la bellas and reggae sound

[pbass888]

For a while I had thought worn down rounds sounded best with reggae music (family man , sly and robbie etc) but I recently have been playing a well worn set of la bella fl760 with my mm sterling and boy they sound closer to the recordings than my old rounds on my fender mia jazz. Wow. Im surprised wonder if anyone had same results. In a way I guess im saying a 'fender' by mm with la bellas sound more like a fender with dead rounds

[pbass888]

examples of this are when playing 'one drop' by wailers and also 'sitting and watching' by dennis brown.

[jefkritz]

oh yeah, flatwounds'll get you there. i love the deep talkers on my p-bass, especially when i dub it up over the neck. man, i'm getting gooey just thinking about it...

[Cannabass]

yeah man i use Rotosound rounds on my jazz, and i been really wanting to try some labellas...

i guess now i have to haha

also funny that you mention sitting and watching cause i always had trouble nailing that one just the way Robbie does


the only reason ive stuck with rounds so far even though everyone says flats for reggae, is cause i like being able to get maad growl out of my J sometimes.

can you still get a super growly sound like Robbie in a lot of the old Black Uhuru tunes and ****?

[One Drop]

I've heard dub versions of many reggae songs where the bass was mixed very cleanly and without a lot of added bass (but way forward in the mix, of course), and you can often hear a lot of growl, which is usually obscured in the fatter mixes, though it still adds texture and body to the sound.

Any traditional flatwound (e.g. Labella, GHS, Fender, Dean Markley, etc.) will get you very close to the sound of those recordings you mention.

FWIW, Fams uses Fender flats, Robbie plays Dean Markley flats.

[pbass888]

yes i figured those guys like the jamerson legend kept it pretty basic.....
'what kind of strings do you use mr jamerson?'. Jamerson" what kind does the fender bass come with?"

[makkE]

All I can say is that flats and reggea go very well together.

Being a late flats convert, I always wish I got into flats sooner

[M0ses]

You're surprised that worn flats sound better than worn rounds? LOL sorry, just seems elementary.

[hbarcat]

Mmmm, yah. Just last night I dragged out some Bob Marley and was playing along on my short scale Ibby with Deep Talkin' flats and an EMG-P. I love that smoooooooth sound.

[Blues Bass Man]

Originally Posted by pbass888

yes i figured those guys like the jamerson legend kept it pretty basic.....
'what kind of strings do you use mr jamerson?'. Jamerson" what kind does the fender bass come with?"

James Jamerson is quoted saying he changed the stock strings on all his Fender Precision Basses to La Bella Flatwounds. I believe it was Benard Edwards who when asked what kind of strings he used replied',"what kind of strings come on Music Man Basses?" As for Reggae Bass,Flatwounds are the sound.