Roscoe vs MTD

[Cavem]

Hi guys,
Just wanting some objective feedback from the forum in regards to the reasons for choosing a Roscoe bass. I'm from New Zealand so I don't have any opportunity to play an topline basses. I'm trying to get as much info as possible before I make a decision on which bas to get. Still trying to decide between an MTD 635-24 and a Roscoe. I've had some email discussions with Gard (thanks for your input!) and have come up with some tentaive specs:

Century Signature VI
Swamp Ash body
Exhibition grade Cocobolo top & fingerboard
Wenge Wedge neck
Diamondwood nut
Nordstrand pickups with covers
Aguilar Preamp

What does everyone think? How does a Roscoe compare to an MTD in sound, playability, versatility & for what reasons did you pick a Roscoe. Just to qualify - I know everyone here loves how Roscoes look! And I know Gard & Keith are great people! I was hoping for some specific objective feedback to help me with my decision. Any help you guys could provide would be really appreciated
Thanks
Matt

[poptart]

Well - I was in a lucky situation and managed to try my first Roscoe in a store in the UK before buying it. I knew straight away that it felt and sounded superb - it was a done deal. I ordered a second without trying as I wanted a spare and a slightly different wood combo and it all worked out great.

It is a big leap of faith to buy a bass untried, however I havn't tried an MTD so I can only speak on behalf of the Roscoe so for what it's worth IMO the bass you describe above sounds superb and to be honest if Gard has spec'd a bass to your suggestions I think you are on to a winner.

Gotta go with your gut

[drumsnbass]

I haven't tried an MTD, but I have tried Mike Lull, Fender,
Warwick, Sadowsky. I might take a Sadowsky over the
Roscoe (then again might not), but the Roscoe beat all
the others hands down. (I am leaving out all the real low
end basses I have tried like Ibanez, Daisy etc)

I now have two LG3005's one fretted and one fretless. I
LOVE the fretless completely. I can really get that upright
sound out of it without any pedals or whatnot. Feels real
good in the hands as well. Not to complain about the fretted
in the least.

I had a Fender Marcus Miller and Carvin fretless I just parted
with as my GAS is now full with just the two Roscoes.

Basses may be an individual thing, feel and all, but I doubt
you will be disappointed.

[Dave]

Having never had the chance to play an MTD, from what I understand about them, Roscoes are a meatier sound, with more mids (specifically low mids). Playability Id expect them to be on par with each other, both of them being extremely well made basses, so any differences or preferences would be because of just that, preference.

[Joel B]

Cavem, I was in a similar situation a few years back, and I have played well over a hundred MTD basses, as well as over fifty Roscoes.

The reason I was first drawn to MTD, was that I was playing mostly Black Gospel, and Jazz/fusion at the time.

I would say that well over 90% of the touring bass players at the time were playing MTD or old Pre Gibson Tobias basses.

They are without a doubt, fantastic instruments. Each one has a fairly consistantly predictable " Tobias " sound and vibe to it.

After playing MANY MTD's I decided to buy a five string with wenge neck, and maple burl top. I had talked to Michael Tobias already, and actually met with him to play several of his basses at the N.A.M.M. show in Anahiem .

I loved the open top end of his basses, and the playability and shape of his basses were one of my favorites.

I have played numerous basses from many top luthiers, such as Fbass,Rob Allen, Alembic,Fodera,Ritter etc..., so I have a very good idea what is available on the market.

Back to the story. I was ready to put down the cash, and then a friend of mine who is a studio guy in Los Angeles, told me to play his Roscoe.

It was an LG 3005, and It was the first time I had played a Roscoe bass.

My first reaction was that in addition to the great feel of the instrument, the Highs were very articulate, without being brittle and unusable. The mids were very cutting and growly, which I loved, and the lows with that B string were the best I had EVER heard. Thunderous yet crystal clear all the way up the neck.

I didn't buy the MTD, but I DID buy a Roscoe the next week.
Don't get me wrong, I still love MTD basses, I just love Roscoes even more.

