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Why use flats?

#81
whoatherechunk said:
how bout the halfrounds from daddario? i'm guessing they can give you the best of both worlds. anyone try these?
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Hated them. They do give you a best of both worlds thing for a little while, but they're stiff and they go dead really quick so you might as well use flats if you don't change them all the time. If I wanted roundwound tone with flat feel, I'd get TI's.
 
#82
JMDT said:
l also realized that when I play the rounds with my thumb instead of my fingers I get a warmer thumpier sound. The combination of the thumb and the tone knob turned down essentially give the flat vibe without actually having flats.

Anyone else see similar results?
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IMO rounds with the tone turned down still sound noticeably different to flats , I can turn the tone down to 0 on a bass with rounds and I can hear that it is a bright sounding string with the high frequencies removed , it still does not have that flatwound sound or thump
 
#86
These are excellent flats.
IMG_1017.jpg
 
#88
for me, it's about not getting lost in the guitar sound. I played with 2 acoustics and 2 electrics last Sunday, and was PRESENT.
Of course, I like the flats b/c they don't hurt my fingers either.
Bottom line- and that's what its all about- you just can't compete with the solid, permeating thud of flats.
Unless you go with nylon tape- then you get the best of both worlds...;)
 
#89
So I jammed with my band after putting flats on my 4001.
It sounded great, especially on parts where I was really slamming, and on parts with guitar solos, but my guitarists (who are *gasp) talented musicians and not guitards) complained that it killed my tone. My tone on our record was very growly and dirty.

Right now I can switch basses, Ric for thumpy songs and Stingray for growly songs, but I was thinking about groundwounds... I wonder if they would have enough growl?
 
#92
JMDT said:
Stainless Steel flats!?!?!? These sound interesting as I like the zing of SS string usually. Tell me more. Are they thumpy while still retaining a bright character? BTW, who makes the Joe Osborn Jazz flats?

Thanks
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I suppose this is too late a response. Lakland markets the JO flats. They remain my favorite flats at this point, having tried Fender SS flats, Thomastic Jazz flats and LaBella Deep Talkin' Bass as well as half wounds. To me, they retain a lot of the character of a well worn set of Boomers but they never really lose it.

With flats I can go for years without changing if I want to. With my five string fretless they have this really woody, organic vibe I love. Not at all Jaco oriented. Earth bass. With my P-Bass they just sound right. A friend who hates P-Basses has absconded with the P-Bass. It sounds (and feels) like he wants a P-Bass to sound (and I have other instruments I need to attend to).

I'm saying that they're the best string I've found for me so far, but DR could capture the title. The downside of finding a set of flats you like is that you don't really have a lot of incentive to experiment anymore because they don't wear out very quickly.

KO
 
#94
megadan said:
So I jammed with my band after putting flats on my 4001.
It sounded great, especially on parts where I was really slamming, and on parts with guitar solos, but my guitarists (who are *gasp) talented musicians and not guitards) complained that it killed my tone. My tone on our record was very growly and dirty.

Right now I can switch basses, Ric for thumpy songs and Stingray for growly songs, but I was thinking about groundwounds... I wonder if they would have enough growl?
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They will for the first gig or two.
 
#95
98mtd said:
DR Strings Flatbeam flatwounds sound great on this P.
IMG_1019.jpg
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I've noticed you said the same thing in another thread; I'm really curious as to how you would describe their tone in comparison to other flats, if you have experience with them.

I've been intrigued since they came out, but there has been very little mentioned about them and the few who have tried them have described them as quite trad sounding and not very DR-like, if there is such a thing.
 
#96
Each DR String model rings differently, especially the flats which are very traditional. I've tried flats in La Bella, Dean Markley, Fender, and GHS. They are all good strings but none have come close to how DR flats sound, feel, and ring acoustically and amplified on my basses. It's how they make me feel and perform. I love DR flats.
 
#100
JimmyM said:
Hated them. They do give you a best of both worlds thing for a little while, but they're stiff and they go dead really quick so you might as well use flats if you don't change them all the time. If I wanted roundwound tone with flat feel, I'd get TI's.
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I just got me those d'addario halfs today for a carvin bb75, will be interesting to see how they sound in a while. Wasn't able to find anything else here, I live 5 minutes from the music store mecca (like 40 shops) in Paris, 6 bass shops, and 3 general music stores that carry bass strings, and only halfs any of them had, was d'addario...

I have the chrome flats on my fretless, they now after about 2+ months start to feel and sound nice, but at the same time, they are getting more and more dead for every day that goes, next time I will try rotosound of thomastik flats on the fretless coz I really love the way flats work on a fretless, but I don't think the d'addarios will become my goto flats.

D.Don
 

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