Rounds or Flats - Can You Tell?

[Slaplord88]

The best clue so far is @HHudson pointing out the baby blue silk at the bridge end. This should narrow the search a little bit.

 

[dbsfgyd1]

Still trying to pick apart this guy's tone.

At first I figured muted flats on a P - nice. The quick decay and generally "vintage" sound seemed like a pretty classic flats on a p vibe, of which I'm very familiar. The more I listen though, it seems there's there's just too much mid bite/presence for these to be flats. However, there's really none of the deep metallic grind of rounds. Also closeups indicate there is no colored thread wrapping the wound part of the strings, pointing to flats.

Could also be groundwound or halfwound. Any thoughts?

Could be really old rounds. Frankly, I can’t tell.

 

[HardNHeavy]

my cheap laptop speakers says flats.

 

[pbass2]

If those are rounds, then any sonic case for flats seems silly, as those capture that vibe VERY well. Yes, I know flats are easier on your fingers.

There are some sounds that you simply can't get with rounds. As I say above for example, the sound of flats with a pick with the highs up so the attack is pronounced. Very different with flats than with rounds. With flats you get the click/thunk on the attack, and then the tone is "softer" or "rounder" after the attack. It's one of the classic bass sounds, actually--think Carol Kaye, gobs of 60's/70's stuff, "cop show" bass, etc.
With rounds with a pick and the treble/tone dialed up, well you obviously get the zing or "buzz" in the note, even with old strings. Live in a setting where it's not that demanding you can cop the flatwound vibe for sure (I do it all the time with dead rounds and a foam mute) but it certainly sounds different. In the studio there's no substitute for flats if you're going for that sound. To think that flats are simply all about a bassy tone with no high end is overlooking what really differentiates them from rounds.

 

[Grinderman]

I liked it & took a look in HD on YT in full screen on a large monitor.

A small white (foam?) mute pressed right up against the saddles.. (see second vid below).

I believe the strings have silk ends, looks like a baby blue silk (they also do nor reflect light ca. 1/2" above the nut).
Edit: 100% Light Blue silk at the ball end (2:41 below)
The strings below the nut reflect more like flats than rounds (or matte half-rounds).... they could be Roto 66 Nickle rounds I suppose, a bit too blurry (e.g. 00:40+ below) to be sure...

Same bass in this take with some closer head stock shots 01:33 & 02:37 :

Slow the playback speed down to 0.25 to maximize Zapruder's Ambient 11: Music for Airport Shuttles effect.

 

[michael_t]

The best clue so far is @HHudson pointing out the baby blue silk at the bridge end. This should narrow the search a little bit.

This certainly changes the course of this discussion. My earlier posts were based on the OP's comment about "no colored thread wrapping", taken to mean "no silk".

I happen to have a set of flats on my P bass right now that have light blue silk at both ends.

 

[HHudson]

I just checked my Roto 66 Nickle coated -> baby blue but no silk @ the ball end. So rule them out (unless those strings are rather ancient Roto old stock).

To me they sound more like flats than rounds...
There are quite a few flats with light blue... but I would trust @michael_t 's best guess more than my own....
Bugger you can't see the ball ends on the vids....

Do the current EB SS flats (not cobalt) have ball end silk? Silk colors. ... that post is not that old, and said "modern" on the right....

There are not a lot of light blue *with* ball end silk in that thread ....

 

[pbass2]

I'm mainly just digging the guitarist's two Space Echos stacked up there.

 

[Slaplord88]

Yes I was wrong about no silk at first, the light blue just blended in. Here's a pic of the ball end.

 

[HHudson]

I'm mainly just digging the guitarist's two Space Echos stacked up there.

LOL, good catch, one is a [often necessary] backup & off

 

[jdjk7]

Still trying to pick apart this guy's tone.

At first I figured muted flats on a P - nice. The quick decay and generally "vintage" sound seemed like a pretty classic flats on a p vibe, of which I'm very familiar. The more I listen though, it seems there's there's just too much mid bite/presence for these to be flats. However, there's really none of the deep metallic grind of rounds. Also closeups indicate there is no colored thread wrapping the wound part of the strings, pointing to flats.

Could also be groundwound or halfwound. Any thoughts?

Not enough information to tell. There is definitely a mute involved, but it could be rounds or it could be flats with EQ applied (or amp tone) to give them a bit of brightness.

 

[HHudson]

Yes I was wrong about no silk at first, the light blue just blended in. Here's a pic of the ball end.

Ah I meant on the other side, if color coded or silver or brass.... the silk looks as "unshaven" as the EBs above at least.

 

[IPA]

can't tell, doesn't matter? it's just a really round mutey tone, the strings won't matter that much anyway since the playing is excellent

 

[michael_t]

There are quite a few flats with light blue... but I would trust @michael_t 's best guess & more than my own....

Do the current EB SS flats (not cobalt) have ball end silk?

Ernie Ball Stainless Steel Flats currently on my P bass:

 

[Ricky Rioli]

 

[HHudson]

If he (Love Örsan?) is using the same strings on that bass, brass ball ends & a likely match for Ernie Ball Stainless Steel Flats

 

[el murdoque]

If you're only taking the tone in account, I'd wager that you can get close with rounds or flats. The bass sounds like there's a healthy dose of bandpass filtering applied, cutting both top and bottom to get that sound. The hump in the middle is what a P bass does - now use older rounds with a foam mute and dial back a bit on the tone knob and you're nearly there. Or use flats, run the tone open and maybe even open up the filter a bit and you're not far off either.

 

[groovepump]

I've been using flats 95% of the time since the 90's, mostly on P's and J's. But I gotta say, lately my "do everything" bass is a P with very broken in nickel rounds. If I need to cover a range of genres and vibes, I grab that bass. It's just a little more versatile than w the flats - I can still thump, I can grind, I can be dubby, punky, funky--pick, fingers, thumb, foam mute, palm mute---it's all there. That's for live--for the studio when the tune calls for flats, then flats it is of course. The one tone that I feel is the most "missing" with the rounds is the sound of flats with a pick with the treble up--that "thunk" is not the same with rounds--it's a different envelope to the note.

And to add to your post . . . flats have that wonderful silky feel (at least the La Bellas do) that I miss when using rounds. I only have one 5 string and one 4 string wearing rounds, and while they are both nice basses, I seldom gig them.

 

[groovepump]

You like flats. Got it.

My experience with flats is brief - I have tried them a few times in 46 years of playing bass, but if something just doesn't work for you, there's no reason to pursue it further. There are a lot of folks who sound great with flats (this guy possibly included). I can't use them, as they don't inspire me to play - they make me want to quit practicing.

Along the "inspiration" line of commenting.... when I play flats, the tone, the thump, inspires me to play a certain way...when I use rounds, I tend to play into THAT tonal space, and will change my style accordingly. I have no religious addiction to either, although I do tend to go with flats more often. Neither is "better"-- they're distinctly different. I love playing bass!

 

[michael_t]

I just checked my Roto 66 Nickle coated -> baby blue but no silk @ the ball end. So rule them out (unless those strings are rather ancient Roto old stock).

Old Nickel SB66 = a possibility, depending on how old they are. They used to come with light blue silk at both ends and brass ball ends. When Rotosound started using color-coded ball ends, that's when they got rid of the silk at the ball end.