A Roscoe will do everything an MTD will do, only with more depth of tone. I just ordered (and should recieve in a day or two) another Roscoe. This time an SKB 3005 with Amboyna top, swamp ash body, wenge wedge neck and wenge fretboard. Demeter pre amp, and Nordstrand pickups.

I told Gard when ordering it that I wanted a Roscoe with an MTD type openess in the upper register, and He helped me spec this one out. (Thanks Gard)

I play many genres of music, and I needed a bass that would Excell at all of them. I appreciate the looks of Roscoe basses,in my opinion, they are some of the prettiest basses around, But I am MUCH more interested in the SOUND and playability of the instrument.

After playing many of the other luthiers offerings, I Still prefer Roscoes over all of the rest.

They are shockingly great live, and they record even better.
I actually had a sound engineer come out of his booth to see what kind of bass I was playing, he said "what the heck is that thing, I have NEVER heard a bass that sounded that good in my life before".

I love my Roscoes. You will too.

Good luck

[emjazz]

Originally Posted by Joel B

Cavem, I was in a similar situation a few years back, and I have played well over a hundred MTD basses, as well as over fifty Roscoes.

The reason I was first drawn to MTD, was that I was playing mostly Black Gospel, and Jazz/fusion at the time.

I would say that well over 90% of the touring bass players at the time were playing MTD or old Pre Gibson Tobias basses.

They are without a doubt, fantastic instruments. Each one has a fairly consistantly predictable " Tobias " sound and vibe to it.

After playing MANY MTD's I decided to buy a five string with wenge neck, and maple burl top. I had talked to Michael Tobias already, and actually met with him to play several of his basses at the N.A.M.M. show in Anahiem .

I loved the open top end of his basses, and the playability and shape of his basses were one of my favorites.

I have played numerous basses from many top luthiers, such as Fbass,Rob Allen, Alembic,Fodera,Ritter etc..., so I have a very good idea what is available on the market.

Back to the story. I was ready to put down the cash, and then a friend of mine who is a studio guy in Los Angeles, told me to play his Roscoe.

It was an LG 3005, and It was the first time I had played a Roscoe bass.

My first reaction was that in addition to the great feel of the instrument, the Highs were very articulate, without being brittle and unusable. The mids were very cutting and growly, which I loved, and the lows with that B string were the best I had EVER heard. Thunderous yet crystal clear all the way up the neck.

I didn't buy the MTD, but I DID buy a Roscoe the next week.
Don't get me wrong, I still love MTD basses, I just love Roscoes even more.

A Roscoe will do everything an MTD will do, only with more depth of tone. I just ordered (and should recieve in a day or two) another Roscoe. This time an SKB 3005 with Amboyna top, swamp ash body, wenge wedge neck and wenge fretboard. Demeter pre amp, and Nordstrand pickups.

I told Gard when ordering it that I wanted a Roscoe with an MTD type openess in the upper register, and He helped me spec this one out. (Thanks Gard)

I play many genres of music, and I needed a bass that would Excell at all of them. I appreciate the looks of Roscoe basses,in my opinion, they are some of the prettiest basses around, But I am MUCH more interested in the SOUND and playability of the instrument.

After playing many of the other luthiers offerings, I Still prefer Roscoes over all of the rest.

They are shockingly great live, and they record even better.
I actually had a sound engineer come out of his booth to see what kind of bass I was playing, he said "what the heck is that thing, I have NEVER heard a bass that sounded that good in my life before".

I love my Roscoes. You will too.

Good luck

Joel, what are the specs on your current (first) Roscoe?

[Cavem]

Thanks for the feedback, awesome post Joel B!!
What do you guys think of the specs posted above - any feedback?

[J.Wolf]

I think those specs look Great!!

And as far as MTD vs Roscoe, I'll give a generalized, brief, opinion from my limited yet critical perspective:

MTD: very modern, bright, zingy sound with big bottom, very clear and tight sound overall, can sound kind of mid scooped.

