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Only 1 bass - how to pick strings?
- Thread starter dwagner
- Start date
If you can only choose one, always go brighter (rounds). You can always dial back the tone. You can't add treble where there isn't any.
Yeah, you just need to save your pennies and get another bass.
To answer the question- if I could only have one it would be rounds.
To answer the question- if I could only have one it would be rounds.
I agree with what others have said, if you can only have one, rounds are the way to go.
That being said, for live work a lot will depending on what kind of rig you have. I have two steady "gigs": Church worship team and a new country band that my friend started. For church, I do not have an amp on stage, I either go direct or I use my DI/Preamp box. I have found that a "low-mids" heavy sound is best - if I use flats I just need to typically add less (because its already there - Labella 760FLs) than if I use rounds (DR Sunbeams). But I just tweak a bit to taste and it works out. With the new country act, I actually prefer rounds because when I used flats it was just too "bassy" for what I was doing. I preferred the more "even" sound of rounds there. In my spare time I am a punk rocker at heart and for that style its rounds with a pick all the way. So I just try to fit where I can.
Rounds tend to be more chameleon-like and therefore more versatile. Flats, on their own, tend to fit in a more narrow "box" - and what they do there they do better than rounds.
Feel is also important - I prefer the feel of DR Sunbeams to the Labellas. It is my opinion that they play "quicker", I believe because less surface area. Which doesn't always matter, but just a feel thing for me. Many prefer the feel of flatwounds because their surface area is less aggressive, but this is not a rule.
Flats and rounds each also have their own unique sustain - not more or less but different. I like the sustain of rounds better for say worship music where you need that ringing whole note. The flats will ring for 4 beats or 8 beats or whatever, but it is a different "curve" so to speak.
Are you an experimenter or a set it and forget it kind of person in other areas of life? If the first rounds will be a fun journey. If second, flats will be your jam.
Sorry for all the quotations. I did that because I am describing something in my own words that you might describe differently.
To summarize, if I could only choose one string type for only one bass, it would be nickel rounds, and specifically DR Sunbeams for me - I love them and I have them on all my basses. But really any standard nickel round would work. If you take any manufacturers at face value, you probably are hearing Ernie Ball Slinkies more than you'd think - their artist page is gigantic and diverse. They and Daddario are probably the most popular out there.
That being said, for live work a lot will depending on what kind of rig you have. I have two steady "gigs": Church worship team and a new country band that my friend started. For church, I do not have an amp on stage, I either go direct or I use my DI/Preamp box. I have found that a "low-mids" heavy sound is best - if I use flats I just need to typically add less (because its already there - Labella 760FLs) than if I use rounds (DR Sunbeams). But I just tweak a bit to taste and it works out. With the new country act, I actually prefer rounds because when I used flats it was just too "bassy" for what I was doing. I preferred the more "even" sound of rounds there. In my spare time I am a punk rocker at heart and for that style its rounds with a pick all the way. So I just try to fit where I can.
Rounds tend to be more chameleon-like and therefore more versatile. Flats, on their own, tend to fit in a more narrow "box" - and what they do there they do better than rounds.
Feel is also important - I prefer the feel of DR Sunbeams to the Labellas. It is my opinion that they play "quicker", I believe because less surface area. Which doesn't always matter, but just a feel thing for me. Many prefer the feel of flatwounds because their surface area is less aggressive, but this is not a rule.
Flats and rounds each also have their own unique sustain - not more or less but different. I like the sustain of rounds better for say worship music where you need that ringing whole note. The flats will ring for 4 beats or 8 beats or whatever, but it is a different "curve" so to speak.
Are you an experimenter or a set it and forget it kind of person in other areas of life? If the first rounds will be a fun journey. If second, flats will be your jam.
Sorry for all the quotations. I did that because I am describing something in my own words that you might describe differently.
To summarize, if I could only choose one string type for only one bass, it would be nickel rounds, and specifically DR Sunbeams for me - I love them and I have them on all my basses. But really any standard nickel round would work. If you take any manufacturers at face value, you probably are hearing Ernie Ball Slinkies more than you'd think - their artist page is gigantic and diverse. They and Daddario are probably the most popular out there.
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I'm going to be the contrarian here and state that you can get some ample crunch and clank with the right bass and right set of flats -- i.e. TI JF344's, Ernie Ball Cobalts, or perhaps Rotosound 77's. The main caveat is that the bass needs to have a screaming treble pickup that you can dial in. For the deeper and lower midrange sounds, flats generally have more definition and less of a rolled off sound like rounds do when going for that particular type of tone.
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I agree. My TI P has plenty of crunch and clank when I want it to. I have to be the contrarian as well and say I think I'd keep flats - especially if my only bass was a P or even a J. I like rounds on a 5 string, but that may change someday as well. I think you can do a lot with flats and a lot with a P. Neither are one trick ponies in my mind. And that is a new opinion as I used to think otherwise until I tried it for a while and really explored the possibilities.
