Balanced Circle K's on a Rogue 5

[lyla53]

After only owning 4's, I'm the recent new proud owner of an 04 Alembic Rogue V (long scale) instrument. Tuned BEADG. It's fitted with a set of Pyramid Gold
Flats (with pro set up) and I'm not satisfied with (yup you guessed it!) the sound of the B string - After letting the strings settle in for about 3 months the B is still just a thud (It just doesn't sound like it's part of the same set of strings) - So after some research I wanted to give a Circle K balanced set a go which leads me to 3 quick questions for those in the know;
 
1) Seems like a dumb question but I can't seem to find the answer. Are the CK balanced sets flat wound or round wound?
 
2) This one more technical related to gauge;
The Circle K's are; 130, .098, .073, .055, and .039
The Rogue nut is; 128, .105, .080, .065, and .045
 
Any thoughts on whether the Rogue will need any nut work to accommodate these Circle K strings?
 
3) I selected this particular gauge set because it's the closest to the size of the nut. Is this the correct way to determine which gauge set to select?
 
Any insight would be greatly appreciated.

[bigredbass]

I've always used 130's (or preferably 135's) in the nut on my fives as they came from Alembic and have no binding problems.
 
I never use flats, as inevitably, my roundwounds go dead and sound like flatwounds after a while anyway.  I typically run D'Addario Nickel XL's or Jimmy's GHS Boomer set, and occasionally still experiment with others, but seem to always default back to those.
 
I would suggest that whatever you go with, once you have a brand new set on the axe, play with your pickup heights.  I generally find that the B and E are overwhelming the D and G just due to the sheer difference in size / mass.  I find I get the most even response by running the B side a little further away from the strings, and the G side a bit closer to even things out.  Experiment with this ONLY with brand new strings, too much of a chance of one or two 'dead-er than the others' strings giving you a false image.
 
The difference in a 128 and 135 is seven thousandths of an inch, and generally nut slots are cut by an experienced eyeball, so it's really not a consideration.  I'm currently running a D'Ad Xl set that's 135-105-85-70-50 with no problems (I prefer big D's and G's).  So I wouldn't be too concerned about not buying the exact gauges spec'd by Alembic.
 
Since this is your first five, for a while, no matter what, the B WILL just sound different until you acclimate to it.  It's not your old bass with an extra string, you have to think of it as a somewhat different instrument.  I find that to play it like a four where you can just add in a low D or C as needed is not very productive.  If you can make the jump where you play it across the fingerboard as a whole, it will become a different way of playing.  I am so used to it, I could never go back to four strings, it's too different, difficult, and lacking for me after living with fives for the last 20 years.
 
J o e y

[wfmandmusic]

+1 on the GHS boomers. I have had bad strings in a package as well. It does not happen very often but it does happen. Good advice Joey!

[bigredbass]

Ken, I used to notice it a lot with RotoSounds:  I supposedly kept buying them for that bright, 'Roto' sound, but they'd go dead for me quicker than just about everything else, if not the whole set, than always 1 or 2 of them.  Then it dawned on me:  Made in the UK, but how long were they on a container ship at sea or at the dock waiting on US Customs . . . . hmmmm . . . .
 
Anyway, several things you ONLY do with new strings:
 
-Synchronizing your strings to your fingerboard (what most people call 'setting your harmonics')
 
-Pickup height adjustment (and in the case of Alembics, fine tuning your p/u blend with the 'Blue Boxes' in the electronics cavity, part of the process sometimes)
 
-And for me, action adjustments.  Sure, you will tweak it some as you play, but I prefer if I'm going to a different set/brand to check it right after I checked the harmonics.  Remember, it never hurts to check your intonation even if you're going from identical gauges in one brand to another.  Usually, not any real change, but sometimes there is.
 
My two pet peeves, whether a Squier or a Series:  If it won't play in tune, and it's not quiet electronically, I hope it's a good Dumpster Diver, as that's where it's headed.
 
I got so worn out in my club days to having to play with nitwits who had these buzzing, rusty-bridged, couldn't-stay-in-tune Funkocasters, I'm afraid it's one of my Hot Buttons.
 
. . . . and now my blood pressure is almost back to normal and the red fog is lifting . . . .
 
We now return you to your regularly scheduled posts.
 
J o e y

[tomhug]

Also worth mentioning is that flats have a different string-to-string dynamic because the volume/mass ratio in thick flat strings is actually higher. This is especially noticeable on the B and E strings, and especially so if you move from rounds to flats on the same bass.
 
To put it another way, it takes a bit more oomph to move a flatwound B string then the equivalent round-wound. If you attack all the strings in a flat-would set with the same energy, the B will give less back. This can be compensated a bit with pickup height, etc, but it's really just physics.
 
I learned this when I switched from rounds to flats on my Series I, and the theory was confirmed by a string expert.

[lyla53]

Thanks guys for the comments. I did find that my Pyramid flat B  was installed with about a 1/2 twist in it. It sounds much better now that it's fixed. Still not perfect but certainly better.

[lyla53]

For those interested - After some improvement by fixing the twist in the .126 Pyramid B string, I still wasn't satisfied.  Given that I could be searching a while I decided to just try single B's vs full sets.
I picked up a .132 B flat Chrome (D'Addario) and WOW what a difference! Other than being sticker than the Nickel Pyramid, I'm sold. Hopefully the new string will age with grace and dignity and I can mark this one off my list.

[briant]

I've found that taper wound low B strings help make the low B sound like it belongs with the rest of the strings tremendously.
 
I use Elixer nanoweb roundwounds and the low B is a .130.  On my Rogue the low B is the most consistent to the rest of the bass I've ever played/experienced.  I don't know if they make a flatwound option.
 
This is a highly frustrating phenomenon to deal with and I'm shocked how many basses/players just deal with a striking difference in tone between the low B and the rest of the bass.  I previously owned a made in the USA Spector NS5 that was also very consistent low B to the rest of the strings; and that was 34 scale.

[briant]

Ken, I used to notice it a lot with RotoSounds: I supposedly kept buying them for that bright, 'Roto' sound, but they'd go dead for me quicker than just about everything else, if not the whole set, than always 1 or 2 of them.
 
RotoSounds usually sound fabulous for about one gig (~3 hours).  Then they are dead and sound awful.  I haven't bought a set of them in ~15 years because of it.