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Double Bass Carlo Robelli 300 series?

IconBasser

IconBasser

Scuba Viking
Feb 28, 2007
7,227
1,648
34
Fontana, California
#1
SamAsh sells it. Carlo Robelli 300 series 3/4 double bass, $999

any experience with this bass?

I'm strapped for cash, and will be going to college next year as a music composition major, in which my performance instrument will be double bass. I've been playing my high school's double bass for a few years now.

This one is cheap, but I have no idea as to the quality. Should I scrap the idea and save a bit more for an engelhardt or something?
 
#6
I think I have the Robelli in question. I bought it for 500 bucks as a backup for my nicer bass. By the time you buy strings and get it set up (Robellis are "setup" by the guitar guy at the sam ash), you will be spending what you would spend to get a decent bass from a luthier. Mine is so bad that I only play it when it is absolutely neccesarry. I had to sand the side of the fingerboard because I got splinters on my right thumb. The top is so slick that the bridge moves around very easily. The bridge feet were so big they needed to be filed a lot. The endpin is attached so you can't pull it out and put a wheel on. The sound of the bass is very uneven. The G string is much quieter than the other 3 strings. In fact, the higher the pitch, the softer it gets. All in all not a good instrument. However, I've seen people playing them on gigs. If it was my first bass, I think I would have quit playing after the first splinter.
 
#11
I have a 600 series Robelli. It plays and sounds great. It WAS set up by a luthier who thought it was a more than honest instrument for $1600.

Like all wooden instruments, it's about the resonance of the wood first, not the brand.
 
#12
IconBasser said:
thanks for the advice guys!

I played the Carlo Robelli 600 series (around 1800 bux) at Sam Ash, and I liked it. However, I don't have much experience with different types of double basses. Any professional opinions regarding this one?
Click to expand...
I also just went to Samash and played the Carlo Robelli 600 "solid spruce top, laminated highly figured maple sides; highly flamed solid maple back" it just needed some minor adjustments and "cons" no adjustable bridge but over all it had a nice bright warm sound bigger than the 300 series who fell very short in sound quality and there was actually a dip in the finger board, is Laminated except for the top. Actually will pic up the 600 from them it was good for me..
 
#13
uprisingbassist said:
I also just went to Samash and played the Carlo Robelli 600 "solid spruce top, laminated highly figured maple sides; highly flamed solid maple back" it just needed some minor adjustments and "cons" no adjustable bridge but over all it had a nice bright warm sound bigger than the 300 series who fell very short in sound quality and there was actually a dip in the finger board, is Laminated except for the top. Actually will pic up the 600 from them it was good for me..
Click to expand...

Hey man, are you kidding? Did you abandon your other thread? Why don't you go over to that thread and join the conversation that you started. :rollno:
 
#14
Standard advice: Never buy a DB from a guitar shop or online mass musical retailer. Buy a DB from a bass shop. As for Carlo Robelli basses, they are, IMO, overall a poor choice. Measure the thickness of that "solid spruce top." From what I've seen, they are not really carved tops at all and are extremely thin. $1800 is not chump change. For that money you could buy a better built, better sounding, better set up, better playing instrument that will actually hold its value. It's not a given that such a Robelli will sound better than a nice ply bass. Even if it does, it may not for long. Of course, it's your money so do as you wish. Forewarned is forearmed.
 
#17
Snobbery? I'm glad that you find your bass to play great and sound nice. Really, I'm glad you're happy with it. I recommend $1200-$1500 basses all the time as, do many others here. That pretty much trounces the "snobbery" characterization. What I won't do is recommend that people spend those dollars on a Robelli because I think one can do substantially better, especially in the long-term. That's not based on any kind of snobbery. Rather, it's based on my hands-on experience with quite a few different basses and my goal of helping buyers to achieve the most bang for their buck.
 
#18
crowsmengegus said:
Hey man, are you kidding? Did you abandon your other thread? Why don't you go over to that thread and join the conversation that you started. :rollno:
Click to expand...
Hey thanks man you are totaly right! These DB whole Sale companies do a great job to paint and make a DB look and sound great on the outside. but the inside???.. Devil in the detail! after all what good carved bass really cost only $1800 check this video before you buy. YouTube - Upton Bass: The Devil Is In The Details... actually gonna pick up a ply from Upton Bass for that $1800 with a professional LUTHER set up, not a "guitar guy from samash" Thank you! the only thing ima abandon is that Carlo R. unidentified DB
 

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