Flats on a jazz... Pros and Cons

[uk_lefty]

Who uses flats on a jazz and why? What would you recommend?

 

Years ago I put flats on an MIM Jazz for a while and really liked it but took them off to have light stainless steel rounds instead for slapping and bending the strings. I've just acquired an American jazz with a maple board and I'm considering flats on it to get a different sound, more like the Joe Dart Dean Town tone (yes it's all in the fingers, amp, preamp, compressor, humidity, moon cycle....)

[ezbass]

I've been using EB Cobalt flats on my J type for years. I have them on nearly all my basses. 

[Skin Lewis]

I've currently got TI flats on my Jazz, and they suit it very well. Kind of halfway between rounds and the Labella LTFs I had on before, regarding brightness.

[Burns-bass]

Daddario Chromes are my favourite. They’re easy enough to bend but have that vintage thump you want.

[Phill]

Have some Optima RB Flats on my 72 Jazz, Pretty well suited to your above sound you're looking for. Not everyone's cup of tea & not suited to all musical adventures IMO

[Beedster]

  On 27/04/2023 at 18:40, uk_lefty said:

Who uses flats on a jazz and why? What would you recommend?

 

Years ago I put flats on an MIM Jazz for a while and really liked it but took them off to have light stainless steel rounds instead for slapping and bending the strings. I've just acquired an American jazz with a maple board and I'm considering flats on it to get a different sound, more like the Joe Dart Dean Town tone (yes it's all in the fingers, amp, preamp, compressor, humidity, moon cycle....)

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Loads of pros, no cons, and some of the best slap ever played is on flats, which are also highly bendable 👍

[BlueMoon]

  On 27/04/2023 at 19:11, Burns-bass said:

Daddario Chromes are my favourite. They’re easy enough to bend but have that vintage thump you want.

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This ^^^^^
 

I also like TI flats once you get used to the tension (lack of it).

[Reggaebass]

I don’t see any cons myself, I don’t really like the feel of rounds and I’ve got 14 basses all with various flats, mainly jazzes and precision’s, I’d say depending on what tension and gauge you like you can’t go wrong with labella , both these are nice strings 

760FL Deep Talkin’ Bass Flats – Light 43-104,  

760FS Deep Talkin’ Bass Flats – Standard 45-105

TI’s are good too if your after a brighter tone 

 

[NickA]

Eb cobalt flats on my bitsa jazz bass.  Because 

 

... I never much liked the sound of flats, but the cobalt's are quite bright and zingy.  They don't wear out the fretless fingerboard and they feel great. 

 

Nice strings tho perhaps a bit too full of their own character.  I put some on my fretless Wal and they made it sound like a bass with eb cobalt's on rather than a fretless Wal.

 

Going to try some thomastic jazz flats on the Wal but sticking to the cobalt's on the jazz.

 

...as old age advances my pro zing anti flatwound prejudice reduces.  Though I can't yet agree with Beedster that they're good for slap.  Examples please!

[paul_5]

Flats on a Jazz - good enough for Led Zeppelin!

[Beedster]

Took me a long time to get into flats, and even longer into flats on a Jazz, in part because many years ago a guy in a music shop told me "flatwound string sound dead". OK, they're kinda definitive on a Precision and accepted as such, in so many respects they're even more so on a Jazz. Wanna hit some retro heaven? Flats, back PUP on full, front PUP rolled off a little bit, and a pic through an all-tube head. Sorted 👍 

[Beedster]

  On 27/04/2023 at 21:19, paul_5 said:

Flats on a Jazz - good enough for Led Zeppelin!

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Yes, and so many more 👍

[ezbass]

  On 27/04/2023 at 21:15, NickA said:

Nice strings tho perhaps a bit too full of their own character.  I put some on my fretless Wal and they made it sound like a bass with eb cobalt's on rather than a fretless Wal.

