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GHS Brite Flats a substitute for dead Boomers?

N

Nerve

May 2, 2007
208
182
#1
Folks, I expect to find myself in the minority here but I am a big fan of dead GHS Boomers. I’d like to reproduce the dead Boomer sound in a flat wound string, within reason of course.

Logically another GHS string may be the ticket. Would GHS Brite Flats get me close? If not, other recommendations?
 
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#2
This is always a fun debate to watch. Brite Flats are a ground round wound and will sound nothing like a dead round. They most likely will sound more like a new round with a different feel. I mostly play on flats but have a few Basses with rounds because sometimes I just like the feel and sensitivity of rounds.
 
#3
Nerve said:
Folks, I expect to find myself in the minority here but I am a big fan of dead GHS Boomers. I’d like to reproduce the dead Boomer sound in a flat wound string, within reason of course.

Logically another GHS string may be the ticket. Would GHS Brite Flats get me close? If not, other recommendations?
Click to expand...

The Brite Flats, as the name implies, are designed to sound and feel more like a "bright flat" than a "dead round". Two very different tonal characters. I don't think you can ever reproduce the sound of a dead round with a flat or even a half-round (groundwound) as dead rounds have a unique tonal character of their own.

GHS Balanced Nickels (pure nickel roundwound on a round core), once well broken-in, might actually get you closer to what you're looking for.

OR...

Some people always complain the Boomers "die too quickly". Maybe you can ask them to send you their "dead Boomers". ;):D
 
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#4
Nerve said:
Folks, I expect to find myself in the minority here but I am a big fan of dead GHS Boomers. I’d like to reproduce the dead Boomer sound in a flat wound string, within reason of course.

Logically another GHS string may be the ticket. Would GHS Brite Flats get me close? If not, other recommendations?
Click to expand...

As my Sig line says, I’m a GHS Fan boy, and I’m very familiar with GHS Brite Flats and Bass Boomers. It’s only my opinion, but I think a dead set of GHS Pressurewounds would get you closer to the sound of dead Boomers than Brite Flats will.

However, you’ll have to put some serious playing time on a set of Pressurewounds for many, many, many hours before they go dead, IMO.
But enjoy the sound of them from new to dead; think of it as a journey. :)

IMHO because of their many attributes, GHS Pressurewounds are the most versatile strings on the planet.
 
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#5
Thanks folks. I had a feeling Brite Flats would be off the mark. I though maybe, just maybe, because they are actually rounds and reportedly a bit gunky out of the pack, that they might do the trick. Sounds like that isn’t the case.

I’ve tried Pressurewounds and they just weren’t jiving for me. Maybe they were too broad a frequency spectrum? Something in the highs was weird. Based on the praise they get I’m going to assume they just didn’t match the bass.

I have a set of short scale Balanced Nickels at home waiting to be used. Sounds like those are next to go on.
 
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#6
Nerve said:
I’ve tried Pressurewounds and they just weren’t jiving for me. Maybe they were too broad a frequency spectrum? Something in the highs was weird. Based on the praise they get I’m going to assume they just didn’t match the bass.
Click to expand...

I know what you're saying... GHS Pressurewounds have been my #1 go-to for the last several years. It wasn't until very recently that I finally decided my P bass actually sounded better with good ol' NPS rounds than with PWs. Something about the Alloy 52's strong mid character that was a little too much (or too messy?) on that particular bass.

Nerve said:
I have a set of short scale Balanced Nickels at home waiting to be used. Sounds like those are next to go on.
Click to expand...

There you go... :thumbsup:;)
 
#7
More fuel for the fire; I read in another thread that DR Legends come “closest” to dead Boomers. So it sounds like there could be a flats / dead rounds association after all.

Anyone else find this? Or wishful thinking?
 
#9
I've been playing Boomers for more than 20 years and feel that I have a decent feel for how they sound at every stage from brand new to super-dead at this point. I've also used my share of flats and strings in the pressurewound/groundwound/half round genre, and I don't think that any of them sound remotely like dead Boomers.

However, if it is meaningful coming from a lifelong Boomers fan, my favorite flats are Fender flats (relatively bright for flats, but less so than rounds, slightly higher tension than rounds but not absurd), and La Balle's Low Tension flats (mellower and more distinctive sound, nice low tension for a flat).
 
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#10
michael_t said:
The Brite Flats, as the name implies, are designed to sound and feel more like a "bright flat" than a "dead round". Two very different tonal characters. I don't think you can ever reproduce the sound of a dead round with a flat or even a half-round (groundwound) as dead rounds have a unique tonal character of their own.

GHS Balanced Nickels (pure nickel roundwound on a round core), once well broken-in, might actually get you closer to what you're looking for.

OR...

Some people always complain the Boomers "die too quickly". Maybe you can ask them to send you their "dead Boomers". ;):D
Click to expand...
"Dead Boomers" sounds like a future punk band name.

This thread makes me wonder if some day in future, there will be a market for used strings with prices that far exceed new ones. All of the guys with dozens of basses could farm dead strings over decades, basically for a retirement fund. Sell an old Fender, sell a couple of strings and pay the bills.
 
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#11
I've got a set of Brite Flats more than a decade old that I haven't replaced purely out of laziness (their replacements have been sitting in their packet, unopened, for a couple years now). They don't sound like dead flats but don't sound like dead roundwounds either. They've got a dull thump going but with more sustain in the mids than I associate with flats. I'm not enough of a connoisseur of strings to speak on it authoritatively though.
 
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#13
Ive used Brite Flats in the studio before - they surprisingly sounded pretty close to newish roundwounds and help minimize string/fret noise.....I dont like the way flats or pressurewounds feel, especially for slap bass, but if the situation warranted using them again, I would
 
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#15
Nerve said:
I was asking for a flat wound that could get me there because I prefer the smoothness of a flat (and the fundamental).
Click to expand...

This may sound counter-intuitive, but I find the GHS Pressurewounds (Alloy 52 rollerwound) smoother in feel and more pleasant to slide on than the GHS Brite Flats (Alloy 52 groundwound/half-rounds). The flat surface of half-rounds after the grinding process leaves a somewhat tacky (and sticky) surface feel, which I find unpleasant as it creates a lot of friction and drag when sliding. No such issue with the Pressurewounds.
 
#16
Nerve said:
Would GHS Brite Flats get me close?
Click to expand...
IME: NO
Played Boomers for 30+ years - almost exclusively.
I was looking for something else, when EB Cobalt flats came out about 6 years ago.
I wouldn't call their tone a "dead boomer", but they're my favorite flatwound, and favorite string now.

In the last 6 years, since I've switched, I've tries numerous string brands and types.
Of those, Brit Flats were the only string I strongly disliked.
However, I'm still a GHS fan; Presure Wounds being my 2nd fav, and also have used Super Steels & Precision Flats, although I/m not recommending either of those for what you're describing.
 
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#18
michael_t said:
The flat surface of half-rounds after the grinding process leaves a somewhat tacky (and sticky) surface feel, which I find unpleasant as it creates a lot of friction and drag when sliding
Click to expand...
Agreed. A similar experience recently:

I had sent a new set of La Bella quarter rounds (similar) to a friend of mine about 10 years ago. He never put them on, and since I used to use them back in the day, I reacquired them. They are really nice strings, but in spite of the windings being ground down a little to smooth them out, their surface is “grabby” and not what I want to feel.
 

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