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First time in 18 years of playing..

Which bass to string with flats?

  • 2003 USA S.U.B (passive)

    Votes: 9 12.5%

  • 1998 Dano '59 DC Reissue (Korean)

    Votes: 26 36.1%

  • 1987 Peavey Patriot

    Votes: 37 51.4%
  • Total voters
    72
mel0dic.bassist

mel0dic.bassist

Guest
Jul 9, 2014
350
198
Canada
#1
.. I finally purchased a set of flatwound strings.. Never used 'em, never actually wanted to, honestly.

That all changed.. Something recently has made me wanting to step out of my typical boundaries of tone and try something new. The closest I've ever came to flats was trying out fretless basses in a store, which I haven't done in years..

Having listened to some videos of people using them, I fell in love with that P-bass "thwapy-clunky" sound you can get when playing aggressively/with a pick. I mostly use a pick, mainly for the tone I seek and style I play, but also due to severe CTS in my right hand (have already had the left fixed).

Anyways, long story short, I went to pick up my amp (Eden EC210) yesterday and picked up a set of Fender 9050ML stainless flats, and cannot decide which bass to put them on. This was the only set of flats they had in-store, no other options. I've created a poll to get some insight. I didn't list my P-bass Special, because the neck is too far gone in terms of damage and is very uncomfortable to play and nearly impossible to get the action/intonation setup properly.

I know Stingray's sound pretty badass with them, but mine's passive, and I recently restrung it with a set of Slinky rounds a few months ago and don't want to "waste" them, but I still might..

I just really don't know which of my basses to put these on. Some one point me in a good direction![/I]
 
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#2
Is the Patriot like a P-bass? If so that would be my choice..... I had flatwounds on my Dano for a while,and thought it didn!t bring out that bass' character very well. The passive SUB would probably be good too. Bonus points if either of those basses have a maple fretboard.
 
#4
The Patriot has a single coil Super Ferite pickup in it, kinda between a P and a J, closer to a P sound though.. The Patriot has a maple neck, the SUB is rosewood. The Dano has twin lipstick single coils, substantially lower output vs. the SUB and the Patriot.
 
#11
I would try to put the flats on your favorite, but not trim the strings so you can try them on the others as well.

If you take your slinks off, just throw them in a Tupperware of denatured alcohol, they'll be clean and bright if you reinstall them. Same with your other string sets.


And, don't judge all flats by that first set, there are plenty more flavors and feels out there. I'm one of the thousands of guys hooked on TI flats.

If you like less tension, and the woody flat tone, you might spring for a set of TIs. Yeah, they look spendy, but you'll play them for years.

I'm down to one bass with rounds, the rest have TI flats.

Bassstringsonline.com has a huge selection, great prices and fast free shipping.

Best of luck.
 
#15
Remember, with flats, it's no longer about how your bass sounds when you play solo.

It's about how your bass sits in the mix.

Not that your won't come to really like how your bass sounds alone with flats. At first you notice more what's missing: string noise, the round wound zing, highs.

Flats sound really cool, but it's a new flavor of cool. Maybe it's like scotch, after a lifetime of bourbon. Takes some getting used to before you "get it".

I think flats help by "decluttering" the sonic spectrum of a band's mix.
 
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#16
LUCE said:
P+ flats = classic
Click to expand...

Trust me, this is what I wanted to do, but as I mentioned, the neck on my P Special is fubar'd.. Cracks in several spots, pretty sure the truss rod is broken, etc.. It was my first bass, and is going to be turned into a project bass, and now that I have a much better paying job, this will be easier to accomplish. Unless I can find some one willing to trade their P or P/J bass for my iPhone.

PortlandBass77 said:
Peavey Patriot! Those basses have some serious mojo going on (slapin' da mojo....)
Click to expand...

I was thinking this, as I haven't even set it up since I got it. The only thing is, there's a small crack near the headstock, the frets are worn down substantially. It was a student bass at a local high school, and it shows not only its age, but how many times it has been around the block. I love the sound of this bass and the feel of the neck, despite it's neck-dive, however, this is also going to be a project bass, eventually handed down to my son once he's old enough to start learning to play. Essentially, I'm not really sure I want to use my first set of flats on a bass that needs a fair amount of work, and end up hating the strings altogether.

singlemalt said:
I would try to put the flats on your favorite, but not trim the strings so you can try them on the others as well.

If you take your slinks off, just throw them in a Tupperware of denatured alcohol, they'll be clean and bright if you reinstall them. Same with your other string sets.

And, don't judge all flats by that first set, there are plenty more flavors and feels out there. I'm one of the thousands of guys hooked on TI flats.

If you like less tension, and the woody flat tone, you might spring for a set of TIs. Yeah, they look spendy, but you'll play them for years.

I'm down to one bass with rounds, the rest have TI flats.

Bassstringsonline.com has a huge selection, great prices and fast free shipping.

Best of luck.
Click to expand...

Denatured alcohol is apparently incredibly hard to find in Canada, at least when I've been looking into it recently for string cleaning purposes. I cannot find it anywhere local. The slinks are still new-ish sounding, as I've been rocking the Patriot lately and put the SUB aside for a bit (I like to rotate so they don't get jealous of each other ;)). I just put my Dano away after a few weeks and brought the SUB back out to play again.

I also plan on trying different brands. As much as I typically dislike D'Addario rounds, what I've heard of their TI Flats seem to be the sound I want from a flatwound string. I typically play .45 -.100 strings, but was thinking of dropping down to .45-.90's. I do a lot of chorded original tracks using a pick for the stuff I write, and lighter gauge strings just feel and sound better for this style. The only reason I grabbed the Fender flats was simply due to the fact they were the only ones they had there.

BassFishingInAmerica said:
I'm not familiar with all this high-tech lingo.
Click to expand...

My apologies for the lack of better terminology, but if you check out this video, and fast forward to about 2:30 where he starts using a pick, that's one sound I'm hoping to achieve, as well as when he starts playing a bit more aggressively using fingers at around 3:20. He used the term "tick-tacky." Either way, those are the two tones I'm going for. I know a lot has to do with using a P-Bass (with a mute, something I've also never used before), and a lot more based on the fact he's using a real nice Ampeg tube amp.



The bottom line here, is I'm trying to open up my tonal palette by exploring new tonal paradigms/techniques to increase my sonic dimensions. Things that I typically wouldn't use or think didn't sound good to me. Also, the Eden EC210 is the first amp I've owned in over 10 years and am still working on "figuring it out."
 
#20
Put chromes on my active stingray.. So beautiful. That big humbucker with giant magnetic poles and in the sweet spot, still gives enough high end to make you happy, especially if you're going to be using a pick that'll give it that snappy attack.. But all the goodness of flats. I was a round guy for years, just switched. Not sure that I'll ever go back.
 

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