Flatwound vs. Roundwound Bass Strings w/  

The flatwounds sound really organic and “natural”. I love it. Soooo smooth.

Restrung my bass recently from rounds to flats for the first time just to try it out… I’m never going back. Love the tone, wish I would’ve done it 20 years ago.

This is the first flats vs rounds video i have seen where the tester plays actual basslines and not solo stuff. I mean most of the comparison videos are a bit misleading because solo-like stuff sounds almost always better with rounds. But in this case it is much more realistic so thank you for that. The only thing i would like to see before finally convincing myself to go to flat is to compare them in a real band setting (ie along with other instruments) and probably a comparison between rounds an flats that are both lets say 2 months old. I think the difference might be unnoticeable in that case but i am not sure. If someone has a video like that please share it with me :)

The main reason I would want to stay with round wounds is that it's easier to tone down their bitter growl if needed, and harder to add the bitter growl to flatwounds.

I like them rubber strings on bass ukes, flubby boomy rubber baby bumper sounds.

i haven't played bass in 15 years. tried a set of flatwounds at my friend's house for the first time the other day, and just dusted off all my old gear. They just feel so nice.

Thank you for mentioning Pino Paladino! For 15 years Ive wondered how he got that sound so full in John Mayer Trio, I never figured it out. But this explains so much!

I mostly play metal, and use flats exclusively. They feel better, and have a way punchier sound if you’re an aggressive player like I am with my fingers. My issue with rounds is they are way too clanky and zingy to my ear, to the point where I have a hard time hearing what notes I’m playing. True, I can tame those highs, but that round character is still there, not to mention the smooth feel of flats just is not there on rounds. The only time I’d ever consider rounds is for slap, even then I’m not a fan of slap in the least. Rounds can die and sound kind of like flats, but they still don’t have the liveliness in their sound flats have. Currently, my oldest set of strings is just over three years old and sound amazing. My sub genre of choice is death and thrash. Overall, it’s always fun and interesting to see what works for us and others, regardless of what we play!

Thank you for the excellent overview and comparison, and you make them both sound great!

Beautifully explained! Got awhile ago a couple of sets of both round and flatwounds from Thomann! Keep rocking guys

Thanks for the comparative demo. Good job. The flat wounds sound so much better.

I started out my bass journey playing mostly metal but now play a bit of everything and I loved flats then and I still love them now. One big advantage with flats is how much you can beat them. I mean you can really abuse a set of flats and they’ll hold up where I feel like rounds would break, especially with how long I leave strings on before changing them! Although they’re not perfect, sometimes depending on your settings using a pick with flats can just sound awful whereas with rounds and a pick always sound great. Another thing I love about flats is their tension, they’re great for down tuning to C for example cuz they still have enough tension to not feel or sound “floppy” whereas if I was playing in C with rounds I would definitely want a higher string gauge. At the end of the day like you said there’s no “one size fits all” when it comes to strings. I just really love my flats!!!

Thank you somuch for the clarity of your explanation 🫰🏾✨

I have rounds on my HH stingray, but my #1 bass is my fretless jazz with Thomastik Infeld jazz flats. I'm an at home hobby musician, so I don't know how they would do in a mix but I love those strings. I jump between metal, jazz/bebop/hardbop/fusion, and blues and those strings on that bass feel like they fit all three genres well. The string tension feels way lower than other flats I've tried, and they have stellar low end clarity with a midrange growl on the fretless - I don't even miss the high end brightness because of how well situated the mids are.

I switched to LaBella flatwounds a while ago. Use them on my main ax, which is a jazz bass and on my Classic Vibe telecaster p bass...Also use flats on my Hofner...Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed playing roundwounds, but my technique, which borrows heavily from Jamerson and McCartney, is suited for flats. I get all kinds of compliments on my tone these days. This is a great video and the best I've seen here on YT discussing the distinction between the two type of strings.

Great demo of the differences! 🔥

I changed time ago to flats, and i don't regret. I love them. What i like most is that they make much less fret and string noise. I play in two bands: one rock/blues type of music and in a cover band (blues, rock, hard rock) I've found that fender's flats are really light tense, like roundwounds, i use that ones, 45 - 100

I've listened to a few shootouts, and I felt this sonically one of the best, so thanks. I can't get away from feeling that flatwounds just have a bit more bass sound--not just because they are less bright. I'd love to see a frequency analysis sometime! But I wonder if it might be because there is simply more metal there? For two strings of the same gauge, all those gaps might subtract from body? Hmmm, who knows...

