Will new flatwounds sound like my old rounds?

[Norwoodrules]

Hi all.

Time has come to change my strings and i've been toying with the idea of flats on my geddy.

But if they will essentially sound like my dead rounds, than i will just go to my standard roto swing 66 ss.

I'm toying with using TI flats. maybe the roto flats as well.

any advice?

edit: Check below for an update

[madmatt]

Nope.
They'll sound better.

[SLaPiNFuNK]

New or dead, flats / rounds are going to have different tones...

[Darth Handsome]

Be wary of the higher tension of some brands of flats on a Geddy......

[Norwoodrules]

Originally Posted by Darth Handsome

Be wary of the higher tension of some brands of flats on a Geddy......

is that because of the wimpier neck? Think TIs or chromes will have sufficiently low tension?

I checked out a tension chart posted in a different thread, but looking at it almost caused a seizure.

[Darth Handsome]

Originally Posted by Norwoodrules

is that because of the wimpier neck?

That's been my experience. I put rotosounds on mine & had the rod maxed out & still had too much. I had to take them off.

[randall p]

Chromes and TI's are lower in tension than Roto's. LaBella's are brutal for tension, stay away unless you like high tension. New Chromes are surprisingly bright, and sound nowhere near dead 66's. They will mellow in a few months, and stay that way for a while.

[tjh]

Originally Posted by randall p

Chromes and TI's are lower in tension than Roto's. LaBella's are brutal for tension, stay away unless you like high tension. New Chromes are surprisingly bright, and sound nowhere near dead 66's. They will mellow in a few months, and stay that way for a while.

Actually, I have Labella 760FL's on a bass that has had other flats on (DR's, Dean Markley) and comparatively, I could almost increase the relief with the Labella's, so the Lights are nothing in tension compared to the other Labella's ... if concerned with tension, I would suggest trying TI's on the Geddy toothpick neck, they seem to be the lowest tension, and come available fairly often for $35 range used ... or, the FL's I am using maybe as a second choice, and then the lighter Chromes ... plenty of offerings out there in the lighter gauges for flats

... to answer the original question, DEAD rounds, just kind of go 'thud' in most cases ... I had an almost 10 year old set of rounds on a Jazz, and I actually liked that 'thud' for the church setting at the time .. now that I have been on 'Flats Shootout' of late, I have discovered some very interesting and unique characteristics of various flats .. none 'thud' ... some 'thump', some 'thump with a percussive type attitude', and some sound amazingly well rounded without the 'brittleness' of newer rounds ... so, bottom line, to predict what your selection would result for you on your bass, although a 'characterization' is possible, is almost going to be futile without YOUR personal take on them ... then, add your foam mute to the mix, and you have an even wider array of possibilities ...

... I may have just confused further, but hope not ... this make any sense ??

[BigOldHarry]

Those would have to be some REALLY dead rounds to sound like flats.

[mdogs]

Originally Posted by BigOldHarry

Those would have to be some REALLY dead rounds to sound like flats.

LOL!!

[Norwoodrules]

update:

So i Have a couple rehearsals under my belt with the new Chrome flats 40 - 100.

opinion: not bad, but still early. there is still a chance i could love them. right now i only like them.

-totally noticed the tension increase right away. My hands even tired out a bit. long time since that happened.

-big difference from my roto swing 66 ss rounds. lots of thump. less articulation. totally changed the character of my geddy Lee jazz bass. getting a string bend or little vibrato out of them was not quite worth the effort, because it didn't seem to translate well.

-that said, these are settling down a little bit every time i play, and i hear after a month they get worked in nicely. i will delay my verdict until then.

[4-string]

Originally Posted by madmatt

Nope.
They'll sound better.

+1.

Originally Posted by SLaPiNFuNK

New or dead, flats / rounds are going to have different tones...

+1 again.

To me, dead rounds is the worst of both worlds. I love fresh rounds, and flats (fresh or not so fresh), but dead rounds just suck.

And then there is lots of people who just seem to love them.

[Venom of God]

I always put new Rotosound 66's on my Thunderbird then take the old ones off and put them on my Jazz (sometimes boiling them, I have trouble affording new strings for both and the Gibson is my main gigging bass), but today I bought some Ernie Ball flats as a special treat for my Jazz. It's my first experience with them ever, and I LOVE them! Doing slides is a joy and they have such a round, full body to the tone!

I think I'll continue to use Roto's on my Tbird as it's a hard rock bass and I think it needs the bite to really cut through distorted guitars, but I'll certainly keep putting these on the Jazz for awhile. So much fun to play, best thing I've done all week!