Rounds which sound like flats

None. But try TI Jazz Rounds. They are silky and not overly bright.

 

Nose corner grease=no more string stickiness.

 

Well-broken-in DR Nickel Lo-Riders for punchy warmth and smooth mids. Even when they're brand new, they're not nearly as bright or zingy as the D'A XL Nickels, not to mention they're also a lot smoother in surface texture than the D'A without ever getting sticky.

EDIT: I should also point out the Nickel Lo-Riders, being hex-core, are fairly closer to XL Nickels and Fender 9050s in terms of overall playing feel (stiffness/flexibility) than the TI Jazz Rounds mentioned above.

 

Well, maybe that's one reason why you should not fire the drummer...

 

There was a thread a week or so ago about flats in high humidity being somewhat sticky. Having a good clean wipe cloth on gigs is a good idea. I don’t use flats but years back, I just wiped them (and the neck too) down as often as needed, once or twice a set seem to eliminate the problem. JMO.

 

There are legends about fried chicken grease deadening strings - you might get the sound of flats with decent slide-ability that way, but...I've never had the guts to try it (and I like the sound of rounds, so I probably never will).

Otherwise, broken in Pressurewounds will get you to the edge of flatishness tonally.

 

GHS Pressurewounds. They can do fat and thuddy like flats or bright and grindy like rounds. I have them on a couple of my basses. They're fantastic strings. The TI Jazz flats mentioned already are incredible strings too.

 

Wiping them down with WD40 will kill the highs. Years ago I thought applying WD40 might stop roundwounds from oxidizing and losing highs.

Unfortunately for me that wasn't the case. The WD40 significantly reduced the high frequencies. Just one approach.

 

In the past … wanting flatish (is that a word) I used GHS Pressure wounds and later tape wounds

 

Just buy used strings

 

I have never experienced this with chrome flats...in fact I switched to them cause I was getting rope burn with my rounds on slides.

 

Just let them age.

 

BTW, many of the videos dedicated to Geezer Butler's early sound say that he played with flats. False. It was always old rounds.

 

I use a Jazz bass with broken-in Nickel Lo-Riders (sometimes w foam mute) interchangeably with my Pbass with Labella flats for an Americana band. No one bats an eye. They can sound nice and thumpy. Honestly the only thing I miss with them is with my pick sound--you don't get the same "thunk" on the attack as with flats with some highs boosted, but at least the NLRs don't sound zingy or pingy. For fingerstyle with some highs rolled down they're killer for rootsy tones.

 

Take any pack of rounds and put them in the trunk of your car during summer...leave them there for about a month or two.........Im just kidding but that actually might work lol

 

Actually, even broken-in Roto 66 on my Vintera P with .1uF cap, with tone rolled off, is pretty durn deep and smooth.