I chose a Rogue VB100 over a Hofner Ignition.

[Zkenny99]

I was in a guitar shop and they had both the Rogue VB100 and the Hofner Ignition. I spent probably 20 minutes per bass and in the end I walked out with the Rogue VB100. Keep in mind, I only came in to buy some new strings and nothing else . The Ignition was prettier sure, but the Rogue just felt and sounded better to me. Another thing which I thought was ridiculously strange, was the Rogue had near perfect intonation, and when I tried playing Come Together on the Ignition, the G string at the 10th fret was nearly an entire half step off! It was probably just that bass, but it was a major turn off none the less. As far as I know you can't adjust the intonation on those basses the traditional way. Anyway, moral of the story, don't assume a bass is better by what the name on the head stock is. And trust me, I didn't just buy the Rogue because it was 100$ cheaper.

TLDR: I played with both the Hofner Ignition and the Rogue VB100 copy and liked the Rogue better.

 

[jd56hawk]

Pretty sure Paul didn't use a Hofner for "Come Together" but the Jazz bass.
Sorry, I'm not in the Rickenbacker camp since I play "CT"on my Squier CV Jazz and note for note it's indistinguishable from Paul's right down to the tone.

Seriously, though, I almost bought this Jay Turser because it outplayed both the Hofner Ignition and Club bass hanging next to it.
It felt more substantial and I was very impressed with the tone, especially since I'd only read negative things about Jay Turser guitars and basses.

By the way, some Hofners have the zero fret, but not the Ignition, unless I'm mistaken. Those that do, as I understand, are harder to set up.

 

[Zkenny99]

Pretty sure Paul didn't use a Hofner for "Come Together" but the Jazz bass.
Sorry, I'm not in the Rickenbacker camp since I play "CT"on my Squier CV Jazz and note for note it's indistinguishable from Paul's right down to the tone.

Seriously, though, I almost bought this Jay Turser because it outplayed both the Hofner Ignition and Club bass hanging next to it.
It felt more substantial and I was very impressed with the tone, especially since I'd only read negative things about Jay Turser guitars and basses.

By the way, some Hofners have the zero fret, but not the Ignition, unless I'm mistaken. Those that do, as I understand, are harder to set up.

This Ignition didn't have the zero fret. I'm also not informed about what bass Paul used for that song, but I just said I played it on these basses because well, that's what I was playing when I found out how off the intonation was on the Ignition. But yeah, kind of disappointed me that such a pretty bass was being outplayed by this Rogue. Expected a bit more out of it considering it was about 150$ more expensive.

 

[jd56hawk]

I'm joking about what bass Paul used for Come Together...though some people do argue about it. Hell, I've played Come Together on a Thunderbird and a Dean Exotica acoustic bass!
I did like the Jay Turser bass, though. The Hofner just felt wrong.
Now, I regret not buying the JT because it looked great in blonde and I've never seen another.
As for intonation, I know, exactly what you mean. When I bought my CV Jazz it was near perfect right out of the box it was shipped in, unlike most of the other basses at Guitar Center that day.
Enjoy your bass. If it's a good fit, that's what's truly important...not the name on the headstock.

 

[Maxdusty]

Being that when Paul picked up the Hofner, it was one of the cheaper bass options at the music store. So not too surprising there's few differences between a Hofner (a budget bass from the past) being similar to another one today. The Rogue VB100 is really a good value for the price, I had one and really couldn't believe it was a Rogue, I had an option to buy an Epiphone, or if only if it was drastically better, a Hofner ignition. It wasn't intended to be my main bass so didn't really want to go all out but I also didn't want a lemon. The Rogue won out, it was a good bass at a good price.

 

[bearfoot]

I have a JT also of this type that has great Beatle tone. It's not a violin, but more of a small bodied Starfire, 30.5", wider string spacing than a violin. Same pickups but knobs instead of switches.

I love how deep these basses can sound.

