Welcome to the Dark Side @JDDaniel
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I think thatās always the right idea ā get the string that matches the tone you want to achieve.
There was this thing I recently experienced with my cheapy PJ that had these old roundwounds I inherited it with ā and that bass and those strings were just effing loud and buzzy and annoying. And I picked it up later, having a few weeks of practice under my beltā¦ and the strings were dumb and floppy like a Viagra-starved geezer and still effing loud and annoying, but they made this ugly sound I couldnāt get enough of. And because my fingers now knew (somewhat) what they were doing, it was great fun.
I donāt think Iāll ever be one of those people who only do one kind of string. I mean, maybe, but thereās a lot to be said about finding some magic in the least likely of places. One of those places is strings you thought youād long sworn off.
And thatās the story of me, instead of installing some flats, replacing my rounds with new rounds. 
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Funny you say this todayā¦
Iāve been on the flats kick for a while on my P and J (and nylons on my AE).
I have been ignoring the 5er with rounds, well, cause its a 5er and I have been focusing really hard on a couple of courses with only 4 strings.
I have a PJ that has rounds on it and for some reason I grabbed it tonight to practice and do some lessons onā¦and I loved it. Not because I dislike the flats, but because it was so different sounding, clangs and all, added buzz and all. I think I actually missed it a bit.
What I did notice was that i really did not like the strings that were on it. I was on a bit of a string trying tear (once I learned how to setup and re-setup my basses). And the ones I put on really annoyed my fingers. I thought maybe it was from being so used to flats now. So I pulled out a different brand to try MJC Ironworks, and dang!!! I really liked them. Liked the feel, liked the tone. Played til my hands started hurting.
What I have really enjoyed of late on bass is exploring all the different tonal options and nuance of tone. Between bass, pickups, strings, amps/cabs(sims), preamps, effects whatever, it is really fun. Yes you can go down a rabbit hole instead of practicingā¦but I have tried to set aside some time just for ātone findingā vs. practicing.
On sax, your mouthpiece is 90% of your tone, and although you can vary it greatly, you tend to hone in on certain tones or as they call them, sound concepts (ooh, fancy!).
I feel like bass is just the opposite, you can not only find āyour toneā but you can also explore loads of tonal options much easier than sax. Itās very cool!
So, @chordsykatā¦the moral of the story here, as it always is, isā¦a bass with flats and a bass with rounds 
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I think there is a place for everything under this sun. But I prefer roundwounds only because theyāre brighter which fits metal much better which I keep on my 6 string bass perpetually.
Having said this after the next 4 string bass I get only for roundwounds again, I will get a Fender Jazz bass afterwards to keep flatwounds on it permanently so I can have that amazing vintage tone as well.
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Somewhere there is a bass video with Dave Ellefson where he says a lot of people miss giving credit to their own plucking fingers (and instead point to fretting, I assume) when it comes to their āstyleā and that is so true. More than any other instrument Iāve played (besides maybeā¦ the voice) string instruments have that dual-faceted thing of āright sound/right feelā. Itās tactile and visceral. You said it best ā you can go down the rabbit hole, but until you put your fingers on that fretboard a few hundred times, can you really say if you love it or hate it?
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How do you like the chromes?
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I like them a lot on my Epiphone EB-0. Theyāve been on there for about 9 months and have a nice thump that really fits that bass. I feel like Labellas have more of a midrange presence whereas the Chromes are maybe more scooped. Of course, that may just be because of the instruments that are on.
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Thank youā¦Iām really interested in trying themā¦being new to the instrument you hear about them but I havenāt had the opportunity to test drive them but I like the idea of the chromes and Iām glad they have that scooped sound because the guitar I want to try them on has a ton of honk.
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Yesterday I received a set of āThomastik-Infeld Jazz Flatwoundā in an extra long scale 5 string for my Jaco fretless. Those buggers better sound goodā¦ they were ordered in February and cost just shy of AU$170. WOW! But Iām thinking itāll be worth it to stop those nasty roundwounds chopping up the fretboard on the Jaco and Iām told they last a very long time.
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They are very nice indeed. They take longer to settle in tuning wise then most. Pre-stretch them well.
I didnāt keep them on as they were thinner than what I had and caused issues on the nut and instead of working the nut I went to labellas.
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Iāve seen those nanoweb elixir strings on markets going for about a hundred or so, I thought that was wild. Whatās up with that?
Was there a fine print somewhere underneath that single thumbnail image that said it was a pack of 10 that I missed or something?
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Those are coated strings and they last for a very very very long time. I have them on for over 2 months and they still sound like I put them on yesterday.
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Wow that is wild! How long are they supposed to last?
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I was looking for some flats that donāt sound āThuddyā (I know thatās not a word) but I want some brightness without destroying my fingerboard. As for the cost, I think some of the cost was due to the rarity of super long scale as the Jaco is 35" through bodyā¦ anyway, Iām about to string it now. Iāll let you guys know what I think. P.S. Cheers @John_E, Iāll stretch before I pass judgement.
