NBD: Jazz with flats

Bruiser Stone

Bruiser Stone

Supporting Member
Dec 7, 2017
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Dayton, TN
#1
I posted a few weeks ago about finding a good Jazz bass for flats.
What Jazz-ish bass (with flats) fits the bill?

This beauty arrived today from GC, and I transferred the La Bella 760FM over from my P bass. So far so good, but I’ve got a spare set of Jamerson flats with ragged silks on standby, and a set of La Bella LTF and Fender 9050M’s on the way courtesy of fellow TB’ers. I’m looking for a Jerry Jemmott/David Hood vibe at a fraction of the talent :D Curious as to your thoughts and musings for a relatively modern J configuration.

I’ve had this Sonic Gray 2019 AmPro for 3 hours, and so far, I’m very impressed with the feel and relaxed neck versus my P bass. It holds the tension of big La Bellas very well.
6A72541F-EA6C-4747-A614-797D01512924.jpeg
 
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#2
I have Fender 9050Ms on my jaco jazz bass and that's the string it'll have on it until death do us part too. I plan to buy a box! :)

But flats are kind of an acquired taste. They'll actually have a little zing when they're new, but you don't have to play them very long until they die completely and give you the Motown thing.

Particularly on a fretted bass, you get a kind of a cardboardy, papery sound with fret clank. I personally prefer that strongly over the clinkle, tinkle, crinkle of rounds on frets, but some folks may not take to it.

So I'd say play it a while and see if you like it.

L
 
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#7
Bruiser Stone said:
I posted a few weeks ago about finding a good Jazz bass for flats.
What Jazz-ish bass (with flats) fits the bill?

This beauty arrived today from GC, and I transferred the La Bella 760FM over from my P bass. So far so good, but I’ve got a spare set of Jamerson flats with ragged silks on standby, and a set of La Bella LTF and Fender 9050M’s on the way courtesy of fellow TB’ers. I’m looking for a Jerry Jemmott/David Hood vibe at a fraction of the talent :D Curious as to your thoughts and musings for a relatively modern J configuration.

I’ve had this Sonic Gray 2019 AmPro for 3 hours, and so far, I’m very impressed with the feel and relaxed neck versus my P bass. It holds the tension of big La Bellas very well.
View attachment 3977661
Click to expand...
Oof. Gawjus.
 
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#8
luciens said:
I have Fender 9050Ms on my jaco jazz bass and that's the string it'll have on it until death do us part too. I plan to buy a box! :)

But flats are kind of an acquired taste. They'll actually have a little zing when they're new, but you don't have to play them very long until they die completely and give you the Motown thing.

Particularly on a fretted bass, you get a kind of a cardboardy, papery sound with fret clank. I personally prefer that strongly over the clinkle, tinkle, crinkle of rounds on frets, but some folks may not take to it.

So I'd say play it a while and see if you like it.

L
Click to expand...

I love La Bella flats on my P bass, and although this Jazz seems to hold the tension well of this set with reasonably low-medium action, something seems to be missing. The strings aren’t really broken in yet, but more mids would be nice. I’m hoping the Fenders will fit the bill. Different bass/pickup/broken-in strings, but this video of a 78 Jazz with 9050M Fenders is just beautiful:
 
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#9
Bruiser Stone said:
I love La Bella flats on my P bass, and although this Jazz seems to hold the tension well of this set with reasonably low-medium action, something seems to be missing. The strings aren’t really broken in yet, but more mids would be nice. I’m hoping the Fenders will fit the bill. Different bass/pickup/broken-in strings, but this video of a 78 Jazz with 9050M Fenders is just beautiful:
Click to expand...


I've never tried the LaBella flats, though to be honest I don't know that they and the Fenders aren't the same strings. I read somewhere that there are only 2 or 3 manufacturers of flats and the different brands are just differences in brand. I may be wrong about that though.

I don't have any recording equipment to demo the sound of my jaco, but I'd say the above video is reasonably close to how the Fenders sound on it, minus the additional nice cardboardy thing added by the frets. As for the tension, I'd say they're approximately the same as a medium set of rounds, and while the truss rod is pretty tight, it's not bottomed out by any means to give a flat fingerboard....

L
 
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#16
dougjwray said:
I've got medium gauge Chromes on one of my Jazz Basses, and it's a magical combination.
One thing-- keep an eye on the Jamerson LaBellas on a Jazz Bass. Over a bit of time, they might really bow that thin neck.
Click to expand...

I agree and think I’ll leave those off of it. The 760FM set (49-109) or the Fenders (55-105) are about as heavy as I want to go.
 
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