This is a subject I come across often online. The most important thing with flats, as with any string but I think a little more in this arena, is that it’s almost entirely subjective. I’ll set out my views and experience below but bear in mind these are just my encounters and the makes I have sampled as well as what I got from them.
To start the ball rolling, much advice to this question has been given online to “get a P bass and throw on a set of flats” and while this was something used by the greats like James Jamerson, Carol Kaye and many others from the era, it’s important to understand that was what was available then and replicating ‘that’ sound is not as easy as just doing the above. Technology has moved on enormously in the fifty plus years since those artists created those iconic sounds. I first tried flats in the mid eighties, made by a company called Veritas, and they were awful – uneven response, poor magnetic output and short but uneven decay, and expensive. Why? Probably because the round wound was still king at that stage and during that time, the bass guitar had come forward in the mix and on the stage particularly with the popularity of slap bass so none cared about flats.
Trying to obtain such retro strings is difficult these days but I did come across a set a while back made by Rotosound – Monel wound flats. I’ve fitted their Monel strings on double basses for the Rockabilly/slap fraternity for the percussive quick decay those players need so the bass guitar set seemed a logical choice. Seeing English session ace Mo Foster advocating them sealed the deal. As the only long term experience I have with flats is on my double bass I can only report what I felt and perhaps this should be taken as a guideline, but only that. I have a liking for lower tension strings, they seem to have a rounder bottom end, growl a bit (all my bass guitars are fretless but the DB also growls) and I don’t use a pick.
For reference I have 3 acoustic basses. The primary is a four string with Ebony bridge and finger board. The pickups are a Highlander sensor under the Ebony saddle, my own design piezo disc array under the sound board/bridge running into my own dual channel buffer and then a D Audio preamp. The next is also a four string that started life as a jumbo acoustic but is now semi solid. Currently wears a Pau Ferro finger board, a Cedar bridge with a Cherry saddle. Under the saddle is the Highlander sensor and under the bridge is my own piezo setup. There is also a MM magnetic pickup 3mm behind the sweet spot that can be split into a single coil. Electronics as above except the final preamp which is a Retrovibe Stinger (Stingray clone). No. three is a 5 string semi solid (converted jumbo acoustic) with a Kent Armstrong humbucker and a Highlander sensor under the floating Ebony bridge into buffer preamps and a D Audio two band preamp. The fingerboard on that is Madagascar Rosewood. I also have a Stingray type solid bass. My complicated piezo arrays remove most of the so called ‘quack’ and harshness associated with this type of pickup.
D’Addario Chromes – For players who want to reduce fretted hand noise but maintain the bright sound of a round wound, these should work nicely. Personally, the brightness is what put me off them and if using a piezo, the finger to string noise is more pronounced even though the surface is polished smooth, but ok with the mag. Medium tension with good magnetic output and balance Good sustain, same as a round wound.
Ernie Ball flats – I disliked these because of the very high tension but, if that’s your thing then these might be good for you. Fairly bright tone that works fine with magnetic pickups but again, very harsh with the piezo. Balanced across the strings with decent output.
Fender flats – I found these very disappointing overall, stiff, rough surface, not great string to string balance and unremarkable tone but inexpensive too.
LaBella Deep Talking – A fairly high tension string with claims of heritage back to the 60’s. This may be the case but with modern amps and pickups it will take a lot of retrograde steps to get ‘that’ tone (bearing in mind that the primary character comes from the player). At the time these were costly and only available in heavy gauges. I found them hard work.
LaBella Low Tension flats – These are peculiar string for a low tension strings, not flexible to the touch but a couple of turns on the tuner and they are at pitch. On the mag pickup they had a good balanced tone, output and feel, a little noisy on the piezo. Interestingly, on the five string set the B is a 118 and that’s discussion for another day – B strings do not necessarily have to be heavy to convey the real low down clearly.
Pyramid Gold Beatle Bass – No, just no. These are the most ridiculous unbalanced strings I’ve ever come across and have no relationship to the makers claims.
Rotosound Monel flats – Initially I thought there was something wrong with the mag pickup on my Stingray after fitting these. The tone of the E and A were ok but the D/G was like a different set of strings. Overall output level was uneven and very low causing me to check the electronics. It was only when I transferred them to the piezo equipped 4 string that I was able to work out the low magnetic output. Somewhat like putting acoustic strings on an electric guitar. On the piezo they definitely had that 60’s sound, quick attack with short decay and dark tone but again, unbalance. Tension wise, they were what I would call medium.
Rotosound Tru Bass – These have been around for a very long time. A heavy gauge set of tape wounds that will require the E slot in the nut to be adjusted if you don’t want to split it. Heavy thuddy Gibson EB’esq sound with little definition in the mid or upper ranges. Decent magnetic output, medium to heavy tension. Not nice with a pic unless you want a ‘clacky’ sound.
Thomastik AF344. These are the flats I’ve used for years on and off. They have excellent balance across the neck, low tension, high magnetic output and the closest sound to the 60’s I’ve come across in a usable string. If the old school sound is desired in a balanced playable package, then these are well worth a look but make sure to buy them in Europe, US prices are up to 75% higher.
This is just a sample of what’s out there. Going for a test drive will unfortunately be costly (at the time of writing, these fit in the €40-60 category) compared to round wounds but ‘feel’ for upright bass players, to do this can cost from €180 a decent set up to perhaps €400+.
Tony Thompson Guitars 