Show Us Your Rob Allen Basses Part III

[Groove Doctor]

Originally Posted by Joe Smithberger

I am trying the D'Addario tapes (medium scale set is required) now. So far the D'Addarios seem promising.

What have you found so far Joe? I've been following your other threads with much interest.

[Joe Smithberger]

It's still early. I originally bought the D'Addarios in short scale. The silk extends into the nut about a half inch. I have been playing them like this around the house and like the sound and the feel. After Thanksgiving, my church group will be working Christmas music non-stop until the big day. The Mouse will be the Go-To bass for that and will get quite a workout over the next month. In the mean time, I ordered the medium scale set so it will look right.

For me, the TI's are THE answer to getting a good low growl and more natural, URB-like, sustain out of the Mouse. I definitely see more sustain and fretless buzz on the D'Addario tapes than the TI flats. It is a move back to a more "fretless bass" type of tone, but not quite as twangy and stiff as the La Bellas.

[citizenchris099]

My new set up

[Joe Smithberger]

Originally Posted by Groove Doctor

What have you found so far Joe? I've been following your other threads with much interest.

After giving the D'Addarios a couple of rehearsals, I really like them much better than the stock LaBellas. They are slinkier and very even in sound across the bass.

However, I am back to my 6 year old TI flats. I like to play with a wide range of intensity and the TI's give the bass a much more physical and organic response. When you dig in it growls and blooms, but when you play lightly, it can give you a Hoffner type thump. The tapes always seem to give you the fretless bass, buzzy, mwah sound that sounds great to me one minute and wrong the next. Obviously everyone plays differently. The singing fretless upper register sound is there in spades with the D'Addarios but I am more of a support player and like the way the TI's respond.

BTW if anyone wants to try the D'Addario tapes, I would let them go at a substantial discount. The are nearly new and cut for the Mouse.

[Groove Doctor]

Cheers.

[morebassbaby]

Hey Guys! I've had this bass for almost 4 years now and absolutely love it. It's a bit rarer as it is a "deep" Mouse. I don't know if Rob has made many more of these since then, but at the time it was one of 2. Alder body, Ebony fretboard, Birdseye neck, and a Bastogne Walnut top.















Family Shot!

[cflat]

wow!..that's a beauty!

[tedw]

A deep mouse... very nice!

I have another subject to raise...I've been playing my Solid 4 (one of my three Rob Allen basses). I play exclusively at church, going direct to the board.

- I use in-ear monitors and get a pretty good tone and mix
- When I take the IEM's out, I can hear myself in the house and it sounds pretty good (although I'm listening from behind the speakers)
- Other musicians tell me that I have good presence and tone in the house
- I have no idea how the sound engineers eq me... but I don't think they have great ears for bass tone
- At home, the Solid 4, played straight into my amp (TH500 or Clarus) sounds pretty thin without any eq
- I've used a REDDI at church at my impression is that it makes the tone too dark and causes me to disappear from the mix
- I've been experimenting with a Sansamp Paradriver at home, and I can get a nice tone and feel through it, but I'm not sure how it will work at church.
- I used an Electro-Harmonix Micro-Pog octave pedal at church last month, adding only a touch of upper octave (an no lower octave except on a couple of songs where I needed a low B to E-). Suprisingly, this effect pedal was well received, probably because I was subtle in applying the upper octave effect.
- I'm trying to figure out if using a tube-style pre-amp would be a good idea (even if the REDDI didn't work out). I'd ask the sound engineers, but I know that they will not know until they hear it.
- I've heard great things about the Monique... but I'm not sure if I should go there.

I feel like I'm rambling... Considering all of this, do any of you have suggestions for me?

Thanks.

[cflat]

apart from DIing out froma real good amp (like a Genz Benz)..which is pricey of course..I have had great luck with a Tech 21 VT bass pedal..there are 2..the more expensive one has a DI out..It's extremely versatile andcan really fatten up your bass and it gives your signal a certain 'presence' ...I've used one for years into my amps and running to a PA....
What the sound guy does to your signal..who knows? but you can listen to the out front speakers and make small adjustments on the VT.
Check the forums here..not many players ever have a bad word about this particular pedal.

[nostatic]

I have been gigging the Monique, and today finally got to plug the Deep4 into it. Sick. As is totally sick. It seems to tighten up the lows a bit (which I didn't expect) and softens some of the piezo clack (depending on your strings and technique - I'm using the original La Bellas). Next couple gigs call for fretted but I may take it anyway. Have a jazz hit on the 28th where I'll definitely use the RA.

