And... It's back to flats again!

[dougjwray]

From about 2008 to 2018, I moved primarily to flats. From then until now, it was mostly rounds, because I was playing more recent covers and songwriters' originals which were sparkly modern country or indie rock. Also, I'd been playing duo outdoor gigs over the past year with an acoustic guitarist, and the rounds filled out the sound.
Two rehearsals ago, we rehearsed indoors, with him on electric guitar, plus a drummer. We were all too loud anyway, but I kept turning up incrementally to hear myself. P-Bass with rounds.
Last rehearsal, I brought a P-Bass with flats. Problem solved! Plenty of clarity with maximum "thunk!" Lower volume level possible.
This is why I'll never plant myself in one camp or the other.
Thanks for reading. I hope my story was instructive. Not boring. Go back to your lives now.

 

[JimmyM]

Have to say I'm struggling to find the lesson, but it wasn't boring. Anyway, I'll never put myself in the position of not being able to choose anymore, either. Still will mostly use rounds, but I love playing flats when it's warranted.

 

[musicman556]

I like to change it up as well, when the situation would benefit. Among the herd I keep a P and J dressed in a set of TI Jazz Flats at all times.

For about a year I also kept a set on my main 5 string LowEnd with a P/Musicman pickup set and 18v 3 band pre. That wasn't really the right choice in hindsight, and I've gone back to D'Addario NYXL rounds. While I enjoyed the feel and whatnot, it was a poor match for the electronics of that bass. The tonal goals and whatnot I set when I spec'd that bass were not built around flats, and I was just trying to fit a round peg in a square hole when I put the TIs on it. I missed the brightness and sizzle of rounds, and the conventional wisdom I read (but ignored) about TI jazz flats is that the B string just ain't that great. It really does let you down when you want some authoritative beef down there.

I finally gave up trying to force the flats on a 5 and am happy again! The joy of flats on a 4 does not readily translate to a 5, imho.

 

[WillyW]

I'm converting a geetar to a high 5 string and my beloved flats are either cost prohibitive or just not available, so I'll be using roundwounds....

Frankly, I'm skeered, and I'm prolly gonna rely on y'alls help and support to get through this trying time....

 

[dougjwray]

Have to say I'm struggling to find the lesson, but it wasn't boring. Anyway, I'll never put myself in the position of not being able to choose anymore, either. Still will mostly use rounds, but I love playing flats when it's warranted.

No lesson, really... That was tongue-in-cheek. Unless I helped any unfortunate souls by sharing my experience!
As we know, flats aren't necessarily dull and boomy-- sometimes they help you to "speak" more clearly than rounds do!

 

[HaphAsSard]

I'm converting a geetar to a high 5 string and my beloved flats are either cost prohibitive or just not available, so I'll be using roundwounds....

Frankly, I'm skeered, and I'm prolly gonna rely on y'alls help and support to get through this trying time....

You could get *guitar* flatwounds. Personally, I love D'Addario (guitar) Chromes for bass:
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028 038 050 065 080 for a medium-heavy set,
022 030 040 056 075 for a light one. Or mix and match.
(About 25 bucks total, free shipping.)

^ This, for piccolo BEADG tuning.
(For a short shortie, normal bass octave EADGC you'd need to add a bass 105 or 100, and a way to install it without breaking it, to the heaviest four.)
(Conversely, lose the 080/075 and add respectively a 020w or a 16p to the gauges above, for piccolo EADGC.)