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Changing back to rounds


la bam

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Morning all,

After an impromptu purchase yesterday and no time to put on my usual flats, I giggled our second set with roundwounds. They were VERY punchy. Band loved them.

So....I may be switching back to rounds in time.

But, what is everyone using now? (it's a while since I bought any). These will be strung on a fender p bass. Ideally I'd like some punch with a bit of warmth, and I'd like them to last. All I remember about previous roundwounds is they seemed to die quite quickly.

Or are flats still king on a p bass?

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This is spooky (well not really), but I’ve been a flats on my P fanboy for a long time, however I’ve recently changed the set on my fretless to a used set of Nickel wounds. I have to say, they are very nice. And for the JBEx genre suit nicely.

Might have to watch the board getting marked, but I’ll see how they sound at next gig, but I’m pleasantly surprised. 

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These days I use TI flats on my passive P bass and D'Addario NYXL rounds on my active jazz. IMO best of both worlds.

I've used rounds on a P bass for most of my playing life. As long as you're getting the sound you want it doesn't matter how you do it..

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I tried Elixirs few yrs back and think they might still be on my Warwick Thumb that i very rarely use but my recollection of them when i first put them on was that the tension was higher and wasn't as easy bending strings. (either 35-95 or 40-100)

I do play them occasionally on my Warwick and they seem to feel ok now.

I'm currently trying out flats on my Sandberg VM4 and jury still out for me so this thread might be quite helpful to me too.

Before the flats i was using nickel Daddarios and then Fender nickels. Think the D'addarios are better and seem to last a bit longe.

My Sandberg came with their own steel rounds and i found them very easy on my fingers for steels that is. Not expensive but you need to get them from Thomann.

Dave 

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1 hour ago, la bam said:

Morning all,

After an impromptu purchase yesterday and no time to put on my usual flats, I giggled our second set with roundwounds. They were VERY punchy. Band loved them.

So....I may be switching back to rounds in time.

But, what is everyone using now? (it's a while since I bought any). These will be strung on a fender p bass. Ideally I'd like some punch with a bit of warmth, and I'd like them to last. All I remember about previous roundwounds is they seemed to die quite quickly.

Or are flats still king on a p bass?

I really like DR Sunbeams on my Precision.

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I used to use Rotosound steel rounds, loved them but only got about 4 weeks fresh sound from them. I’d read about Warwick Red Label steel rounds sounding similar but lasting longer so tried them and it turned out to be true, virtually the same sound but I get at least 2 months from them, longer it seems in winter than summer (less sweat maybe). And the extra bonus is they’re about £10 a set.

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I've always found Daddario EXLs or NYXLs to be great on a P Bass. I think I've got Daddario Pro Steels on the P at the moment (they were spare from another bass and I needed them sharpish for a gig but they sound good and fresh after about a dozen gigs so far). 

Saying that, the P has had La Bella flats on it for the previous three years which sounded lovely. I only swapped them for some function dep gigs which demanded a bit more of a versatile sound. I may well swap back to flats tho. 

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1 hour ago, Lozz196 said:

I used to use Rotosound steel rounds, loved them but only got about 4 weeks fresh sound from them. I’d read about Warwick Red Label steel rounds sounding similar but lasting longer so tried them and it turned out to be true, virtually the same sound but I get at least 2 months from them, longer it seems in winter than summer (less sweat maybe). And the extra bonus is they’re about £10 a set.

Let me get my note book and a pen.... 

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D'addarios are the only strings that I ever use after trying everything else.

When I first switched from flats to rounds I wanted the smoothest string I could get so after careful research, D'addario EXL165s became the string of choice for me. Absolutely love them and could easily get 8 or 9 wedding length gigs out of them before they started to get dull.

Afterwards I switched to EPS330 stainless steel roundwounds as I wanted something brighter and even then they were still pretty smooth under the fingers and never caused any issues.

Now that I am back to using passive Fenders, I'm back to Chromes again as they suit what I am looking for in a string again.

As an ad-on, after a lot of research and trying them for myself, Fender 7250Ms are for all intents and purposes D'addario EXL165s with slightly different coloured ball ends for £13ish compared to £18ish for the D'addarios

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DR fatbeams.

and there’s one of the newtone ones I like too but can’t remember what. 
 

im trying flats on my L1000 currently, set of chromes... they are ok but don’t wow me. I want to try some TI flats before I give up and go back to fatbeams 

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Does anyone know the spec of the nickel plated strings that are shipped with the fender Flea bass? The 'played in' tone is still nice and rich so they seem a good choice to stick with.

<Edit> I'll answer my own question:

Fender 7250M Super 7250s NPS string set medium

Edited by Stub Mandrel
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Fender 7250's (Nickel Plated Rounds) would seem the logical choice. I would recommend the 7350's (Stainless Rounds), but you can't get them anymore.

Dunlop's are a good choice, currently using the DBS Stainless Rounds, and they do keep getting better (wasn't convinced at first!).

If the budget is tight, then the Warwick Red Label Strings are an excellent choice. Won't break the bank, so you can change them twice as often! 😀

I have tried the Red Label Stainless Rounds, they were a decent quality string that lasted well at half the price of other brands. Can't go wrong really.

 

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47 minutes ago, Stub Mandrel said:

Does anyone know the spec of the nickel plated strings that are shipped with the fender Flea bass? The 'played in' tone is still nice and rich so they seem a good choice to stick with.

<Edit> I'll answer my own question:

Fender 7250M Super 7250s NPS string set medium

Love Fender 7250 strings, usually I use 7250L (lights - 100/80/60/40). I was told that they are made by D'addario and the coloured ball ends and certainly the feel of the NYXL’s seem identical to me.

I've just put a set back on my P and put the LaBella LT flats on my Stingray Special. The eq on the 'ray allows sufficient treble boost when required which I can't gain on the P without faffing with the EQ on the amp.

Edited by Deedee
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