Flats are off

[Lozz196]

1 hour ago, Steve Browning said:

That's what I thought. I've got 12 and still hanker after a number of them in the classifieds!

Now that’s the Basschat attitude, well done Steve 👏🏻

[bassbiscuits]

I find different basses suit different strings too. My precision with Labella flats sounds great. My active Yamahas sound better with round wounds. That also gives me the option to cover a lot of sonic ground depending on what sort of music I’m playing. 

[neepheid]

16 minutes ago, bassbiscuits said:

I find different basses suit different strings too. My precision with Labella flats sounds great. My active Yamahas sound better with round wounds. That also gives me the option to cover a lot of sonic ground depending on what sort of music I’m playing. 

 

I use the same strings on everything.  I don't give a toot what the bass in question has to say about it.  What next, give them the vote?  It's a slipperly slope...

 

[pn_day]

If you like the feel and sound of the La Bellas, but they are just a bit too 'rigid' for your pinkie, try the low tension flats (La Bella LTFs).

 

But as others have said, sometimes different strings suit different basses - I love the TI Jazz flats on a few other basses but they didn't sound 'right' on my Precision...

 

 

[Baloney Balderdash]

I have always used rounds, and personally I prefer the light gauged balanced tension set by D'Addario, the gauge .095 - .070 - .055 - .040 set.

 

Has a so much richer tone than flats.

 

Until fairly recently I even hated the tone from flats, but have since learned to appreciate the sound of them, even if they are not for me personally.

 

Flats absolutely do have their place.

 

But anyway congratulations on your discovery.

 

Perhaps worth trying out a lighter set rounds, if your fretting hand fingers are struggling, just as long as you remember to adjust your picking technique to a lighter touch, to accommodate the lower tension, who knows might lead to another revelation. 

 

Edited November 7, 2024 by Baloney Balderdash

[Jack]

On 05/11/2024 at 10:24, deepbass5 said:

Funny you say that,  as i have been looking out for a PJ with maple board i can have rounds on as an opposite and more versatile bass to the rosewood P with flats, but cant really justify it if i'm honest. I will run with this CS on rounds until GAS bites again, It really needs to be used more and i can easily EQ out the highs when required but can't bring them up if they were not there in the first place. cheers all -just sharing my new found joy 😁

G&L SB2 Tribute. You'll thank me later. 

[Beedster]

On a Precision I'd record with flats, but gig with rounds. I love the nuanced tone of flats but live that can get lost and sometimes you just need that top-end energy that sounds bring. 

[Quatschmacher]

On 05/11/2024 at 07:04, uk_lefty said:

You need two P basses. One for flats, one for rounds. 

Maybe 4: maple+rounds, maple+flats, rosewood+rounds, rosewood+flats. (And then maybe the same but with ash bodies; I can see why people end up with many basses.)

[Lozz196]

17 minutes ago, Quatschmacher said:

Maybe 4: maple+rounds, maple+flats, rosewood+rounds, rosewood+flats. (And then maybe the same but with ash bodies; I can see why people end up with many basses.)

All seems perfectly reasonable to me

[joel406]

At last count. I have 9 Bass's.

 

All have the same strings.

 

Their a Mix of Precisions, Jazz, a couple of PJs (one was born a Precision). As well as A G&L L2500 (arriving tomorrow). Which will go straight to a wizard I know to be setup. It will receive the same strings as all my other instruments. Been playing these strings since the 80s. Tried others. I even have sets of others on hand. Should that pesky brain tumor have any ideas.

 

Moral of the story...

 

Play wat ya like.

 

Wear a tinfoil hat.

Edited November 15, 2024 by joel406

[Quilly]

I know it’s conventional wisdom to put flats on a fretless to save the fingerboard or whatever but I’ve put a set of light gage round nickels on my fretless bass and I much prefer it. I think the sound from a fretless is dark enough without adding to it.

Edited December 2, 2024 by Quilly

[pn_day]

It worked for Jaco. And "the fretless monster"! 

 

Having said that, I like the mid-heavy content that TI-Jazz flats give on fretless. 

 

 

Edited December 2, 2024 by pn_day

[StingRayBoy42]

44 minutes ago, pn_day said:

It worked for Jaco. And "the fretless monster"!

Didn't he coat his fingerboard in yacht varnish or something?

[crazycloud]

On 16/11/2024 at 01:14, joel406 said:

Wear a tinfoil hat.

But for best results, ensure it has a low impedance ground.

[BillyBass]

On 03/12/2024 at 02:21, crazycloud said:

But for best results, ensure it has a low impedance ground.

You fool, do you really think that will protect you from the cosmic rays?

[StingRayBoy42]

28 minutes ago, BillyBass said:

You fool, do you really think that will protect you from the cosmic rays?

 

That's what big foil wants you to think

[Terry M.]

