Hey everyone, I'm a 16 year old bassist that's been playing on and off for at least two and a half years now. I've gone through periods off playing for a year, then not playing for half a year, and then playing again, and so on. I had been playing more regularly, by myself and with friends, much more in the last six or seven months...up until this past January. I was in a bad snowblower accident that left a good portion of the tip of my left middle finger without feeling. It's recovered very well now, and I can finally start to use it to push down on frets (to a certain extent)....anyways..
Long (and embarrassing) story short, I haven't changed the strings on my Bass since I first got it
I have a Yamaha RBX170 (a definite entry level Bass) and I have decided to play in my school's Show Choir combo band next year. I'm going to change my strings very soon. I'm nearly positive (from what I've read) that I have roundwounds. I've noticed lately that these are somewhat a little rougher for my liking, and they sometime cause a vibrating buzzing sound, so I was thinking about making the switch to flatwounds. Of course, I'm going to try them out on an in-store Bass to see if I like them before I buy them.
My question is to you, what are the (major and minor) upsides and downside to switching to flatwounds from roundwounds?
Also, what would be a good brand/type of flatwounds to buy first? Are there any sites that have sound files comparing the sounds of each?
Thank you for taking your time to read (and possibly answer) my post.
Flats vs Rounds. 