I have never used flats on any on my basses. 😯 got me thinking about it now. I shall try them.

Great video man, keep it up! I like both but preferably roundwounds. I have two bass, a Schecter Stiletto Studio-5 (passive pick ups with an active preamp) and a Schecter CV-4 (just passive) I use roundwounds on my 5. It’s my main bass and an absolute workhorse. (45-130 Ernie Ball) For my 4 I’m currently using Ernie Ball Hybrids roundwounds (45-105) but wanna put a set of flats on it just to have the option of if/when I have a gig that calls for it plus just something to try out as well. As far as gauges go I’ve read that with flats the tension could be a bit higher just due to how they’re made so I may go 45-100 or 40-95 on my 4 for flatwounds and 45-105 for roundwounds.

So far after many years I came to : you need a JB with round and a PB with flats and mainly you can play any song and any genre available.

I have one bass with flats and one with rounds and I love them both. The rounds are on my active bass

This video is very useful, thanks !

Thank you, the direct comparison was very interesting. I play a 5-string, use gold-plated, round-wounds, that start at 130.

Steve Harris uses flats, but they are Rotosound Monel flats, which are a pretty modern flat and have a lot of high tones in them. He also changes them before every concert so they are always zingy. A far cry from James Hamerson who used LaBella flats and never changed them. I have 4 basses; a Schecter Corsair Semi-hollow body with LaBella 760 flats 45:105 gauge, for a more vintage sound. I have an ESP LTD Stream 204 with EMG P4X/CSX pickups with LaBella Low Tension flats 42:100 gauge. This bass sounds very metal. I also have two Charvel Sam Dimas IVs. The first is stock, with Dimarzio Modek P/J pickups, and Rotosound 77 Monel flats 45:105, same strings Steve uses in a lighter gauge. This bass has a lot of brightness. This would be my "pop rock" bass. My final bass is also a San Dimas IV P/j, but it has a Dimarzio Sixties P/Area J pickups with a Darkglass Tone Capsule for the preamp. Also using the same Rorosound 77s. This bass has an enormous amount of presence and is good for rock/metal I don't have rounds currently but I can play any kind of music on flats. I can fit in any mix.

I was badgered into putting flatwound strings on at least one of my basses. I put Dunlop flatwounds on my two Precision Basses. To my surprise, the sound was more articulate. The Dunlops have somewhat lower tension and are not super dark. They are a good starting point.

I play Rotosound Steve Harris flats on a Spector Euro series and through an Ampeg or Ashdown, dialing up the mid a little gives a really nice bright tone. You need to use a bass with a bridge pickup to get that tone

First off, I have to say this is my favorite flats vs rounds vid I've seen. To answer your question. I play primarily straight up Rock N Roll, Heavy Metal and Punk Rock. Favorites era would be 1980's-1990s. Also I've never played anything but Round wounds. My all time favorite are D'addario 40-95. Use to play heavier gauge but the thinner strings stay brighter longer and cut much better in the mix IMHO.

Thanks for this demonstration, helpful to me,,,,,,😊

I play punk rock and use flats exclusively. I mostly play with a pick, and I like the attack of a pick on flatwounds. I use Fender flatwounds, which are fairly bright for flats, on a PJ bass. I like the more streamlined vibe and the feel. My strings are about a year old and I'm considering replacing them with a new pack of the same strings for a little more brightness, but realistically, it'll be at least a few more months before I bother. There can be a really specific percussiveness to flats as a result of their more focused attack and reduced sustain.

I have rounds on three basses, and flats on one. The one with flats is the P-bass copy I learned on when younger. I wasn't playing it, and wondered if I could do something different with it. Now it's my primary jazz axe! (I also put a hunk of foam under the strings next to the bridge. Real old school sound! Maybe I'll defret it some day).

