I am thinking the RBV will be my next bass. I am also curious about the later model necks too. Thinner than 90s models? I love my '90 USA jazz plus neck.
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Roscoe Beck Forum?
- Thread starter Ezbass
- Start date
The neck side coils of the pickups are in the exact places of a 60's J bass and when in single coil mode these are active and out of phase. Pulling the tone knob drops the volume of the neck pup (as stated by jason). And I agree with Jason, neck in series and bridge in parallel is my favorite. Tone knob either way.
I am about to be able to join the TB Roscoe Beck club. I bought a used RB IV from TB member and Roscoe Beck Forum member Joebone.
It's this one from the TB Classifieds: SOLD - Fender Roscoe Beck IV
RB IV in Tobacco Sunburst, Alder body and Rosewood neck.
I have not bought a "new" bass for quite some time. I am not a collector, and only pick up instruments that I intend to use/gig with. As I posted above, I ran into one of these RB IV's in a shop in SF about a month ago and was very impressed by the feel and tone, but I was not impressed by the asking price. Luckily, a few are for sale here on TB and this one is on its way to me as I type.
I'll be back once I have the bass in hand. Looking forward to it very much.
Thanks to all for the responses to my questions about the switches.
It's this one from the TB Classifieds: SOLD - Fender Roscoe Beck IV
RB IV in Tobacco Sunburst, Alder body and Rosewood neck.
I have not bought a "new" bass for quite some time. I am not a collector, and only pick up instruments that I intend to use/gig with. As I posted above, I ran into one of these RB IV's in a shop in SF about a month ago and was very impressed by the feel and tone, but I was not impressed by the asking price. Luckily, a few are for sale here on TB and this one is on its way to me as I type.
I'll be back once I have the bass in hand. Looking forward to it very much.
Thanks to all for the responses to my questions about the switches.
Congratulations! I sold my RBV some time ago, and I really wish I had never parted with it. I bought it back in the late '90's brand new. I think you'll be happy with it!
My favorite bass. No matter what other basses I acquire, I always go back the the RBIV. Be sure to unlock the saddles before you attempt to adjust the intonation.
as much as I think of my basses as more-or-less just tools, I do get a pretty big smile on my face when I get a new one (at least new to me).
Here it is in its new home. RB IV, Alder body, Tobacco Burst, Rosewood neck. Is the ramp a normal part of the the RB's ?
Looks great, feels great, sounds great.
My thanks to Joebone for the sale.
Very nice. Try it with the switch centered. Put the bridge pup in parallel and the neck pup in series. This config sounds good with tone switch up or down.
Enjoy. My fav config with the 5 string RB's. Hope it sounds as good with the 4 string.
Enjoy. My fav config with the 5 string RB's. Hope it sounds as good with the 4 string.
The bass's case candy included the ramp. Most people installed them out of curiosity and ended up leaving it on because it is useful.View attachment 1145242 NBD ... cool
as much as I think of my basses as more-or-less just tools, I do get a pretty big smile on my face when I get a new one (at least new to me).
Here it is in its new home. RB IV, Alder body, Tobacco Burst, Rosewood neck. Is the ramp a normal part of the the RB's ?
Looks great, feels great, sounds great.
My thanks to Joebone for the sale.
ah, thanks. I never had a ramp on any of my basses. I have a pretty light right hand touch so I'm not sure if it does much for me anyway.
Keep it around for a while before you remove it. You just might start to appreciate the feel.
yeah, I don't have any plans to remove it, it is very unobtrusive and kind of looks cool IMO. I mostly float my thumb, and as I said, I have a pretty light right hand, I don't even feel it.
With the recent activity on this thread, thought I should post a quick pic of the twins
nice.
I got mine all tuned up today. A little intonation tweak (figured out the bridge, easy enough with all the TB guidance), re-set/tuned the hipshot, polished her up and she is ready to gig this weekend.
thought I'd come back after my first 2 gigs with the RB IV and ask a few questions and offer some impressions, maybe seek some experienced responses from you seasoned RB players.
First off, there are just a ton of tones that can come from this bass (maybe too many for me just yet). All in all, I really enjoyed this bass on the 2 gigs I did Sat. It felt and sounded great.