Learned the expensive way that flats aren't for me. Tried a few different sets and then bit the bullet on the most costly set of them all,TI Jazz Flats. Rounds all the way for me now going forward. As said before play whatever resonates with you and makes you happy.

[chris_b]

10 years ago I put TI flats on my Mike Lull PJ5 and it came alive. Those strings are still on and sounding better than ever.

 

Encouraged by this success I put flats on my Sadowsky Jazz bass. . . . and killed the tone. It turned into a dull and toneless waste of space. I put NYXL's back on and restored the magic.

 

I also have a Cort Jazz bass which was improved by the addition of GHS flats.

[Schnozzalee]

5 minutes ago, chris_b said:

10 years ago I put TI flats on my Mike Lull PJ5 and it came alive. Those strings are still on and sounding better than ever.

 

Encouraged by this success I put flats on my Sadowsky Jazz bass. . . . and killed the tone. It turned into a dull and toneless waste of space. I put NYXL's back on and restored the magic.

 

I also have a Cort Jazz bass which was improved by the addition of GHS flats.

+1 TI/Roto flats have transformed a couple of my basses, but I don't really like them on my maple precision, so I'll be going back to D'Addario rounds for that one - Trial over.

Edited December 29, 2024 by Schnozzalee

[SurroundedByManatees]

I've got ernie ball cobalt flats on my '57 cs precision, which are a very good match. I can't think of a better set of strings for it.

They don't sound like traditional flats at all, more like well balanced played-in rounds.

Had them on a Jazz Bass too, which was okay too...but not superb. I think they would do great on my Gibson G3 though.

[mikeswals]

I just don't like them! There is so much richness lost with flats, the over tones that let tube amps bark, and effects speak much better with rounds. I can still mute and thump with rounds for the rare songs that really need such a sound.

 

I still have one bass left with flats, and its a P bass, but I dont prefer playing P's either...its only there because I'm a Jamerson fan. But I'm always wishing I brought something else whenever I do take it out of the house. 

 

Ive always had duplicates of basses, and 15-20 years ago I used to keep flats on the 2nd of each style bass, but realized I was never reaching for them. 

Ive tried lots and lot$$$ of brands of them, and Dunlops being the only ones I stuck with because the tension is most similar to rounds.

[Misdee]

Well, first let me start by saying that I really enjoy playing flatwounds on some basses. I've got a P Bass, Jazz Bass and a Stingray all strung with Thomastiks, (although I am thinking about trying some La Bella Low Tension Flats on the P Bass). The Thomastiks are easy to play(maybe a bit too easy) with a very supple and articulate sound compared to a lot of other flatwounds.

 

I totally agree with Mike, however, about roundwound strings being much easier to get a sound with a wider and richer harmonic spectrum. There's a reason why bass players switched to roundwound strings in the first place. It's a trade-off, and you can't be all things to all men, ect.

 

As someone who grew up in the roundwound era, it's been a revelation how much fun it can be to experiment with the  different sound and dynamics you get from flatwounds. I never really thought about how many of the bass tones I want to emulate when I'm playing along with records were actually created with flats. I actually feel quite subversive for enjoying it so much.

 

For so long flats were shunned by any self-respecting trendy bass player, myself included. I still am primarily a roundwound player, it's just that in private I sometimes experiment with flatwounds. If I'm learning some Robbie Shakespeare bass lines, for example, then flats on a Jazz Bass are perfect. Having less sustain ect actually makes the music easier to play.

 

 The downside of the change in trends is that nowadays flats on a P Bass has become a kind of default setting for bass players who want to be savvy musos. It's an easy choice for people without much originality or imagination of their own. Since Pino switched to flats round the turn of the millennium everyone else has followed suit, and makes out like it was their own idea. Reverence for retro has become the new orthodoxy. Old fashioned has become synonymous with good taste and sound judgement. That's quite depressing me. It'd be better if more players looked further afield for inspiration and explored doing their own thing.

Edited January 13 by Misdee

[Musicman20]

I have some EB flats on my Stingray 4 H that have been on for 8+ years and sound/feel fantastic. No fret wear! 
 

Good thing with a Ray is that you can still get high mid grind with flats if you want. 

[Ed_S]

I've always half-joked that the best way to get me to sell a bass is to put flats on it; I'll enjoy it for a couple of days but then the novelty will wear off and I'll stop playing it for long enough to justify pushing it out of the door. I do still try some every now and then, and I think the Ernie Ball 2816 cobalt 'slinky' and 2810 stainless 'group' 5 string sets have been the most successful so far. I've currently got the steels on a cheap but pimped P-bass (that'll be safe as it's just not worth selling!) and they're doing better than average - especially as the combination of instrument and strings is quite loud and pleasingly bassy when noodling unplugged - but I couldn't see myself playing a heavy rock gig on them... that's still definitely rounds territory for me.

[Steve Browning]

Steve Harris seems to manage ok. That said, each to their own. 

 

Everybody's preference is the right choice for them.