Once you go flat, you never go back

[StatesideRambler]

Flats vs. rounds … Ford vs. Chevy … PC vs. Mac …
Like many others, I'm sure, I had this experience: I play two different basses and have done for many years. A few years back I got an Epiphone Jack Casady signature bass and tried a small range of strings in the first year. The first time I used it with a band it had the factory rounds, the next several rehearsals it was strung with TI Jazz Flats and I finally settled on the Jack-recommended Dean Markley Blue Steels (rounds). After several months of playing the Blue Steels one of the guitarists commented that he liked the sound of the flats I was using. I wasn't going to burst his bubble by telling him that the sound I had was as much technique and settings as it was gear. I can't picture getting that notion across to a gearhead.

 

[Gary Stevens]

Funny that this thread came up.

I love flats and I have a set of TI's on my P that I'm not planning on changing. Yesterday I put on a set of LaBella 760FS on my Talman and... Yeah... My hands dislike the higher tension (the 9050m fenders killed me) and the bass just got too... mellow. Yesterday I was thinking I'd just leave them on - it doesn't sound bad by any means. Today I restrung it with rounds. The snarl I get on this bass with rounds is just too yummy and considering I only have 2 basses, I want the more aggressive one strung with rounds.

Plus, the LaBellas don't have silk on the ball end. I didn't like that.

I tried a set of LaBella flats and found them stiff and dull sounding. Went back to Daddario Chrome Flats. Yeah, I missed the silk wrap also. Absolutely no complaints with the Chrome Flats. Consistant. Great tone. Never broke one. They last forever.

 

[quickfix]

I don't really mind the sound of roundwounds, but I just can't stand the tactility.
The feel gives me the heebeegeebees.
I dunno.
The smooth feel and sound of flatwounds make me feel at ease.

 

[Kipp Harrington]

Love the feel, thud and clarity of my Chromes but I will always have at least a couple of my basses (primarily J basses) with GHS Pressurwounds. Nice thud, growl and bite when I want it. But I can get a pretty decent mellow tone when I roll back the tone knob on my bass.

 

[jmattbassplaya]

I would like to try flats again. The Chromes I once tried felt like somebody coated them with glue, and the tension was just too high, which was probably my fault. I bought the 100 or 105 set, don't remember.
I am so familiar with differing tensions on rounds, but there are so many flats available now so I don't know which set from which manufacturer has the feel I want, which is like a hex core nickel round in a 45-100 set.

The 95 Chromes set feels like rounds, IMO. I'm usually a D'Addario rounds guy.

 

[Steadfast]

I can't go flat. Medical miracle

 

[Kerem Koseoglu]

I went flat, and I went back to rounds. I don't think that I'm an outlier either.

 

[Gothic]

I tried a set of LaBella flats and found them stiff and dull sounding. Went back to Daddario Chrome Flats. Yeah, I missed the silk wrap also. Absolutely no complaints with the Chrome Flats. Consistant. Great tone. Never broke one. They last forever.

I can't judge the LaBella set as it's the first time I've used them and they stayed on for less than a day, so... I did prefer them to Chromes, based on first impressions, though. I didn't really gel with the Chromes I had on a JB before. I found they were lacking character, for lack of a better description. They weren't bad but they weren't "wow" either. And considering their price, I'd probably opt for Fender or GHS instead.

 

[P Cheen]

Nah. Flats are icky yucky.

 

[Gary Stevens]

Nah. Flats are icky yucky.

I subscribe to Bass Player magazine. In recent months, I have noticed an uptick in reviews and stories about short scale basses, ie similar to Gibson EBO and Alembic, as played by Stanley Clarke. All I use is 30.5" scale basses and Chrome Flats. Reconstructive hand surgery in 1980 limits left hand mobility, so shorter scale basses are a God-send. I just plain prefer Chrome flats, as far as tone and feel.

 

[jazzyvee]

True, i tried flats on my bass, didn't like them so never went back to them. Staying round.

 

[mickebas]

I use both... on different basses for different sounds.

 

[tvbop]

Have to say my 20 yr old dead chromes do give a wonderful tight thud...sound huge out in the audience. Id have to be threatened with imminent pain to play rounds now.

 

[Gothic]

Have to say my 20 yr old dead chromes do give a wonderful tight thud...sound huge out in the audience. Id have to be threatened with imminent pain to play rounds now.

Have chromes been around for that long?

 

[HaphAsSard]

Have chromes been around for that long?

Yes:
Search Results | TalkBass.com
[Also see here:
Ancient NOS D'Addario Chromes from 1992.
Some sleuthing in the thread points to the set in question being from at least, but not older than, the late Nineties (my own guess is 2003).]

 

[Ricky Rioli]

I went flat, and I went back to rounds. I don't think that I'm an outlier either.

I tried it too. Did the bass in question a world of good, and I loved the feel, but my ears couldn't take living without the extra whatever it is that rounds give.

I've concluded that I like flats like I like Stingrays: they're great in other people's hands.

 

[The Petro]

I have always played round wounds. I put a set of EB Cobalt flats on my Ibanez CT and absolutely love them. So smooth and for practicing, none of the clanks I have always disliked.
But I also want try different strings. I put Black beauties on my Schecter. Damn these things are rough feeling. I still haven't played them enough for the final thought, except they feel hard on the fingers.
I have a set of Cobalt rounds next.
My final thought, I haven't played with drums or guitars since around 2010, so I have no idea how the flats would sound in the mix.

 

[GrapeBass]

I have always played round wounds. I put a set of EB Cobalt flats on my Ibanez CT and absolutely love them. So smooth and for practicing, none of the clanks I have always disliked.
But I also want try different strings. I put Black beauties on my Schecter. Damn these things are rough feeling. I still haven't played them enough for the final thought, except they feel hard on the fingers.
I have a set of Cobalt rounds next.
My final thought, I haven't played with drums or guitars since around 2010, so I have no idea how the flats would sound in the mix.

Flats are nice and chunky with a wonderful percussive attack but lack a bit of upper mid/treble content. They do cut through better than expected although you may miss some of that upper mid content on certain songs. It really depends on your own style (expectations) and the genre being played.

Good luck and let us know how it turns out!

 

[Gary Stevens]

I tried it too. Did the bass in question a world of good, and I loved the feel, but my ears couldn't take living without the extra whatever it is that rounds give.

I've concluded that I like flats like I like Stingrays: they're great in other people's hands.

So, you like high end on your bass.

 

[Ricky Rioli]

So, you like high end on your bass.

It's more to do with the focus of the sound: I loved the rich bottom end of the flats – they finally turned the TRBX into a bass – but the blurred husky edge to the tone got to me after a while. If the sound had been that basic tone, but smoothly rounded, I would have been happy