Roscoe: very thick, meaty, can get zingy on top as well. IMO the mids are where the roscoe stands out compared to MTD. Very full in the mids which gives alot of punch. Tighter B string, and more round tone in general.

Man, someone could flame me for making that broad of a generalization or what?!?! And I would have no defense!!! Alot of that too depends on the wood choices for the MTD, and the wood and electronic choices on the Roscoe.

I think you can tailor a Roscoe to have more MTD'ish modern tone with the right options, and I would say that your specs are exactly right for that. Those specs should yield excellent clarity, big bottom, fat mids, and killer mojo and looks too.

Personally, I prefer the feel of Roscoes than MTD's. They feel a little more comfortable and ergonomic in my hands, and they have more hand crafted feel (to me anyways).

I hope you go with the Roscoe (so we'll have another juicy bass to ogle in here!!!)

[J.Wolf]

Also as far as versatility:

to me, a MTD always sounds like an MTD, I think it has something to do with the OEM bart stuff Mike uses. I can get tired of that signature treble response you get from almost every MTD I've heard. Roscoes seem to have more chameleon like versatility with any electronics that I really dig.

I'd really like to add an MTD to my arsenal someday, but I don't think I'd replace a Roscoe for one.....

[emjazz]

I'd say that you're bass, as spec'd, will be heavy weight wise.

I'd suggest that if you want it to be somewhat MTD like than you should go with Bartolini CB series pickups. They're clearer sounding than the Roscoe spec'd Barts but they're still Bartolini's.

[Bassist30]

I had an MTD 5 and sold it. Amazingly I took a hit on it as I was buying another bass.I also have a pre gibson Tobias Classic 6. Personally I like the older Tobias basses better. But I think Mike likes his newer products better. The MTD is a fine instrument and liking one instrument over another is very subjective. I sold the MTD to get a NYC Sadowsky 5. I like the tone of it better than the MTD. But again the MTD has a very good sound for some. To me its a very woody and compressed sounding instrument. Very even accross the strings. The Sadowsky has its sadowsky sound. Many will know what Im talking about. A great instrument. I also bought a used Roscoe 5 and the more I play it the more I like it. You see a Roscoe has a variety of sounds. The sodowsky has its sound and there is not more it can do. Yet it does have that fender vibe and sounds wonderful. The Roscoe is a very open and fat sounding bass. Again the more you play it the better you will find the tone you like. I prefer it to the MTD. I like a warmer and fat tone. The MTD is a clean and somewhat thinner. But again a very clean sounding instrument. But we all use words to discribe an instrument but the words mean differently to another player. The used market of both these instruments is rather lower than its original price. Sadowsky being very popular holds its value. But that is good and bad. I think you can get either at a good price in the used market yet you may not get the combination of woods and colors. I got close with the Roscoe.
Good Luck and I would say try them both. Get an idea of what the character of the instrument is than ask for your combination of woods and colors.

[Halftooth]

Interesting comparison thread because these are two of my favorite basses currently.

First off, I don't think that one is better than the other, but rather one may be better for a particular situation than the other.

MTD's really vary a lot more with wood combinations than the Roscoe's. An Ash/Maple/Maple is going to sound really different from a Tulipwood/Maple/Rosewood. That doesn't happen as much or isn't as noticable with Roscoe.

In general though, MTD's tend to be more open and clear, and Roscoe's tend to be thicker and meatier. I will say though that either bass can be eq'ed to sound like the other to some extent.

It's a hard choice for me which to have over the other which is why I have both, but you'll never be disappointed with a Roscoe's tone!

[Joel B]

Emjazz, My first Roscoe was an lg3005 with mahogony body, flame maple top, with a Brazilian rosewood fretboard, tobacco burst. That was around 1995.

My second Roscoe was also an lg3005 with a spanish cedar body, quilted maple top, maple fretboard. It looks just like the golden axe award bass on the Roscoe site.

