Flats for a player in a band with crunchy guitar?

Hi,

I've been playing for a bit over a year now and am thinking of trying flats for the first time on my precision. I'm wondering if this is a good idea given the band I play in.

My concern is that I will lose any ability to cut through (although that might be a good thing with my skill ) in the mix, since our guitarist goes for a pretty crunchy sound layering on recordings, even if though there is only one guitarist. I'm also concerned that the flats might make th mix sound a little thin in a live setting when the guitarist goes into a solo and it's just drum & bass underneath his "shredding" . Here's our myspace for a sound reference: http://www.myspace.com/daybreakdesire

Personally, I end up playing in that bottom octave most of the time, with occasional fills in the 2nd octave, but I never really venture into those upper registers, definetly a lot of grooving on open E. I've always been a fan of that Eric Wilson (sublime) type of monster sub-bassment sound, but I get the complaints of muddiness from bandmates sometimes. Was wondering if the flats might be a good compromise?

So far I've tried:

Dean Markley Fretmasters
DR High Beams
DR Lo-Riders
Dr Fat beams
D'Adarrio Prosteels

I'd say my favorites for the P-bass so far have probably been the Lo-Riders. Sorry for being so long winded, thanks for any help.

Also, I do have a Jazz that I keep rounds on so switching basses is a possibility if I needed different sounds from song to song.

 

Thanks for the reply.

I'm actually pretty satisifed with the way I sit in the mix with 2 or 3 month old rounds, but wouldn't want a big drop off in midrange/treble from that. The main rason I'm considering flats is I wonder if they'd richen the low end and give it more oomph. On some songs we play I find myself plucking near at the end of the fretboard to get the sound I want with the rounds.

 

Yeah? I like the tone on that song. Guess I will just break down and try them. In the worst case, I switch back to rounds right away and am out a few bucks, like the poster above me said.