Has the bass world changed to flatwounds?

[woodyng]

Yes,variety is cool! I love the sound and feel of a good set of flatwounds strings,but i have had a hard time finding a set i like. Daddario strings don't work for me,rw or chromes. Ti's neither. I like pyramid strings ok,but they are high tension,so they don't play well with some basses. Ghs flats are actually pretty good. I have fender tapewounds on a fretless bass,and use Dr sunbeams,circle K rw's,and some 60's maxima flats on various RIC basses. The circle k strings are almost as smooth feeling as a flatwound,but very lively sounding. If you roll off the treble,you can get a really smooth flat-esque tone.

 

[Freight Train]

Coming from the standpoint of recording/mastering engineer as well as bassist - Roundwounds, like effects, can be beautiful in the studio. But live the nuances that you love about them can get totally lost, and in fact in many cases will work against you. For a kicking live sound, give me flatwounds on a good bass plugged straight into a good amp. It took me years to figure out that the presence I was lusting for was not coming from zingy, top-end-eq hyped roundwounds, but flatwounds with the (tube) amp just on the verge of or slightly distorting. The distortion has an effect like an exciter - the added upper harmonics gives an impression of brightness, but it cuts through everything, unlike eq'd roundwounds which can just disappear as soon as guitars and cymbals start cranking. Also, eq-hyped roundwounds will wear your (and the audiences') ears out listening-fatigue wise. I've found with the flatwound/tube distortion sound I can play at lower volumes and be much more present in the overall ensemble sound than I ever was with roundwounds.

 

[john_g]

Flats, no thank you.
Used a set of TI's on one of my 'Birds for awhile......Meh, lifeless.
I'll stick with my DR's and Smith's, I like a big angry piano tone.
Just my.02.

+1

I love the feel of the Chromes I have but the lack of sustain bothers me. I did like the tone I got with a pick but it just made me think of dead rounds so I took them off and put on some DR HiBeams.

 

[Dostradamas]

Coming from the standpoint of recording/mastering engineer as well as bassist - Roundwounds, like effects, can be beautiful in the studio. But live the nuances that you love about them can get totally lost, and in fact in many cases will work against you. For a kicking live sound, give me flatwounds on a good bass plugged straight into a good amp. It took me years to figure out that the presence I was lusting for was not coming from zingy, top-end-eq hyped roundwounds, but flatwounds with the (tube) amp just on the verge of or slightly distorting. The distortion has an effect like an exciter - the added upper harmonics gives an impression of brightness, but it cuts through everything, unlike eq'd roundwounds which can just disappear as soon as guitars and cymbals start cranking. Also, eq-hyped roundwounds will wear your (and the audiences') ears out listening-fatigue wise. I've found with the flatwound/tube distortion sound I can play at lower volumes and be much more present in the overall ensemble sound than I ever was with roundwounds.

+1
Ahhh thats what I have been wondering for years. You nailed it!

 

[wideload]

Nickel rounds for me - I too like that piano sound. Rotos were too "rough" to me, so I went back to Alembics, and I'm happy. Just wish I could find them cheaper...

 

[LowNotes1]

Back when I was still gigging on-stage I always used flats. Easier on the fingers and frets, and no noise. Nowadays, I play more of a variety of tunes then I used to, and prefer rounds when I want a little more growl and sustain.

 

[crashonskis]

For metal flats are trash. For slap flats are trash unless its a stingray. For everything else use flats. IMO and IME.

 

[Mushroo]

For metal flats are trash.

Strongly disagree.

For slap flats are trash

Agree.

 

[eots]

For metal flats are trash.

tell that to Steve Harris

 

[lucas vigor]

I like both.

I don't think (for once!) that this is just a talkbass phenomena. Over the last few years, there have been numerous articles in BP mag about players such as Pino, Rafael Saadiq and Andy hess, which have made people want to try flats again.

 

[Rob Martinez]

I played roundwounds for thirty years. For the last four years, I have used flats. They were weird at first, but now I love the warm, fat, deep tone I get with them on my Hofner basses.

I think context is important. If someone asked me to play bass in a Who tribute act, I would use rounds. For now, I play 50s and early 60s music, so rounds really make no sense for that kind of music.

