Van Halen 1 - flats or rounds

[HaphAsSard]

Discuss .. I hear flats..

"Van Halen 1"... Got a media on this to make it a little easier for the rest of us to take part in the discussion?

Based on these


I wouldn't rule out groundwounds (which existed back then, by D'Addario and GHS and possibly others) :
beside the amp saturation, there is some growl I don't usually associate with true flats (with exceptions), but finger noise from rounds is either filtered out or not there to begin with. I may be wrong.

 

[mikewalker]

hmmm.. rounds I would say

 

[Hamlet7768]

Rounds.

Quadrophenia; Flats or rounds?

Off-topic, but Rounds. Did John Entwistle even ever use flats? I guess he used tapewounds on the original version of My Generation...

 

[Grinderman]

The thought or question never for a moment entered my mind because there's just no question.

 

[Grinderman]

Off-topic, but Rounds. Did John Entwistle even ever use flats? I guess he used tapewounds on the original version of My Generation...

Very, very early, not for long. According to an account of what he said, he used other rounds before they developed the Roto Swing 66 strings.

Someone needs to invent a string set that can change back and forth between GHS P flats and Swing 66, like a light switch. Someone get on it.

 

[Mastermold]

Mike wasn’t known to use flatwound strings. For the first Van Halen record it was a Precision bass through SVTs generally played with a pick.

That's what it sounds like to me.

 

[HaphAsSard]

I guess he used tapewounds on the original version of My Generation...

In one interview he called them La Bella "flatwounds", then "tapewounds", in the space of few sentences. Metal flats were commonly called "tapewounds" back then, at least in the UK.

 

[Rib 13]

Where do people think all of this studio magic came from in 1977? Its highly over rated ...

Parametric EQ - even on an old mixer made from 1977 like a Studer - can make brand new roundwounds sound like almost any string type...Its the main reason why I use brand new brite-as-possible roundwounds: "Zing" with enough Parametric EQ know-how can be dialed out if it isnt wanted but, if zinginess is warranted, it cant be dialed in if it isnt there to begin with

 

[Hevy T]

Mike wasn’t known to use flatwound strings. For the first Van Halen record it was a Precision bass through SVTs generally played with a pick.

Wasnt he a Rotosound guy then too?

 

[dieggsy]

Parametric EQ - even on an old mixer made from 1977 like a Studer - can make brand new roundwounds sound like almost any string type...Its the main reason why I use brand new brite-as-possible roundwounds: "Zing" with enough Parametric EQ know-how can be dialed out if it isnt wanted but, if zinginess is warranted, it cant be dialed in if it isnt there to begin with

Forgive me, mostly an audio noob, but can't EQ only sort out levels of frequencies like harmonics, and not things like envelope (attack/sustain/decay?), and ... presumably other such distinct characteristics of different sounds that I wouldn't know to name (lol)? Or is that some kind of baloney and frequency gets you 90% of the way there as far as different strings go? ...or do I misunderstand the capabilities of parametric eq

 

[Mister Magic]

Michael Anthony was a killer bass player. It's disheartening to hear people disparagingly compare him to Gene Simmons, et al.

I will agree that his bass solos are weak, if not terrible. He knows his solos are not artistic.

However, his playing on the Fair Warning album was very badass. Very few bass players here could even play along to Mean Street without butchering the hell out of it. Dirty Movies and Push Comes to Shove both demonstrate his skills, too. Great note choices and touch. Very musical.

Good example of Mike's stylish swinging here:

 

[Smooth_bass88]

Wasnt he a Rotosound guy then too?

Hard to know for certain. Maybe. He probably wasn’t endorsed back in ‘77.

 

[drumvsbass]

To my ear, rounds. My opinion is the only one that matters to me so.... Rounds it is.

 

[JimmyM]

Off-topic, but Rounds. Did John Entwistle even ever use flats? I guess he used tapewounds on the original version of My Generation...

If he did, he switched to Roto rounds as soon as he could talk James How into making them and never looked back, although he did switch to Optima Gold rounds after Rotosound rewarded him for establishing them as the go to rounds brand by dumping him as an endorser after they cooled off.

 

[devnulljp]

van halen is totally roto 66's. Hard rock with big amps, p basses, a pick? Rotos 100%

I can't imagine anyone using anything else in 1977, so I'm going to say you're spot on.
The only rock player I heard of using flats in the early days was Steve Harris, and (pretty much) everyone else was using Roto 66.

 

[Rib 13]

Forgive me, mostly an audio noob, but can't EQ only sort out levels of frequencies like harmonics, and not things like envelope (attack/sustain/decay?), and ... presumably other such distinct characteristics of different sounds that I wouldn't know to name (lol)? Or is that some kind of baloney and frequency gets you 90% of the way there as far as different strings go? ...or do I misunderstand the capabilities of parametric eq

Close enough has always gotten the job done for me. I do have one bass ( a Jazz) strung with flats and another bass ( EB3 copy) strung with tapes for studio use if i need those combinations of string/pickup type for selected projects that require that kind of detail ...ymmv

 

[DavidEdenAria]

I saw VH 3 times in 1978 in KC....there are lots of boots out there of early tours but i recall a bit of bass zing in the live shows and a lot of pick playing but the whole mix was very good.....SIX Ampeg SVTs which i assume many were backups...then you had Al with his 26" drums bolted together, it was a very heavy sound but surprisingly clear.....overall a darker P bass sound which knowing how much EVH liked Cream its not surprising.

 

[Grinderman]

All this got me to put on Ain't Talkin''Bout Love which then caused me to pickup my P bass with '54 La Bella's, tune down half a step, dime the treble, flip the bright switch on and start paying along; then the same for Jamie's Cryin'.

Rotosound strings, obviously.

 

[DavidEdenAria]

All this got me to put on Ain't Talkin''Bout Love which then caused me to pickup my P bass with '54 La Bella's, tune down half a step, dime the treble, flip the bright switch on and start paying along; then the same for Jamie's Cryin'.

Rotosound strings, obviously.

Sounds about right....As i mentioned, Michael played with a pick a lot (i was front row at Royals stadium no joke when VH opened for Steve Miller and Kansas in 78) but he did tend to move his pick position around and used fingers and thumb as well.....dudes a real talent and killer vocalist man!

 

[logdrum]

Forgive me, mostly an audio noob, but can't EQ only sort out levels of frequencies like harmonics, and not things like envelope (attack/sustain/decay?), and ... presumably other such distinct characteristics of different sounds that I wouldn't know to name (lol)? Or is that some kind of baloney and frequency gets you 90% of the way there as far as different strings go? ...or do I misunderstand the capabilities of parametric eq

Compressor and expanders can affect attack sustain and decay and they can be part of a console channel strip along with the parametric EQ. They also had multi band compressors then. They were available before 1977.
You can also patch the bass signal into the filter module and ADSR/envelope generator module of an analog synthesizer also available before 1977.

Foam was also available in 1977 and can make rounds sound like a flat.

Van Halen is all roundwound strings.