Flats... On a MM ?

[Wonky2]

Hahaha new territory for me tonight..... A welcomed birthday present of a set of flats gave opportunity to do something id just never considered before...... Flats.... On my MM Sterling !

Ok dont laugh, its hardly insane or likley undone by any means, but ive just always used flats on my passive fender jazz bass, never on my active MM ? Why would i ? It works so well with rW strings and gives that classic MM punch?

Ive strung it, tuned it, will let it settle before making some set up adjustments tomorrow and then plugging in to see how they sound....

Im like a kid in s sweet shop and cant wait...
As i say, ive just never wver considered the set up of the mm with flats, it seems absurd ! Hahah

Anyone else use them on a mm ? I lnow its likely done far and wide but id jyst always put them with the fender jazz for that sound leaving my punchy round wound sound with the mm

[discreet]

Bernard Edwards. And he sounded... pretty good to say the least.

[chris_b]

Apparently Louis Johnson was slapping his SR with flats on his first records.

[Wonky2]

All good
I don't know why, it just never occurred to me to do it, I know it's nothing new.....
I just always had the mindset of flat for the jazz and rounds for the mm..... Funny how you can get s t in your ways ! Hahaha

[fretmeister]

Funnily enough I just started a thread about Flats on my Fender Urge 2.

My brain says it shouldn't work as a combination - but smeg it really does.

(That being said I didn't like flats on my Ray5!)

[acidbass]

Considering the same for my 'ray. As I play over the pickup, I've been looking at a lower tension set (i.e. TI Jazz flats). Been listening to a lot of Bernard Edwards recently - although I saw Chic last week and Jerry Barnes was using an active Jazz with rounds!

[chris_b]

Fortunately Nile Rodgers isn't trying to make Jerry Barnes play like BE.

Full marks for letting JB be his own man.

Edited November 16, 2015 by chris_b

[No. 8 Wire]

I have TI Jazz flats on my stingray. I love the sound but it's not classic modern stingray. However the eq on ray let's you get to quite a bright sound so it's not that much of a compromise. I think the only downside would be if you play a lot of slap. I don't so no problem.

[stoo]

I've got Labella 760FL's on my EBMM SUBs (one fretted, one fretless)

I did try the TI's on the fretted one first and really liked them until I bought the fretless, which came with the Labellas fitted. The higher tension than the TI's made them feel a bit more familiar under the fingers, sound just as good to me, and still with all the benefits of reduced string squeak and fret buzz.

Saying that, I did keep em, and they've recently gone on to a 3EQ Ray. The Ray originally had Slinky roundwounds on it, but needed a fairly high action to eliminate fret buzz.... I did one gig on it while my SUB was out of action and it properly killed my hands! It might have been a combination of the weather, my general lack of fitness and/or insufficient warmup before the gig.. but I just kept looking at the massive gap under the strings and thinking something has to change here.. and so the TI's went on. The low tension still feels a bit weird, but I'm growing to like them again

[Highfox]

For the rock thing as well, Cliff Williams (AC/DC) is and always has been a strictly flats man on his Ray.

[MrDaveTheBass]

I recently put a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on my Sterling, and I'm really pleased with them. They're still bright enough if you need a bit of slap and pop, but you can wind off the treble to go in search of a Bernard Edwards tone. (Impossible I know - it was all in his fingers, but it sounds closer than using rounds).

[No. 8 Wire]

[quote name='MrDaveTheBass' timestamp='1447677195' post='2909395']
I recently put a set of Ernie Ball Cobalt flats on my Sterling, and I'm really pleased with them. They're still bright enough if you need a bit of slap and pop, but you can wind off the treble to go in search of a Bernard Edwards tone. (Impossible I know - it was all in his fingers, but it sounds closer than using rounds).
[/quote]

Have you also tried TI flats? How do they compare tension wise if so? I really like the low tension of the TI flats but I'm interested in trying out the cobalts.

[Wonky2]

Great to see others have done it too

I had to do quite a bit with the set up, obviously due to the higher tension and pull on the neck.... But a good adjustment on the truss and a fairly large drop in saddle heights has made for a lovely low action which is just effortless to play, not to mention silky smooth and squeak free.
I like the sound, I get the typical,flat sound....warm and full with fingers but Gita say, I love the old school vibe on slap tone, it's really got a unique sound.
That said, this bass did sound great with rounds on and I'm torn as at tonight's rehearsal (house) I just didn't quite have the deep punch I usually get, it was obviously dulled a little..... Im Hoping next weeks studio rehearsal with allow some eq'ing and volume to work this out.....

I've never tried low tension flats , just d'addario.... .?