My most recent Roscoe is the above mentioned skb 3005 with amboyna burl top , swamp ash body, and wedge wenge neck and fretboard. Demeter pre, and Nordies.

All very different sounding basses, all great in their own right, and all mine. MUUUu hahahaha hahaha, cackle cackle

[JOME77]

Originally Posted by Cavem

Hi guys,
Just wanting some objective feedback from the forum in regards to the reasons for choosing a Roscoe bass. I'm from New Zealand so I don't have any opportunity to play an topline basses. I'm trying to get as much info as possible before I make a decision on which bas to get. Still trying to decide between an MTD 635-24 and a Roscoe. I've had some email discussions with Gard (thanks for your input!) and have come up with some tentaive specs:

Century Signature VI
Swamp Ash body
Exhibition grade Cocobolo top & fingerboard
Wenge Wedge neck
Diamondwood nut
Nordstrand pickups with covers
Aguilar Preamp

What does everyone think? How does a Roscoe compare to an MTD in sound, playability, versatility & for what reasons did you pick a Roscoe. Just to qualify - I know everyone here loves how Roscoes look! And I know Gard & Keith are great people! I was hoping for some specific objective feedback to help me with my decision. Any help you guys could provide would be really appreciated
Thanks
Matt

Matt,
I purchased a MTD 535 tulipwood body/myrtle top w/wenge neck about 6 months ago. I'e always been a big fan of Mike Tobias and played his pre-Gibson Tobias basses back in the late 80's and early 90's. I had played a few MTD's but never had owned one so I thought that I'd give one a try.
The workmanship, as expected was very good and the bass played great. Very nice feeling profile on the neck. I used it at a few gigs and I just though that it sounded too thin compared to my Roscoe's. The rest of the band agreed. I guess that I souldn't have been surprised because MTD's are know for their bright/clean sound. I think it probably sounded very close to my 1989 Tobias Basic 5 but with a much better B string (probably due to the 35" scale of the 535). I eventually sold it a couple weeks later.

After playing Roscoe's for the last 11 years I found that most basses that I try sound too thin to me. I felt the same about an Elrick 5 and F-bass that I puchased within the last 2 years. I eventually sold those too. I guess that I'm just sold out on the Roscoe sound. Bottom line is it's become too much of my sound and I'm not happy playing anything else.

The spec's that you've selected for a proposed Roscoe will be killer. I'm curently getting another made with very similar spec's. I choose the ash body, Nord p/u's & aggie OBP-3 too but I'm going with a SKB 3005 w/flamed myrtle top and Mac Ebony fingerboard. The result should be similar though. I'm hoping that the Nord's will provide me with a nice alternative to the traditional Roscoe tone. A bit more of a J bass sound (or as BP would probably put it "A jazz bass on streriods"

[poptart]

Originally Posted by JOME77

Matt,
I purchased a MTD 535 tulipwood body/myrtle top w/wenge neck about 6 months ago. I'e always been a big fan of Mike Tobias and played his pre-Gibson Tobias basses back in the late 80's and early 90's. I had played a few MTD's but never had owned one so I thought that I'd give one a try.
The workmanship, as expected was very good and the bass played great. Very nice feeling profile on the neck. I used it at a few gigs and I just though that it sounded too thin compared to my Roscoe's. The rest of the band agreed. I guess that I souldn't have been surprised because MTD's are know for their bright/clean sound. I think it probably sounded very close to my 1989 Tobias Basic 5 but with a much better B string (probably due to the 35" scale of the 535). I eventually sold it a couple weeks later.

After playing Roscoe's for the last 11 years I found that most basses that I try sound too thin to me. I felt the same about an Elrick 5 and F-bass that I puchased within the last 2 years. I eventually sold those too. I guess that I'm just sold out on the Roscoe sound. Bottom line is it's become too much of my sound and I'm not happy playing anything else.

