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Rounds to cut and Flats to punch?

A

Awkwardturtle!

Aug 4, 2010
179
0
#1
So I'm pretty new to the string section but I recently but on flats I like it but today I jammed with my friend (guitar)

and I had my mids almost completely boosted and my treble and bass flat ( i think treble was at one o' clock)

but I could barely hear myself though I the *thump* but its not what I wanted. I kind of wanted to stand out be able to be heard more clearly. sorry this is hard to explain

you think I should go back to rounds and try that next time?
I played with a pick btw if that makes a difference.

I'm playing chromes btw
 
#2
yes, flats have their own tone and feel, you should try the thomastik jazz flats for a more defined and mid focus tone, or just put rounds back to your bass, i used labella and thomastik, and i find the thomastik much more defined in the mid espectrum, and also the lows are much clearer than the labellas, right know im using fender pure nickel rounds and I like a lot, nickel is the best material for more warmer tones, thomastik are pure nickel by the way
 
#4
Try boosting only higher mids or even flat eq. Single-coils help with definition also. As for strings I'm more than impressed with Optima Chrome, thump as much as any flat I could imagine yet snap and growl when I dig in.
 
#6
We kind of improvised my friend was using my old 15 watt ibanez amp (the ones that come in starter kits) and i was using my acoustic B10

It was kind of just a little jam session but it was still kind of struggle to hear myself
 
#9
Rounds are more harmonic. If you want a grindy filling tone with more treble potential, rounds. I personally prefer new nickel rounds. New stainless for the most part, and old nickels are **** IMO.

Flats are nearly void of harmonics to my ear without a pick or trebly cabinets.

NOT KNOCKING FLATS OR ANYONE WHO PLAYS THEM... But, they hide sloppy players for a reason. They don't translate the player as much as the note played.
 
#11
Well heres one little insignificant little thing that turned out to be huge

I was using a 5 string flatwound set because i was using a 5 string I was playing on the third fret basically drop D as so was the guitarist.

but I switched around my strings (just because) and figured out that the 132. gauge flatwound turns the notes to mud.

I put the rest of my strings on my Ibanez gsr190 (100. 80. 60. 40.) and they have a lot more definition. I haven't tried them with my friend yet but they sound good
 
#14
Plstrns said:
Rounds are more harmonic. If you want a grindy filling tone with more treble potential, rounds. I personally prefer new nickel rounds. New stainless for the most part, and old nickels are **** IMO.

Flats are nearly void of harmonics to my ear without a pick or trebly cabinets.

NOT KNOCKING FLATS OR ANYONE WHO PLAYS THEM... But, they hide sloppy players for a reason. They don't translate the player as much as the note played.
Click to expand...

Nobody has ever said I sound just like Jamerson before, thank you! Or as I like to now say, Jamerson sounds like me! :D
 
#15
rptrsn2 said:
May not have nothing to do with your strings just simply the room your playing in.I find when I play in certain rooms practicing I sometimes have to turn up more than I do at a gig simply because of crappy acoustics in the room.
Click to expand...

this could be true I have thing that I need to level volume between guitars and bass or does the bass have to be slightly louder?

also what does the amp have to do with me not cutting through? sorry if thats a scrub question but I haven't done research on amps lol
 
#16
Plstrns said:
Rounds are more harmonic. If you want a grindy filling tone with more treble potential, rounds. I personally prefer new nickel rounds. New stainless for the most part, and old nickels are **** IMO.

Flats are nearly void of harmonics to my ear without a pick or trebly cabinets.

NOT KNOCKING FLATS OR ANYONE WHO PLAYS THEM... But, they hide sloppy players for a reason. They don't translate the player as much as the note played.
Click to expand...

I have to disagree with this- they certainly hide a couple characteristics of sloppy playing like string squeaking and a bit of fret noise, but they don't in themselves hide dynamics, which are the main reflector of sloppy technique. They also allow a more percussive attack that rounds tend to hide with their harmonics, and also sit in a part of the mix that is less shared by other instruments which makes mistakes much more obvious to my ears in a mix (most of those extra harmonics apparent in rounds tend to become almost indistinguishable with the guitar in most band mixes).

I like both types of strings for different things, and I certainly don't find flats to erase character or sloppiness in a bassline!
 
#17
Okay kids, a couple of things going on here.

First of all, about the teeny-tiny amps: it's really hard to make any solid evaluation of your tone when you're playing through underpowered equipment. So... your evalutation of your sound is subject to the frequency response of your little practice amp. And trust me, it isn't really good.

On the flats vs. rounds thing: after 35 years of playing bass and having owned every kind of bass and strung them with every kind of string, I can share this. People will say that flats have a "stronger fundamental," but this is utter nonsense. I would love to see a scientific comparison with objective equipment of the the frequency responses of flats versus rounds. I would bet a paycheck that the fundamental content is EXACTLY the same. The difference is that the rounds will give you a broader spectrum of harmonic overtones ON TOP OF the fundamental... which tricks your ear into thinking that the flats have more fundamental content. What they really have is LESS of the other stuff.

Real world consequences: flats work for some situations and some styles. If you want a big, thumpy, whomping tone with little upper harmonic activity, flats are the way to go. If you want to hear the higher portions of the harmonic spectrum of your instruments, you go with rounds.

Don't let anyone tell you that there are any sort of requirements about which you choose based on the style of music you play. I play active basses with rounds in a country/Americana setting, and they sound freakin great. I've heard flats played in a metal setting that sounded great. There are so many other variables in your overall tone that you need to experiment with different strings to find the tone that's perfect for you.

Yes, this is an expensive quest.

But for starters, you should be doing your comparisons playing through an amp that can actually reproduce all of the frequencies that your bass pumps out. A bedroom practice amp is not going to give you a true representation of your instrument's tone.
 
#18
Well said. What would Victor Wooten be with flats. And what would Chuck Rainey on Steely Dan's Aja sound like with rounds.
Each have their place. Don't let bad amplification and electronics cloud your judgement.
 
#19
When I switched to flats, my ears needed to adjust a while to make out my bass in the mix, I think because my ears were looking for the missing harmonics they were used to first. I even had trouble telling a semitone apart. But that went away after a couple of days.
 

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