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That's interesting, maybe this is why I like them on most of my basses - I like the sound of the string and perhaps the mixture of wood/metal/plastic carrier is more irrelevant? Hmm, That sounds sarcastic and it's not meant to be, I really think you might be onto to something there, at least for me. Interesting, very interesting...

[fretmeister]

Joe Dart uses the EB Group flats (not the cobalts) on his signature ray / sterling, and he uses Roto rounds on his older Max Jazz.

 

So it depends on which version of Dean Town you like best.

[Beedster]

 

[White Cloud]

  On 27/04/2023 at 21:15, NickA said:

Eb cobalt flats on my bitsa jazz bass.  Because 

 

... I never much liked the sound of flats, but the cobalt's are quite bright and zingy.  They don't wear out the fretless fingerboard and they feel great. 

 

Nice strings tho perhaps a bit too full of their own character.  I put some on my fretless Wal and they made it sound like a bass with eb cobalt's on rather than a fretless Wal.

 

Going to try some thomastic jazz flats on the Wal but sticking to the cobalt's on the jazz.

 

...as old age advances my pro zing anti flatwound prejudice reduces.  Though I can't yet agree with Beedster that they're good for slap.  Examples please!

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Flats on a Wal? Nnnnnnnnoooooooo

 

[NickA]

  On 27/04/2023 at 21:48, fretmeister said:

Joe Dart uses the EB Group flats (not the cobalts) on his signature ray / sterling, and he uses Roto rounds on his older Max Jazz.

 

So it depends on which version of Dean Town you like best.

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EVERY version of Dean Town! Mostly he's just a brilliant musician ...but  I think his sound shaping is quite complex too, hard to say what part the strings are playing.

 

  On 27/04/2023 at 21:38, ezbass said:

maybe this is why I like them on most of my basses -

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I really like the cobalt's too... but I like the sound of the Wal even more.  Wals have a very fat muzzy sound and I think it takes rounds to add a bit of sparkle.

[Reggaebass]

Some nice tones here from Naoto who I follow, there’s a bit of slap in there, using fender flats which I didn’t get on with as they were a bit high tension for me 

 

[NickA]

Naoto seems to have the treble wound right down, so flats Vs rounds isn't going to make a deal of difference.  Personally I still think the rounds sounded best.

 

Though I do think flats have come on since the days when the choice seemed to be roto-sound swing bass Vs jazz bass ( the " jazz bass" being flats!), The one being too bright and catching every finger movement and the other being thuddily dull.  Now we have every nuance and an overlap between the two types.

[neepheid]

Cons of flats on a Jazz - they're being fitted to a Jazz.

 

I'm done, just some mild mannered trolling...

[Buddster]

Because Jaco didn't

(did he?? I have no idea 😊) 

[chris_b]

Pro's: sound good - last forever.

 

Con's: flats loose some of the wider frequency range that rounds get with a Jazz -  made my Sadowsky Jazz sound too much like my PJ - then again, made my Cort Jazz sound much better.

[ossyrocks]

I have LaBella LTF's on my Jazz. It's a mexican roadworn with pickups and pots upgraded.

 

I find Labella's particularly deep sounding when compared with the other flats I've tried, which are only Picatos and Thomastiks. So they've given my Jazz a really deep tone on the front pickup, if you want it, but it's still pretty honky on the back pickup alone. I more or less have the tone rolled off the whole time too. I had some fun the other night with my Mark Bass rig, a compressor and the jazz on the back pickup, trying to cop that Joe Dart tone (not the chops I'm afraid).

 

Rob

[meterman]

I’ve got Fender flats on my jazz which sound good but they’re like cables and don’t quite have the smooth feel of LaBellas or Chromes so I’ll most likely swap them out soon. For tone and feel it’s flatwounds all the way for me, on any bass. Neck pickup + flats is my favourite sound on a jazz. 

[Rayman]

TI flats on everything….. Jazz, P bass, Stingray, Fodera, Encore, Firewood….. everything.