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ALL BASS PLAYERS USE FLATS!!!

#122
I've found in my extremely lazy and maintenance-avoiding ways, using Flats means I don't have to worry about my tone gradually changing due to string wear. I don't like bright new zingy rounds and don't love super old crusty dead rounds, and the middleground of good tone only lasts a few months, and I got a few weeks practicing on dead rounds thinking I need a new bass, but wait, its just my dead strings.

So I adjusted my rig to sound good with flats, not the other way around. The tone knob in a passive bass feels like it gets more mileage with flats, and the flats + tone/volume changes sound oh so good through fuzz and OD pedals.
 
#123
mdogs said:
Based on the direction of the threads in this forum as of late, you would be able to draw no other conclusion than 99% of the world uses flatwounds instead of the other way around. Someone needs to inform GC that they need to redo their planogram to reflect this market shift...
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Based on the poll that's stickied to the top of this very forum (http://www.talkbass.com/forum/f16/what-kind-strings-do-you-use-78140/), you can draw no other conclusion than that 73% of bass players use rounds, and 20% use rounds.
 
#124
wideload said:
I learned early about flats. There was a bassist in town with a late 50s P Bass and the original flat strings. 6 nights a week for 16 years - there was NO tone left in those wires. I'm sure if you boiled them, you'd get some good chicken and rib stock! Probably the holy grail to some here, just another bad sounding, lifeless bass to me.
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I agree!
 
#126
I use both and like both; only because Talkbass introduced me to flats. I would not have tried them otherwise; the local stores don't stock them and flatwounds are anathema to music store staff. I once called a store about a used bass they had for sale and the guy told me "the only problem with it is the strings are flatwounds." At another store I bought a used bass which had flats on it and the sales person said to me "this bass has flatwound strings, you'll want to change those." No I didn't, it sounded excellent with the flats.

So the reason there is so much flatwound talk on TB is because we can't talk about them anywhere else.
 
#127
PluckyThump said:
I use both and like both; only because Talkbass introduced me to flats. I would not have tried them otherwise; the local stores don't stock them and flatwounds are anathema to music store staff. I once called a store about a used bass they had for sale and the guy told me "the only problem with it is the strings are flatwounds." At another store I bought a used bass which had flats on it and the sales person said to me "this bass has flatwound strings, you'll want to change those." No I didn't, it sounded excellent with the flats.

So the reason there is so much flatwound talk on TB is because we can't talk about them anywhere else.
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Thats just cuz slapping out the bassline to 'Higher Ground' for all the kids in Guitar Center doesn't sound nearly as good on flats.
 
#129
I pretty much bought a p bass because it the talkbass "p with flats" love affair. I found out that i love the p with rounds vibe. Go figure. I do have a set of ti jazz flats coming though. I Actually prefer rounds on a p and flats on a j. My current fav though is ghs pressurewounds
 
#130
sigmafloyd said:
I pretty much bought a p bass because it the talkbass "p with flats" love affair. I found out that i love the p with rounds vibe. Go figure. I do have a set of ti jazz flats coming though. I Actually prefer rounds on a p and flats on a j. My current fav though is ghs pressurewounds
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Same here. Rounds on P and flats on J.
 
#131
.
Ok, call me a fashion victim, but after reading all the hype here in TB about flats I just had to try them for myself, so I bought a set of D'Addario Chromes off fleaBay and stuck 'em on my P bass.

Initial thoughts: Weird feeling, dull sound (compared to the light gauge rounds I have been using for many years.) i didn't like them much at all.

2 weeks later: I love 'em! I have gotten used to the smooth feel and find that when I crank the treble up they brighten up nicely if I need that tone.
Mind you, I haven't had a chance to try them in a band rehearsal setting yet, but solo in my music/computer room they sound great!

I have now ordered a set of GHS flats to try on my Ric 4001.

Greg
 
#132
I do love flats too, and created a post awhile back about how I switch strings on my p bass so often. I have an '08 MIA P with a maple fretboard. For some reason it just seems to *want* a good set of mellow rounds. not sure why. I also have a Squier VM jazz, which on paper seems like the perfect candidate for rounds. However, I had a set of 50 gauge chromes on it in the fall and it was literally tone nirvana (in my mind, at least).

Squier VM with chromes: http://www.reverbnation.com/open_graph/song/10837577
 
#134
I've always been a rounds guy, but I wanted to try some flats for my recently aquired Ric 4001. I ordered some Roto 77 flats and the bass sounds really awesome. It kind of mellows out the natural brightness of the Ric, and just sounds awesome when played through an SVT stack. It might also help that I'm more of a pick player. It can still "clank" if you dig into the strings, but I have a rather soft touch and it really works for me.
 
#137
I have flats on 3 of my 24 basses, one of which is an Upright bass. I don't even use flats on my fretless basses. Both have round wounds. However, if the cost of flats were more comparable to round wounds, I would consider using them on maybe 1 or 2 more, but 99%, probably not
 
#138
iriegnome said:
I have flats on 3 of my 24 basses, one of which is an Upright bass. I don't even use flats on my fretless basses. Both have round wounds. However, if the cost of flats were more comparable to round wounds, I would consider using them on maybe 1 or 2 more, but 99%, probably not
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I agree on the cost of most flats to the cost of most rounds, however when you weigh in the 6-8 year longevity of TI Jazz Flats even at $60 that comes to no more than $10 a year. Not many rounds can even boast 6 months unless coated. Then that drives the cost to around $30-$40.
 
#139
WorkingBassHero said:
It seems this discussion about flats vs rounds went beyond a matter of taste. It like a religion fanaticism. I think it doesn't go anywhere. My opinion anyway...
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You are so right on. I just plain don't get why bassists care so deeply that other bassists don't want to use the stuff they use. Grow up already, people!
 

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