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Round wounds vs flat wounds

Round wounds vs flat wounds. Which do you prefer?

  • Round wounds

    Votes: 156 46.7%

  • Flat wounds

    Votes: 178 53.3%
  • Total voters
    334
#81
I generally prefer nickel plated, round core rounds (like DR Sunbeams or Pure Blues), so pretty mellow for rounds, but I really don't like them brand new when they are too zingy IMO/IME.

My regular player is a Lull M4V (usually in passive mode) with very old (4 years ?) Pure Blues rounds. It's right in between the round wound/flat wound sound ... perfect, as long as they will tune/intonate ok.

Also, I think of all my instruments as tools for specific applications, so while I prefer rounds, I do have a bass with flats for that kind of sound.
 
#86
This is why I’m a 2 P’s kinda guy. I want on demand to sound something like Dunn/Jamerson with La Bella flats, and also Burnel/Entwistle with very bright steel rounds. The answer is yes to both.

As for flats, nothing sounds like La Bella DTF’s, and nothing else begs for the joy of digging in hard and the ‘bounce’ of fretting hand squeeze and compression.
 
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#87
on a Squier Jaguar Shorty:
D'Addario ECB81S.png


on a Frankenbass Stingray:
D'Addario EPS220.png


I also use chromes on my fretless, I think they are the same gauge as what's on the Jag, but maybe not.. it's been a while.

no particular reason why, other than they give me the sounds I'm looking for on those specific instruments.
 
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#88
Welcome to TB. Quite a few of us have more than one instrument and sting them differently depending on what we use them for. Flats work well for soul, Motown and country whereas rounds are good for fusion, slapping and classic rock. You can completely change the voice of an instrument by changing the style of strings. What may be awful on one bass might be sublime on another. Finding which is the best combination can be tough, especially since strings tend to mellow with age and they may not stay on a bass long enough to get there if they sound like garbage when you first put them on. Sorry this isn't more definitive, but the answer has no right or wrong response.
 
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#91
I can't talk about feel since I've never played flats, but when it comes to Tone I'm sticking to rounds. They fit perfectly for the genres I like to play and any excess zing I can just eq out plus I really never cared for vintage tones, but in the end, it's up to you :)
 
#94
When I started playing bass back in 1968 all basses came with flat wounds. Then in the mid 70's everyone started playing tape wound. When YES released "Round About" with that round wound Ric sound, every bass player was looking for a set of Rotosound round wounds. So the bass sound went from deep with few over tones to bright and twangy with tons of overtones. There was really no where left to go but back to flat wounds.
 
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#98
sonojono said:
Surprised rounds are taking the lead on a forum full of boomers that grew up with flats :woot:
Click to expand...
I don't subscribe to your 'boomers' comment, but it seems to me they are taking the lead precisely because of that segment. So many players, who musically grew up when rounds were few and far between, turned into lifelong flatwound off-swearers the moment they tried Roto 66s.
 

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