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Flatwound Club

#364
Doner Designs said:
In the process of going back to brighter flats (from LaBella to Ernie Ball) I think I've discovered why a lot of folks tend to think flats (especially thumpy flats) sound great on a P but less great on a J.

A P bass doesn't scoop the mids, but any bass that has multiple pickups (like a J) will scoop the mids when both pickups are on full at the same time (because of phase cancellation). With a J, it's common for players with pure single coils to want them both on full/equally in order to eliminate single coil hum (unless they have noiseless pickups). It's a pleasing sound but, all else being equal, the mids are scooped vs one pickup soloed.


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This is true, but the scooped sound is actually leveled out more with flats in my experience. Through a spectrum analyzer in the studio (and just using my ears as well) I saw and heard a lot more presence in the 200hz range with my Jazz using flats (Chromes) than with rounds. It is a lot better of a tone in the mix as well. In my opinion it is a really great tone, and I prefer it more than the Sunbeams I had on before. Playing grooves on the lower end of the fretboard still punches right through a mix (better than wounds) and soloing above the 12fret does not get thin, and instead retains roundness.

The only stuff I can think of for using rounds still is for aggressive rock with distorted guitars, and flats could still work depending on how you want to cut through the mix. The guys I know releasing the heaviest records for labels have 2 main ways to do bass - focus on the lower mids pushing through (flats can work for this) or wrap the bass around the guitars a little - punching though in the 60hz zone (under the kick) and then in a high mid frequency like 2k. Even though a lot of people like the 2k concept, the lower mids sound is actually more audible many times. Do the same concept in a jazz/r&B mix with flat wounds and the tone is just crazy good. Especially on a jazz bass which is very expressive.

Just my 2 cents so far going back to flats. For further evidence of this, just listen to Bob Marley. Bass lines are clear as a bell and most of the time a Jazz with flats.
 
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#366
anton72 said:
Guys, does anybody use flats with dual coil humbacker pickups? I mostly hear about people using them on their P basses, I have a Spector with two dual coil pickups and when I blend the balance to the neck pickup I achieve that P-bass thumpy tone. So I am GASing to try flats on it.
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Yes, the one on the far left below. This is the one I recently switched from LaBella to Ernie Balls which are a lot brighter. Both sounded good, but with the brighter strings I can more easily hear the distinctions between the 63 possible coil combinations. I have all 6 coils parallel wired but with series wiring you should be able to get close to a P tone.

I took the LaBellas off largely because the tone of the B and E strings differed too much from the A and D. I think I got a bad set of strings and have just lost my patience with that issue. Nothing to do with the pickups because you could distinctly hear it unplugged and I had 3 other basses with the same strings to compare to. So I'm back to Ernie Ball Group I's which almost sound like rounds after only playing LaBellas for a long time.

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#368
AngelCrusher said:
Now the question is - who is using flats with an active bass that has dual soap bars, or as asked above - dual humbuckers?
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Well I've just strung my dual coils Spector bass with EB Group II flats and wow! The tone became more solid although there's still plenty of definition. Another good news is that flats work better with my effects pedal, especially when soloed up the 12th fret. The octave pedal tracks much better. I definately keep the flats on this bass.
 
#369
Doner Designs said:
Yes, the one on the far left below. This is the one I recently switched from LaBella to Ernie Balls which are a lot brighter. Both sounded good, but with the brighter strings I can more easily hear the distinctions between the 63 possible coil combinations. I have all 6 coils parallel wired but with series wiring you should be able to get close to a P tone.

I took the LaBellas off largely because the tone of the B and E strings differed too much from the A and D. I think I got a bad set of strings and have just lost my patience with that issue. Nothing to do with the pickups because you could distinctly hear it unplugged and I had 3 other basses with the same strings to compare to. So I'm back to Ernie Ball Group I's which almost sound like rounds after only playing LaBellas for a long time.

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Thank you, you seem to have a plenty of tone options on these! I've just tried to roll the blend knob to the neck pickup and here's where the P-bass tone is when strung with flats! Very very close to it. My Spector is loaded with Seymour Duncan double coils with push-pull switching between parallel and series wiring for each pickup. Tons of tonal options.
 

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#373
anton72 said:
Guys, does anybody use flats with dual coil humbacker pickups? I mostly hear about people using them on their P basses, I have a Spector with two dual coil pickups and when I blend the balance to the neck pickup I achieve that P-bass thumpy tone. So I am GASing to try flats on it.
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I have flats (LaBellas) on a '71 Epiphone EA-260. They don't look like it, but the pickups are humbuckers (sorta necessary on this bass, anyway). The La Bellas were on it when I got it; they're at least 10 years old now. I have no intention of taking them off any time soon, either. Does it sound like my '78 P-Bass (also with flats)? No, it does not. It sounds like what it is; a 45-year old, short scale, hollow body, rockabilly thump monster. I seriously doubt that I could make it sound much like a P-Bass; but, OTOH, I have no reason to try. But, if you want to try to cop the "P-Bass with flats" sound with your Spector; by all means, have at it; I hope you do. I think you'll like your Spector with flats on it, in any case...:)
 
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#377
I'd like to put flats on my P bass but I don't know what kind to buy. I've always used rounds and currently have a Jazz and a Stingray with rounds to cover the more zingy and aggressive tones. I'll be playing it with my classic rock cover band doing SRV, Stones, Hendrix, etc.

Any recommendations?
 
#378
TrentB said:
I'd like to put flats on my P bass but I don't know what kind to buy. Any recommendations?
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Fender 9050L (45-60-80-100) - affordable, all-purpose flats. They start out fairly bright (for flats), but smooth and full-bodied once broken in.
La Bella 760FL (43-60-82-104) - for classic, old-school thump with a big bottom.
Sadowsky Lite (40-60-80-100) - for something between the above two - clear and punchy with slightly less thump than the La Bella.
 
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#380
jp58 said:
I'm struggling finding advice on cleaning flats before playing with them. Anyone have any tips for removing the "sticky"?
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First you need to mechanically remove any laquer, dried machine oil, grit, whatever that may be left on them. Use 0000 steel wool, rubbing them well. Do this off the bass. Fix the ball end into something solid, then grab the tuner end and steel wool them very well. You wont hurt them with a lot of pressure. After that, use a rag to wipe off all loose residue including steel bits. After that, if you wish, you can use whatever you like as a lube, if you even need it. I've use plain hand lotion, mineral oil, or whatever. You might not want or need lube at all. Some ppl think that step will damage the strings. It wont any more than years of handling them with greasy hands.

The smoothing step with the steel wool is the most important and effective thing you can do.
 

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