Members WRGKMC Posted February 2, 2015 Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 I bought a new Hofner Club Bass 2 weeks ago. I've been tweaking it up for recording trying out different strings. I did some recording with its stock round wound strings, then I bought a set of Labella Flats which many reviews recomend for a Hofner. I First thought the Rounds were too bright and twangy. Then when I put the flats on I thought it sounded like it had too much thump. After recording a couple of takes and using a little mixing magic I'm now unable to decide which I like. These to songs are different but I boosted the bass up so it could be heard easily. The round wounds have a very voicy midrange which I do like. The flats feel very balanced and give me a traditional tone which is very cool. Like an upright bass tone and feel. I was able to mix each to sound simular I been listening to both for a couple of days and cant decide which I like better. I'm hoping another set of ears might give me a nudge either way in deciding whats better. These clips are just jams I thrown together for testing to give it some idea of how the bass fits in a mix. The first is an original that felt right playing with flats. The second is just a walking jam that brought out the rounds mids. Any feedback is appreciated. Flats https://www.dropbox.com/s/np44q3votkdajcx/Jersey%20Bounce%20%5BMaster%5D.wav?dl=0 Rounds https://www.dropbox.com/s/qw050lsbyhmbtl9/Call%20It%20What%20You%20Will%20%5BMaster%5D.wav?dl=0 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted February 2, 2015 Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 Wow, sorry but my security settings do not allow the download. I mean you know there's no right answer - I'm sure the rounds would sound right for some applications and the flats for others. I guess the only thing I can offer is that I've put flats on my 335 copy and really dig the rounded tones but also the flats cut down on the tonal complexity thereby making feedback a non-issue. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members DaleH Posted February 2, 2015 Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 Can't hear your clips.I use flats D'Addario XL Chromes on my jazz bass. Get the flat wound smoothness with a little punch. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted February 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 They are drop box clips of stored wave files. If your windows media player is set up right its should open the file automatically. Don't know what will happen if you use some other media player. I uploaded copies to Sound Cloud. You should be able to play these back. Flat wound. https://soundcloud.com/wrgkmc/flats Round Wound. https://soundcloud.com/wrgkmc/rounds Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members thatsbunk Posted February 2, 2015 Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 hard to get a good listen on the bass with my crappy laptop speakers, but I think the flats sound better... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Mr Temporary Posted February 2, 2015 Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 Might want to consider a set of Half Rounds, kinda inbetween but still enough of that roundwound sound to help with the short scale. If it were mine, I'd probably stick with flats on the Hofner and just use it when you need that sound. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members wankdeplank Posted February 2, 2015 Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 Yeah, that worked, thx (my PC is having issues). As others have said, stock PC speakers not the best judge, but I thought the bassline was much more present in the mix with the rounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted February 2, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 2, 2015 Half rounds are an option I may try down the road. I've have used them before on other basses.You're also right about just using the Hofner when I need that sound. I do have other basses. Or maybe I'll put flats on one of those and use rounds on the Hofner. Its up in the air cause I kind of like both sounds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Radar-Love Posted February 3, 2015 Members Share Posted February 3, 2015 I First thought the Rounds were too bright and twangy. Then when I put the flats on I thought it sounded like it had too much thump. After recording a couple of takes and using a little mixing magic I'm now unable to decide which I like... String change on a violin bass? Been there, did that. I have a really nice looking and playing blonde/natural Jay Turser 30.5-inch scale "beatle bass" which I ended up buying about 4 years ago instead of a Höfner -- after doing a 3-way "beatle bass" test drive at Guitar Center along with an Epiphone. After I bought the Turser, I knew I had to get rid of the round-wound strings that came with it. In place of the trebley round-wound strings, I bought and installed a Rotosound RS77S short-scale set. The string change absolutely transformed the bass' sound across the board -- literally like night and day. The string change increased acoustic volume and replaced the irritating trebley character of the round-wounds with a smoother fundamental bass sound along with harmonic undertones that you don't get from most flat-wound strings. Since I already have experience with all of the flat-wound bass strings on the market that are worth owning -- having them installed on other basses -- I knew I did not want LaBella or D'Addario Chromes for this particular semi-hollow bass, as those are best at delivering the traditional flat-wound sound of almost pure fundamental bass frequencies and very little in the way of harmonic overtone. Rotosound RS77S strings, along with the various other RS77 versions, are all flat-wound with a monel wrapping. Monel is a very tough metal and it produces some very interesting and moderately bright sounding harmonics. If you tire of the brightness, all that's needed to achieve traditional flat-wound sound is a bit of a turn of the treble control to roll-off the high frequencies. The only other flat-wound strings that are similar in character are Thomastic-Infeld Jazz Flats, and they cost about 3 times as much as Rotosound RS77 strings. As for Rotosound RS77 strings, they are easily the most popular flat-wound strings with a broad range of rock'n'roll players. http://www.rotosound.com/%EF%BB%BFjazz-bass-77/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members Caffeinated Cat Posted February 3, 2015 Members Share Posted February 3, 2015 I don't think there's a certain sound or string type that's going to be best overall - some songs need a traditional sound while others need more brightness. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Members WRGKMC Posted February 3, 2015 Author Members Share Posted February 3, 2015 Rotosound RS77. I'll put those on my trial list. Thanks Radar. I haven't been using the Rotosound strings in a long time. I used to use the rounds forever and like how they sound, but they would start going dead in a week. So I got away from using them. Maybe the Flats are better. I'm able to manipulate the recorded sound quite a bit so getting what I need from most strings isn't a huge issue. The rounds can get above the flats in certain tones however. They also sustain better which will be another one of those decision factors. This is a club bass too which gives a deeper tone then the Violin Hofer I an sacrifice some bass tones and still sound good. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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