Half rounds are the worst of both worlds. Dull but with finger drag and noise. Worst invention ever. Pressurewounds are a nice compromise and great for fretless -- they're essentially slightly smoother roundwounds. Tapewounds sound like plastic to me.
Many people love the half-wounds, of different brands. I also don't see the appeal, but it's good that we have options. And they do sound the worst of the bunch in this video.
The problem with half-rounds is that they die quickly. If you like the brightness that’s a little like rounds, you won’t have it for more than a week or two with the half-rounds, and then you’re left with a dull sounding string that doesn’t sound like a good flat or roundwound. I agree that “half-rounds are the worst of both worlds.”
They mention these D'Addarios are a pure nickel wrap. I imagine the GHS Brite Flats would be any brighter, since those half rounds are an iron-nickel wrap.
The tapewounds are my favorite! They feel way better than any other tapewound to me. They almost feel like cloth. They also sound absolutely amazing on my acoustic bass. It totally gets rid of that bronze sound and the scratchiness, if you hate that sort of thing. Which, I do. It makes my acoustic sound very upright, when plugged into a DI or an amp. If they would make these in other colors, I'd lose my mind!
I played these D'Addario flats, halfrounds and tapewound for years (in this order) and I was very very satisfied, but one day I tried the Thomastik flats just for curiosity. I stopped trying.
I have these on my '79 4001. You obviously won't get the Chris Squire sound but they will make you think if you want to go on trying anything else. La Bella is right up there as well and priced well
what I miss in all these tapewound tests: they only have half the string tension of the chromes, so if you play them as hard as the chromes, that's simply not the way to bring out the best in them ... Listen to the warm sounds that Damian Erskine gets out of his 4 string bass with the d'addario tapewounds ... that is where they shine!
Honestly and this is my opinion the Chromes sounded AWESOME!!!! on that P bass but also keep in mind the gentleman playing the bass has great tone in his fingers & technique.
Chromes win for me, half rounds were quite a bit quieter vs even the tapewounds. Yep, I have studio headphones on, haha Been doing a lot of listening while shopping for a set of flat/half's for my 4 string. Bang for the buck, I think the Chromes are the way to go. Everyone boasts the Thomastik Infelds, but I fear going back and forth my mediocre skills would bend and twist the TI's with their reportedly low tension.
They are all great, but I have to say I prefer the Chromes. An absolute classic for a reason! I also have them on my P-style bass. I wanted to try more different strings, but I can't justify it, they just never die, even after being used for a couple of years already 😉
I found that the nylon strings did not conduct enough electricity to connect me the player to the ground circuit, and on the PJ style bass that I put them on there was a noticeable hum compared to flats, especially with treble up. I'm sure that this wouldn't be the case for all bases but just sharing my experience. I would say if you plug your bass in and notice a difference between touching the strings and not touching them in terms of the background hum, you might need a solution for that before you can really enjoy the nylon strings. Personally i just use a little bit of noise gate on my helix and now I love those strings.
I used and loved Half-rounds on my fretless in the 90s when they were made of stainless steel, the feel on the fingers and sound was perfect. When they started making them in nickel I was very much turned off but their rough, unpleasant feel and the sound got worse too. Now I use GHS Pressurewounds and they feel and sound really good. But the stainless steel Half-rounds were perfect, I don't know why D'Addario changed them. By the way, I use Chromes on my P bass and D'Addario XL steel rounds on my fretted Warwick and love them.
I always loved flats for the feel, but they were just a touch too dead for me, even on a vintage jazz bass. I fell in love with half rounds. All the nice finger feel, while being just a bit brighter.
I have alternated all 3 of these from D'Addario on a fretless over the years. Chromes are the best all-around, Nylons are surprisingly the brightest and the most percussive, but also seem to bring out the most overtones. Half-Rounds have the best intonation and the best old-school thump with fingerstyle. But Half-Rounds can be wildly inconsistent from set to set.
I have tried all of these on my fretless and currently have the half rounds on it. I wasn't that happy with the tape wounds but would still use flats. The tapes may have been Fender brand.
For those who want to put flats on a 5 string bass strung E to C, the Chrome C string is one of the few flatwound C's that doesn't sound twangy. The Chrome and the Thomastik are the best high C flats I've heard.
The Ernie Ball Cobalts are much lighter tension than the Chromes. I love the Ernie Balls on my fretless and fretted basses. The Chromes, however, felt like I had to fight for every note. Chromes sound great, but were a workout for me to play.
I second this, the EB cobalt flats have all the warmth of traditional flats, but so much punch and growl, especially after 3 months, I have them on all my basses now, and my wallet hates me for it.
Nylons are awesome .. I have them on a 78 Yamaha BB1000, half rounds on my Ibanez MC 924 fretless. For flats I go with TI jazz flats. NYXL and Roto's for my round wound sets.
