Flatwound Club

[gumbynotpokey]

Looks like #8 is still available. I'll take that.

Flats? Uh, "Yeah."

I play rounds quite a bit for the band context. Yet, flats is what I hear in my head like 80% of the time. Once a year I switch to flats and play them for months until necessity drives me otherwise. I'm considering getting a bass that is strictly for flats (bolt neck, rather than through-body like my other 2, split pu, rosewood board, etc) and getting away with it that way...

 

[SasquatchDude]

Hi, can I join?

Slapped a set of 45-100 Chromes on my MIA Jazz back in August... After a year of playing the stock Fender set, some DR Fat Beams, and Roto 66s, I got the wild notion to see what all the hype about flats was. The moment I sat down and played the Chromes a bit I knew I struck gold... it was exactly the sound I'd been hearing in my head all those years that made me start playing in the first place.
And it just gets fatter with every hour of playing!

 

[jnewmark]

I am going to put a set of flatwounds on for the first time in about 30 years ! I have a beautiful Highway One P bass with a Jazz neck, badass bridge. This will be a stay at home/rehearsal bass,so not alot of gig time. I'm tending toward LaBella Jamersons, but I'm really open for suggestions, especially the differences in tension as oppossed to Nickle rounds, which I have been playing for 30 years. My gauge is 45-105's. Should I get the same guage in flats ? I'm going for a warm,round tone, even across the neck, pretty much a down by the nut player, Blues and RnB, Soul stuff mostly. Any help/suggestions appreciated !

 

[soulman969]

I am going to put a set of flatwounds on for the first time in about 30 years ! I have a beautiful Highway One P bass with a Jazz neck, badass bridge. This will be a stay at home/rehearsal bass,so not alot of gig time. I'm tending toward LaBella Jamersons, but I'm really open for suggestions, especially the differences in tension as oppossed to Nickle rounds, which I have been playing for 30 years. My gauge is 45-105's. Should I get the same guage in flats ? I'm going for a warm,round tone, even across the neck, pretty much a down by the nut player, Blues and RnB, Soul stuff mostly. Any help/suggestions appreciated !

The LaBella flats are great strings for that old fashioned PBass tone and another good choice are GHS Precision Flats. I have a set of those that will go on a PBass I just bought.

If you decide the flats are a little to mellow or dark for your tastes GHS Pressure Wounds are also a great string. I use those on my Jazz Bass.

 

[Doner Designs]

I am going to put a set of flatwounds on for the first time in about 30 years ! I have a beautiful Highway One P bass with a Jazz neck, badass bridge. This will be a stay at home/rehearsal bass,so not alot of gig time. I'm tending toward LaBella Jamersons, but I'm really open for suggestions, especially the differences in tension as oppossed to Nickle rounds, which I have been playing for 30 years. My gauge is 45-105's. Should I get the same guage in flats ? I'm going for a warm,round tone, even across the neck, pretty much a down by the nut player, Blues and RnB, Soul stuff mostly. Any help/suggestions appreciated !

I did not play 30 years ago, but am willing to bet there are dozens of options that did not exist at the time. If you like the Jamersons, I would suggest you try two other cheaper options first just to test the waters and see what else is out there.

GHS was mentioned. They will give you similar deep percussive tone and I would recommend 55 to 110 since you seem to like heavy strings like I do.

The other would be a heavy set of Ernie Balls or Daddarios which will be much brighter but still mellower than rounds. My favorite is Ernie Ball Group I which I think are 55 to 110.

I have Ernie Balls on 4 basses, LaBellas on one, GHS on one and Thomastiks on one.

I much prefer the heavier strings with paper thin action, but have to adjust the necks more because of it (humidity).

 

[GRAHAM SG1]

I am loving my Rotosound 77 flats on my MIA P DLX, next set will be for my Jazz
I love the smooth feel and less noisy, less friction on strings playing
The band prefers the tone too

 

[jnewmark]

Well, I've been doing some reading, and checking out some reviews, and I think I'm going with a set of D'Addario Tapewounds, close to my guage. They seem to get good reviews and have the tone I'm looking for. Went to the LaBella site, but could'nt find any flats called " Jamersons ". Does it have a different name ? Also, I hooked up with Bassstringsonline, and got a super deal on the Tapewounds.

 

[hotbass57]

Chromes on my Hofner Copy 40-100 set. Nails that McCartney tone. Strictly played Chromes on all mine, but after left hand accident had to go back to Rndwnd. for awhile till hand recovers. Love the tone.

 

[seanm]

Well, I've been doing some reading, and checking out some reviews, and I think I'm going with a set of D'Addario Tapewounds, close to my guage. They seem to get good reviews and have the tone I'm looking for. Went to the LaBella site, but could'nt find any flats called " Jamersons ". Does it have a different name ? Also, I hooked up with Bassstringsonline, and got a super deal on the Tapewounds.

I love tapewounds, but I find they don't work well live. Because they are not grounded, you tend to get a lot more 60Hz? noise from them on a P bass. YMMV, and let us know how they work.

 

[ancientrocker]

rotosound 77's for me. I take #25. Flatwounds forever!

 

[cricman]

I just bought my first set of flatwounds a week ago; D'Addario Chromes on my Asian '56 P Bass clone. They sound remarkably bright, and this is coming from a die-hard RotoSound 66 on a Jazz Bass since 1981 guy! I'll take #9630.


cricman

 

[superheavyfunk]

I haven't used anything but flats on my basses for three years now. Treble is for guitars and cymbals. I want my bass to sound like thunder in the distance.

 

[Basstardus]

On both my basses (EBMM Sterling 4H fretted & RBasic custom P/J fretless) I have Thomastik Infeld flats, and been playing flats for a long time, love the feel and the tone!

 

[FenderBassist]

The longer I play on flats the more I like them.

Having great success with a set of 45-100 Chromes, aging well...approaching the one year mark on a specific set strung on a P bass copy with a Duncan vintage pup, CTS pots and Orange Drop.

Also had similar success with a set of Rotosound Monels.

Sweet and smooth.

 

[Jookbox]

I have Chromes on my Squier Jaguar and use the P Bass pickup exclusively. This bass is a nice contrast to my Jazz bass with roundwounds. I love both sounds. Looking forward to breaking the Chromes in more.

 

[tribbledaniel]

I have Chromes 55-105 on my Squier CV 50s pbass. Sublime!! Thinking of putting on Labella's 760l on my new Fender Cabronita bass. Any opinions?

 

[Moe Hickey]

Roto 77's for the win. Warm, smooth, thump that covers a variety of my fretting sins.

 

[liveburning274]

Just put some Ernie Ball flats on my Ray35 and am enjoying them. Their feel is great and tone out of the package was almost exactly like my broken in DR Nickle Lo-Riders. My hands are still adjusting though...lol. After 4 straight hours on Friday of gigging with them, my previously-used-to-roundwounds fingers were tired! But I'm still a happy flatwound explorer!

 

[Jay2U]

#2514
=BEAD for me
I changed to flats over two years ago. I'm using Ernie Balls in BEAD-tuning.

 

[highway]

i have 760FLs on a j that i dont really like the sound of . . . hopefully will switch them to a p later on . . .

looking to possibly replace them with some super light chromes on the j in a number of months . . . not sure what else is out there that would interest me . . .