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Flatwounds vs Roundwounds in 2025

#81
Lowlou17 said:
Hello to all.
I have a Ric 4003 that I bought earlier this year. I still have the factory strings on it. I played it this weekend and I hadn't noticed how clanky and noisy (esp finger noise) the factory strings are. I'm looking to replace them and it seems that the D'Addario NYXL45105 Gauge NPS Long-Scale Bass Strings
are a pretty solid choice. I have flats on all my other basses but I really like the bright sound and punch the Ric delivers. Open to suggestions. I'm 99% sold on getting the D'addarios and added bonus they're not expensive. @MrAB4003, I read your comment and am interested in hearing what you think. Thanks all.
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I recently put a set of GHS balanced tension nickle roundwounds on my Rickenbacker Cii and really love them. They’re just the right amount of zing, but a very smooth feeling string. It’s a light set, but that’s what I prefer for the last decade.
I have TI Jazz flats on my other Rick (a walnut Cheyenne) and love having those 2 sounds/feels on my mainstay players.
Labella tapewounds on my fretless Tune, DR pure blues,Labella low tension flats, Kalium BT rounds on my 8 string.
With every bass,I always seem to go through a process of trying to figure out which type of string it wants.
I lean more towards flats these days, but definitely like having at least a couple of basses equipped with roundcore, smoother feeling,lower tension roundwounds.
 
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#82
Any sound I want to make can be made with either TIs or LaBella flats. I tend to occassionally put on a set of rounds, and they might last two or even three days before the bass strings go back on.

Flats are for bass, with enough rich fundamental to get the point across and no worthless, irritating, high partials. Rounds are OK once they’re dead or if you can eq out the obnoxious little nasally guitarlike zing.
 
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#83
It's not really an either/or question. Especially when recording I will try a few options to see what works best. Of late I have been leaning towards flats but that will like swing the other way when I work on heavier tracks for example
 
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#84
I use both, depending on the bass and the band. if I know that I need a brighter sound for some songs (slap, bright pick ecc), I use a bass with rounds.
for most bands I prefer flats, because they just sit there easier, less tweak on amp/mixer settings, and the bass sound like a bass.

my personal experience is that with rounds it's a bit more difficult to have a good sound "outside", on the PA, if the soundguy isn't good enough. here in Italy 99% of the soundguys are "cousin-friend-barman that can move faders", and what I usually get with a bass with rounds it's a scooped and metallic sound.
in those situations I prefer flats, having a smoother sound with more low-mids and less highs.
 
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#85
The TI jazz flats had to finally be changed after 9 years, still sounded ok, but they were feeling like they needed serious industrial cleaning.
I had to play the xl170s on my new bass for a while and the tension at first seemed crazy, but I kind of like them now.
My current projects has a fuzz bass player and me on clean bass. In my previous project the TI strings worked great with the LB100 and
extreme OD. May try the TI strings on the new L2000, because they
didn't have the bite I needed with my LB100, however the TI jazz rounds have peaked my curiousity.
 
#86
Recently I did the Sean Hurley thing and switched my Precision Bass over to La Bella Rounds. I am liking the sounds a lot.

I had a couple of years playing mostly flats but after switching back, I kind of don't see the reason to use flats, for me and what I'm doing. Rounds can produce everything I was getting before, but I like having the top available to me if I want it.

And I know that some people pick flatwounds, but when I feel like playing with a pick I want the round windings as they bring out the grittiness that you want and give the pick something to grip. Things feel loose and less precise picking on flats unless I'm holding the pick flat, and picking on round strings works better when you aren't picking near the bridge. For me.

So, while everything has its use and most basses and strings can do most jobs, I have settled back into rounds and I don't think I'll go back to flats unless I get another bass and just leave them on it.

Or maybe I don't have enough basses yet :cool:
 
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#87
JenderBazzFass said:
So, while everything has its use and most basses and strings can do most jobs, I have settled back into rounds and I don't think I'll go back to flats unless I get another bass and just leave them on it.

Or maybe I don't have enough basses yet :cool:
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That is the optimal solution; I am surprised you haven't done so already like all the rest of us have. ;) 🤔 :) :smug:
 
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#89
I really like the GHS Balanced Tension Nickels too, just be aware that compared to other nickel rounds like D'Addario XL, they will wear to a certain point and then one day just go really really dead. More so than other roundcore nickels like DR Pure Blues. It was maybe 8-9 months for me.

