ever have this happen ???

[Abluesbassist]

so i put round wounds on my 73pbass and it sounded horrible playing with my band . so bad that i changed the entire set back to flats on a set break( luckily i had them) and it sounded soo awsome. anyone have a bass that only sounds good with flats?? i mean this seemed llike it was two different instruments. Dr jeckle with rounds and MR.HYDE with flats. so fat and thick it's almost scary.

[fraublugher]

oh i can totally see a p-bass sounding better with flats.

but then there's that whole "ear of the beholder/personal taste" thing....

[NoNoise]

For some reason, when I always think of the sounds flats give when I think of the Bass sound.

[tplyons]

I like the sound of mine with flats, but rounds really bring out the woody goodness of my P-bass. It was born to be a rock bass.

[embellisher]

I love the sound of a P bass with rounds, but flats on a P are one of the classic bass tones.

[DemoEtc]

My Turser Beatle Bass really only sounds good with flats. Light gauge too .040-.095.

[glwanabe]

YEP!

I chased after Geddy's tone for a few years. Then I realized that I need to find "MY" tone. Flats are the string for me. I'am not really into slap, I prefer a good fingerstyle line. I like a bass to sound like a bass, and not like a baritone guitar. You can still get a pretty articulate tone from flats. The thing I really like is not getting lost in the mix, you don't have to crank the bejesus out of your EQ, to get a nice tone that can be heard.

[eric234]

you also have to remember that roundwound's have ore tension in them and that willmake the sound different

[glwanabe]

Originally Posted by eric234

you also have to remember that roundwound's have ore tension in them and that willmake the sound different

String tension, taken by itself is not the issue. It is generally regarded that roundwounds have less tension than flats. The notable exception are TI flats. The tightest strings I've played are Fender flats, they have a lot more tension than Roto RS66 swingmasters. Before I started playing flats I found the Swingmasters to feel pretty tight. Playing on Swingmasters feels like rubberbands after playing Fender flats.

There are a lot of factors that determine how a string will sound, as well as how much tension it will require to tune to pitch. Check out the Bass Player archives pages on string construction. There is also a good article from The people at Thomastik on string construction.

I'll take flats over rounds in most situations for the type of music and sound that I'am looking for. If I needed a string closer to a round in tone I would use the "Chromes" flats. Right now I'am really liking the Labella, Deep talking flats.

When I use rounds I generally use Fender Superbass, or GHS boomers. I like the Fenders because of the warm tone. The GHS boomers are a good alternative for me, but very bright at first. I usually cut the highs much more with rounds. With flats my eq is nearly flat.

[RubyJunction]

Yes, I love flatwounds too. I use Rotosound Jazz Bass strings (Standard, .45-.105) on (what else?) a Fender Jazz. It gives it a nice, throaty tone when played fingerstyle, and if you need attack you can always use a pick.........

When I first started playing a few years ago, I first tried Rotosound Swing Bass strings. I then tried Rotosound "Silver Spacers" which I played for a little while, and then (much to my chagrin) found out Rotosound no longer made those........so I just decided to switch to flatwounds, just to give them a try. I really prefer them.

[HotTubesGrooves]

I've long been a fan of labella flats on my Warwick. However, I replaced the stock rounds on my P bass last night before practice with a set of medium guage deep talkin flats, and it seemed to get lost in the mix real easy. Plenty of low end but 0% cut.

My band play modern rock, so I guess I just need the cutting mids you get from the roundwounds. I'm sure in a different musical situation though the flats would sound the bomb.