I recently started using a bass with half-rounds as a daily driver and I was once again surprised by the amount of growl you can get out of them with the right tone knob settings. Then I got several packs of ENR72s (50-105) and I'm pretty much switching exclusively to those.
The half wounds shocked me over how they sounded mellower than flats when played fingerstyle, but gained almost a roundwound level of brightness when slapped! Still, out of the three, I prefer the tapes. They drive me off the wall
I've been playing Chromes for years and I'm in love with them. They're the best combination of tone and feel for me, and they sound spectacular on a P bass.
..ich liebe Daddario Saiten sowieso seit knapp 30 Jahren und spiele in der Regel immer die Exl170er, nutze aber die Flats auf meinem P-Bass und die Tapewounds auf meinem Fretless. Ich liebe diese Saiten, klingen bombe und fühlen sich phantastisch an! ❤👍
I’ve found both the Chromes and Half Wounds to feel kinda rough at first play. In both instances they’ve polished out with regular play over time, but those first couple months are kind of a drag. Have you experienced this? Any tips to help them along to feeling smooth any faster?
I play all kinds of D’Addario and never find them particularily rough. Nickel rounds are the most gentle I think. However, as a poor teenager I used to play the 10€ Warwick red label steel rounds. If you ever had these, all other strings will feel like feathers ;D
One brand I curious to see compared in the mix is Thomastik flatwound bass strings
Half rounds are the worst of both worlds. Dull but with finger drag and noise. Worst invention ever. Pressurewounds are a nice compromise and great for fretless -- they're essentially slightly smoother roundwounds. Tapewounds sound like plastic to me.
Many people love the half-wounds, of different brands. I also don't see the appeal, but it's good that we have options. And they do sound the worst of the bunch in this video.
The problem with half-rounds is that they die quickly. If you like the brightness that’s a little like rounds, you won’t have it for more than a week or two with the half-rounds, and then you’re left with a dull sounding string that doesn’t sound like a good flat or roundwound. I agree that “half-rounds are the worst of both worlds.”
I actually have GHS Pressurewounds on my Ibanez miKro. Love them
They mention these D'Addarios are a pure nickel wrap. I imagine the GHS Brite Flats would be any brighter, since those half rounds are an iron-nickel wrap.
The tapewounds are my favorite! They feel way better than any other tapewound to me. They almost feel like cloth. They also sound absolutely amazing on my acoustic bass. It totally gets rid of that bronze sound and the scratchiness, if you hate that sort of thing. Which, I do. It makes my acoustic sound very upright, when plugged into a DI or an amp. If they would make these in other colors, I'd lose my mind!
They are close, but I was surprised that the flatwound Chromes were actually more defined than the half rounds.
For me, flats is all about definition, that's the reason i play them...and the feel of course.
I was thinking the same thing. I used the half-rounds years and really liked the feel and sound.
I played these D'Addario flats, halfrounds and tapewound for years (in this order) and I was very very satisfied, but one day I tried the Thomastik flats just for curiosity.
I stopped trying.
I have these on my '79 4001. You obviously won't get the Chris Squire sound but they will make you think if you want to go on trying anything else. La Bella is right up there as well and priced well
So what did you like about the Thomastic?
@@carpediemarts705 they are the longest lasting, brightest and lightest gauge flats strings that you can find
Nothing is better than LaBella flats on a good P Bass, at least for me 😂
what I miss in all these tapewound tests: they only have half the string tension of the chromes, so if you play them as hard as the chromes, that's simply not the way to bring out the best in them ... Listen to the warm sounds that Damian Erskine gets out of his 4 string bass with the d'addario tapewounds ... that is where they shine!
Great video and comparison. The Chromes sounded amazing to me.
honestly once i tried labella 750 tapes i have put a set of them on each of my basses. just so versatile
Honestly and this is my opinion the Chromes sounded AWESOME!!!! on that P bass but also keep in mind the gentleman playing the bass has great tone in his fingers & technique.
Chromes win for me, half rounds were quite a bit quieter vs even the tapewounds.
Yep, I have studio headphones on, haha
Been doing a lot of listening while shopping for a set of flat/half's for my 4 string. Bang for the buck, I think the Chromes are the way to go. Everyone boasts the Thomastik Infelds, but I fear going back and forth my mediocre skills would bend and twist the TI's with their reportedly low tension.
They are all great, but I have to say I prefer the Chromes. An absolute classic for a reason! I also have them on my P-style bass. I wanted to try more different strings, but I can't justify it, they just never die, even after being used for a couple of years already 😉
I found that the nylon strings did not conduct enough electricity to connect me the player to the ground circuit, and on the PJ style bass that I put them on there was a noticeable hum compared to flats, especially with treble up. I'm sure that this wouldn't be the case for all bases but just sharing my experience. I would say if you plug your bass in and notice a difference between touching the strings and not touching them in terms of the background hum, you might need a solution for that before you can really enjoy the nylon strings. Personally i just use a little bit of noise gate on my helix and now I love those strings.