 

[wolfmancharlie]

I started in 72 with flats, played that way for maybe 10 years. Switched to rounds for 28 years then my luthier told me about Chromes. I now for the past 2 years have Chromes on all of my basses except for my 66 StGeorge hollow body and I keep fender flats on it for that old time woody thump. Chromes come in different guages, are smooth on the fingers, have mainly the sound of roundwounds and ,on my basses they have more than enough sustain. All the local bassplayers love the sound and ask what I'm using.No way am I going back to rounds.When I buy a new or used bass at the local store he knows he has to put Chromes on it.

 

[crashonskis]

well I mean slower metal is fine but for death metal and such... Sounds too muddy IMO

 

[lucas vigor]

Coming from the standpoint of recording/mastering engineer as well as bassist - Roundwounds, like effects, can be beautiful in the studio. But live the nuances that you love about them can get totally lost, and in fact in many cases will work against you. For a kicking live sound, give me flatwounds on a good bass plugged straight into a good amp. It took me years to figure out that the presence I was lusting for was not coming from zingy, top-end-eq hyped roundwounds, but flatwounds with the (tube) amp just on the verge of or slightly distorting. The distortion has an effect like an exciter - the added upper harmonics gives an impression of brightness, but it cuts through everything, unlike eq'd roundwounds which can just disappear as soon as guitars and cymbals start cranking. Also, eq-hyped roundwounds will wear your (and the audiences') ears out listening-fatigue wise. I've found with the flatwound/tube distortion sound I can play at lower volumes and be much more present in the overall ensemble sound than I ever was with roundwounds.

100% true!

 

[itsmecraigl]

Well said, Dostradamas! I've been lusting for that tone (haven't we all????).
To add to your point, it's easier to add highs to flats than it is to add thump to rounds. Likewise, I agree about the EQ'd high end on a set of rounds live. It gets to the point where you are trying to cut through the mix on-stage by adding treble and you're losing real 'guts'.
I'll know for sure by Saturday, when my LaBella's get here. After reading 10,000 posts on here, it was a natural to try the 760FHBB's on my Beatle Bass copy that should be here tomorrow. Can't wait for the live gig next weekend.
Thanks for all your replies. To sum it all up here:
Yes, there is more interest generally in flats now, and yes, there is a proper place for both. Now I get to go back in time to my beginning days as a bass player. Might even put a Dimarzio model one on my LP Special just for kicks.

 

[electracoyote]

You play long enough, and enough styles of music, you're gonna end up stringing a bass with flats. Never thought it would happen to me, but I now have 3 of 30 basses strung with flats. They sit nicely with the funk horn bands I play with.

 

[FrednBass]

Like both kind of strings. It depends on the kind of sound you want.
I mostly use round

 

[Jjango]

I never,ever liked flats. Stainless rounds here. And,keep 'em comin'.

Ditto. No offense to the flats fans, but keep mine ROUND!

 

[Dave W]

Did you change from rounds to flats, and if so, why?

I use both on a variety of basses. I primarily use rounds, but I'll use flats every once in a while. These days I find that both types are a compromise in some way, but with rounds it's less.

Also if you're playing with a humbucker, are you using rounds or flats?

I had my Stingray strung with flats for the last few years, but I threw some rounds back on it a month ago. The rest of the humbucker equipped basses have always had rounds.

 

[malthumb]

To answer (add my opinion to) the original question, I don't see any massive swing to flats. Go to any music store and see what strings they have in stock. Rounds, more rounds, tapered rounds, coated rounds, and maybe one brand of flats.

I recently strung one of my basses with LaBella Flats. Had never played on flats before, and since I have two Music Man Sabre basses that are identical except for finish, I figured I'd put flats on the sunburst one to see what all the whoop was about. I came to the shocking revelation that they are........

.......different. That's it. Just different. I see no need to rush and rip them off the one bass that has them, because they sound pretty good. I also have no reason to rush out and slap flats on my other 5 basses because the rounds and coated rounds that are on them sound pretty good. At the end of the day, DR Black Beauties are still my string of choice, with DR Marcus Miller Fat Beams a distant 2nd.

What the flats do well is they eliminate string noise. So do coated rounds. Sometimes that's useful for me, but I can do that with managing my attack.

Someone says that flats suck for slap. Last Saturday I played the sunburst with flats at a gig. Slapped the crap out of "Word Up", "Car Wash", "Moves Like Jagger", and "Kiss". Sounded like a Music Man being slapped.

My two cents