Oh yeah, they're no joke lol.The Roto 50-110 flats set has over 250lbs of tension...
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MarkBass Vintage Series Flats
- Thread starter Frovan
- Start date
That's one of the reasons why I won't put them on anything else. The Steve Harris P has a baseball bat neck so it can handle them. Even the 45-105 77s are like 240lbs of tension tho. I tried those on one of my Js and they came off within a few days. Plus they just don't have that old school flats tone like the GHS have. I played in a Maiden tribute band for a while so to get Steve's sound you gotta use the Rotosounds because nothing else compares. I tried to even custom order some monel wrapped flats in that gauge but with less tension from a few smaller custom string companies, and no one I called would do it. They're not terrible once you get used to them tho, but it makes going back to lower tension strings abrupt at first.
No, you're absolutely right. Need to
Match the right strings to the bass. I keep learning that lesson the hard way.
Only way to really know is to try a bunch. I was hesitant for a while about the GHS flats because of the 38in wind, but im glad I finally pulled the trigger on a set. It is a pain to bend the E around the tuner, and it takes longer for the E to intonate because of it but it's fine. I wish GHS would make those in the 37.25 wind again.
You're right. I need to embrace that. It's silly to think a bunch of reviews will let me know what my ears think. I can do setups. Time to just try stuff myself!
Also nice to see another vote for GHS Precisions. I like what I hear through my studio monitors (though I expect the various sample sources are compressed to death). I like GHS and played Boomers back when I was younger and cool. I should try some myself.
Yeah and the setup makes a big difference in a strings response too. The differences in the few demos of the Markbass flats on Precisions are fairly different.
I love the GHS flats. Perfect tension for what I like and they sound a little broken in out of the pack.
Man, that's such an underrated point; setup matters! I personally set up higher so I have room to dig in without "overdriving" the strings. That heavily weights on string preference for a number of good reasons.
And yeah, I actually think these Markbass strings sound great but definitely different in the clips. I'm thinking one set is new.
May I ask, by the way, in order to have less tension, is it possible to tune high tension D and G flatwound strings to D1 and G1 (namely same octave as E and A strings) instead of the normal d2 and g2?
Yes, is this possible in case they are very high tension, like 65-68lbs per string?
Yeah you could do that I suppose. Same as any other string that's tension and gauge will allow that.
Hmm... I may as well try, as soon as that 9050M set arrives. The thought of subjecting the neck to so much tension has been causing me nightmares.
