A bass strings/dirt interaction question

[Jwar]

The fat sound is a technique and eq thing IMO. You can get a very fat sound with rounds as well. Also, my are never noisy. I play DR Marcus Miller's or D'Addario Pro Steels.

Now I do dig Payson chromes, but he only makes them for Dingwalls. Sigh. I've asked.

I'm no help here because I hate flats so much. I'll leave...lol

[DarkAxel]

Don't dig Pro Steels at all. One of the things that turned me to flats to be honest

I don't know man. I probably just need a second bass sooner or later with a bit different strings or something I keep playing basses at work and I always miss flats and always think "wish this had flats on...". Similarly to rfurtkamp here, I really feel my bass has come alive with flats and I found it's sound. I also feel that it really helped my playing and that flat feel feels so much "home" now...

The pros are many over that one "not grindy enough" con. And to be COMPLETELY honest, I can get grindy fuzz. not grindy OD, but fuzz I can do. So it might be a bit of an issue with the whole configuration including the Elements/the setting I have on it

But I guess the answer is once again - buy more shit and/or replace stuff

[waltdogg]

Try half round/groundwound strings?

[Dark Barn]

And would there be some "middle of the road way" that would still give me that fatter sound, would last long with some consistency of tone and have less finger noise but was a bit nastier with dirt?

pure nickels like DR Lo Riders?
GHS Brite Flats?
GHS Pressure Wounds?
D'Addario half rounds?

I love fucking love DR nickel Lo-Riders they have great high tension, fairly bright but not steel bright, and have a much smoother feel than steel.

[MEC]

I liked the GHS Pressure Wounds better than flats for grind. They gave a good feel to them too.
My favorite bass strings are the D'addario EXP coated nickel rounds though.

What kind of bass are you using?
Do you play with a pick or fingers?

[Mudfuzz]

You want Grindy, you want Roto 66's. Trust.

I am quite certain I will need a second bass soon anyway. I'll keep those in mind if I decide to keep one supergrindy cheers
Any word on 55's btw?

I got Optima Flats on my Rickenbacker and D'Addario XL Chromes on my jazz. Both are great with distortion, the Optimas are a little more thump to them, might be the smoothness you are referring to but the Chromes are nice and bright. Might want to check those out if you want to stick with flats.

Right, I've heard that Chromes are a bit brighter I haven't had the best experience with D'addario strings in the past, but since those were mainly connected with losing sound and dying/rusting really fast, flats should be better.(

I use chromes on most of my basses, I always have, I have a few sets that are over ten years old and are still [to me] bright.. My issue with rounds is for me to get the same amount of punch I like I have to use a 110 or 115 E vs a 100 flat wound E… except on SS basses.. you ALWAYS need a 110+ E on a SS bass to get true awesome

[blindrabbit]

And would there be some "middle of the road way" that would still give me that fatter sound, would last long with some consistency of tone and have less finger noise but was a bit nastier with dirt?

pure nickels like DR Lo Riders?
GHS Brite Flats?
GHS Pressure Wounds?
D'Addario half rounds?

Yup. DR Sunbeams. It is all that I use, and I also run dirt constantly. Big, fat, rich tone, easy on the fingers, not too brittle or edgy. Best strings out there.

[Jwar]

I would go with DR over any other brand usually just because I love DR.

[Mudfuzz]

I would go with DR over any other brand usually just because I love DR.

My issue with them is I really like their coated strings but they don't make enough different gauges they need to up their game

[DarkAxel]

I liked the GHS Pressure Wounds better than flats for grind. They gave a good feel to them too.
My favorite bass strings are the D'addario EXP coated nickel rounds though.

What kind of bass are you using?
Do you play with a pick or fingers?

I'm contemplating trying the GHS out, yeah

Ibanez RB650 with new custom wound pickups for maximum P/J awesomeness. Playing both fingers and pick, depending on the song, mostly pick though - for the punch and gnarl.

maybe I'm just overthinking shit. Maybe I should just get more fuzz and get over it as I said... the pros overweight the cons strongly. However even if I don'T cave in now, new bass will need different strings (honestly I'm not sure I can get pressures locally right now)

[MEC]

If you can't find the Pressurewounds local http://www.bassstringsonline.com ships international for $12.

[DarkAxel]

cheers. I have to admit, I'm quite intrigued by these guys, too

http://www.bassstringsonline.com/Ernie- ... _2604.html

ah shit they don't ship EB internationally... off to meail the string guy at work to get me some I've read a lot of good stuff on TalkBass, supposedly wider frequency repsonse in highs but still flat character in low mids and lows.

PS: according to their speculations, the EBs might be pressure-ish as well

[Lebowsky]

If you hate the Pro Steels and are not satisfied with effects on your flat, I'd just try a nickel set if I were you.

[nad]

Never had an issue with fuzz, grind, dirt, edge, and bite with using flats. I ditched roundwounds years ago, but I went through many kinds over many years (DR Sunbeams were probably my favorite).

Thomastik flats are not bright, nor are they thumpy. Grindy/edgy/middy/bitey but without the useless high frequencies that disappear in a mix anyhow. At least, my kind of mix. Switching to those was like removing the tweeter on my basses!

I also use D'addario Chromes on a few other basses, those are bright for flats, but eventually get pretty thumpy if you play the shit out of them. That's when I change them. Because I don't play flats for thump, no sir, not me.

Flangers kinda suck with flats. Those high crispy overtones get lost. But everything else I use is awesome. Fuzz for days, delay, ring mod, phasers, more fuzz, distortion, etc.

I Love Flatfuzz

[D.o.S.]

what you really need though is a P-Bass and an SVT and a porkpie hat.