 

[Zkenny99]

Being that when Paul picked up the Hofner, it was one of the cheaper bass options at the music store. So not too surprising there's few differences between a Hofner (a budget bass from the past) being similar to another one today. The Rogue VB100 is really a good value for the price, I had one and really couldn't believe it was a Rogue, I had an option to buy an Epiphone, or if only if it was drastically better, a Hofner ignition. It wasn't intended to be my main bass so didn't really want to go all out but I also didn't want a lemon. The Rogue won out, it was a good bass at a good price.

Interesting! Never knew Hofner basses were considered cheap at that time. But yeah, I walked in the store not thinking about buying ANY bass, but right when I walked in, the rogue was put on the rack and I just thought "How cool would it be to own a violin bass?". The Rogue definitely won't be something I'll choose over my other bass but boy is it fun to play on.

I have a JT also of this type that has great Beatle tone. It's not a violin, but more of a small bodied Starfire, 30.5", wider string spacing than a violin. Same pickups but knobs instead of switches.

I love how deep these basses can sound.

Nice Yeah this Rogue is pretty bassy by my standards, I've come to assume all hollow body basses are generally really good on the low end.

 

[1stnamebassist]

I think most of the violin basses come from the same factories so probably not a lot of difference. Rhondo has one that's very reasonable and said to be quite nice and also available in unlined fretless! The intonation is adjustable by sliding the bridge around and also the plastic pieces under the string can be moved to different slots. Change one string at a time otherwise your bridge will be on your lap or the floor and then you can reintonate everything, because its not attached to the bass! The zerofret on some basses should not have any effect on setup. The fret is filed evenly all the way across to set clearance just like filing nut height. I installed zerofrets on my Rickenbacker and my Pbass and like it very much. The open string's sound like a fretted note now and the E string will have more punch like playing a fretted E on the B string on a five string. Enjoy your new bass!

 

[Old Blastard]

I have a black Douglas violin bass from Rondo and it's awesome. Gigged it last week and got compliments on its thump. I have a lot of basses -- I have no wife, kids are grown and I Said $&@! cable and credit cards so I spend my spare cash on basses -- and I Rotate them for gigs. It takes a bit to dial in sound that way, but it's way funner.

 

[FerruleCat]

The Rogue VB 100 is a fantastic bass for the money. The only quibble I have with mine is a little orange peel in the clearcoat, but it plays and sounds great. It also records really well.

 

[Plectrum72]

Re: OP, me too! Love it.

 

[jmlee]

I've got one as well. Terrific bass for the money. My only quibble is that the pickups are a bit microphonic, but it has yet to feed back at quite high volume. BTW, Alain Johannes played one of these during his tour as sideman with JPJ and Them Crooked Vultures. That's pretty good evidence of the stage-worthiness of this little cutie.

 

[Rib 13]

I'm joking about what bass Paul used for Come Together...though some people do argue about it. Hell, I've played Come Together on a Thunderbird and a Dean Exotica acoustic bass!

Ive played it for years on my G&L ASAT with mid-pickup soloed in Series and highs rolled all the way back......it wasn't a perfect tone-clone but it was a reasonable facsimile within the context of the band (close enough) and allowing me to return to any setting, modern or classic, for the other songs -- Once again raising the G&L flag for the Swiss Army Bass


OP: Grats on your purchase -- Ive heard some great sounding Rogues

 

[blacktocomm]

I have a JT also of this type that has great Beatle tone. It's not a violin, but more of a small bodied Starfire, 30.5", wider string spacing than a violin. Same pickups but knobs instead of switches.

I love how deep these basses can sound.

Pics? I would love to see it

 

[bearfoot]

Pics? I would love to see it

I apologize for this violation of forum rules (no pic, no bass). Getting pics of all my basses accessible is on the list, but not at the top. The bass is the JTB-134, which was a 30.5" instrument before Turser decided to make it a 34". Mine is the sunburst with a rather nice "tiger" maple pattern.

