Reuben Rogers' Bass?

I can't help but chime in here...Reuben has been to my shop many times before he moved to NY. His main bass is said to be an unkown czech maker maybe late 1800 's and as far as strings who knows cuz I haven't seen him in years.
Did ya see the Billy Strayhorn special on PBS ? there's Reuben w. Diana Reeves.
Oh...I forgot to mention this Cat is a Mo Fo !!!

 

The photos on his website show his bass strung with D'Addario Helicore Hybrids.

 

I caught up with Reuben (he says casually) after an open-air gig with Joshua Redmond and Tony Sanchez about half an hour ago. He told me what Mark said, an old Czech bass with heaps of repairs, it really looks ... old ... in a beat up sense!

But such a beautiful sound. I spoke to the engineers about the sound, probably the best amped bass sound I've ever heard. You could virtually hear the air coming from the bass, a lovely dark breathy growl, but a growl from the wood, not the fingerboard.

He was using a mix between the Realist and an AMT mic about 1" from, and pointing at ,the bass foot of the bridge. Helicores.

I took some photos (below), but it was very dark and this one from Reubens site also shows the bass & shows the wars its been through and STILL sounds great

http://www.reubenrogers.com/assets/photos/road/FlyingTheFriendlySkies.jpg

David Gage now looks after the bass.

It was a great trio gig. Amazing talent all three of them! They all had such fun playing, so good. gush gush gush

Worth coming to Toronto just for this!

 

Del-Fee-Oh Marsalis quintet opened the gig, with David Pulphus on bass ... problem was, it was a rental bass and the thing rattled and wouldn't stay in tune. He struggled through to the end but nearly gave up on it ... Should have brought his own!

 

The other night he played the festival I'm working and used a provided GK MB150. I'm sure the SWR was also a provided amp.