollow and terrible.

Fender 9050L, on the other hand, sounded good to me from the moment I installed them on my P bass, and 18 months later they still do. I now use 9050L flats on both my P basses.

 

[kosmicwizard]

I have moved from fender to labella to ti in order over time and personally will not be going back to either of the other two. They were great at the time, but then i found something i thought was better and then i found another thing that was better than either of the other two. Cheers.

 

[Heisenbass]

I agree. As much as I love ghs Precision flats, they are specialist strings where the Fenders are all-purpose.

Would you care to elaborate?

 

[Yahboy]

Highly recommand ~ Fender 9050L , open sounding and growl .

 

[Woody1999]

How did things turn out with Oli?

I took his guitar to a luthier to be fixed up as you know. He did some fret dress, cut a new nut and a full setup. Now the guitar doesn't sound incredibly out of tune when fretted. We had a chat with Oli as a band and since his guitar now plays properly he's realised he doesn't need to have the overdrive all the way up to make it muddy enough to hide the fact that it was all out of tune. It's a breath of fresh air, really. Still stubborn about his settings but at least now he's trying not to be a dick about it

As for strings goes, there seems to be a load of conflicting opinions? Should I just try out some Fender flats? They're around £23 for the light gauge set over here.

Woody

 

[Ballin'bass]

I just got my first set of flats for my precision bass. I decided to go with TI jazz flats. I'm convinced I made the right decision in spite of the steep price. I love them. I am a total convert now.

 

[AshInAmsterdam]

Hi all,

I'm looking to get my very first set of flats for my P-Bass. I've heard good things about flats, especially the low finger noise which is a problem plaguing me with bad recording equipment currently. I've only ever used round wounds before, with the furthest I've deviated being the RS66 stainless steel roundwounds I currently have on my Jazz.

Therefore I have no idea where to even start looking for flatwounds. I'm looking for a warm sound, but with a little punch in typical P-Bass style. Don't mind whether it's heavy or light, but a light set may be a nice change from my really heavy RS66s.

Any recommendations?

Woody

Haha you've been here a month and already your post is full of TB tropes

Get some Chromes. They're cheap as flats come, and so far I'm very much enjoying mine. They're designed to be closer to the sound of rounds, and I think they sound awesome. And they have "typical P-Bass punch" (because they're on my P-bass...)

Going a size down makes them the same thickness more or less as roundwounds - i.e. on my Ibanez I went from 45-105 RS66 to 40-100 Chromes and didn't have to adjust my neck - but I did have to adjust intonation.

You won't have finger noise too. Frets feel weird under your fingers at first when you slide, but there's no scraping sound as with rounds.

EDIT: also look online for your strings. I used stringsdirect when I was in UK and found them cheap and good service, especially buying bulk sets.

 

[theevilplankton]

I play a pair of 70s Rickenbacker 4001's.

Both wear Fender 9050 flats....and I was a D'addario Nickel player for years!

These strings are amazing - great tone, superb feel....I won't use anything else.