[Froggy]

How do you rate the sterling Wonky? I currently have my eye on a sterling sub ray 4. I haven't had a chance to have a play with it yet, but I've fallen in love with the look of it. It's around the upper end of my budget so I'm hoping it's good!

[acidbass]

I think it's an EB Musicman Sterling that Wonky has - still surprised at how EB allowed the blurring of brand names!

[Bassnut62]

[quote name='discreet' timestamp='1447638023' post='2909201']
Bernard Edwards. And he sounded... pretty good to say the least.
[/quote]

Really? did he use flats on that Stingray?

[discreet]

[quote name='Bassnut62' timestamp='1447753919' post='2909953']
Really? did he use flats on that Stingray?
[/quote]

Yes. Apparently he used the stock flats that came with the bass and never changed them, a la Jamerson.
But I don't know if that's a fact or a myth.

Edited November 17, 2015 by discreet

[kevin_lindsay]

My mate Jase Brooks and I were discussing this a few weeks back. So, to try and find out, Jase contacted Nile Rodgers via Twitter :

[URL=http://s7.photobucket.com/user/kevin_lindsay/media/Screenshot_2015-09-11-21-30-36.png.html][IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/Screenshot_2015-09-11-21-30-36.png[/IMG][/URL]

[discreet]

[quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1447755009' post='2909967']
My mate Jase Brooks and I were discussing this a few weeks back. So, to try and find out, Jase contacted Nile Rodgers via Twitter :
[/quote]

Well there you go, a myth.

[Bassnut62]

Phew! I am a big Nard fan and even bought a 79 MM Ray in early/mid 80s that was same natural and black as Nard's just cos it was like his bass. I used rounds on it all its life and it always sounded like Nard's bass to me!

[stoo]

[quote name='Froggy' timestamp='1447747773' post='2909891']
How do you rate the sterling Wonky? I currently have my eye on a sterling sub ray 4. I haven't had a chance to have a play with it yet, but I've fallen in love with the look of it. It's around the upper end of my budget so I'm hoping it's good!
[/quote]

I had one (a SbMM sub ray 4) for a bit. It played nice and sounded very much like a Stingray to my ears.

Only downsides to it from my point of view were
- narrow & shallow neck profile didn't suit my hands as well as the chunkier EBMM SUB / Stingray shape
- Needed to be very careful with the pickup/preamp to avoid distortion... I ended up lowering the pickup as far as it would go which pretty much solved the problem, but if the neck had suited me I think I'd have put a different preamp in - maybe a pickup as well... but I suspect it was the preamp that was the "problem"

Edited November 17, 2015 by stoo

[MrDaveTheBass]

[quote name='No. 8 Wire' timestamp='1447678358' post='2909411']
Have you also tried TI flats? How do they compare tension wise if so? I really like the low tension of the TI flats but I'm interested in trying out the cobalts.
[/quote]

The Cobalts are my first venture into the flat world. The tension is higher than the Ernie Ball rounds I was using previously, and I needed to adjust the truss-rod to compensate. The marketing blurb for the Cobalts talks about a roundwound sound with a flatwound feel. They haven't got the full growl of a set of rounds, but sound much brighter than a traditional set of flats. As the Sterling's got loads of GRRR, anyway, I'm very happy with the compromise.

[No. 8 Wire]

[quote name='kevin_lindsay' timestamp='1447755009' post='2909967']
My mate Jase Brooks and I were discussing this a few weeks back. So, to try and find out, Jase contacted Nile Rodgers via Twitter :

[URL=http://s7.photobucket.com/user/kevin_lindsay/media/Screenshot_2015-09-11-21-30-36.png.html][IMG]http://i7.photobucket.com/albums/y289/kevin_lindsay/Screenshot_2015-09-11-21-30-36.png[/IMG][/URL]
[/quote]

Brilliant, probably the most conclusively settled argument ever.

[No. 8 Wire]

[quote name='MrDaveTheBass' timestamp='1447761082' post='2910042']


The Cobalts are my first venture into the flat world. The tension is higher than the Ernie Ball rounds I was using previously, and I needed to adjust the truss-rod to compensate. The marketing blurb for the Cobalts talks about a roundwound sound with a flatwound feel. They haven't got the full growl of a set of rounds, but sound much brighter than a traditional set of flats. As the Sterling's got loads of GRRR, anyway, I'm very happy with the compromise.
[/quote]

Thanks, that tells me all I need to know. When I changed from EB super slinkys to ti flats I had to loosen the truss rod. I really need the low tension due to a hand condition so I guess I'll be sticking with them.

[uncle psychosis]

I just spent twenty minutes searching twitter to find that tweet because I remember seeing it.

That'll teach me to read the whole thread before replying!