Ernie Ball Group V Flats £24.95 on Amazon

[Delberthot]

Having just taken delivery of my Sire D5 I was keen to fit a set of flats to it.

 

I checked out my usual D'addario Chromes and a few others but ended up stumbling on the Ernie Ball Group flats.

 

I've been using Hybrid Slinkies for the past couple of years, having found them to be fuller sounding with more bite than the D'addario EXL165s I had been using previously.

 

As we all know trying out different flats can be an expensive business but I was surprised when I came across Ernie Ball Group V flats for £24.95 on Amazon. These are the 45, 65, 80, 100 group III set with a 130 B string. However, the Group 3 set was still coming in at £46.80!

 

It was a no brainer - buy the 5 string set and keep the B in it's packet to either sell on in the future or until such time I have a suitable 5 string.

 

I've just fitted them and they sound and feel amazing. I won't be using a Hipshot Xtender on this bass so I didn't need the slightly heavier 105.

 

They're very smooth, I would say even more so than Chromes, and very bright. Time will tell what they'll be like when they settle down but from reading online reviews they should mellow out nicely while still retaining the mid-range grunt.

 

Anyway, I've just ordered a second set to keep in my spares drawer for either another bass or when I change these in about 100 years

[AJ567]

Bargain, thanks for the heads up. just bought two sets!

[fretmeister]

They are excellent strings.

 

They stay bright for a while so I do the hand cream thing to speed it up a bit.

[johnDeereJack]

Can anyone tell me if they have silks at the headstock end? 

 

Thanks folks 🙂

[Delberthot]

Yes they have blue silks at the headstock end but they're not as "fluffy" as some.

[MartinB]

They've crept up to £26.95 now. I'm amazed they didn't leap straight back to ~£60 after us lot started buying them up.

[fretmeister]

18 minutes ago, MartinB said:

They've crept up to £26.95 now. I'm amazed they didn't leap straight back to ~£60 after us lot started buying them up.

 

I've never paid that much for them - never more than £45.

[MartinB]

Dunno - I'm just going by Amazon's price history. Maybe they've always been pricier there than elsewhere 🤷‍♂️

 

Source: https://uk.camelcamelcamel.com/product/B000B6IURS

[MichaelDean]

I've not liked any of the flats I've had over the years, and yet, for some reason, I'm tempted to buy a set of these for the bass I'm building. Is that absolute madness? I think it might be...

[Wonky2]

I use Ernie ball cobalt flats, have done for a very long time now, first set 9 years, current set been on about 5 years. 
cant fault them at all.

better tension than chromes, better feel than labellas ……