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ALL BASS PLAYERS USE FLATS!!!
- Thread starter mdogs
- Start date
One thing I do know is that I've never heard a bass player that believes in absolutes sound anywhere close to as good as one who doesn't;-)
Neither here. Some string noise here and there sure but not that "moving the bar chord" squeak that guitar players get. I vaguely remember a time when that did happen. I think my fingers adjusted until it didn't happen anymore.
I used to go for rounds when I was younger, mainly nickel. I liked the zing I got. These days, I am not a fan - especially when playing with a pick. Wayyyy too scratchy sounding for my taste, even when I hear a pro like Dave Pomeroy playing rounds with a pick on the GHS strings demos online.
Flats just have the perfect click to me with a pick, and a nice full sound when played fingerstyle. You do lose some of the signature sound of slap, but I don't mind so much.
Flats just have the perfect click to me with a pick, and a nice full sound when played fingerstyle. You do lose some of the signature sound of slap, but I don't mind so much.
+1. Sounds just like my story.
Btw, was in your town last October before Sandy hit. Love Brooklyn. Hope your neighborhood was spared?
Weird you say that, I feel just the opposite. I could make a mockery out of it by rewriting your post to say something about rounds but I guess you get the idea.
I find rounds work best if you go for a modern hifi sound. But I don't do hifi so yeah, YMMV. I never got the fascination with rounds and I still wonder how they became a sort of industry standard if everyone buries the bass in the mix anywa - oh, now I get it.
Weird you say that, I feel just the opposite. I could make a mockery out of it by rewriting your post to say something about rounds but I guess you get the idea.
I find rounds work best if you go for a modern hifi sound. But I don't do hifi so yeah, YMMV. I never got the fascination with rounds and I still wonder how they became a sort of industry standard if everyone buries the bass in the mix anywa - oh, now I get it.
Sure, you could write that -- if you used Black Diamonds.
I don't know what you mean by "modern hi-fi." I seem to recall John Entwistle, Jack Bruce, Tommy Shannon, Sting, Geddy Lee, John Paul Jones, Gene Simmons, Bootsy Collins, Lemmy, Billy Sheenhan, Jaco, and Chris Squire all using roundwounds. None of them sounded buried in the mix. At all.
If that's hi-fi, then count me in.
When are we going to accept that different strings work for different players and their musical preferences?
And to the hifi argument: I had a set of years old Boomers that sounded less hifi than most samples of Chromes I've heard. They sounded amazingly soulful and thuddy and it was a sad day when the A string broke.
And to the hifi argument: I had a set of years old Boomers that sounded less hifi than most samples of Chromes I've heard. They sounded amazingly soulful and thuddy and it was a sad day when the A string broke.
The old flats verses rounds debate again ehh. Its kind of like arguing whether finger-style, slap, or pick are better. The answer is that it depends on the style of music and the tone you want. There is no better. Instead of arguing that one is better we should just explain why in our situation we use what we use.
I use flats, and always will because:
1. When I used rounds, I was always using very drastic EQ, I had the bass boosted dramatically on the amp, the treble cut, and the tone on the bass rolled back. With flats I just get more use out of the bass and amp because I like it flat and can use the controls to color not transform. That's the key, finding what strings you like with a flat EQ.
2. I use to use GHS Boomers, liked the tone when I first put them on, but would find myself needing to change them every gig. Seemed they lost their magic so quickly. Tried other rounds and ran into the same problem. Flats seem to keep their magic for me.
Also going back to rounds after playing flats for so long makes rounds feel like barbed wire to me. I dig the smooth feel of flats.
I use flats, and always will because:
1. When I used rounds, I was always using very drastic EQ, I had the bass boosted dramatically on the amp, the treble cut, and the tone on the bass rolled back. With flats I just get more use out of the bass and amp because I like it flat and can use the controls to color not transform. That's the key, finding what strings you like with a flat EQ.
2. I use to use GHS Boomers, liked the tone when I first put them on, but would find myself needing to change them every gig. Seemed they lost their magic so quickly. Tried other rounds and ran into the same problem. Flats seem to keep their magic for me.
Also going back to rounds after playing flats for so long makes rounds feel like barbed wire to me. I dig the smooth feel of flats.
You should've waited until the Boomers died a bit, they get better with age, especially if you dislike typical roundwound tones.
There were times that I did keep the boomers on for a long time if I didn't have any gigs coming up but still didn't prefer that tone.
There seems to be this misconception among roundwound players that flats sound like old dead rounds. I don't find this to be true at all. I love the sound of flats new or old, I like the sound of new rounds and I very much dislike the sound of old rounds.
There seems to be this misconception among roundwound players that flats sound like old dead rounds. I don't find this to be true at all. I love the sound of flats new or old, I like the sound of new rounds and I very much dislike the sound of old rounds.
Love this...
I used to play 5 strings only round ones too... They all had to have active on board preamps and sweepable mids. The more stack-knobs switches push-pull pots the better. I used only the latest and greatest in amplification and it all HAD to be high end.
flash forward 23 some odd years later My favorite instrument for the moment is a Single pickup P-bass its passive with 4 strings, its only got two knobs on it fer crying out loud.
I still do use a really nice amp and cab, however I dont use the tweeter the same way that I once did. Im going for a bit of a different tone these days.
The point??? Players change, the gear they like changes, The tones they want changes, the music they like changes, As you grow as a player (and you should never stop growing as a player) you begin to realize that what works for others may not work for you.
The biggest part of growing for me was not completley discounting what had come before...
PS. on a side note I love when the young hot shot bass players in town come up to me at the end of the night and proceed to explain to me that I'm too good to be using a Fender. (???) How thier particular brand of bass/amp gives them all this high end for solos-slapping and stuff...
It's like being on a TB forum only in person
I don't presume the dead rounds sound like flats.
What I have learned is that a well worn nickel round is the tone and feel I like best, moreso than flats, stainless rounds, anything.
What I have learned is that a well worn nickel round is the tone and feel I like best, moreso than flats, stainless rounds, anything.
Roy Vogt
Supporting Member
- Sep 20, 2000
- 4,433
- 537
- Disclosures
- Endorsing Artist: Kiesel Basses, Ampeg Amplification, Hotone Ampero II effects
All Bassists Employ Flats! Thanks guys! I have used this A-B-E-F tuning with my roundwounds and have come up with several compositions using the tonal clusters and harmonics that would do Michael Manring proud! 
Love this...
I used to play 5 strings only round ones too... They all had to have active on board preamps and sweepable mids. The more stack-knobs switches push-pull pots the better. I used only the latest and greatest in amplification and it all HAD to be high end.
flash forward 23 some odd years later My favorite instrument for the moment is a Single pickup P-bass its passive with 4 strings, its only got two knobs on it fer crying out loud.
I still do use a really nice amp and cab, however I dont use the tweeter the same way that I once did. Im going for a bit of a different tone these days.
Heh. I could have written this post verbatim. Sounds just like me. Heh.
I know you didn't, but a lot of players do think this.
Seems on these forums the consensus is that the majority of a players sound comes not from their equipment but from their fingers and playing style. Yet so many people act like everyone should use the same stuff that they do. This doesn't make sense. Different strokes for different folks.
