Why I will never play with rounds again!

[GearGod]

I just spent over a $100 on TWO sets of strings. I bought a set of Pyramid Gold's for my Box Stock 1980 Aria SB-900, and a set of TI .106-.043's for an early Aria Short scale, Chambered, single coiled, 51 style P bass. As for the TI's, WOW! I put some memory foam under the bridge P/U cover. Played full V/T, with my '98 SWR WMP 10 I have a passable Jamerson tone w/ the eq set flat! I mean pretty spot on Motown sound! Tubby, full and melodic! Wow! I loved that little bass before, but now I want to be BURIED with this bass! As far as the Pyramids on the SB, once again WOW! I obviously love the old skool sound, and now I have it on two of my three favorite Basses! Full, Thick, MMMWWOWW! Sound in my head forever. Plus my fingertips don't hate me any more! Smooth! $80 Pyramids on a 1K bass sound Awesome! Plus I can probably give these strings to my grandsons, if I ever have any children. The TI's on the $150 35 year old P-type are... Heavenly! I can shake out my fillings with less than 50% of my SWR's output! Short Scale, Chambered, Single-Coiled, Flatwound! OMG! OMG! OMG! Three times as much bass as you might think! I have only had the Pyramids on for less than an hour, but WOW! The Ti's have been on for about a week. Wow again! I can barely wait for them to get that OLD, thuddy sound that my Roto 77's sound like on my Rogue VM-100. Only time will tell. But In my humble opinion, Flat wound strings are the BEST! At least for the bass sound that haunts my brain!

Peace and Love!

[SUNNyday r.]

I love your stoke on the strings but I don't think the TI's are ever going to get into the same state as the Roto's. They will mellow into the TI sound but I don't think they will go to the Motown side of things. That being said, I would like to hear the 77's broken in but I like low tension strings like the TI's. Man, just sounds like your happy with the whole thing. I found the Fender light flat set to get as close to the Motown sound without terrible tension. Hey, glad you are digging the flats and I am feeling similar about rounds lately too.

[bassbully]

I too fell under the flatwound spell. I started with using rounds and silencers since i hated string noise. Halfrounds i tried were horrible. I started playing old school blues and classic rock etc power trio stuff and bought a set of D'A chromes for the heck of it after hearing all the rave on TB about them. They (Tb'ers) were right from the first time i laid my fingers on those chromes and heard my P basses moan out those heavenly notes i was in love.

I now play country sprinkled with classic and southren rock and those strings are awsome. I would like to try TI flats but fear the low tension and big price.

[62bass]

I love the T.I. flats myself and they are all I ever use now. You can get the vintage like sounds if you want them. I put them on my old P bass, an Ibanez Artcore, a Danelectro DC, a Godin fretless acoustic electric and an Ibanez SRX300.

Oh yes, I also use a bit of foam muting under the strings at the bridge.

[lmfreeman9]

Ditto, ditto and ditto. I just went flat with TI's on a MIJ P-Bass and LaBellas on a G&L old skool SB2. Love the sound and the feel.
One great thing about TRYING TI's is they have thin leads which don't require cutting. If you don't like them, put them for sale on the classified and they'll be gone in a minute.

[dbcandle]

I think there are things that flats do well: old-school sound that mimics what you hear on so much studio-recorded music. I also think there are things that rounds do well (growl & slap).

I really hate hearing ol' time blues with a bass setup with new stainless steel rounds. On the other hand, some classic songs (Brick House, Radar Love, Paradise, White Wedding immediately come to mind) sound like poo with flats.

Now, about the logistics of taking 2 basses to a gig...

[PWRL]

After I put TI JF's on my Rick 4001, I was converted. I just spent over a hundred bucks on two sets of the JF's - one for my Jazz bass and one as a spare - and it was totally worth it. Not only do I love the sound and the feel, but my hands are thanking me for it, too.
I've been curious about the Pyramids, too, and the new Optimas as well, although they're around eighty bucks for a four-string set. That's a tad bit steep for strings.

[markdavid]

Originally Posted by dbcandle

I think there are things that flats do well: old-school sound that mimics what you hear on so much studio-recorded music. I also think there are things that rounds do well (growl & slap).

I really hate hearing ol' time blues with a bass setup with new stainless steel rounds. On the other hand, some classic songs (Brick House, Radar Love, Paradise, White Wedding immediately come to mind) sound like poo with flats.

Now, about the logistics of taking 2 basses to a gig...

I think radar love sounds quite good with flats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm1hTiyJFwc

[Luckydog]

MarkDavid these strings are so magical they make your GF fold your laundry!

[SirCanealot]

Originally Posted by markdavid

I think radar love sounds quite good with flats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm1hTiyJFwc

Whoa, sounds awesome! D'A forever! Hmmm... *considers getting some Chromes for his Bongo*

Nah... I wanna annoy guitarits with stupid amounts of high end and string noise!

*considers getting some chromes for his Yamaha RBX*

Hmm.... :O

[sactofeck]

Originally Posted by markdavid

I think radar love sounds quite good with flats

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gm1hTiyJFwc

Looks like you got it made chief, my wife throws shoes at me when I try that

unless maybe she's packing

[Basshole]

I go through phases of infatuation with certain basses, strings, tones.

Currently exploring flats myself, but I will NEVER lose my hard-on for other tones.

Chris Squire's Rotosound Swingbass 66s on a Ric, through a Fender Dual Showman still makes the hair on my arms stand up, and probably always will.