GHS 3050M Flatwound

They are good

First things first: i am a guitarist and i bought these for my bass. I like what i here and what i am feeling so 5 stars for me.

Perfect for Classic Rock

I started off using these for funk/disco (on a P Bass) but found these work best in my opinion on Stingray style basses for Classic Rock, they even work well tuned down for Sabbath Tunes on a P bass. Plenty of clarity and growl to be had despite being called "The Sound of Chocolate"..

Serious old school flats

Very percussive. Tight lows. Excellent full midrange. Low sustain, especially the e string. Didn't notice any intonation issues. Great feel, not as polished as la Bella's, but in a good way. Stiff feel, as you'd expect, but lower tension than some flats. If you want that old school chocolatey thump, but want more midrange than the classic la Bella's, these are for you. One complaint is that the e string is noticeably thumpier than the test of the set, this is kinda an old school flat thing though. The purple silks look nice. Not stupid coloured ball ends. Classic strings.

Thumpy and vintage.

These are very distinctive flats which have pretty much zero break-in time. Right out of the pack they are dark, warm, thumpy and full. Absolutely none of that new-string zing, and immediately broken-in. Tension and feel wise they're amazing too, and despite the medium gauge feel just the right mid-point between flexible and stiff.

One point of note is that the E-string is noticeably more dead than the A, D and G strings. It's almost like the E-string is extra-aged... apparently the A, D and G eventually get that way also, but for the first few months you'll definitely notice that the E feels like it's from a different set of strings. For the most part when you're playing in band context it probably won't bother anyone, but it's a bit of a strange quirk about these which you should consider before buying.

Great for a mellow, subdued tone, but not very versatile.

These strings do one thing and they do it great. They really give a lovely vintage 60s tone, very mellow and subdued with a rich low-end and fundamental, good thud. Also sit in the mix really well.

However, the response is so muted, they have a very stunted treble response with few harmonics. This makes them not very versatile, only really giving me that one sound on my precision and jazz basses, even when digging in.

All in all really great strings for what they do. Smooth and really playable and not overly tense. However, just know that there is not much versatility, no matter how you vary your playing.

good strings

a good way to get a smoother tone on any bass. Recommended.

That Joe Osborn sound

As a roundwounds user on my basses for thirty years, I decided to string up a Fender Jazz Bass with flats for a particular job and picked these from reading reviews...terrific sound and tone, highly recommended...give them a go!

They have a nice tone, warm and fundamental, thats stays healthy for a very long time!

I only get dull out of them

Tried on a Fender P and and on a Epi Jack Cassady. No hard-on on either for me. You might be searching that sound and then you'll be happy for they look good quality and feel good on both hands.

Great strings, warm focused tone!

I got these strings specifially for a Gretsch Broadcaster shortscale (that can't use shortscale strings due to the tail piece).

I had tried several different strings, rounds and flats, on this bass and always felt it was lacking something. I definitely liked it better with flats than rounds but it always sounded a bit muddy. Not that I wanted a brighter sound, just something a bit more focused.

I remembered using these GHS Precision Flatwounds a couple of years back on another bass and ended up preferring other flats that sounded fatter. But I had a feeling the Precision Flats with it's very focused fundementals could be perfect for the Gretsch. And they were!

I'm very happy with these strings on my Gretsch. They may not have the huge, fat sounds of something like LaBellas but the strong, focused fundamentals were perfect for the Gretsch.

Highly recommended if that's the sound you're looking for. They do take some time to break in though. The string to string balance/brightness is pretty poor straight out of the package. But once they break in they sound amazing.