Solid state lighting systems are disclosed for providing uniform brightness of LEDs serially connected in a string. In some embodiments, the LEDs can be powered directly from the mains such that no switch-mode power supply or the output storage elements associated therewith are needed. In some such cases, a linear regulator and switches can be used to control the current through the LEDs to provide uniform brightness. Other embodiments can be used with a switch-mode based driver topology and/or storage elements coupled in parallel with clusters of the LEDs. In any such cases, control logic (e.g., microcontroller or other suitable controller) can be used to control the switches accordingly to provide uniform brightness, and in some cases, to mitigate the implications of having no SMPS output storage element. In some embodiments, the switching pattern provided by the control logic is random, although other switching patterns can be used.