I really enjoy playing with D'Addario XL 45-100 Chromes flatwounds. Really smooth, great tone, and haven't had to change them for well over a year of regular play.

ive played flatwound for years and they last forever. also i run my bass through a behringer v tone so i can practically get any tone i want. also flatwound doesnt rub against your fingers so much so they are good for sliding up the fretboard. and i get very easy vibrato with flatwound.they tend to be more flexible than roundwound.

now that's a comparison i needed to make up my mind if i want to try them :) thanks :)

Where did that 13 hole anodize P-Bass pick guard come from? I had to search _HARD_ to find one and in the end a guy in a suburb of my hometown was making them. It was the only source I found for one though. Everything else was 10 holes because that's how they made them in '57 - '58 when Fender was using anodized pick guards. I'm curious if it was stock with the bass or if it's aftermarket.

Great comparison, thanks.

Great demo thanks

best video to compare the difference!

Thanks for mentioning a different sound works inspirational. Gonna put flats on my fretted. Get that plucky plunky motown chop. It will give ideas. Roundwound is becoming too flashy, too metallic. But what to put on a fretless? Go Jaco?

As awesome as rounds are - the bass comes into its own when strung with flats. Like that old comfy couch. I keep a g&l sb-2 bass (fender p style) strung with flats at all times now next to my others.

I've got two precisions, a 70s CV with rounds and a MIM with flats. 99.9% of the time, those two can cover everything I need in studio

I use D'Addario Half Rounds 50-105, they feel great, not as bright as regular roundwounds but still close enough for classic rock

Noticed that flats also feel less “floppy” in tension. I’m currently thinking of switching from D’Addario flats to LaBellas since they claim to be brighter and I already have them on my Squier Bass VI, but they are definitely pricier. I’m playing short scale (34” scale is not comfortable for me as I also play guitar) .45-.105 gauge.

I got an Ibanez sr300edx with rounds which is nice and agressive. I also recently got a gorgeous AV II 60 P bass with flats and it sounds deliciously smooth. I use it to play reggae mostly

good job patrick!

I typically do not like the sound of flatwounds at all for most things and almost all of them are way too high tension for my taste. But a couple of years ago I tried the Ernie Ball Slinky (Cobalt) flatwounds. They give me enough high-end and clarity for most of what I like to hear and the lightest gauge 40-95 feel really good under my fingers. And the voicing of the strings do not have that huge low-mid bump that most all flatwounds have (and that is the thing that used to bother me most about flatwounds, not necessarily the lack of high-end--I just do not like that really "middy" sound of most flats). I still use rounds a bit, but most of my basses have the EB Cobalt flats on them right now. So for those of you who do not like either the sound of flats or the high-tension, give the EB Slinky (cobalt) flats a try. They have their own sound that to my ears is somewhere between a flat and round sound. Also the tension/feel is way better if you are used to lower tension rounds. They also last a long time, but do lose some of their brightness. I love the way they sound when they are new, so I change them quite often. Downside is that they are a little pricey.

i love the sound of flats, so smooth and melodic. unfortunately i often have to play on rounds for the kind of music i'm playing right now, but i've tried tapewounds and they really work for me as a middle ground

@PatrickHunter what brand and gauge flatwounds are you using?

I have always had a bass with each type of string depending on what music the band was playing. Early British Invasion, Motown, old pop calls for flats. If we played Who,The Move or other rock stuff I used round wounds. My Hofner Club ? I use tapewounds.

First of all thanks for a great video! What is that song the first one you play? I’d love to play that! I usually use La Bella RX-N4D RWNP .45-.105 - I love the rich sound from them but this video really made me want to buy flats. Never played in any but that is about to change! Thank you 💙

i love flatwounds, but i played flats in a band and i can-t hear it well, but with rounds my instrument is more present with a full band, so i like it better, my ideal string its a well used roundwound that has no zing but still has the growl

For /my/ styles of music I prefer flat-wound bass strings. I promised myself to keep round-wounds on my Harley Benton MJ-4EB, so I eventually bought an MJ-5EB and again a set of flat-wounds (Thomastik JF345). I'm wondering if I "need" an additional acoustic bass with round-wounds. For comparison: for my guitars I default to round-wound strings, but I have one solid-body guitar, one western and a 6-string banjo equipped with flat-wounds (Thomastik JS110). I'm glad I did, but I expect to keep flat-wounds a minority among my guitars.

How much 'tighter' do the 'flat-wound', strings feel compared to the same gauge of round-wounds. If I put on 'flats' would you recommend that I try a lighter gauge set.?

I ❤ flats on the p bass for rock and blues-rock. But there is a huge variety of differences between the different types of flats. I like chromes 45 to 100 most. GHS precision flats for example sound too dull for my ears.

