I picked up a 69 P decades ago and was never super happy with the sound and feel. One day, I took my basses into a bass shop to get appraised and was talking to the owner. He told me to try the TI’s on the bass. I was skeptical, both because I was round wound rock guy into Geddy and Squire, and because they were expensive. But I gave them a shot and they blew me away. The Jamerson just oozed out of the bass. That bass went from just kind of okay to my favorite bass overnight. I did a ton of studio gigs back in the day and I’d bring that bass to the gig along with a 75 jazz w/rounds and maybe a fretless or 5 string. Producers would take one look at that bass and stop there! Plug it in, tune it up, get a level, done! Fast forward to today and most of my basses have TI flats on them. I have them on J and P basses, fretted and fretless, heavy rotation gigging basses, studio basses, rock, garage, roots, funk, blues, reggae. Fits perfectly in every style I play from aggressive to soulful, fingers, pick, slap. I do still have a couple of basses strung with rounds, but honestly I don’t dig them as much. Only basses I don’t like them for are active basses, but as I’ve gravitated much more back to Fender style J and P passive basses, it’s fine. And you’re right, TI flats never get “old”. Ignore the price, you’ll never need or want to change them, unlike rounds. My current no. 1 bass is a short scale Sandberg Lionel 30” passive P bass with… of course, TI flats. They don’t make a 30” set, but the 32” fits just fine, with a little metal around the E string peg. It’s a perfect combination.
I started playing flats several years ago, putting TI Jazz Flats on a Sire jazz bass and a Squire Classic Vibe 60s p-bass, and then putting LaBellas on another p-bass and I'm not sure I could go back. I've loved the Jamerson/Babbitt/Duck Dunn Motown/Stax bass sound forever, and got into Pino Palladino and Sean Hurley's playing and the P-bass/flats combo just absolutely rules. It's like the SM57 of basses - if you don't know what to do, grab a P-bass with flats and you can't go wrong. There's a funny story (not sure of the truth) where James Jamerson had a LaBella string snap on his p-bass, and he tried to send it back to LaBella to be repaired because he didn't want to lose all the thumpy tone he got out of it (quote "The dirt keeps the funk.") Of course with the strings he was using, you know there was a suspension bridge somewhere that was missing some cables. No one could play his bass but him.
Great video Grant . Ive played flats like forever , Dean Markley until they stopped making then in the early 90's , then Ernie Ball but they would break as they got older . But now i'm using Fender 9050. They still feel and sound great after nearly 3 years ,so ill stick with them . Keep up the great work Grant .
Hi. Your video is encouraging me. I've been seriously thinking about trying these. But I have one hiccup. While some folks love them others complain of their "floppiness." I don't know what this means exactly. I've used silk and steel strings on my acoustic and don't mind the soft touch they have. Question: How much do you think a more traditional set of flats need to be tuned down in order to arrive at a similar feel of the TIs?
@@grant_r_d Thanks for the reply. I don't own TI's. I'm trying to make the best assesment of their "floppiness" I can before spending $100. Do you have another bass with more traditional strings that you can tune down so that the feel of the traditional strings feel close to the tension of the TIs? If so, please let me know how much you tuned them down, approximately; a whole step, 1.5 steps, two whole steps?
I’ve wanted to try Tomasticks for years but 11-12 yrs ago I put some low tension Labellas on my Starfire and they still sound so good I can’t justify changing them lol. My only other bass is my Jazz and I kinda need to keep a bass handy with rounds for when I need them. Maybe I just need to get a Pbass so I can try ‘em, lol.
Ok, let me play devil's advocate here: While they have a lot of merit in studio recording, my experience both as a listener and a player, is that flats have a tendency of sounding muddy and undefined in a live setting (unless played with a pick). As an amateur player who likes to experiment, and also strongly thinks the bass should be felt AND heard, and I even like to hear which notes I'm playing, this is a problem for me. Do you have a good fix for this, or should I just stick to rounds (even though it gets expensive in the long run..)?
Agree once the stage vol gets to a certain level flats get hard to hear. But the older I get my solution to that problem is to just pass on anybody who plays excessively loud :)
I just installed these on my Stingray and they’re amazing! All the best from Belgium!
