Flat wounds... are they for me?

I just recently switched to Flatwounds for my MIM Precision. After a lot of research here on this board I am using Fender 9050ML. $16.98 at juststrings.com - I am very pleased. They have a very smooth full range sound with great sustain. The tension is sightly more than the roundwounds I was using, but it's no big deal.

 

Well, from my experience, sustain from flats was never a problem...of course, i had low action set up, but never a problem with the GHS flats...

 

I totally agree with Relman about sustain. I think maybe "decay" would be a better word for the difference in flats and rounds. There is a difference in the decay of the note; flats seem to start with more of a thump and decay quicker, but stills sustain for a long time. Rounds have less thump and the note doesn't decay as quickly, IMO.

I use flats because I decided to let the high end go and stake out the low end of the musical spectrum. It seems like a lot of bassists want to fill up the entire tonal spectrum, with tweeters and active electronics, which is fine. A lot of guitar players are adding an extra low string. I want my sound to stake out the low end and leave the highs for the guitars, so flats on a fretless are ideal for me. I often play with a Tele player who has wicked highs, and my rig has mostly lows. It sounds very cool and old-school. That's just me, though.....

 

To me, rounds have arrant harmonics that detract from the pure sound of a note. Flats are less crisp on the initial strike but produce a purer note. No difference in the sustain to speak of as this is more of a characteristic of the bass than the strings.

It depends on what you play. I play a lot of classic rock so I couldn't go to work without a good set of flats.

I do have a 5 string strung with rounds in case I need that sound.

All in all, it's a good excuse to have another bass.

 

I play a lot of oldies, so I put Fender 9050ML's on the MIM jazz. IMO, for that kind of situation, you can't beat that combination. Thick tone with a strong attack(helps that the drummer has a really pronounced kickdrum.)
My P-bass deluxe (the MIM with p/j pickups and jazz neck) is strung with Fender 7250M nickel rounds.
Sometimes IMO you do need both sounds. I also play more up to date material sometimes(although the oldies gig is currently the bread and butter.) The P deluxe with rounds is good for that.
I think it's going to come down to what you prefer the most.
The Fender 9050ML's are pretty cheap, but a good string. So if you decide you don't like them, you won't feel too bad about taking them off(point being; if you for example spent 40 bucks on say TI jazz flats, then decided you didn't like them, you would feel like you wasted a lot of money.)

 

Flats are the way to go for that sound.I prefer Pyramids expensive maybe but that last and are the best in my book.You can find them on the internet for about $50.00.Once you use them you WONT use anything else.

 

I have an old Gibson with Thomastiks. Generally I use this bass to do sort of dubby reggae-type stuff, but the flats are versatile enough to do a range of things. Depending on how I set up my amp and the Sadowsky preamp that I run my Gibson thru, I can get a variety of tones and a decent amount of sustain when required. If you have two basses to play with then it might be a good move throw a set on one of them. It may be the sound you're looking for and if it isn't, hey it's only a pair of strings. I say go for it.