Why should I try flatwounds?

[dansouth]

I've been a roundwound player forever, but I see that flats are popular these days. Should I try flats? I can always cut highs, but I can add them. And in the old days, rounds played a lot better than dull, clunky flats. What's changed?

[Mike H.]

We put a set of flat wounds on an active bass for a customer a couple weeks back. With that bass, it gave it a more focused, cleaner sound. It wasn't as metallic/edgy sounding as with roundwounds.

[Ryan Griffith]

Dansouth,

Flats vary by manufacturer as much as rounds. I find Fender flats to be dull & thuddy, yet I love the Thomastik-Infelds. Good flatwounds can be as responsive as rounds, but as Hoagie said, without the clanky, harsh high end. The lows on flats are deep & solid, and the highs are smooth & mellow, and the whole range tends to be a little warmer, I think. One good reason to at least try flats is: Why not? If you don't like them, then I guess you had the experience of trying them! I think that if you try the TI Jass Flats, you'll be very impressed.

Hope you give them a whirl, and happy thumping!

[PJR]

Good Flats (like TI's ) add a different dimension to the bass.

 

.....To my ears...they tend to present a fuller,rounder tone..

...they kinda feel cool and slinky on yur fingers too !!

 

Try 'em.....

 

Peter

[jeremy c]

why try flats?

To see how it used to be done.

I've got La Bella flats on my p bass, the producer loves it in the studio.

I wouldn't want to slap on it, and find it has a little trouble cutting through live, but it sits in the mix perfectly.

 

I switched from flats to roundwounds 25 years ago or so in order to get the biting sound I wanted without having to play so hard. Also to get the slap sound I wanted, although Larry Graham was slapping on flatwounds at the beginning.

 

Everyone played flatwounds in the old days, they were the only kind of strings available. Rotosound invented the roundwound string later. And a lot of us hated the Chris Squire sound and stayed with flatwounds.

 

All the old r&b records were recorded with flatwounds so for the price of a set of strings you can see for yourself what the fuss is all about. About the smallest investment you will ever make in your gear.

 

Jeremy Cohen