Fender Jazz 62, Flats or Rounds?

[jarvislky]

hi guys,

would like to check and ask for opinions.

i have a Fender Jazz 62. thinking of equipping it with Flatwounds (kinda costly) to achieve some deep sounds as close to a double bass as possible, any pros and cons?

wad i know so far is the flats have a more deeper tone compared to rounds.

any inputs and brands to recommend? (probably where to get them might be great help to me~)

thanks so much~

 

[shinobi]

flats sound completely different from rounds and i would think that they do not have the same usage. i guess a suitable adjective would be 'dead' and its useful where dead is good. kind of a niche of its own.

as far as the double bass sound is concerned i dont think it really gets closer to a double bass tone, just different. you would be closer by using a fretless or dampening the strings with a piece of sponge or something at the bridge, or by using palm muting techniques.

daddario chromes are quite cheap they only cost about 30 bucks a set compared to a set of XLs or prisms (around 20ish). last time i got them was at swee lee a very long time ago, don't know where they can be found now. sadowsky flats shouldnt be too hard to find though.

 

[alanchia]

sometimes i need doublebass tone even though i do not have one with me at that moment (too lazy to lug both a electric db and a bg). what i could do is to pluck the bg using db technique.

that is, pluck at the end of the fretboard, and use more meat of the index finger (side of the finger, instead of tip. like what dbassist do). do not boost the low freq on the eq too much. you should have a thumpy tone close enough.

 

[rottenramone]

yes, flat wounds are the next step to sounding like an upright. dunno why they are so expensive. it used to be roundwounds which are more expensive.

d'addarios are cool.

 

[drumandbass]

I never associated flats with sounding like a upright.

I find rounds more aggresive and adds alot of 'zing'
especially playing with a pick or with a maple fretboard.

Flats give a rounder bottom and adds a lil more meat.
Well at least that's what i feel.

By the way, I'm using EB flats

 

[jarvislky]

wow thanks for the views guy~ guess the best way now is to experiment and see whether if i like the sound it produces.

but the songe idea is quite innovative~~ i like~

 

[funkygeos]

"Dead" is a good word to describe IMO but a fuller bottom. I'm currently using Sadowsky flats and it sounds pretty decent to me.

If you guys are interested in flats, you can purchase Sadowsky flats or daddario chromes from TYmusic. They got both in store! Cheers!

 

[irvinzj]

flats. and then eventually defret ur bass =)

or try even halfwounds if u like. not as dull

 

[cool-beans]

Where can I find flats?

Don't think I saw any at Davis.

 

[b33r]

there are Rotosound 77 Flatwounds at Davis, D'Addario Chrome flatwounds and Sadowsky flatwounds at TYMC.

i say go try the chromes, cuz they're the cheapest. people say they're very zingy for flatwounds too.

 

[Kirin]

+ 1 to d'addario chromes. I tried them out on my P bass under recommendation from a friend, and so far i like wat i hear, and they arent that expensive compared to the other brands.