Thaaaank you!!

I've always used round wound strings, but I recently bought a used Sterling by MM that came with flats, and I really like the difference! No idea what brand or guage they are so I'll have to look at what's out there if I ever replace them..

I have a P and a J bass, got flatwounds for the first time, thought I'd equip one with flats and keep rounds on the other. I was so blown away by flats, I'm wondering if I might not go flatwounds on both :D

I like both! I switch what bass with what type of strings and gauge depending on what is needed for the music I am working on. I play all genres both solo, and with different people. Whatever serves the song the best! 😊

nice video man

I started playing on a bass that came with flats, so i grew up with that specific tone, 2 years later i tried rounds for the first time, but soon came for flats again, i just love their sound, it sounds as a bass should sounds

I'd be very interessted in how the different type of strings sound with serveral effects that you might find in lets call it "prog" genres. So putting a distortion on flats or setting up a flanger, or just an echo / delay / hall effect. Since some of these effect really profit from the brighter sounds BUT sometimes its too much. And cutting off the bright sounds and flatten them could create really weird and also amazing sounds

Metal, roundwounds, medium gauge but I tune to drop C on a long scale bass. If I was using a short scale I'd use lights and probably not go lower than drop D. But I also like my action stupid lower and my next stupid flat, without any kind of shimming of the neck. Would love to get a 37-40" bass that's a 4 string just to tune down to a low F#. GHS boomers btw.

Hi, whats the gauge for the Roundwood strings in the video?

Thank you

I am obsessed with flats - especially for city pop and French variety but you can also make it work for indie rock. I just started to use rounds on my other bass for slapping but missing the flats so much already. Question: what kind of flats do you guys use? I tried coated strings but right now I think the stainless steel ones are much better.

Feels of them are very different. I tried flats for the first time and i feel like i’ve just started to play. I use it in same gauge in my rounds but flats feel more heavy.

I love flats on a p bass but I find they can really start to lose their sustain after a while, especially on the E .

Flats + Darkglass Alpha Omega with a Pbass. My current set up

I prefer flats for all genres except slaping. The important thing for rock/metal is that the amp is driven, like e.g. Steve Harris does. Sounds a bit strange in solo at first but perfect in the mix. I wouldn't want to miss the playability of the smooth flats anymore. With the volume potentiometer you can take something back, then the flats sound clean again (as in your examples)...

The cool thing is with this knowledge and a couple of instruments, a bass player can better tailor and fine tune his sound to meet the needs of the music he has to play the same as a guitarist with a Strat & Les Paul, or a keyboardist with a rig featuring a piano, Rhodes, B3, and synthesizers. #respect

I love Flats - I only use Ernie Ball Cobalt Flats, specifically. 85% of the brightness, but much smoother. Last way longer, too.

Half rounds. Best of both worlds D'Addario Love em.

I love flatwound strings, but I've always had this issue, where it's difficult to mix with other instruments. Flatwounds create this boomy problem, where it's hard to dictate where it lives in a mix. If you want a fat bassy club track, the bass notes wouldn't be audible anymore because you're sacrificing the hit of the notes for a well rounded sound. My solution to this was get flatwounds but light gauge strings (40-100) and this is the perfect sweet spot, if you're a session musician who records with other bands and groups, get the lighter gauge strings and the mixing engineer will thank you for it!

Another reason, to have more than one P-style Bass... 😂❤❤

i play fender flats on all my basses. they are not that expensive and work very well in our rock band.

Ernie ball , Fender or Gibson nickelplated roundwounds ?

Flats on my P bass for old school, rounds on my yamaha double humbucker for when I need a "modern" sound. (You're both right: it's a dessert topping and a floor wax!)

With compression, distortion, EQ, and whatnot, flats and tapewounds are definitely usable for everything. So if you love a certain feel, just make sure to work with the rest of your gear so you can find a compromise that will work with your music/mixes/bands. Pedals are not always the Devil. 😈 Even roundwound users often use EQ and effects. Do not worry too much about your clean sound. Roundwounds are of course a more natural "heavy music" fit, especially clean or with little distortion. Definitely not wrong to use them, and do sound great distorted too! But not necessary to stop using flatwounds if you only have few basses/one bass. Mr. Harris is indeed a good example. No need to have fresh RS77s/SH77s either for every performance. It is about *your* sound and gear. (There are also a few brighter flatwound sets in addition to Harris's to consider, if that is your wish. Something like the Fender 9050 sets are very versatile, for example.)