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Ok ā¦ strings fitted and @John_E, I have never had to stretch strings as much as I have thoseā¦ thanks for the āheads upā ā¦ it would be a bit embarrassing at rehearsals to keep having to tune up so much. These strings feel and sound amazing. Enough chit-chat, Iāve gotta go play something!!
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Hard to tell but I can give you a little story. I used to and still do destroy regular strings within couple of hours of playing. And by destroy I mean they start to sound dead.
During one very hot summer day I was playing guitar and my hands were really sweating. I manged to CORRODE bottom 3 string within 15 minutes while the top 3 were dead next day. That was the day when I decided to try coated strings.
I think I tried them all and only Elixirs delivered. Most manufacturers donāt coat unwounded strings which makes them useless in my case. To my knowledge only Elixirs do this but things might have changed since then.
So the fact that I play them for over 2 months and they still sound fresh and zingy (and I do play daily for 2+ hours) should tell you something.
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Hey Kids!
Interesting factoid and question here.
As a recent proud owner of 2 basses, I have one with flats (P-clone, GHS Precision Flats) and another with rounds (Ray 4, stock EB Slinkys). Both are in the same gauge (45-105). Iām also on lesson 64 of B2B.
Anyways, in Lesson 60, Josh did a reggae practice piece in a major chord progression, and yesterday I did Roxanne as a minor chord progression in lesson 63.
The really interesting thing is that I had a hell of a time doing the reggae piece on the Ray with rounds, but it was dead easy on the P-clone with flats. With Roxanne, it was the total opposite, and itās in fact the first full lesson I did on the Ray.
Have any of you come across that? Is it the shape of the neck, the strings or pure psychology? Iām curious asā¦
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I notice this too but have not found a correlation other than my mood of the day.
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Yes, and as in your case, I think it is the string spacing.
The Ray4 has a Jazz neck, more narrow at the nut, strings closer together.
Your P clone (if it has a P neck on it) is wider at the nut, and the strings are further apart.
I love my Ray4 neck and play most everything on it, but I have a Dean MetalMan M Bass (shape of Dimebagās guitars) and it has a wide P neck with wider string spacing.
As a total beginner, I liked the thinner neck and thought it was easier to play. Now that i am not a total beginner, I still enjoy the Ray4 neck most, but I have gotten tied up in some intricate string crossing, hammer on finger roll sections, and when I play them on the wider neck with the strings further apart, I have found those rolls easier and crossing strings is cleaner.
IMHO, it is more the string spacing, but I canāt say for sure, as I have round wounds on all but one bass. After putting the flats on that bass, I thought it was way harder to play, and did not like it. Instead of changing strings back, I decided to sell it, cuz I have a few Rays now and that one is valuable and I can get good money for it, and it is not my go to Ray anyway.
I guess I thought it was harder to play, then rounds because of the strings, but I think I could get used to that, and it would not stay a factor. IDK for sure tho.
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Didnāt know exactly where to post this but figured this was the best place for nowā¦ I knowā¦ Itās a couple a frigginā covers, but the only reason Iām posting them is for the comparison value - not the cover valueā¦ Anyway, hereās a link to the covers and the story, but you might wanna read on a bitā¦
https://go-low.billlanahan.com/wp/2021/05/24/drift-away/
I spent the last weekend visiting one of my daughters and her family on the beaches of North Carolina this past weekend. With restrictions somewhat lifted, my wife, daughter, and I decided to have a bit of fun doing a pub crawl while her husband was out surfing during the incoming tideā¦ Needless to say, I was invited to play at one of the local pubs later in the evening - especially since their bass player was a ābit outta commissionāā¦ His Bass,ā¦ a MIA Fender PJ with LaBella Flatsā¦
I really liked the feel and tone of those flats - especially playing live āOpen Ampāā¦ SO, I decided to throw a set on my Fender P and do some comparative testingā¦ Given the number of slides, and the genre of music Iāve been working on lately, I put together two different recording covers of āDrift Awayā as sung by Dobie Gray.
Iām not gonna make mention as to how I feel personally about either of the sounds from each recording, but I do have my personal preferences. I only put this together for those of you who want to āhearā the differences in a recording. Understand that during the recordings, I kept ALL levels the same except for the volume knob on my Fender Pā¦ I had to reduce it a bit in order to alleviate āClippingā since the Flats do produce a bit more resonanceā¦
You be your own judgeā¦ I have my opinions and preferences, as we all do, but my main focus here was to help provide a bit of help in how strings (especially flats vs rounds) do (or donāt) make too much difference when recording a bass lineā¦ Howeverā¦ Playing live,ā¦ well that might be another storyā¦
Keep on Thumpinā
Lanny
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