I want to love flats, but can't commit

[Frenchy-Lefty]

You said it, you DO NEED two basses...or three, or four, or five, or six, or...

 

[JesseVMT]

Oh, and uhm, make sure your new bass you use with flats is a burst P with a tort guard. Nothing else is acceptable here.

What's wrong with that?

 

[armybass]

I used to have one bass for flats. Now most of my basses have flats on them and I rarely catch myself playing a bass with rounds for an entire set these days. I have found flats to be far more versatile than I did years ago. While I still love round wounds I find flats provide a solid fundamental that I don't hear with rounds anymore.

 

[JimmyM]

I love them both, and I had a 2-year period of nothing but flats, but I hate bringing more than one bass to a gig, so 95 times out of 100 it's a bass with rounds. I do love that dead flats thwack and miss it sometimes, no doubt, but rounds are preferred by anyone in my band with an opinion and I agree with them.

 

[RyanKW]

Four basses with rounds, one with pressurewounds, one with tapes here . Rounds are the most versatile, no question. I've had flats before, and may again, but the tapes handle that need for now.

 

[Freez]

Flats suck.

come on, tell us how you really feel!

 

[andruca]

After 30 years playing bass I still find them useless even on the fretless basses I've had. If I want dead strings I kill them myself, put old ones, or simply roll back the treble and put anything foamy right beside the bridge touching the strings. If I want them unplayable I go thicker gauge. I'm one of those that just hate a P ruined with flats and, well, my Epi Viola aims at anything but the Macca thing (altho' one of my fave bassists I try to get into his most valuable legacy, his ideas, not his tone).

 

[klokker]

I prefer the tone and feel of the flats I've tried, but at least in my band, they just don't work as well. Bright, clean, clear, tight low end with just a hint of warmth works best for me (SS lo riders). Going through my compressor and VT Deluxe, the rounds just make that all work well. Flats just don't sit in the mix as well, or I've never figured it out yet.

I think in the recording studio flats might be the way to go. They do sound best IMO, at least on their own.

 

[navijaz]

Flats suck.

OK. Enough is enough... Mods!

 

[markoc]

I'm gonna go against the grain here in a couple ways. 1 I like old rounds almost as much as old flats. I pretty much keep a three bass stable and rotate between 5 sets of strings. it takes me about 10 minutes to restring my bass. If you want to stay with 1 bass, just get a set of each and swap strings as needed. I know technically removing and reinstalling a set of strings can/will damage them but I have a set of flats that have been on 8 or 9 different basses and on and off at least 30 in the last 6/7yrs. Stick with strings in the same gauge and the swap is easy.

 

[vin*tone]

I've always loved the tone of flats; most of my favorite bassists seem to use flatwound strings (particularly McCartney). So a while ago I put flats on my bass for the first time, expecting to love it. I do like the tone and I absolutely love the feel of the strings (they feel so much nicer than rounds), but I often find myself longing for the tone of rounds. I guess the ideal solution would be to have two basses, one with each type of strings, but with only one bass I think rounds are more versatile for me.

As much as I love the thump and feel, sometimes I need the brighter longer sustained tone of rounds, and with only one bass it's hard to sacrifice that for flats. I think I'll switch back to rounds; someday I'll have two basses, one with rounds and one with flats, but for now I'll be sticking with rounds.

Has anyone else experienced this? I really wanna be a flatwound guy, but I can't fully commit.

I think I went back and forth a few times over a couple of years before settling on flats. After a while you might find the sound of rounds grating.

 

[Seth Miller]

I had the same experience but in reverse going from flats to rounds. You could try TI flats; they growl. Or Rotosoundd; they bite.

 

[twinjet]

Tried to love flats on a Precision myself. Just wayyyy too specific of a sound, couldn't make it work with all the stuff I was working on. Okay sound, but I'm no motown guy and frankly the sound left a lot to be desired.

 

[Steve Dallman]

I've used rounds since 1975 when I discovered Rotosounds. I do have flats on my fretless, but prefer rounds.

I've played a Line 6 Variax bass for 10 years, and use the flat models (two Jazz, one P, a Rickenbacker, and a Gibson EB-0) when the sound of flats is needed, but that isn't that often. I use a Danelectro Longhorn model most of the time. I like bright and clangy although I've toned things down over the years.

The first time I heard Rotosounds on a P bass through an SVT I thought I heard the voice of God. I chased that sound and got it when I bought a P bass, put Rotosounds on it, and bought an SVT. I still use that tone as the basis of what I play.

 

[Dana R Gregory]

Try D'Addario Chromes. Very smooth on the fingers and a nice bright tone that lends itself very nicely to slap and pop.

 

[jchrisk1]

I'm in the opposite boat as you are now. I have two basses with flats, both four strings. One with TI's, one with LaBella's.
I'm now looking for a five string to have rounds on. Unfortunately, I asked for permission instead of forgiveness ...

 

[Joe Nerve]

A bass can't be a 10 if it's got flats on it. Or somethin like that...

 

[AztecViking]

Love comes naturally, purely and freely from the heart. If you have to make yourself "love" something by effort and will power then you've simply made the wrong choice for yourself. Just sayin'.

 

[brianrost]

I guess the ideal solution would be to have two basses, one with each type of strings, but with only one bass I think rounds are more versatile for me.

I agree 100%. That was one reason I got another bass when I had gigs that called for flats. Today I have three strung with flats, six with rounds. So I guess I prefer rounds for general purpose playing, flats are more specialized.

 

[equill]

It's funny: I'm going the other way.
I recently bought a fretted bass, mostly for contrast, and it came with roundwounds. My instinct is to replace them with flats, especially as I'm mostly playing reggae at the moment, but I'm giving them time to prove themselves. You never know, I might find a use for all that zingy higher-order stuff going on, and I can always turn the treble down to tune it out.