Also Craig, the last thing you should worry about is what everyone else is doing or what Guitar Center sells the most of. I got sniped at on here when I offended some delicate little sensibilities by saying that 95% of players are sheep. What I was trying to say in my heavy-handed way was that most people do things just because everyone else is doing it. People are generally lazy and they don't want to do research and listen for themselves. Therefore GC says everyone is buying roundwounds, then so am I… everyone on talkbass says they are loading up on fx pedals, then so am I. You shouldn't worry about what the stinking masses are doing. We all need help and guidance along the way, but use and trust your own ears and you will stand out from the crowd.
The other problem is trying to emulate what professional players do. Yes, if on the gigs you normally play you'll be blowing through hundreds of thousands of dollars worth of sound reinforcement gear while being mixed by a REAL, QUALIFIED foh engineer, then you can sound fantastic using roundwounds and all manner of flangers, phasers, choruses or whatever crap. But if like the rest of us you have to rely on what you can generate onstage, or be at the mercy of some guy mixing in the club who was a plumber last week, then you are better off developing a straight-ahead sound that lays the foundation for the ensemble, and leave all the frilly stuff for the studio.
Don't get upset - this is not fact, just my opinion based on 45 years of playing and 38 years of engineering.
BTW - I use flats on my G&L L-1000, but I have a Kramer XL-8 strung 4-string with roundwoounds. But it's down to where I use the Kramer on one or maybe two songs a set.
