looking for a new sound

[Flawed]

i finally bought my first bass a few months ago, have been taking lessons ans such and now am looking to refine my sound. I am a novice (obviously) and i play a traben neo 4.

I never changed the strings when i bought my bass and that is the first change i want to make. I like to play more bluesy stuff but i am a rock and roller at heart.

basically i think my bass still sounds a little too rumbly and i am looking for a deeper smoother sound. i have been considering buying a set of flatwound strings, but i have no diea where to start. what are the pros and cons of using flats?

my bass teacher said he has a friend who is a studio musician who actually uses tapewound strings on his fretted rickenbacher and gets a very dark, distinct tone.

mostly i am looking for some suggestions as i really have no idea what to buy.

[greencow]

For that blue sound I agree on the flats. Flats will also do nice for rock. Tapered might not cut it for a punchier tone.

If you are going to get flats or actually any new strings you have to consider 2 things.

1) gauge. If you get bigger gauge strings then the ones you have on right now and just try to put them on you will end up breaking the nut.(Atleast that's what I did. The storeclerk told me that my bass definetly has this gauge strings... Don't visit that store anymore...)

2) setup. Also has to do with gauge. Actually my recommendation would be finding a pro who would change the strings and setup the bass while you can watch and ask questions. This way you will know how to do this yourself the next time. Also making slight adjustments to a properly set up bass is a lot easier then starting from scratch.

But keep in mind that different strings might have different tensions even when the gauges are the same. Also you may actually like some strings with different gauges depending on what you have there right now.

That looks like a nice bass you got there. I couldn't even dream of something like that.... Maybe when I finally decide to upgrade : P