What's your take on flats?

[Drgonzonm]

I have flats on my fretless, imho, the flats allow easier playing , I started on an upright, with gut strings again easier left hand movement.
That said my Ibanez had rounds, and my acoustic bass have rounds I am not ready to change.

 

[packhowitzer]

Most of my basses have nickel rounds, but I have one with flats on it. I've tried many times to use the flats in a live setting and it doesn't really work for me- BUT I record with the flats all the time and love it. so for me it's: rounds = live, flats (or sometimes rounds) = studio. ymmv.

 

[Siggy]

I have multiple basses some with flats, some with SS wounds and some with nickle wounds. It all depends on the sound I'm looking for at the time.

 

[interp]

My take on flats is that their windings are flat rather than round, and that some people prefer them.

 

[Bushrod Johnson]

When I was in high school and college (66-70) I worked in a music store. Started playing bass at 15. Back then I had never heard of round wound bass strings. All basses came with flats. No round wounds where ever stocked by the store. I use flats, with tape wounds on my Thunderchief.

 

[briandavismurph]

It seems to me that a great majority of TB'ers love flatwound strings. In the basses forum, a lot of folks seem to comment how much better a bass would be if it were strung with flats. Yet, it seems like just about every bass found in the wild has roundwounds on it.
I'm not biased in any direction. I think either type has their merit, but I'm curious if you feel flats or roundwound strings are superior to another and why.

I have modern basses with rounds [G&L, Lakland, Squiers] Also have two P basses with flats [GHS precision flats]. The rounds can get zingy/twangy if need be, the flats not a chance. The flats can be subtle and run slides as smooth as Jello, the rounds not really. The flats can also punch you in the gut like a bulldozer if you like, it fills the sonic space in a way that rounds cannot. My vote goes to the P Bass with flats more times than not. In simple speak it "sounds like a bass"

 

[Pier_]

Most of my basses have nickel rounds, but I have one with flats on it. I've tried many times to use the flats in a live setting and it doesn't really work for me- BUT I record with the flats all the time and love it. so for me it's: rounds = live, flats (or sometimes rounds) = studio. ymmv.

may I ask you what you're missing with flats in a live set?

I'm asking because I feel kind of opposite: I LOVE flats in the live setting, the sound guy is always happy and does nothing to the sound, and I always clearly hear myself even if I only have the monitor in front of me and no amp.

while recording, I usually prefer worn rounds instead of flats (if I'm not looking exactly for the flatwound sound) because I can feel a wider spectrum of frequencies (99% the recording is directly in a DI, rarely with an amp, here) on which we can work.

 

[maxschrek]

IME, I can roll down the tone knob and palm mute my rounds. Good enough.

 

[mbasile]

IME, I can roll down the tone knob and palm mute my rounds. Good enough.

Tone is good enough, but the technique significantly limits how you play.

 

[Flippy]

I switched my 45-100 Ernie ball rounds to EB's Cobalt flats of the same gauge recently. They feel awkward since I never played a flatwound string before. I don't know how to feel about the tone, it sounds like a couple week old rounds. I've heard that flats need time to break in though.

 

[_allen_09]

that happens when you prefer the guitar just kidding!



as mentioned by others, it's mostly because these days flats are not the "standard" (although they "came back" a few year ago and now every brand makes flats), and since the 80's the "bass sound" shifted from the thick woody sound of flats to the bright and metallic sound of rounds.

so it's a bit normal that those in love with flats tend not just to be enthusiastic, but to spread the love; thanks to this, now every brand makes flats, some even in different ways, and they are not back on the shelves with new models, new attitudes and research results, like the "low tension flats" based on the Thomastik design.

it all depends on what you want and need.

generally people tend to think that flats are just dull sounding strings, but probably they never used them in the band mix, to find out that they don't need the upper highs to "shine through", and that flats have the perfect frequencies to stay exactly where the bass is supposed to be in most music genres, between the drum and the guitars.

rounds have more highs and basses, and give a metallic sound which sometimes is hard to separate from the guitars, and with too much basses and few mids sometimes it's just a "wooof" in the background; if the band needs that, it's perfect.

in my experience is easier to play with flats in a band mix without the need of equalization and much work, they are more "plug & play" in most situations, until you really need the metallic highs or the scooped mids that flats can't give.

these days flats are coming back even because many bands are using them, researching a "vintage" sound, like for example Bruno Mars bassist, which also slaps on flats.
in many "indie" bands flats are now the standard, because they sound vintage and smooth.

IMHO one should just try and understand what it's better for the situation: right now I have a Jazz strung with Labella 52-110 flats, a Gibson SG reissue with D'Addario nickel rounds and another SG Reissue with D'Addario Chromes.

they give me different sounds for different situations.

Bruno Mars’ bassist my target tone, such warm tone and I really love it. You mentioned he plays flats, I used to wonder if it’s hard to play fast and do funky stuff with flats, guess not.

 

[Member8675309]

I like flats, but sometimes I use rounds, and that’s O.K.

 

[PaulReside]

I use flats because I don't want to " cut through " in the mix. I want to sit "right" in the sound, fat and supportive .

 

[nerkoids]

Love flats.

 

[kalanb]

Neither are superior, just different. I'm a stainless steel roundwound guy for about 99% of the basses I have, but still having such a love for RW strings I still have three basses strung with flats that just sound perfect and I would never even think about changing the strings to rounds.

Those basses are a '55 p bass replica, a '60's style jazz bass, and a wonderful sounding older p bass with a rosewood fingerboard.

I can't see either being more important than the other. One nice thing about flats is I don't have to change strings as often as I do with rounds.

Doing the math, you have around 300 basses. That may be a talkbass record.

 

[leegreenman]

I switched my 45-100 Ernie ball rounds to EB's Cobalt flats of the same gauge recently. They feel awkward since I never played a flatwound string before. I don't know how to feel about the tone, it sounds like a couple week old rounds. I've heard that flats need time to break in though.

I have Cobalt Flats on 2 of my basses. They feel, and sound, more lie half wounds initially. After some playing hours they start to feel more like flats.

 

[G19Tony]

As a beginner, all I know is that the flats on my Mustang, are easier on the fingers and don't squeak. I have what came from the store, on my J bass. The only difference I can tell sonically, is the flats are a touch quieter. I'm ok with either.

 

[bluesblaster]

I've saved literally hundreds of dollars by playing flats, still have a couple with nickel RW's but have no problem playing live with flats unless I absolutely need a big grindy clanky sound, which is hardly ever.

 

[shawshank72]

I converted to Flatwounds many years ago for everything I do.
Never believed them to be one trick ponies as for me they work on every level.
Been in original bands ranging from heavy to punk to melodic and it has covered everything I did.
Amp settings with tone knob settings and different picks and different brand strings provided me the mood I needed.
The feel and the sound were everything I was ever after and finally found.

 

[MattZilla]

I'm curious if you feel flats or roundwound strings are superior to another and why.

nope. I like to pretend that I'm smart enough to find the words superior and inferior to be useless without qualifiers like "for this situation". Different. Better for X than Y.

I enjoy the feel of chromes under my fingers and think that they sound great on basses with neck pickups (Rics and EB3s) in mellow soundscapes, but they sound kinda goofy on any bass in an abrasive rock type setting. You can make them work in any setting with different technique, eq, and pedals... just as I'm sure that you can haul a boat with a Camaro.