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Confessions of a Flatwound convert...

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#1,081
engedi1 said:
+1 Awesome! It always cracks me up how a review of something like a Modulus Q-5 strung with High beams always says something like :"the eq is so versatile I can get any sound from Flea to Jaco to jamerson" . Having gotten really into jamerson over the last few months, I can tell you this is so asinine that it hurts. Rounds can never sound like flats, no matter how dead they are. Your comments make me want to try chromes Sundogue. I am a TI flat man, didn't you start with those?
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Yes, and I still have my TI's. I don't anticipate giving those up. I'm just waiting on a new P-Bass to put them on.

Chromes and TI's have a different feel and vibe than other flats. I can't say what it is for sure, but I like Chromes the best, then the TI's. At least today...maybe tomorrow I'll like the TI's better than Chromes. Either way, flats just do it for me.
 
#1,082
I like Flats on my P-bass. I really dislike them on my jazz basses however.

And yeah, it cracks me up as well when someone posts that their new modern bass is so versatile it can sound like Jamerson. I think folks just get so excited with things that they go overboard in expressing it.
 
#1,085
I been using TI on P-Bass for a few years and Put Chromes on Jazz bass last year and recently I was missing roundwounds So I put a set of Sunbeams on the Jazz (was my favorite roundwound) and after a few weeks I could not get used to them I was really missing the Chromes so there back on the Jazz
 
#1,090
elavate7 said:
so do you think flats would sound good on an Ibanez????
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Carol Kay is big believer in TI flats on her Ibanez. haven't tried it myself, but I don't see why it wouldn't work. Flats will simply add more fundamental, a thumpier, shorter sustain, and if this is a tone you are aiming for, it will sound good on any bass. My Sadowsky M5-24 is super modern sounding, and i just love it with flats. For about $24 bucks you can throw a set of chromes on their to try it out. The good news, is that if you like it, you won't need to change strings for a few years!
 
#1,091
I love my TI flats. They are not like a regular flatwound string to me though. They are kind of like an "inbetween" a flatwound and a roundwound. They have some characteristics of a flat and and some characteristics a round...if this make any sense. :D
 
#1,092
love the tone on both TIs and chromes...different though.
Chromes on my P feel right, like an old baseball mitt

TI's on my GL jazz sound amazing..(takes away some of the snarl) but I have to admit I have some reservations about their somewhat noodly feel...I tend to dig in pretty hard at times and I have to really be careful not to with the TI's...YMMV

I may go back to rounds on my jazz but I love chromes on a P...mmmmmmgood
 
#1,093
I went to flats when this thread started. Chromes on a jazz loved it. Then went to Sadowsky flats - liked them even better. Recently though I just felt something missing - I was not getting any detailed character just thump and fundamenta - I loved the flats while they were new, but when they broke in I found myself twiddleing with knobs againl. I put on some Jonas Hellborg signatures and have just loved them. Still have the fundamentals, and something more - more character again. The band took quick notice and liked them. Who knows, next week I may have TIs on there :/
 
#1,094
I've got to say, this has been, by a wide margin, my favorite thread here on TB! Thanks Sundogue...

After reading SD's original posting, I followed the thread for a while before I got sucked into the peer pressure vortex. I went with Chromes only because Sundogue's situation was eerily similar to mine. Same band instrument mix, same style of music, same issues around the band not sounding as huge as we wanted, etc. I figured if Chromes fixed his clock they'd fix mine.

Well, to make a long story short, they did. That said, I am very intrigued, to say the least, about how different brands of flats would sound in my situation. My issue is this - one of the things I like about flats is the fact that I've had them on for about six months now and they sound the same every time I play them, they just don't wear out. Buying a bunch of different brands of flats would defeat the purpose of saving money by never having to change my strings, like I did with rounds.

Right now, I only have one bass, my trusty Fender J. I'm saving my pennies to pick up a P so I can truly have the "P bass with flats" tone everybody raves about. When I do, I think maybe then I'll pick up a different brand of flats to see if the grass can be even greener on the other side of that fence. Until then, I'm doing my best to avoid the urge to try out every brand of flats out there in search of flat wound tone heaven. I tell you what, I have the willpower of a junkie in a crack house. Every time I go to the music store I get pulled toward the string display. I need a twelve step program for G.A.S. :help:
 
#1,095
Pulled the trigger on a set of Chromes for my 5-string. Can't wait to get them on and get my bass dialed in.

I like the tone of my bass, but the one thing it's always had since I bought it was good mids and insane highs, but no deep THUMP. I can EQ it in, but it still doesn't give me the sound I'm after. I've tried two different amps and loads of EQ settings.

Besides this thread, what sold me was playing a fretless bass at GC that had flats on it. HOLY SMOKES! This is the sound I've been looking for. Earth shaking tight bottom end. Now THIS is what a bass should do. It should sound like a heavyweight boxer hitting a heavy bag. Powerful and deep.

I am hoping the new flats will give me the thunder I'm looking for.
 
#1,098
This past year I dabbled in flats more than ever before. I was playing in a dub band and also trying to do a side project of live electronica. For both of them, TI Jazz Flats on my Stambaugh (Audere pre and Nordstrand Fat Stacks - very Jazz bass like) were perfect. I also tried DR Hi-Beam flats. Loved the tension and feel, but they were perhaps a bit too dead and thuddy right out of the box.

Neither of those projects worked out so my Stambaugh is once again strung with rounds. But I had Nino Valenti build me a passive 5-string P-bass which I wanted strung with flats. He ended up using Chromes (40-65-80-100-132) which I've never tried before. We'll see how I dig them once they've broken in.

valenti2.jpg


I'm excited to get my hands on it.
 
#1,099
Got my Chromes put on tonight. An improvement for sure, but they were actually a LOT brighter than I expected them to be. I know they will "break in" a bit, and I'm going to wait a few days for them to stretch and settle before I set my bass up, so I'm not getting a true gauge of their sound.

I will say, they sound much better than the rounds that were on the bass. I set my EQ back to flat, and ended up having to back out a lot of the highs and some mids. I've got a fatter bottom end, but the D and G strings still have a nice ring to them. I could stand for them to warm up a bit. I'm sure they will with time.

So far so good. The strings FEEL great. Sooooo smoooooth. No noise. Slides are really easy and silent.

I think I'm going to like them, but the verdict is still out. I'll report back when they get broken in and I get my intonation set.
 
#1,100
chadhargis said:
Got my Chromes put on tonight. An improvement for sure, but they were actually a LOT brighter than I expected them to be. I know they will "break in" a bit, and I'm going to wait a few days for them to stretch and settle before I set my bass up, so I'm not getting a true gauge of their sound.

I will say, they sound much better than the rounds that were on the bass. I set my EQ back to flat, and ended up having to back out a lot of the highs and some mids. I've got a fatter bottom end, but the D and G strings still have a nice ring to them. I could stand for them to warm up a bit. I'm sure they will with time.

So far so good. The strings FEEL great. Sooooo smoooooth. No noise. Slides are really easy and silent.

I think I'm going to like them, but the verdict is still out. I'll report back when they get broken in and I get my intonation set.
Click to expand...

Last time I had Chromes, they were on a P bass. They took a few months of playing to get them settled in, but once they were broken in, they sounded beautiful. I sold that bass but I wish I kept the strings :rollno: Would have saved me a lot of time killing off that bright string sound :)
 
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