I won't say they converted me to only using balanced tension sets, but they helped me realize what I didn't like about sets like the stock D'Addario 45-100s where the D and G have way higher tension than E&A. Also IIRC the Balanced Nickels are one of the few sets made by anyone where the G has same # of wrap layers as lower strings, which lends to more uniform tone & response.

woodyng2 said:
I recently put a set of GHS balanced tension nickle roundwounds on my Rickenbacker Cii and really love them. They’re just the right amount of zing, but a very smooth feeling string. It’s a light set, but that’s what I prefer for the last decade.
I have TI Jazz flats on my other Rick (a walnut Cheyenne) and love having those 2 sounds/feels on my mainstay players.
Labella tapewounds on my fretless Tune, DR pure blues,Labella low tension flats, Kalium BT rounds on my 8 string.
With every bass,I always seem to go through a process of trying to figure out which type of string it wants.
I lean more towards flats these days, but definitely like having at least a couple of basses equipped with roundcore, smoother feeling,lower tension roundwounds.
Click to expand...
 
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#90
Winston-I seem to be able to keep any type of strings on for years (if I like them enough) without them degrading. I think mostly due to my (lack of) body chemistry, and partially because I rotate my playing among several basses.
And yes it’s great to feel the uniformity of tension across all the strings. You mentioned the G, but the E string in BT sets always feels better controlled to me as well.
 
#92
I've been playing electric bass a lot professionally in the past (not now).
After 30 years of exclusive usage of roundwound strings on many basses, 2-3 years ago .......maybe 4 .... i put TI jazz flats on my G&L Climax bass, just trying to emulate Bernard ..... :)

Well: apparently now i can't use anything else. Once in a while i try to record something at home with all the other basses with RW strings, and i always end recording and playing some spare live lessons with the Climax and the TI flats.

What i particularly like is the dynamic and the middly sound of transients. It seems to produce exactly what i need without any effort.
Talking about total satisfaction.


In these last weeks, though, i'm starting to collect info about the 5-stringer version of the TI flats. I'd like to test them in pair of 5-strings basses i own (fretted and fretless).
I don't like the idea of spending all that money for finding out that the low B is floppy or has not good harmonics and a different sound compared to the other four strings. Generally i don't like the way most B-strings play, as strings themselves.
Any insight? ......
 
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#93
RomanS said:
Flatwounds on every bass I own!

I haven't used roundwounds on any of my basses since the mid 90s, but very recently, mainly because of threads like this, and similar ones, where everyone keeps yakking about how much more versatile roundwounds are, and how you can fake a flatwound sound with a sponge & turning down the tone pot, I felt the urge to try roundwounds again, after 30 years, and put some GHS Balanced Nickels on my P Bass.

Well, yanked them off again after two weeks.
No warm, full thump, instead lots of nasty zingy, stringy, twangy treble - hated it! I play the BASS, not the TREBLE, dammit!
Sponge & tone pot didn't help, either, that nasty stringy attack still came through.

So, flats for me 100% - LaBellas for thump, or Thomastiks for more midrange cut, between those two I can play everything I want to play, and if a style of music required roundwounds, it's probably not a style of music I'd enjoy anyway...
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I’ve tried so hard to like roundwounds. After 45 years of playing bass, I have come to realize, that while roundwounds sound awesome when other people play them, I prefer the sound and feel of flatwounds. This is no offense to those who play and enjoy roundwounds. They are just not my preference.
 
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#96
I put flats on my two twin headless 5-strings in the early 2000s. These were step-wound double ballers then offered by the high-end British bass builder Status Graphite, and no longer available. These strings are still on these basses. About a year ago I put rounds on one of them. But it was unsatisfying and I put the flats back on.

There's tons of great round wound bass sounds out there, but once I went to flats, that was it for me.

For the lane I'm in these days, I don't need versatility, just one good reliable bass sound, a sound that just works. I've got that.

For variety, I've got unlimited guitar tracks to play with! And play I do!
 
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#99
5 String TRBX605 and Player Series jazz have rounds.
Player series Precision has flats

I am keeping an eye out for either another P bass to run rounds or something short scale to run flats. I really like the higher tension of flats but I need the sound of rounds too. I am going to try some different brands and gauges on the jazz to see what I like
 

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