I tried Flats but changed them after 2 days

[pie_man_25]

I wouldn't overthink it. If you have other basses I might give them another go if I were you. If it were my only bass though, I'd not worry too much. Maybe keep them in a plastic bag in your case/gig bag somewhere and if something happens you've at least got backups.

 

[FishDub]

Fender 9050's are pretty cheap. Like around 20 bucks. So that isn't all that much money to spend to try something.
Personally I like 9050's. First time I tried them it took a couple of weeks to get used to them. I also found that using a bit of FAST FRET made them feel better at first. I have them on my '77 Jazz Bass. They are about two years old and feel great. You might want to give it a little more time.

+1..I never thought flats would work on my RW jazz but I tried the 9050s last year and they sound great..If I eq more brightness its all the bite I need.

 

[braud357]

I played flats from when I started playing in 1968 until around 1978. Have been playing roundwounds ever since. After reading all of the glowing reports here, I thought that it might be something I need to revisit. Put a set of Fender flats on my P-Bass, and played them for about 6 weeks, and 3 gigs. I could not get used to the feel or the sound, and even my bandmates commented on my bass sound (negatively, I might add !). I removed them, and have no intention of ever going back to flats again. They do not work for me anymore !!

 

[Hounddog409]

Hi all, just curious if others have had the same experience as me.

Over the last several weeks, I've been thinking of putting flat wounds on my Fender P Bass. I did all the research, watched comparison videos, sound samples, etc. Got a set of Fender 9050s and put them on. Right away, a very different feel - tighter tension, obviously smoother feel (maybe too smooth). I liked that I was able to lower my action. I really wanted to like them but after 2 days I took them off and put my rounds back on. I missed the punch and the friction of the strings. I seem to have more control of the tone with the rounds, and if I want that flat sound can roll off the tone knob on my bass.

Anyone else have the same experience? Should I give them another chance? There is part of me that says put them back on and give them a month.

Thanks for any thoughts you share.

Thom

I hate flats. The feel sucks. Can't stand the slippery feel.

 

[cheechi]

flat wounds on my Fender P Bass.

I learned bass in the 80s

Steve Harris. Just saying.
Roto SH77

 

[Yahboy]

Hi all, just curious if others have had the same experience as me.

Over the last several weeks, I've been thinking of putting flat wounds on my Fender P Bass. I did all the research, watched comparison videos, sound samples, etc. Got a set of Fender 9050s and put them on. Right away, a very different feel - tighter tension, obviously smoother feel (maybe too smooth). I liked that I was able to lower my action. I really wanted to like them but after 2 days I took them off and put my rounds back on. I missed the punch and the friction of the strings. I seem to have more control of the tone with the rounds, and if I want that flat sound can roll off the tone knob on my bass.

Anyone else have the same experience? Should I give them another chance? There is part of me that says put them back on and give them a month.

Thanks for any thoughts you share.

Thom

I suggest you give the flat one more try, not 9050 but labella LTF4A ！
Since the 9050 fresh from pack voice give you weird roundwound like voice, this thing make the pbass tone in your mind reject it.

But the old school vibe from LTF4A would give you different view and different feel on it from first pluck on your hand.

Hopehelp

 

[And I]

In my limited experience, new flats don't sound good and they don't feel great on the finger until they wear in for a while. If you have a beater bass, i'd throw the flats on it and let them settle in.

 

[Meaculpa]

I love both

 

[scuzzy]

Don't go down the flats rabbit hole that this site will recommend if you don't seem to love it as much as the collective. They aren't for everyone, and I would say they are for the select minority. If you like them and they suit you, great. Keep rocking. If not, don't be pressured into spending money on expensive sets that will leave you unhappy. They certainly are not the apex, end-all, one and only type string that this forum would lead you to believe.

 

[Al Kraft]

If it means anything, 2 days is an entire day longer than I lasted when I tried a similar experiment years ago. IMO it all boils down to personal taste and playing technique also seems to be a big part of how well change experiments like this go, at least for me.

 

[jmon]

As this is the 9 millionth thread on this topic, I can offer this from me a former flats hater:

Tomastik Infeld Jazz Flats are the best sounding and feeling flats I've ever played. I have two basses with sets on them. I love rounds, but eventually all of my basses will wear TIs, price can be prohibitive.

Ernie Ball cobalt flats aren't too bad either. They're definitely not as good as TIs but they suffice if you like flats that sound similar to rounds.

This. I’ve tried many Flats. Always come back to TIs. They are their own thing. I can’t really compare them to other flats on the market. The low tension actually improved my touch over the last few years. You begin to realize you don’t have beat the stings so much to get a great tone out of them. They aren’t for everyone but spend the money and try them. Trust me. They will resell in a day in the classified here on TB if you don’t like them. PM me first. I could always use another set.

 

[StatesideRambler]

Rounds are an acquired taste. It's either they work for you or they don't depending on your tonal goals and general expectations.

That version is as valid for some as yours is for you. Frankly, I don’t believe that two days is enough to get a real feel for a big change like that but I won’t press you to stick with ‘em. The music you play carries a lot of importance in evaluating strings.

 

[bobyoung53]

Speaking of which, related, I did get a set of the LaBella Deep Talkin strings, for about 6 months now, not real happy with them compared to the 9050s tone, I seem to have lost some bottom. I see quite a few TI recommendations here, any comparison? Feel-wise? Trying to see if it's worth changing.