Pics of the shortscale version are very hard to find online, so I'll have to get on that...the 34" version is easy to find.

HERE is a guitar museum pic of the bass body, not sure which neck it has. Looks like they upgraded the tone/volume knobs. But this shows the string spacing, which is why I chose this bass over a violin, even though I'd always wanted a violin bass.

http://www.bass-guitar-museum.com/uploads/bass/21/260322306876-1.jpg

 

[Old Garage-Bander]

I was in a guitar shop and they had both the Rogue VB100 and the Hofner Ignition. I spent probably 20 minutes per bass and in the end I walked out with the Rogue VB100. Keep in mind, I only came in to buy some new strings and nothing else . The Ignition was prettier sure, but the Rogue just felt and sounded better to me. Another thing which I thought was ridiculously strange, was the Rogue had near perfect intonation, and when I tried playing Come Together on the Ignition, the G string at the 10th fret was nearly an entire half step off! It was probably just that bass, but it was a major turn off none the less. As far as I know you can't adjust the intonation on those basses the traditional way. Anyway, moral of the story, don't assume a bass is better by what the name on the head stock is. And trust me, I didn't just buy the Rogue because it was 100$ cheaper.

TLDR: I played with both the Hofner Ignition and the Rogue VB100 copy and liked the Rogue better.

View attachment 978978

The local mom/pop music store has both used Rogue and Epi Beatle bass. The Rogue is a lefty though so not for me. Though I often wondered if I would play bass, and golf, better left handed. It couldn't be much worse.

The Epi is also a lot heavier than the Rogue. Is that maybe due to the Epi being a neck through design?

I guess Sir Paul complained that his Hofner never stayed in tune very well. The rumor I heard was that Fenders were pretty rare in the sixties in Europe and if you did find one it would break the bank to buy it, and the Hofner was more affordable.

I wonder if you need a poorly intonated Hofner to properly play Come Together?

 

[Engle]

Its a floating bridge, so it was probably in the wrong spot on the Hofner.

 

[blacktocomm]

I apologize for this violation of forum rules (no pic, no bass). Getting pics of all my basses accessible is on the list, but not at the top. The bass is the JTB-134, which was a 30.5" instrument before Turser decided to make it a 34". Mine is the sunburst with a rather nice "tiger" maple pattern.

Pics of the shortscale version are very hard to find online, so I'll have to get on that...the 34" version is easy to find.

HERE is a guitar museum pic of the bass body, not sure which neck it has. Looks like they upgraded the tone/volume knobs. But this shows the string spacing, which is why I chose this bass over a violin, even though I'd always wanted a violin bass.

http://www.bass-guitar-museum.com/uploads/bass/21/260322306876-1.jpg

Very cool. I dig it.

 

[delta7fred]

I guess Sir Paul complained that his Hofner never stayed in tune very well. The rumor I heard was that Fenders were pretty rare in the sixties in Europe and if you did find one it would break the bank to buy it, and the Hofner was more affordable.

I wonder if you need a poorly intonated Hofner to properly play Come Together?

The Violin bass bridge tends to creep towards the pickups because of the unequal string angles each side of the bridge. I have heard that double sided tape under the feet stop this but never tried it. On mine you could see the correct position for the feet on the top so I just pushed it back into position every so often.

I did a sub gig where I had to play "All Right Now" by Free, the slide up to the G (17th fret on the D string) during the lead break was so far out it was painful.

 

[jd56hawk]

Ive played it for years on my G&L ASAT with mid-pickup soloed in Series and highs rolled all the way back......it wasn't a perfect tone-clone but it was a reasonable facsimile within the context of the band (close enough) and allowing me to return to any setting, modern or classic, for the other songs -- Once again raising the G&L flag for the Swiss Army Bass


OP: Grats on your purchase -- Ive heard some great sounding Rogues

I know what you mean. Just bought two G&Ls...a USA-made SB-2 and an L-2000 Tribute.