Which flats are bright and stay bright(ish) with age?

The new Fender flats, and then Chromes

 

TI Jazz Flats. What's interesting to me is that D'Addario categorizes their Chromes as warm and mellow. They do sound fairly bright to me on my Roscoe Beck V, but they're new. The TI Jazz Flats on my LeCompte VB5 are definitely bright and my experience with them is that they retain their brightness for a long time.

 

Ya, TI's never go dead. Had a set on for 4 months once and they never changed their sound at all. Chromes and Rotos start out bright but they go dead.

 

The new Fender flats

 

ive been playing the pyramids lately and looooove the tone. worth every cent.

 

+1 for Fender Flats. I use the 9050CL set. My set has been on two different basses for over two years and I still gig them.

 

Some of you are just answering the question with your own favorite type of flats.

 

IMO, flats sound much better when they get old and "dead". I hate new Chromes, but love them after 6 months or so. My flats stay on for years and years.

But to the OP, maybe you should consider half-rounds. They'd probably stay brighter longer.

 

If you really like bright sounding "flats", may I ask have you ever tried D'addario black nylon tapewounds (ETB92)? Lots of the same things people like in new flats -- no squeaky strings, deep clear fundamental, etc. But, they also have great harmonics and seem to stay bright a lot longer than any flats I've ever tried. If you have not tried tapes recently, you may want to give these a shot. My 2 cents.

 

Mine have clocked a couple years already and still sound pretty bright. A lot of upper mids with TIs.

The Rotos are very bright at first but, IME, go really dead not long afterward.

 

What he said. These are pretty bright, as are the DR Legends and GHS Brite Flats.

 

So, business at TB as per usual then? So many dogpiles of late whatever the sub-forum whereby few fully address the OP's criteria when advice is solicited, in regards to price-points, features, weights, aesthetics etc...

Then there's the idjits who've nothing to contribute and clog up the thread with vapid posts, such as this one.

Okay, okay... with no flats experience, I'll attempt a constructive post anyway. I found an old issue of Bass Player magazine at a used bookstore, from 1998. The mag had a shoot-out of 144 strings, mostly roundwounds and lots of 5-string sets, so not that many flatwounds. Here's a few potential options for the OPer based on what I read in the OP and in the mag...

Other than the Flats already mentioned in the thread, there was only one other flatwound set that matched the OP's criteria.

— GHS Brite Flats: "Maximum throb, semi-present highs, and superb sustain. Good tic-tac pick tones."


A few groundwound and compression-wound offerings that might fit the bill:

— Alembic CX3/45L compression-wound: Nickels, "Big tone; lean bottom, punchy mids, and a brilliant top. Excellent balance for fingerstyle and slapping. Live, defined pick sound – even on Drop-D tuning"

— D'Addario half round series II ground-wound: "Flatwound-like warmth with a precise top and healthy sustain. Clicky pick sounds."

— D'Angelico Smoothround Bass Hits ground-wound: "Smooth tone with a glassy top. Semi-dry finish" [what the... "semi-dry finish" ]

— GHS Pressurewound: "Good compromise set for fingerstyle/pick. Bright and tight with a smooth surface. Strong mids with strong presence."


For what it's worth, I didn't include a couple of sets that said "Semi-Bright", which is what the Thomastik-Infelds were described as. DR Legends weren't even mentioned.

As I've yet to try flats on bass geetar , but my requirements seem to mirror the OP's, and despite the "semi-bright" comment from Bass Player mag, I'll take Munji's and Jimmy's advice and try the TI flats if can find them here.

OzzyGreg, best of luck finding your strings. Let me know if you want the info on the other "semi-brights".

 

Brite flats-the name says it all. I tried a set of these once and hated them, If I want bright strings than I play rounds, if I want warm and thumpy I play flats.

 

9/10 threads on TB.

 

Chromes are the brightest, ime, at first. TIs stay the brightest the longest.

If you're willing to change them as often as most change rounds, go with Chromes. And at $25 or so a set, it's not a bank breaker.

 

So what else should they recommend?

 

Something that actually fits the bill?

 

OK, I'm sticking with my favorites: TI Jazz Flats.