Okay-- I originally thought this emanate how to pluck the strings, but I see it means choose the strings
Different story.
I mean why would the number of basses you own affect how you pluck the strings?
That said, my first bass had flats--and it was my only bass for a quite a while.
I wasn't happy itht he sound, and when I switched to rounds & removed the foam mute--I had the sound I wanted.
Carol Kaye would not agree--but then I was looking for a different sound.
I only have one bass and play in an original power pop/post punk band. I want strings that feel good and are balanced in both volume and tension. Bass is strung with LaBella flats. If I want more treble, I just turn up the treble on the amp.
Don't overthink it.
Don't overthink it.
Seeing as how I own a whole bunch of basses, the parameters of your question ; one bass; the musical spectrum; and the rounds or flats choice -is a hard one for me to answer. But, I'll try...
- One Bass. I've been playing bass since the late 1960's, and my preference runs very heavily toward 4 string, passive basses. Sticking with a bass that I already own? I'd go with one of the 3 active basses I have; an Alembic Epic; a G&L Tom Hamilton ASAT; and an EBMM 4HH Stingray Special. Given the musical requirements, I think I'd go with my Alembic, since I already use it for Jazz - which it does VERY well; and I don't think any of the other categories would be much of a stretch. Especially since there's a pedalboard involved - which, personally, I don't use...
- Flats or Rounds. Out of my 23 basses, only 2 of them wear rounds, and only one wears tapes. All the others wear a wide variety of flats. So, it should be no surprise that I'd put flats on the Alembic. I've been playing basses with flats for over 50 years, and I learned a long time ago that there's as much difference between different flats, as there is between different rounds. So, given the pedalboard; the active bass; and the music? I'd go with fairly bright, "modern" flats; ones with decent, but not dominant lows; lots of low-mids; really good mids; and good highs. Which, IME, boils down to; EB Cobalt Flats; D'Addario Chromes; Fender 9050Ls; or TI Jazz Flats. Since I think they're the cat's ass for playing Jazz on an Alembic Epic already? I'd leave the TI Jazz Flats just where they are... And, as an added bonus? If I keep them in good shape, there's a good chance that I'll die of old age before they need to be replaced...
So, bottom line? In this scenario, I'd go with the Alembic Epic and the TI Jazz Flats...
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Just depends on the bass. My Alembic with TIJF's sustains very well, thank you. The Optima RB flats on my Rick 4003 would sustain waay too much for me - if I didn't use that wonderful mute that's built into the bridge. And my '78 Kramer 450B lumie? Even with a set of Optima "Chrome" flats, the sustain is just... never ending...
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You can make rounds sound pretty much like flats with a bit of EQ'ing, or even just using the tone control of the bass, and eventual additionally a piece of foam at the bridge stuck under the strings, it's hard, if not straight out impossible, to make flats sound convincingly as rounds.
Not to be snarky or anything, but... for as long as I've been hearing and reading this tired old cliche', nobody has ever managed - or even tried - to explain why on Earth I would want to make rounds sound like flats? Ever thought that maybe some people don't want to sound like they're playing rounds- not ever, never? Not sounding like rounds is precisely the reason why I've been playing flats, 99.5% of the time, for 50+ years now...
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Not to be snarky or anything, but... for as long as I've been hearing and reading this tired old cliche', nobody has ever managed - or even tried - to explain why on Earth I would want to make rounds sound like flats? They just state it as a given, like "the Earth is round"; as if no explanation is necessary. Not sounding like rounds - ever - is precisely the reason why I've been playing flats, 99.5% of the time, for 50+ years...
Just what the...
???You probably wouldn't have any reason to, but someone only owning 1 single bass, the premise of the OP of this thread, would properly want to be able to sound like both, hence my answer in this context.
My answer was not aimed at you but OP.
What on Earth makes you think I was talking about you?
I didn't even say anything about that everybody in my opinion ought to use rounds (cause that is not actually my opinion, or my point with my initial reply for that matter), all I did was informing about the fact that you can make rounds sound reasonably much like flats, but not the other way around, which is true.
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- Sep 4, 2010
- 3,304
- 2,730
- Disclosures
- Endorsing: Martin Keith Guitars
Well i dont know what YOU want, but I have done this and put foam under the strings on recording sessions so i could get that dead flats tone for one tune out of the one bass i had brought with me, and happily use its rounds tone on everything else recorded those afternoons. Tired old cliche works great for me.Not to be snarky or anything, but... for as long as I've been hearing and reading this tired old cliche', nobody has ever managed - or even tried - to explain why on Earth I would want to make rounds sound like flats? Ever thought that maybe some people don't want to sound like they're playing rounds- not ever, never? Not sounding like rounds is precisely the reason why I've been playing flats, 99.5% of the time, for 50+ years now...
I love flats, half rounds and nylon tapewounds. But I have to admit that the most versatile strings of all, in my opinion, are stainless steel round wounds. You can get pillowy, round warmth using your instrument & amp controls and everything right up to death metal.