I picked up a 69 P decades ago and was never super happy with the sound and feel. One day, I took my basses into a bass shop to get appraised and was talking to the owner. He told me to try the TI’s on the bass. I was skeptical, both because I was round wound rock guy into Geddy and Squire, and because they were expensive. But I gave them a shot and they blew me away. The Jamerson just oozed out of the bass. That bass went from just kind of okay to my favorite bass overnight. I did a ton of studio gigs back in the day and I’d bring that bass to the gig along with a 75 jazz w/rounds and maybe a fretless or 5 string. Producers would take one look at that bass and stop there! Plug it in, tune it up, get a level, done! Fast forward to today and most of my basses have TI flats on them. I have them on J and P basses, fretted and fretless, heavy rotation gigging basses, studio basses, rock, garage, roots, funk, blues, reggae. Fits perfectly in every style I play from aggressive to soulful, fingers, pick, slap. I do still have a couple of basses strung with rounds, but honestly I don’t dig them as much. Only basses I don’t like them for are active basses, but as I’ve gravitated much more back to Fender style J and P passive basses, it’s fine. And you’re right, TI flats never get “old”. Ignore the price, you’ll never need or want to change them, unlike rounds. My current no. 1 bass is a short scale Sandberg Lionel 30” passive P bass with… of course, TI flats. They don’t make a 30” set, but the 32” fits just fine, with a little metal around the E string peg. It’s a perfect combination.
I started playing flats several years ago, putting TI Jazz Flats on a Sire jazz bass and a Squire Classic Vibe 60s p-bass, and then putting LaBellas on another p-bass and I'm not sure I could go back. I've loved the Jamerson/Babbitt/Duck Dunn Motown/Stax bass sound forever, and got into Pino Palladino and Sean Hurley's playing and the P-bass/flats combo just absolutely rules. It's like the SM57 of basses - if you don't know what to do, grab a P-bass with flats and you can't go wrong.
There's a funny story (not sure of the truth) where James Jamerson had a LaBella string snap on his p-bass, and he tried to send it back to LaBella to be repaired because he didn't want to lose all the thumpy tone he got out of it (quote "The dirt keeps the funk.") Of course with the strings he was using, you know there was a suspension bridge somewhere that was missing some cables. No one could play his bass but him.
Great Comment :) Thanks for sharing :) Yes, I've heard that Jamerson Story :) LOL
Great video Grant .
Ive played flats like forever , Dean Markley until they stopped making then in the early 90's , then Ernie Ball but they would break as they got older . But now i'm using Fender 9050.
They still feel and sound great after nearly 3 years ,so ill stick with them .
Keep up the great work Grant .
thank you :)
Hi. Your video is encouraging me. I've been seriously thinking about trying these. But I have one hiccup. While some folks love them others complain of their "floppiness." I don't know what this means exactly. I've used silk and steel strings on my acoustic and don't mind the soft touch they have. Question: How much do you think a more traditional set of flats need to be tuned down in order to arrive at a similar feel of the TIs?
That's a great question and I think it's one that has to be answered for you through experimentation :)
@@grant_r_d Thanks for the reply. I don't own TI's. I'm trying to make the best assesment of their "floppiness" I can before spending $100. Do you have another bass with more traditional strings that you can tune down so that the feel of the traditional strings feel close to the tension of the TIs? If so, please let me know how much you tuned them down, approximately; a whole step, 1.5 steps, two whole steps?
Can you please create a video about how sight reading can be benefits as bassist? Thanks
Mark has already made a Great One :) ruclips.net/video/F80hI1Y52qA/видео.htmlsi=AZwiNDEvtbW3riuL
I’ve wanted to try Tomasticks for years but 11-12 yrs ago I put some low tension Labellas on my Starfire and they still sound so good I can’t justify changing them lol. My only other bass is my Jazz and I kinda need to keep a bass handy with rounds for when I need them. Maybe I just need to get a Pbass so I can try ‘em, lol.
Yes - Great strings
upright bass strings in australia are over $300 a sett. thankfull i only chane them when they break which about every 10 years
I agree they are great have them on a Squire Jazz
Ok, let me play devil's advocate here: While they have a lot of merit in studio recording, my experience both as a listener and a player, is that flats have a tendency of sounding muddy and undefined in a live setting (unless played with a pick). As an amateur player who likes to experiment, and also strongly thinks the bass should be felt AND heard, and I even like to hear which notes I'm playing, this is a problem for me. Do you have a good fix for this, or should I just stick to rounds (even though it gets expensive in the long run..)?
Yes, very good point - Almost need to make a video on this very topic :) Stayed Tuned...
@@grant_r_d Looking forward to it!
Agree once the stage vol gets to a certain level flats get hard to hear. But the older I get my solution to that problem is to just pass on anybody who plays excessively loud :)