Somewhat new to the bass world. Picked up an electric fretless at a pawn shop a while back, and was told today when I went to restring it that I had to use flatwounds on a fretless. Came here to get some opinions on that statement

I just got a (preowned) very cool but weird P bass: 70s jazz neck and flats on it. I mean: it sounds and plays fantastic (!!!) at home. But I'm not sure at high volume with my band. Let's see.

Is it true that roundwound wear the frets out much more quickly or does this take a really long time and you’re likely to have bought another bass by then?

I play really loud noise rock but flats (D'addario Chromes specifically) are my weapon of choice. Their smooth tone is the perfect canvas for fat synth sounds and disgusting amounts of fuzz. I prefer to leave the high-end to the guitar

I have a question for anyone to answer: I just bought a Gibson SG bass which costs $2000 and I love the sound of roundwound strings but I am leery about putting them on because they are so inexpensive and it makes me think the cheap quality will not do justice to this guitar. Is this anything I should be concerned with? Do more expensive strings automatically give you better tone? Thanks for sharing your experience 🎸

I have LaBella flats on my Pbass a TS808 and a compressor pedal = the ultimate bass sound

Nice video... But nicest Squier ❤ Next time? flats on my pbass

'Arry from Iron Maiden does fine with them! :)

It would have helped to know what brands of strings you were using. While roundwounds are always going to be a lot brighter then flats, within the realm of flats different sound fairly different. For example, D'addario flats are a lot brighter then Labella flats.

I used to play Punk Rock, so 045-105 round for me for the longest time. Ernie Ball was my playground. Used to change brand from time to time. But eventually I felt inspired to look for new sounds and I started my journey (cobalt, nickel plated, coated, half-rounds, Elixir, D'Addario, ErnieBall Cobalt Flat) 050-105 at times. I still don't know what to try next.

I have used both Flatwound and Roundwound. However, I still preferred the Roundwound strings.

The thing with flat wounds in the context of a mix, is that it actually sounds better due to more limited frequency response, the kick/snare compete for…. and the midrange of the guitar, when the bass is distinct, and well defined frequency wise, it will actually stand out more, than a bass that sounds great on its own , yet the mix engineer needs to compress and cut with eq. And it never sounds as good as something that did not need as much processing to begin with, and yup this holds true in a barroom as well, it’s just not under the microscope like a studio is. Just something to consider. Many other instruments this also holds true, like a j45 acoustic VRs a big Martin dread, the little slope shoulder will just flat out sound better, bigger and fuller than the huge sounding Martin that gets again eq cuts and compression so it doesn’t crowd the other instruments. Anyway…..for me flat wounds for the win, regardless of music style.

La Bella 105 flatwounds on my Dingwall Ng3 ...🥰

Just got a set of Flats love them much much better

I went with Slinky Cobalt Flatwounds, now I can't stand the clank of a roundwound anymore. These flats are bright enough but they are also a lot "cleaner" and feel more balanced eq wise. They cost an awful lot but they last very, very long fortunately.

I heard a lot of flatter purists like not to change their strings for ever if possible. I might be one of the few that I like the sound of really warn out rounds. I haven't changed mine for years. But I do use lighter Guage too. It's not the best of both worlds technically, though to me the light and warn out allows dreamy stuff to my tone.

How close can you get to the flatwound sound with roundwounds just by rolling off the tone?

What do you recommend for cleaning your strings and fret board?

I play more hard rock metal on my Fender 2013 double jazz pickup bass I use D'Addario Electric Bass XL Nickel Wound, .055 - .110, EXL230 with the G string dropped back to a 45g I like the E 110g because I use a hipshot dtuner for dropD songs and a hipshot badass bridge I also use them on my Warwick 2009 pro corvette with a brass nut I installed.

I like flats- and tapewound.

With this video I've just fall in love with Flatwound strings 🔥 Also 1 question : Pino paladinho had a nails on his right hand ?

The thing about a comparison like this is that people will think rounds are clanky and flats aren't but no one will ever be playing just bass with a really quiet drum beat. When the bass is at the appropriate level and mixed in with the other instruments both types of string sound totally different - a lot of that clanky sound gets masked on rounds.