That’s indeed an issue with nylon strings in general. Not just with these here. None of them conduct grounding
I used and loved Half-rounds on my fretless in the 90s when they were made of stainless steel, the feel on the fingers and sound was perfect. When they started making them in nickel I was very much turned off but their rough, unpleasant feel and the sound got worse too. Now I use GHS Pressurewounds and they feel and sound really good.
But the stainless steel Half-rounds were perfect, I don't know why D'Addario changed them.
By the way, I use Chromes on my P bass and D'Addario XL steel rounds on my fretted Warwick and love them.
I always loved flats for the feel, but they were just a touch too dead for me, even on a vintage jazz bass. I fell in love with half rounds. All the nice finger feel, while being just a bit brighter.
disagree on the feel of the chromes, out of all the flatwounds ive tried they feel the roughest under the fingers
Totally agree! La Bella makes the best flats
Ahh man labella’s feel like butter👌
I have alternated all 3 of these from D'Addario on a fretless over the years. Chromes are the best all-around, Nylons are surprisingly the brightest and the most percussive, but also seem to bring out the most overtones. Half-Rounds have the best intonation and the best old-school thump with fingerstyle. But Half-Rounds can be wildly inconsistent from set to set.
I have tried all of these on my fretless and currently have the half rounds on it. I wasn't that happy with the tape wounds but would still use flats. The tapes may have been Fender brand.
For those who want to put flats on a 5 string bass strung E to C, the Chrome C string is one of the few flatwound C's that doesn't sound twangy.
The Chrome and the Thomastik are the best high C flats I've heard.
Chromes sounded amazing! The best of all three. I didn't like half-round at all...
GHS Pressure wounds.
And Brite Flats if You like it really punchy. These are technically halfrounds and a lot better than the Daddarios.
I use tape-wound from fender on my fender precision (60 re-issue). And, it's so far the best choice for me.
How exactly do nylon/rubber strings work on magnetic pickups?
Steel core
I'm tempted by the nylons
I'd like to try the Chrome Flats, I recently put the Ernie Ball Cobalt Flat wounds on my American Pro ii and I'm in love.
The Ernie Ball Cobalts are much lighter tension than the Chromes. I love the Ernie Balls on my fretless and fretted basses. The Chromes, however, felt like I had to fight for every note. Chromes sound great, but were a workout for me to play.
I second this, the EB cobalt flats have all the warmth of traditional flats, but so much punch and growl, especially after 3 months, I have them on all my basses now, and my wallet hates me for it.
Nylons are awesome .. I have them on a 78 Yamaha BB1000, half rounds on my Ibanez MC 924 fretless. For flats I go with TI jazz flats. NYXL and Roto's for my round wound sets.
I recently started using a bass with half-rounds as a daily driver and I was once again surprised by the amount of growl you can get out of them with the right tone knob settings. Then I got several packs of ENR72s (50-105) and I'm pretty much switching exclusively to those.
Flats all the way. But Thomastik-Infeldt of course.
Informative and entertaining commentary and playing. Thanks. All the best!
Tried half rounds once. Felt sticky almost like fine sandpaper.
The half wounds shocked me over how they sounded mellower than flats when played fingerstyle, but gained almost a roundwound level of brightness when slapped! Still, out of the three, I prefer the tapes. They drive me off the wall
nylons are my favorite
I've been playing Chromes for years and I'm in love with them. They're the best combination of tone and feel for me, and they sound spectacular on a P bass.
La Bella flats on a P, TI flats on a Jazz. Keep a spare P with rounds for the rare occasion I need one.
..ich liebe Daddario Saiten sowieso seit knapp 30 Jahren und spiele in der Regel immer die Exl170er, nutze aber die Flats auf meinem P-Bass und die Tapewounds auf meinem Fretless. Ich liebe diese Saiten, klingen bombe und fühlen sich phantastisch an! ❤👍
忍！(●´ω｀●)
I tried the ground wounds and absolutely hated them...until they broke in
Now i quite like them
I recently changed my 5 string jazz bass to chromes and it’s been a game changer , loving the tone
stainless steel rotosound swingbass-nothing else, sorry.
OH!!!! I forgot one more thing AWESOME!!!! video.
I’ve found both the Chromes and Half Wounds to feel kinda rough at first play. In both instances they’ve polished out with regular play over time, but those first couple months are kind of a drag. Have you experienced this? Any tips to help them along to feeling smooth any faster?
I play all kinds of D’Addario and never find them particularily rough. Nickel rounds are the most gentle I think. However, as a poor teenager I used to play the 10€ Warwick red label steel rounds. If you ever had these, all other strings will feel like feathers ;D
TAPE
Flats for me please. La Bella is my choice
Very interesting, ty ❤❤❤❤
Thnx for your channel from Arizona
No bad ones. Personal preference? Nylon then flat wound and lastly the half round. Now where’s my fretless, I’m feeling the need to play….
Flats FTW
Half rounds for me 😊
👍👌