MicroPog is cool, but it kinda moves the bass more into organ territory depending on how you have it set.

[tedw]

Originally Posted by cflat

apart from DIing out froma real good amp (like a Genz Benz)..which is pricey of course..I have had great luck with a Tech 21 VT bass pedal..there are 2..the more expensive one has a DI out..It's extremely versatile andcan really fatten up your bass and it gives your signal a certain 'presence' ...I've used one for years into my amps and running to a PA....
What the sound guy does to your signal..who knows? but you can listen to the out front speakers and make small adjustments on the VT.
Check the forums here..not many players ever have a bad word about this particular pedal.

Good idea on the VT.... Tol bad I already bought and sold one... I probably didn't give it enough of a chance... maybe I'll look for a used model...

[tedw]

Originally Posted by nostatic

I have been gigging the Monique, and today finally got to plug the Deep4 into it. Sick. As is totally sick. It seems to tighten up the lows a bit (which I didn't expect) and softens some of the piezo clack (depending on your strings and technique - I'm using the original La Bellas). Next couple gigs call for fretted but I may take it anyway. Have a jazz hit on the 28th where I'll definitely use the RA.

MicroPog is cool, but it kinda moves the bass more into organ territory depending on how you have it set.

I'd like to try a Monique. Seems like such a cool tool.

I'm with you on the organish feel of the MicroPog. But it seemed to work in the mix the few times that I needed to turn it on to hit a low D. I have a melodic solo piece with the clean knob at 3:00, the low octave at 0, and the high octave at 10:30ish. With the Solid 4, it gives me a sweet, light jazz kind of feel and it works very nicely.

I tried an Aguilar Octamizer also. It tracked very well with my Lull P5 (I don't really need it for that bass, but if I had a Lull P4 I think it would work fine), but very poorly with the Rob Allens (perhaps the overtones in the notes confuse it?... I have no idea why).

Above all the Monique is very tempting, but I might re-try the VT pedal first.

Thanks!

[JxBass]

Originally Posted by tedw

Good idea on the VT.... Tol bad I already bought and sold one... I probably didn't give it enough of a chance... maybe I'll look for a used model...

I had the same experience. I bought a VT pedal and it didn't click for me the first time. Some time later I had an Ampeg PF-350 and enjoyed it, then gave it to my son who was in need of a new amp and went back to my Clarus. I dug the VT out of the drawer and have been using it ever since. It does disguise some of the pure RA tone IMO, but the RA/VT combination is pretty darn cool.

[morebassbaby]

Originally Posted by cflat

wow!..that's a beauty!

Thanks! I'm just really happy that with this band I'm in, I get to use it almost 50% of the time. I've had something like 22 basses in my time playing bass and this is the #1 most complemented instrument I've ever played. Whatever it is, the mouse is outsiders vision of what a good bass should sound like. I'll take that!

[morebassbaby]

Originally Posted by tedw

A deep mouse... very nice!

I have another subject to raise...I've been playing my Solid 4 (one of my three Rob Allen basses). I play exclusively at church, going direct to the board.

- I use in-ear monitors and get a pretty good tone and mix
- When I take the IEM's out, I can hear myself in the house and it sounds pretty good (although I'm listening from behind the speakers)
- Other musicians tell me that I have good presence and tone in the house
- I have no idea how the sound engineers eq me... but I don't think they have great ears for bass tone
- At home, the Solid 4, played straight into my amp (TH500 or Clarus) sounds pretty thin without any eq
- I've used a REDDI at church at my impression is that it makes the tone too dark and causes me to disappear from the mix
- I've been experimenting with a Sansamp Paradriver at home, and I can get a nice tone and feel through it, but I'm not sure how it will work at church.
- I used an Electro-Harmonix Micro-Pog octave pedal at church last month, adding only a touch of upper octave (an no lower octave except on a couple of songs where I needed a low B to E-). Suprisingly, this effect pedal was well received, probably because I was subtle in applying the upper octave effect.
- I'm trying to figure out if using a tube-style pre-amp would be a good idea (even if the REDDI didn't work out). I'd ask the sound engineers, but I know that they will not know until they hear it.
- I've heard great things about the Monique... but I'm not sure if I should go there.

I feel like I'm rambling... Considering all of this, do any of you have suggestions for me?

Thanks.

