Ernie Ball Darkray with flats??

[bassman3871]

Greetings and hapay holidays to my fellow bassists. I have 4 stingrays and a darkray. I play in a touring Fleetwood Mac Experience group. I want to get John McVie's sound. I know he used an Alembic.
Anyone out there put flats on a darkray and if so what nrand and what is your opinion on the sound.
I LOVE the feel and playability of my Darkray and hope to get the McVie sound.

 

[LadyLoveStingRay5]

Only one way to find out for sure. Go for it!!

 

[Pyrrho Epoche]

Magma and SIT flats are great strings, that I use and a good way to find out if you like flats, because they are reasonably priced and also sound great as an added bonus. They are half the price of most flats.

 

[Nebadon2000]

I read John used Guild Flats on some recordings back in the day; EB Group flats were similar

Rounds seem like they were also used by John

EB Cobalt Flats while 'Roundish' sounding may be able to cover both his Flats and Roundtones closely with some clever EQ

 

[Spectre Gunner]

Good question. I have a Darkray and have been wondering the same thing. I have a couple of P basses with Thomastik Infeld jazz flats and I like this brand of strings, especially for the blues genre. I haven't tried any other brand of flats but the TI strings give me what I want so I haven't bothered trying anything else. I'd like to experiment with flats on my Darkray but the price of TI flats are holding me back.

 

[FugaziBomb]

Be careful - I've heard if you put flats on a dark ray they'll burst into flames almost instantly. I've never witnessed it myself, just what I heard.

 

[lomo]

I am using DR Pure Blue light rounds on my active 'ray special and loving Labella low tension flats on my passive Okume bodied 'ray 4H.....2 complementary flavours.....like esspresso and cocoa. These flats are gently/musically bright up top and have great finger feel.

 

[Nuage420]

I used EB Cobalt flats and rounds on mine, no wrong answer between the two

 

[Dave TB Killer]

Once you go flat, you never go back!

 

[DCErik]

Be careful - I've heard if you put flats on a dark ray they'll burst into flames almost instantly. I've never witnessed it myself, just what I heard.

And Baby Zingzing Jesus will cry!

 

[micguy]

Be careful - I've heard if you put flats on a dark ray they'll burst into flames almost instantly. I've never witnessed it myself, just what I heard.

I always kind figured the point of a Darkglass.....anything was the pursuit of the edgiest sound you can get. Putting flats on it is definitely counterintuitive.