The spec's that you've selected for a proposed Roscoe will be killer. I'm curently getting another made with very similar spec's. I choose the ash body, Nord p/u's & aggie OBP-3 too but I'm going with a SKB 3005 w/flamed myrtle top and Mac Ebony fingerboard. The result should be similar though. I'm hoping that the Nord's will provide me with a nice alternative to the traditional Roscoe tone. A bit more of a J bass sound (or as BP would probably put it "A jazz bass on streriods"

Joe
I would be interested to hear your opinions when you get your new (and wicked) Roscoe. I do feel that the all Bart set up on Roscoe does give a signature sound - eg low mid/bass heavy, which I really like. However by introducing more open sounding pups and electronics I believe that the bass will have different tonal characteristics.

I recently swapped out the Bart pre on one of my Roscoes with the Audere, which does not have the same built in eq curve of the Bart (enhanced low mid and bass, and treble cut) and although the bass has the same inherent tone, it does sound less bassy - but it has cleaned the tone up and I believe offers a very uncoloured/clean sound, which is not necessarily better, it just offers a slightly different tonal pallete to work with.

[JOME77]

Originally Posted by poptart

Joe
I would be interested to hear your opinions when you get your new (and wicked) Roscoe. I do feel that the all Bart set up on Roscoe does give a signature sound - eg low mid/bass heavy, which I really like. However by introducing more open sounding pups and electronics I believe that the bass will have different tonal characteristics.

I recently swapped out the Bart pre on one of my Roscoes with the Audere, which does not have the same built in eq curve of the Bart (enhanced low mid and bass, and treble cut) and although the bass has the same inherent tone, it does sound less bassy - but it has cleaned the tone up and I believe offers a very uncoloured/clean sound, which is not necessarily better, it just offers a slightly different tonal pallete to work with.

I'll definitely provide some feedback after I get it.
I do agree with your statement concerning the changing out of the preamp. While I've yet to hear the Audere pre, I've owned Roscoe's with all 3 of the primary pre's installed (Bart, Aggie and Demeter). While all three voice the instrument differently, the overall sound is still the Roscoe sound (which is a good thing! ). From what I've read, the Audere would probably be a great choice for a fretless Roscoe.

Basso Gruvitas has a solid swamp ash Roscoe with the Nords and Aggie OBP-3 pre and he loves the sound. I can thank him for the new attack of Roscoe GAS .

[Hollow Man]

Both are outstanding basses. I fully intend to own at least one of each within my lifetime.

However, I will own a Roscoe first... to me, they're just more comfortable and fun to play. The sounds aren't terribly similar, but both are very good at what they do. MTD's tend to be very modern, whereas Roscoe's are closer to the middle of the sonic spectrum... can be fairly modern or comp some vintage vibes too.

[Bassmanbob]

I've tried a number of MTDs and was planning on buying one in 2003 until I tried a Roscoe. It was the thicker tone that got me.

Both great basses, I just preferred the Roscoe look, sound and feel more. I think the standard Roscoe string spacing is tighter than the MTD spacing. Someone correct me if I'm wrong.

Love my Roscoe and will someday say love my RoscoeS.

[XavidmanX]

I own both and love both for different situations. IMO, you just can't beat the range of tone and slap tone on my MTD 535 wenge/wenge neck and fb on poplar with myrtle burl top. My Roscoe with purpleheart neck has amazing mid range growl, but I favor the low end on my MTD 635. Both are great instruments made by great luthiers who are great people. Can't go wrong either way. I will say that Roscoe makes some unbelievable buckeye tops (my favorite top wood).

[DonovanBankhead]

I owned a 535, and now own a fretted LG3005. I really dig the MTD product, and think it is outstanding. But for me, the Roscoe just really "trips my trigger". I love the neck profile, the slightly smaller body, the sound of the low B, the action, and of course, the resale price. For some reason, Roscoe basses are undervalued in the used market, making it more affordable to get them used.

However, when it comes to visual appearance, MTD wins hands down, IMO. I've seen some nice Roscoes, but visually they are not in the same league as the nicer MTD basses. Again, this is just my opinion.