A poll for those using flats: Whats your age?

[59jazz]

49, TI flats on my P bass, and just rcvd 2 sets of Chromes ($40...what a bargain) for my Bongo 5. Funny how I poo-pooed flats for 20+ yrs.

 

[markjazzbassist]

23. once you go flats you won't go back

 

[mccartneyman]

Anyone 50 or older grew up hearing flats on recordings until Entwhistles' solo on "My Generation." Motown, Stax-Volt, Beatles, Beach Boys--you name it. I'm 59 and I stuck with LaBella heavy flats till Chris Squire arrived. After that I used Rotos till I quit play ing full time in 1983. When I started playing again in 2002, I Immediately went to Rotos and was surprised how much I hated the sound. I experimented with almost every brand over the next three years until I tried TI Flats. They are now on my Lakland 55-94 and will stay there. I have rounds on my Brice 6 -- don't know what they are (came on the bass), but they give me a nice zing compared to the flats. However, zing is not what I like to hear that often these days. I prefer nickel if I use rounds at all.

 

[BassJunkie730]

I'm 25 and I've played flats for the near four years playing bass.

I'm in a very aggressive indie band

Why do I use them - because flats have more of a midrange emphasis and they are "louder" to my ears in the 100hz to 500hz range. Which I find essential for cutting through the dense mix that we create in our three piece.

Also Motown grooves are starting to infect musicians - and popular musicians all over the place in all tiers of the biz. Producers and engineers flip for flats, IMHO grooves sound better on flats in a mix, and flats have an unbeatable thick pick tone. and they last longer if you are down with the sound.

I'll be honest - i do play flats for the economy of it as well. I don't have to change strings often - which is a huge plus.

I play chromes exclusively.

 

[Mrdak]

YO, I'm 50, and I wasn't going to post, but I voted accordingly in this poll.
But after reading what BassJunkie730 said, I had to post.
And I say ~~ Ditto ~~
It is what it is. Read his post again, because he couldn't have said it better.
I favor the Labella 760FL set, and sometimes mix in different gauges. Most importantly, it's all in your fingers. and sometimes your pick.

 

[Mystic Michael]

with all due respect, I'm not sure your poll is going to answer the question you posed in your post- "Trying to solve the mystery that flats are used by the older crowd more than the younger ones."

I think you simply might get a demographic breakout of the people who read TB and respond to your post. I don;t have data to back it up, but I think that most bass players use or have used flats at some time, and therefore, there is a likelyhood that anyone who reads your poll will answer it and consistute a data point. So I think the data you get will possibly be very close to an age demographic of whoever posts.

It might be more telling to ask the question in 2 parts- Part one, "How old are you?", and part 2, "What percentage of your bassplaying do you use flats? 0-25%, 26-50%, 51-75%, 76-100%"

Then you could do the math and determine (1) what percentage of "older" players use flats more than rounds and, (2) what percentage of "younger" players use flats more than rounds. And you could put that data in graphical form which would be kind of interesting.

Bingo. I'm 52, and I don't play flats at all. Reckon I might be what you'd call an "outlier"?

MM

 

[joelb79]

You know I should have asked, what percentage of basses that people have them on. Right now I have rounds on Zero basses. My Jazz has chromes, my P has pressure wounds.

 

[Darkstrike]

One third of my basses have flats, my player has TI's my fretless has TI's tuned sharp to ADGC, my AGB has Steve Harris flats.

And my guitar has TI's as well.

 

[Rickenbrad]

I'm 14, and i used Flats on my 1977 rickenbacker 4001 for a few months, i liked the sound on the low end. but i'm more of a melodic player, and the flats didn't cut it when i soloed, plus i play in more rock oriented groups, so i need a brighter sound that can be heard a little more

 

[Dave R]

Looks to me like the results reflect the normal age spread of Talkbass members.

 

[bassist4dalord]

I am 16, going on 17... sorry, had to do it! haha I use D'Addario Chromes .045-.105 on my Ibanez GSR200. I love 'em!

 

[LHbassist]

I have two CIJ Fender Precisions, and one Jazz bass. One p-bass has DR flats on it (for now) and the other p-bass has Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky nickel roundwounds on it, also for now. The J-bass has Fender flats. I rotate all my basses on my gigs, I think if you own a bass, it should be played for you and others to hear and feel it! In one of the groups I play with, we do "I Thank You" the great Sam and Dave R&B standard. The P-bass with the flatwounds sounds the best on that tune. The original recording had a p-bass, likely with flats. I used my p-bass with rounds on a gig today, and we did that song. The rounds aren't as big sounding, or as punchy on the 'g' string especially. I am a repair tech, and yes, the pickups are adjusted correctly. I thought about this phenomena..... it seems logical to me, the stronger initial attack, and quicker decay of the flatwound, is one reason. The less obvious and more plausible reason... more metal over the pickup for it to 'see'. The flatwound's ribbon of wire is very close together, almost like a flexible vibrating 'pipe' over the pickup. A roundwound has gaps between the wire wrap. My jazz bass has a lot more punch on the 'g' with the flatwounds. Anyone else experience this? It is an amazing difference to me.

 

[mauibassplayer]

I don't see the connection between flats and the age of the player. I use flats on my fretless and I use rounds on my fretted bass.
Ken

 

[ljazz]

I love TI JazzFlats!

I have them on my G&L SB1 and SB2. I had chromes on my L2000, but they sounded like a$$, so they were replaced with a broken in set of DR SS Lo-Riders. My MIA Jazz is currently sporting D'Addario XL rounds.... but only until the set of TI SA's that I ordered come in.

There has always been a set of flats on atleast one of my basses for the last 17 years.

Ljazz

 

[SuperSnake2012]

I'm 18 but bought my first pair of flats when I was 17... they currently reside on my Precision

 

[KrispyJones]

i play fender flats with a mute on my "jamerson" p-bass
rotosound ss rounds on my "punk" pickplayingbass
fender tapewound on my fender jazz i use for everything and nothing
im 21 ;-)

 

[psychotiger]

with all due respect, I'm not sure your poll is going to answer the question you posed in your post- "Trying to solve the mystery that flats are used by the older crowd more than the younger ones."

Yep, Lucky is right. You would have to make your poll two-dimensional to get at what you want. By age group, how many use flats at all versus who also or only use roundwounds. Or make it 3D with percentages of use as Lucky suggested.

 

[Illbay]

Simple poll. Trying to solve the mystery that flats are used by the older crowd more than the younger ones.

NOT a professional stats guy, but wouldn't this need to be adjusted ("weighted") for the TalkBass demographic?

IOW, if the age-ranges on TB follow the "curve" of your chart, properly weighting it would make it go "flat."

Something to think about.

I wonder if the TB powers-that-be would reveal their demographic info to you.

 

[nemo]

Onle more bug in the poll idea - how many older warriors hang-up on forums? (as opposite to the ipod generation)
(Due respect to all that are present here!)

I am 37, first P-bass a year ago, first flats six months ago.
No way back. Now I have three P's and several sets/brands of flats..

 

[CLMSHQ]

I am 33 yrs old. After playing for 15yrs I tried switching to flats to help get the Old School sound, and now I like them alot. It took a little while to get used to, but you get less finger noise and they last longer than rounds.
I have cosen Fender flatwounds as they are the ones that stick less to my fingers.