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Once you go flat, you never go back
- Thread starter GodPlayedBass
- Start date
I like Dunlop and Ernie Ball strings for my basses. Sweetwater has Ernie Ball Hybrid Slinky Flats for $28... which looks like a good price for flat wound strings. I didn't realize Flats cost almost twice as much as rounds. Anybody here have any experience with Ernie Ball Flats?
Makes sense. I like flats for Motown and the little bit of jazz I play. I most often find myself playing in rock or R&B trios, so like rounds because the additional harmonics seem to fill out the sound more than flats, which sound more fundamental. But that's the idea--each type has its use.
I got flats on 3, rounds on 3 and tapewounds on the fretless.
Whew, you're one of the lucky ones. Lot's of times people put flats on a Ray and they get visited by plagues.
Best to keep rounds on a Ray, flats on a P.
But I have to admit I just picked up a 2021 P and of course it came with (I assume Fender 7250?) rounds and it was fun to smack it around for about a week before I stuck on the TI and finished setting it up for the flats.
So now order is restored.
I’m the opposite. Two with flats, one with rounds for when I want more high end. But Cobalt Flats have more mids/highs than I need most days.
Cobalt flats. They’re my fave for most of the music I play.
I play round wounds because that is what came on the basses I own and before I can get money to buy good flatrounds for at least one of them, I use the money to buy another bass or some accessory. My first bass a 67 Fender Mustang had flat wounds and I really liked them. My next, the flat wounds were dead but a set of Guild tapewounds were just right. bass was as Gibson EB-O with round wounds that sounded good but cut up my finger tips. The round wounds on my Fenders and on my Glarry GPII both cut my fingers up so I plan for every bass except for my Squier Mini Precision to change to flatwounds when I replace strings. I have to admit roundwound Gibson strings sound good on an EB-O but the pain ain't worth the gains. So put my vote in for flatwounds Didn't mention both the Mustang and the EB-O are long gone
I recently put rounds back on my Carvin B40. It had La Bella LTF’s that are great for a more traditional tone but I wanted to revisit slapping and tapping. I don’t see the flats going back on for a while.
I cannot emphasis how important it is to let your flats break in and it might take months. Damn, it's worth the wait. The bottom tightens up so nicely and the top end sweetens beautifully.
So far, I've put flats on my VM fretless jazz, my MIM FSR Ash Jazz and my VM Amber Precision. So friggin' happy.
So far, I've put flats on my VM fretless jazz, my MIM FSR Ash Jazz and my VM Amber Precision. So friggin' happy.
Roundwounds on my basses I use when I'm playing Rock / metal / hardcore.
Flats on my basses for everything else.
Flats on my basses for everything else.
I went flat several times, and each time I went back. Chromes, rotos, Dunlop, GHS, LaBella, thomastik, cobalts, ... No mas. So, you are not right and therefore wrong. QED. Sorry man.
Other things I’m unreasonably peevish about: tort, 4-string basses, VVT setups, I-V on 1 and 3 all night, 12 bar blues in E all night, Van Morrison and Eric Clapton, my singing voice, getting old, drummers who wear construction headphones instead of learning to play softer, band-leading singers who force the two chord progressions they know onto every song, band members that don’t practice, musicians with no desire to learn new things, and Reality TV. And the Grateful Dead.
Whew, I feel better.
I've been trying several roundwounds for the last 10 months in order to achieve a modern metal sound and I could tolerate none of them. They were all junk to my ears past a few weeks for the best, one hour for the worst. The feeling was unpleasant from the beginning. I found that rounds go dead quickly and are useless unless fresh out of the package. I loved the sound of fresh nickels but it only lasted for a few hours.
I went back to Chromes (played them for years in rock bands before that) and what a relief! They may not be the brightest ones but they sound consistently good and even string to string. In the meantime I got an HX Stomp and I can easily dial in an aggressive tone with a cranked SVT model. The Chromes sound really great in a high-gain bi-amp setting. I dare to say they excel in this area, thanks to their strong and accurate attack (I play with a pick 95% of the time), scooped tone, and zero finger noise.
I'm done experimenting, P+Chromes for me.
I went back to Chromes (played them for years in rock bands before that) and what a relief! They may not be the brightest ones but they sound consistently good and even string to string. In the meantime I got an HX Stomp and I can easily dial in an aggressive tone with a cranked SVT model. The Chromes sound really great in a high-gain bi-amp setting. I dare to say they excel in this area, thanks to their strong and accurate attack (I play with a pick 95% of the time), scooped tone, and zero finger noise.
I'm done experimenting, P+Chromes for me.
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Awesome.
I feel the same way except for tort pickguards. I don't know why, but I like them.
I tried nylon coated flats on my bass that i use for reggae and didn't like the sound. I put them on my acoustic bass guitar and they seem a better fit tonally. I much prefer steel roundwounds and with eq from bass or rig i get the sound i like.