A lot of people seem to like TI's but to me they are like playing with overdone spaghetti on your bass and to me there's nothing special in the sound either, they're very middy and otherwise nondescript in fact to me they get more middy as they age, now La Bella DTF's are a different story, i love those strings. And to be fair I did try TI's twice too, it had been like 10 years since I bought the first set and saw people raving about them here and figured well maybe something's changed in the last ten years, nope not for me.

 

[bobyoung53]

Over the last several weeks, I've been thinking of putting flat wounds on my Fender P Bass. I did all the research, watched comparison videos, sound samples, etc. Got a set of Fender 9050s and put them on. Right away, a very different feel - tighter tension, obviously smoother feel (maybe too smooth). I liked that I was able to lower my action. I really wanted to like them but after 2 days I took them off and put my rounds back on. I missed the punch and the friction of the strings. I seem to have more control of the tone with the rounds, and if I want that flat sound can roll off the tone knob on my bass.

Anyone else have the same experience? Should I give them another chance? There is part of me that says put them back on and give them a month.

Thanks for any thoughts you share.

Thom[/QUOTE]


I started playing in 1967 and of course played flatwounds, I never even heard of round wounds (Rotosounds) until sometime in the early 70's. I switched to Rotos, got used to them and used roundwounds exclusively until the early 2000's after seeing a blues band with a really good sounding bass player who used flats (he said "of course" when I asked him if he was using flats as they weren't very common at that time) when I started playing more blues and roots type of music, it took me a while to get used to to them again, I used to switch back and forth a lot. I had those same Fenders (9050?) on a Ric 4003 10-15 years ago and they sounded and played great, they're my second favorite flat wound. I had always noticed that a lot of the real old timer studio guys used to use La Bella flats, half of the articles I read about them mentioned La Bella strings so I started buying them, different gauges etc. I settled on the medium set for my P bass, La Bella deep Talkin Flats, 45-105's, they're great strings for plucking and to me they make a P bass sound exactly like they're supposed to sound, of course that is subjective but..... I like the stiffness, but I also like that you can set the action down nice and low and still not bottom out. They even sound really good and loud without an amp, if you're looking for that old time funky 60's type P bass sound, Duck Dunn for example, the Motown players, or even the picked Carol Kaye type P bass sound they're perfect for it, they are expensive though compared to most strings but they last practically forever once they break in. I still have some rounds on certain basses, I have them on my Jazz and on Rics but love the ones with flats. Also I suggest trying different strings until you find one or several that you like, it's expensive yes but you'll end up with the strings that you really like or at least that's what i did. I also have a lighter gauge of La Bella's on my TF fretless. They also sound very good with a pick, they will cut right through the mix, also play around with your EQ, if you take the time you can get a good sound out of just about anything if you really experiment with settings, action, strings EQ etc.

 

[klejst]

Sounds like my one and only experience with flats. I know you cannot judge them off one time since there are so many different string manufacturers however it's true if roundwounds work so so well why change.

 

[Mechayoshi]

Some basses will work with flats, others not. Definitely hang on to them as others suggested.

Also try EB cobalt flats if your brave enough to try again, they sound like rounds and unlike simularly bright flats like Chromes, the tension feels almost like normal strings. I like them even on my PJ with Emgs, so that's that.

 

[Tatman]

I really like them on my Vox Phantom IV but not on the 5 string Ibanz. At high volume the old Vox will really bark and growl with 'em.

 

[CoffeeLove]

Hi all, just curious if others have had the same experience as me.

Over the last several weeks, I've been thinking of putting flat wounds on my Fender P Bass. I did all the research, watched comparison videos, sound samples, etc. Got a set of Fender 9050s and put them on. Right away, a very different feel - tighter tension, obviously smoother feel (maybe too smooth). I liked that I was able to lower my action. I really wanted to like them but after 2 days I took them off and put my rounds back on. I missed the punch and the friction of the strings. I seem to have more control of the tone with the rounds, and if I want that flat sound can roll off the tone knob on my bass.

Anyone else have the same experience? Should I give them another chance? There is part of me that says put them back on and give them a month.

Thanks for any thoughts you share.

Thom

Yep, put flats on my pbass long ago and pulled them after a couple weeks. I do love the big-round-bottom of flats. I landed on GHS Pressurewounds, which give me the bottom I like while maintaining some sizzle/zing.

 

[Ric5]

Hi all, just curious if others have had the same experience as me.

Over the last several weeks, I've been thinking of putting flat wounds on my Fender P Bass. I did all the research, watched comparison videos, sound samples, etc. Got a set of Fender 9050s and put them on. Right away, a very different feel - tighter tension, obviously smoother feel (maybe too smooth). I liked that I was able to lower my action. I really wanted to like them but after 2 days I took them off and put my rounds back on. I missed the punch and the friction of the strings. I seem to have more control of the tone with the rounds, and if I want that flat sound can roll off the tone knob on my bass.

Anyone else have the same experience? Should I give them another chance? There is part of me that says put them back on and give them a month.

Thanks for any thoughts you share.

Thom

I started playing in the 60s … flats were the norm and rounds were rare … I grew to hate flats and love rounds.

Now I don't hate flats, they do make a cool sound, but I get bored with them quickly and want rounds on a bass, because I can emulate the flatwound tone by palm muting, but a can't emulate the sound of rounds with a bass strung with flats.

So I am a rounds guy.

 

[dkelley]

And obviously only flats on fretless basses.

Huh?

Not obvious at all. Many of the biggest fretless legends used rounds. Why is it obvious that you use flats on fretless?