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Anyone use flats only or mainly?

#21
Flats here (all P-basses), Chromes.

My main player is wearing rounds at the moment, leftover from a gig that required them (not really but it seemed like a good idea at the time). I have a fresh set of Chromes in waiting, as soon as the rounds are dead enough that I don't feel like I've wasted them by changing them. I slap occasionally so keeping a bass with rounds doesn't seem to bad, even though Chromes sound great when slapped.

My backup P got a set of Chromes the day she arrived last February. Still going strong and sound awesome.

I'll be getting a Jazz in a few weeks. I guess it's time to experiment again.
 
#24
Yes I have LaBella 760FL's on one Ric and the D'Adarrio Tapewounds on my Fretless Ric. My other two have rounds. I am not digging the D'Adarrios and I am thinking of changing them for sure. I just have really been digging the sound of my Firegloe Ric with the LaBella's. We do lot's of classic old ZZ Top, Allmans and Marshall Tucker type stuff and the Ric's with the flats just sound tremendous. Amazing how perception that we can have for decades can be blown totally out of the water.... ;)
 
#25
TI JF344's on my Jazz...started out as an experiment but it's been over a year and played in many different scenarios with great pleasure. Sound great slapped and when playing chords and harmonics. They do fall short of some of the zingy sounds delivered by round wounds but for my current musical direction they are perfect!
 
#29
I have 8 basses. four are P basses and all have flats chromes except for one has TI's.
Three are Shortscales, 2 Musicmasters with Chromes as does my Dano longhorn. The last bass is a seldom used Mayfair beetle with again ..chromes. Yes, I love my flats!
 
#31
For more than a year I have been using flatwounds only.

I use flatwound strings with my '74 Jazz Bass in our regular classic rock gigs every week.

I was using heaviest gauge D'addario Chromes before but recently switched to Ernie Ball Flatwounds due to their tension being more compared to Chromes.

Ernie Ball Flatwound gauge I use: 55, 75, 90, 110

I have another Jazz Bass '78 made that nowadays I only play it at home. I also use flats on it but it has Fender stainless steel flatwounds on it. Gauges: 55, 70, 90, 105 9050M set.
 
#32
Only bass I own with rounds on it is a LTD F-204 tuned BEAD and it only got rounds because ai'm too cheap to shell out major $$ for a heavy set on a bass I rarely play anyway.

My main player is a modified MiM Precision (tossed the fender pups in there and wow, best thing I ever did to this baby). There was a time when I couldn't decide between la bella mediums and TIs for it, but I went with TIs as I love the low tension and have been playing this set for years now so I'm accustomed to it. La bella sound awesome too but the heavy tension is not for me, and they are voiced a bit too dark for the music I play (they'd kill in a blues or r&b band though)

Also have a squier vm precision defretted but it's naked... No strings on it and I'm not sure what to put on it, TIs sounded great there as well but I'm broke. maybe gonna try rounds for a change, I know my hands will hate me for it.
 
#33
I had LaBella 760FLs on my P-bass which sounded great but I had to take them off due to the high tension. Now its strung with Chromes (40-95). Once they were broken in they sound ok but I plan to eventually put on some Pressure Wounds.
 
#34
armybass said:
And if so, on what bass and what brand? I have flats on one of my Rics and I am thinking of putting them on the other ones too. There are enough different types of flats that offer such a wider variety of tones that I could easily see myself being very satisfied with just using flats for the types of gigs I do. I have enough basses that I could keep some rounds around for an emergency ;)
Click to expand...

So, what brands do you use on your Ric(s)? I am a flats only guy and Fender 9050CLs or Chromes are a perfect match for my P bass. However, my new Fireglo Ric 4003 is set up and strung up with TI flats. Although I'm really enjoying what the TIs bring to the table, I'm wondering if there may be a better match for a Ric (and I want to try something different than what I have on my P).

I heard good things about Sadowsky Black Label flats, but it also seems that LaBella 760FS is a perfect balance of classic tone and tension.

Which string will get me the best palm-muted thump? This is where I feel the TIs fall a little short. It's like the tension is so low that my right hand smushes the string down so much that the notes are over-muted LOL. I also have the Hipshot bridge BTW (in case you were wondering how I pull off palm-muting).
 
#35
All flats currently. Sadowsky regular gauge on my Hwy One Jazz, Sadowsky light gauge on my Squier VM fretless, Chromes on my Squier '51 P. I guess I have flats on my new-to-me Kala U Bass, as well.

I'm currently in a country/alt-country band and don't need the zing of rounds, but the Sadowskys give me more clarity than any other flat I've tried and they're in the sweet-spot for me tension-wise, smack in the middle between TIs and Chromes.
 
#39
My Fender basses and my Ampeg AMB-1 all have Labella 760FL's. My Stambaugh still has rounds because they just work on that bass, harmonics jump out of it and I can do the happy slappy thing if call for. You can slap the Labellas too and they sound good, just different then rounds.
 
#40
Out of all the choices of strings out there, I have always found myself leaning in the favor of flatwounds (electric) and nylon tapewounds (acoustic).

When I got my first bass (Squier Standard Jazz Bass), it naturally came with roundwounds and (not having all the knowledge that I have now) played with those until they wore down and became too floppy and harder to tune.
I decided to try out D'Addario Chrome flats (medium gauge) and they sounded heavenly.
After a few months, I became interested in trying nylon tapewound strings, so I ordered a set of Rotosound's nylon strings. The gauge was too big for the nut of my Jazz Bass and I tossed them out after a couple of weeks.
At this point, I decided to try out D'Addario's nickel wound strings.
I played those for a couple of months, but I found that they made too much finger noise for my taste, so I went back to Chromes, but this time I got a light gauge set (as opposed to the medium gauge flats I got the first time around) and I was satisfied with these for a few more months.
I had decided that I wanted to give nylon tapewounds a second chance, so I ordered a set of D'Addario's tapewounds and I had a much better experience with these than Roto's nylons.
Those were the last strings I ordered before upgrading to a Squier Vintage Modified Mustang Bass. When I moved on to this bass, I replaced the roundwounds on it with Chromes and I have decided that I will stick with those.
 

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