Which bass shall I put some flats on?

[Mornats]

I'm going to get myself a nice shiny set of flatwound (well, actually GHS Groundwound) strings and I'm just wondering which of my basses I'm going to pop them onto. Choices are my Overwater Contemporary Jazz or my Bass Collection SB320 fretless. I've got roundwounds on my Overwater and nylon wounds on my fretless at the moment.

In terms of what I get out of my basses currently, here's a roundup:

[b]Overwater:[/b]
My main recording bass and go-to instrument. Very versatile range of sounds currently but I want it to be different in more ways to my Corvette. I'd lean towards clean/jazzy/funk sounds on this one.

[b]Warwick Rockbass Corvette:[/b]
My rock band bass. Nice hard growly Warwick sounds, brilliant for playing in my band with. Nice and light too! Not a contender for the flats but covers the roundwound hole nicely. Very nicely.

[b]Bass Collection SB320 fretless:[/b]
The one I keep trying to sell but then want to keep every time I show it to someone. Lovely low-end thump, it's a bit special but lacks muaaaarh at the moment. I loved the sound of APAs fretless that had groundwounds on which I played at the South West bass bash. I wouldn't mind some of that but would miss the thumpy-fun nylon wound sound of my fretless.

So there you go. It's obviously late and I'm bored and restless hehe.

[dannybuoy]

GHS Brite Flats per chance? They sound great on fretless and it sounds like you need to try something to make you like this bass again!

[Kongo]

[quote name='Mornats' timestamp='1354322060' post='1884954']
[b]Bass Collection SB320 fretless:[/b] Lovely low-end thump, it's a bit special but lacks muaaaarh at the moment.
[/quote]

Not this one. You'll get less with flats.

[stoker]

Stick 'em on the Overwater.

[franzbassist]

[quote name='Kongo' timestamp='1354326496' post='1884978']
You'll get less with flats.
[/quote]

This is a common misconception with flats, but so much of it depends on the string.

Sure, some flats are all thump and no sustain, but La Bella and Lakland (made by GHS I believe) flats have mwah for days on a fretless, and plenty of sustain on a fretted too.

[Happy Jack]

My old 320 fretted sounded superb with flats, but my old 320 fretless sounded pants with them.

[apa]

This is where you're all going wrong - GHS Brite flats are NOT Flats. They are ground wound so they still have a bit of a growl of rounds but have the smooth and thumpyness of flats. To my mind they are perfect for fretless. But then I would say that wouldnt I So if you want to keep that low end thump and have more mwah the GHS's tick all the boxes on your fretless. And I see your dilema - 4 in line and 2+2 = Theres no going back!!

A

Edited December 1, 2012 by apa

[LukeFRC]

is this just the preamble while you justify to yourself (with our help) buying that P bass you just spotted in the sale forum?

[apa]

The other thing you have to remember is that most of that 'mwah' comes from the set up. Nut action almost zero, minimum relief and minimum action. (To put it basically)

A

[Mornats]

[quote name='LukeFRC' timestamp='1354395636' post='1885612']
is this just the preamble while you justify to yourself (with our help) buying that P bass you just spotted in the sale forum?
[/quote]

I was after a jazz, do I have to get a P as well?!

[Donnyboy]

Yes !