One with flats and one with rounds ?

[Freight Train]

Ok , who here really does this?

In the last rock cover band I was in I took either my Telecaster or G&L L-1000 strung with flats, and my Jack Casady Epiphone strung with rounds. It was a fantastic change of colors when I would switch, both from the total different vibe of the basses themselves and the sound of the strings. We'd arrange our set lists where we'd play at least 3 songs with one type before I would switch, even though the guitarist/singer would sometimes space and call a song that would require a quick change, but overall it worked and sounded great. I've now been in an original blues band for 9 or 10 years and it's all flats. Is that what you were asking?

 

[FirewalZ]

As much as I love flats for certain tones, I just can’t get it to work for me in live settings. That, and most of them take months of playing before they sound good. These reasons, I don’t mess with them anymore.

 

[bassbrad]

I run a mix of strings on my basses and have a Pstyle bass with an old set of flats, I don't really like the sound or feel but some of my clients expect that tonelessness. FWIW I often cheat and use a bass with very old rounds and that has never been noticed.

 

[blmeier7]

I started doing this a little over 10 years ago with P basses. One with maple and rounds, one with rosewood and flats.

 

[MdC64]

I do.
2 P basses with rounds, 1 with flats.
1 jazz with rounds, 1 with flats.
I like a little variety.

 

[ItsmeSantiago]

I was thing of doing the opposite. I would of thought flats sound better on a P?

I would agree, however I like my P far more than my J, and I can't seem to pry the rounds off of the P. In a perfect world, I'd carbon copy this P and put flats on it.

 

[ItsmeSantiago]

Yeah, I think rounds take some of the muddiness out of a P, and flats fatten up the thin sound of a J.

This is my theory at the moment. The P is perfect and the J plays fine but it plays a little nicer with the flats on it, so that's where they go. I'm leaning toward just putting flats on everything at this point but can't convince myself to take the Cobalts off the P just yet. Maybe Cobalt flats are in order lol

 

[Maxi Funkl]

Tapes on my Fretless currently my least played bass. But things go cycles for me. I am considering putting Flats on my PJ IV,
But right now all basses have Nickles except my Fretless.

 

[Wyrdlow]

Flats on both Ps, rounds on the Rick, pressure wound on the fretless, nylon tapes on the acoustic. All Rotosound. Been that way for a while now. I had flats on my MIM P and bought a Squier 50s style P to have one with rounds, but much preferred the flats. The pressure wound have taken over from flats on the fretless ( a Harley Benton) fairly recently, and I'm very impressed. If - IF - I were to get another P to put rounds on, I'd try the split pick up type.

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Ok , who here really does this?

I absolutely do this. My MIJ Fender PB57 has rounds; my early 90s US 62 Reissue Precision has flats. It’s GREAT!

edit: in the above pic, the 62 has tapes. It’s currently wearing Sadowsky flats

 

[fjbolebruch]

I have 6 basses, four wear flats, one has tapes, the other has pressure wounds. I just don’t get along with rounds, unless they’re old and 1/2 dead.

 

[shirojiro]

I have two PJ basses - one has cobalt flats. One has generic rounds that are pretty dead. They’re Ibanez RKB900 basses so they came with SD Quarter Pound pickups.

I play the one with cobalt flats the most. Those strings are great, especially after the zing wears off, but this took a long time.

I also have two Jazz basses - MIJ 75 ri and. MIJ Geddy Lee Sig, two P basses - MIM 50s Classic and MIJ Aerodyne Precision, two 5 string Musicman style basses - one is an SR 5 and one is an OLP Tony Levin signature bass.

I keep on planning to have one with rounds and one with flats, but I haven’t gotten around to it.
I will say that the OLP TL Sig sounds great with Chromes on it.

 

[GIBrat51]

Ok , who here really does this?

Well... me, I guess. But, it wasn't deliberate, really; just worked out that way...
I used to put EB Hybrid Slinky's on every 34" scale bass I bought, while I decided on what it would wear permanently. Sometimes they came off quickly; sometimes they stayed on a bass for a year or two...
I put them on a 2001 COY (Desert Gold) Rick 4003; didn't sound bad at all. They stayed on it, mainly because I found out that 2001 Coy Ricks - any model - are pretty rare. Left handed ones? Mine might be the only one... So, it didn't get played a lot. Still doesn't... I bought a beat up '73 4001, just to have a Rick I could play. I bought the last Rick Light Nickel Rounds RIC had, at about the same time. I really liked those things; RIC should never have dropped those strings... The 4001 wore them until I ran out of them. When Optima brought out their 4440 RB Flats, I put them on the 4003; so, for as long as the light Ric rounds lasted, I had a Rick with rounds, and one with flats. But, when the last set of those rounds died? They got replaced with a set of Dogal "Jaco" Flats...
I did pretty much the same thing with my 2 Danelectro DC59 Pro basses. The EB Hybrid Slinkys on one got replaced with a set of Fender 9050L Flats (which it still wears), and the other wore the Slinkys for... about 3 years, actually. But, I really wanted the vintage "Dano sound" from that bass, so... now, it wears really light La Bella 760FX DTF's...
TBH, I don't like round wound bass strings. Aside from the fact that they really hurt my nerve damaged, frostbitten fingers? They don't work very well for most of the music I like to play; which was mostly originally played on a bass guitar with flats, or tapes - or, on an upright. Out of 27 basses, only my '94 Gretsch Broadkaster wears rounds; TIJR 324 Jazz Rounds. But, since that bass is the only left handed Gretsch bass I've ever found - in 30+ years of looking? The chances of finding one to put flats on, are somewhere between slim and none. And, Slim left town...

 

[wboyd68]

Flats on everything.

 

[Ggaa]

Forgot, Fatbeams on a fretless.

 

[SteveC]

My P has TI Flats. I've tried other flats, rounds, but TI Flats are what sounds right/good on this bass. If I could afford/justify another P bass I'd try to have rounds on it.
My "modern 5" has nickel rounds. My "modern fretless 5" also has nickel rounds. I like the mwah.
My jazz has nickel rounds as well. I've had flats on it and its nice, but I sometimes use it to "backup" my fretted 5 so I put rounds on again.

 

[joel the bass player]

Two P basses, one with flats and one with rounds. Had Chromes on my MIA P for quite a while, but put rounds back on it and put some TI flats that have been in a drawer for the last 4-5 years on my AV63 P. I think I tried the TIs back when I bought them but decided I needed rounds on it more at the time.

Flats are kind of a fun alternative for me (especially on the AV63 P), and I think I'll try using them out more often. All my other basses wear rounds, Fat Beams on the 5s, Slinkys on a few and currently some Sadowsky Blue steel on the Sadowsky J. Maybe I need to try some flats on it. I have a couple sets of take off Chromes and I think a set of Fender flats somewhere.

 

[logdrum]

Fender Jazz Special PJ with a selector switch rather than balance is flats. Fender American Standard P is rounds
but I do not have closely similar basses like you have @LadyLoveStingRay5

 

[jurberg]

Rounds on the red MB-5. The black MB-5 has a set of chromes that were on it when I got it 3 years ago. No idea old they are but they sound good. Both get playing time but the one with rounds get more as I mostly play on modern teams.

 

[BlueTalon]

"One"?