While I obviously have a mouse and you a solid 4, in many ways we're in a similar situation. I play at my church too with a REDDI, but also a Puma 500 and a 12" cab. Everybody loves the bass, but the sound guys don't know how to eq it. It just comes out as a pile of thick mud and you loose all the nuance of getting in that mwah and those slides. Sad really because, I always feel like it would be a great venue to use that bass, but I just don't because they aren't really sure how to put it in mix. Oh well, I've got the other band for that, I suppose.

[Davo-London]

Yeah, I think you are wasting your time. You need to educate the sound guys. Get another bassist in and get them to play your bass. When you are happy with tone get the sound chaps to note the EQ.

This is your only chance as if it's anything like my church it's a different sound chap each week.

Davo

[Chef]

I use an LR Baggs paracoustic DI with uipright.
While I've not used one with an RA, "they're similar enough" that this might be of good use to you.
4 bands of eq, two of which are para-adjustable for frequency.
The phase rev is especially nice for DB, might not matter to you.
I usually trim some sub bass, and a little mids, and add a touch of presence and bright.
Very handy box:
http://www.lrbaggs.com/paradi.htm

'

Originally Posted by tedw

A deep mouse... very nice!

I have another subject to raise...I've been playing my Solid 4 (one of my three Rob Allen basses). I play exclusively at church, going direct to the board.

- I use in-ear monitors and get a pretty good tone and mix
- When I take the IEM's out, I can hear myself in the house and it sounds pretty good (although I'm listening from behind the speakers)
- Other musicians tell me that I have good presence and tone in the house
- I have no idea how the sound engineers eq me... but I don't think they have great ears for bass tone
- At home, the Solid 4, played straight into my amp (TH500 or Clarus) sounds pretty thin without any eq
- I've used a REDDI at church at my impression is that it makes the tone too dark and causes me to disappear from the mix
- I've been experimenting with a Sansamp Paradriver at home, and I can get a nice tone and feel through it, but I'm not sure how it will work at church.
- I used an Electro-Harmonix Micro-Pog octave pedal at church last month, adding only a touch of upper octave (an no lower octave except on a couple of songs where I needed a low B to E-). Suprisingly, this effect pedal was well received, probably because I was subtle in applying the upper octave effect.
- I'm trying to figure out if using a tube-style pre-amp would be a good idea (even if the REDDI didn't work out). I'd ask the sound engineers, but I know that they will not know until they hear it.
- I've heard great things about the Monique... but I'm not sure if I should go there.

I feel like I'm rambling... Considering all of this, do any of you have suggestions for me?

Thanks.

[nostatic]

I've also had good success with FEA dual band compressor. I set the crossover around 120hz and tighten up the lows more than the highs. Helps the RA punch through a mix if need be. A typical compressor will generally muck too much with the whole sound for my tastes.

[KJung]

Originally Posted by morebassbaby

While I obviously have a mouse and you a solid 4, in many ways we're in a similar situation. I play at my church too with a REDDI, but also a Puma 500 and a 12" cab. Everybody loves the bass, but the sound guys don't know how to eq it. It just comes out as a pile of thick mud and you loose all the nuance of getting in that mwah and those slides. Sad really because, I always feel like it would be a great venue to use that bass, but I just don't because they aren't really sure how to put it in mix. Oh well, I've got the other band for that, I suppose.

Very simple solution with the Mouse (or any other piezo driven instrument. The piezo pickup (even when buffered like the Rob Allen) puts out massive sub-bass, and also some unpleasant upper treble that can really sound bad through a full range PA (with subs, horns, etc.). The treble is easily fixed through the lo pass/treble roll-off on the back of the bass... dial that down half way.

For the low end, it is a hi passing issue (i.e., too much sub-bass, which is made worse by the subs in a front of house system. The little FDeck III variable hi pass is PERFECT for this issue. You can roll off everything (-12db) at around 45 hz, and all of a sudden, all that wonderful, woody complexity will emerge from the PA. The unit sold by TBer FDECK is a touch over $100, is extremely transparent, and almost a necessity (IMO) for that particular bass in your particular situation. (it also has a phase reverse switch).

Edit: Even cheaper and easier, just have your soundperson hi pass at 50hz. If they look at you like they don't know what you are talking about, see about getting them fired and getting someone who knows what they are doing :-)

[Chef]

+1
The fdeck hpfIII is the other thing I use with my DB, and it does work well, just like KJ says,