I don't really need it to be another Jazz, I have a Lull M4V for that
It will cop the Jazz tone, but it seems to have a bit of the Ray/soapbar thing going on with many of the tone options. To me, the Ray sound has that somewhat nasally, high mid snap/sizzle .. almost like fret noise. It's not bad, but its not a Jazz bass tone IMO/IME.
The Parallel option (both mini's flipped forward in the #3 position) is very hot .. enough so that when I use that on the fly, I need to remember to dial the V back or its going to hit my pedals and preamp too hard.
As a Jazz player for the most part, I am going to have to get used to a single V vs V V T (or active pre). I'm just so used to doing 100/80 to favor bridge or neck for different basic Jazz tones, that having just the single V and Tone, the PU Selector and mini toggles is a bit overwhelming after just 2 gigs. It sounded great, but I found myself overthinking all the tone shaping options. Eventually, I just settled on a few and stayed with those all night. This will just take time to work out.
I thought I would be hearing a Jazz tone from the Coil Tap setting (both mini's in the middle, #2 position) and PU selector in the middle/#2 position, but actually to my ear I hear a more Jazz like setting with the mini's in Series/#1 position .. all the way back.
It does do a very reasonable P bass tone in several combinations (depending on what you think of as a P bass).
On my RB, the intonation is in a kind of odd place. On the bridge, G,D and E are fine, but the A saddle seems to need to be all the way out to be fully intonated. Seems odd. Otherwise I had no issues unlocking the saddles and intonating it.
I have not been able to tame the Hipshot extender so that it returns to a reasonably true E (+/- 10 cents), or hits a reasonably true D. I've never been happy with these devices, but I will keep trying to set it up right.
For a passive instrument, the sound is just huge. I've been playing the active (aguilar OP-B3) for a while now and the RB sounds like its at the same level as the Lull on active. Pretty amazing.
I have used the Lull M4V as my main player since I got it 10 years ago. Its an easy move to flip it from passive to active. On the RB, I am going to have to work with it to get comfortable with on the fly changes like that.
So, that's about it right now. If any of you have any thoughts on these observations, or suggestions for me to consider as I work my way through this bass, I am all ears.
First off, there are just a ton of tones that can come from this bass (maybe too many for me just yet). All in all, I really enjoyed this bass on the 2 gigs I did Sat. It felt and sounded great.
I don't really need it to be another Jazz, I have a Lull M4V for that
It will cop the Jazz tone, but it seems to have a bit of the Ray/soapbar thing going on with many of the tone options. To me, the Ray sound has that somewhat nasally, high mid snap/sizzle .. almost like fret noise. It's not bad, but its not a Jazz bass tone IMO/IME.
The Parallel option (both mini's flipped forward in the #3 position) is very hot .. enough so that when I use that on the fly, I need to remember to dial the V back or its going to hit my pedals and preamp too hard.
As a Jazz player for the most part, I am going to have to get used to a single V vs V V T (or active pre). I'm just so used to doing 100/80 to favor bridge or neck for different basic Jazz tones, that having just the single V and Tone, the PU Selector and mini toggles is a bit overwhelming after just 2 gigs. It sounded great, but I found myself overthinking all the tone shaping options. Eventually, I just settled on a few and stayed with those all night. This will just take time to work out.
I thought I would be hearing a Jazz tone from the Coil Tap setting (both mini's in the middle, #2 position) and PU selector in the middle/#2 position, but actually to my ear I hear a more Jazz like setting with the mini's in Series/#1 position .. all the way back.
It does do a very reasonable P bass tone in several combinations (depending on what you think of as a P bass).
On my RB, the intonation is in a kind of odd place. On the bridge, G,D and E are fine, but the A saddle seems to need to be all the way out to be fully intonated. Seems odd. Otherwise I had no issues unlocking the saddles and intonating it.
I have not been able to tame the Hipshot extender so that it returns to a reasonably true E (+/- 10 cents), or hits a reasonably true D. I've never been happy with these devices, but I will keep trying to set it up right.
For a passive instrument, the sound is just huge. I've been playing the active (aguilar OP-B3) for a while now and the RB sounds like its at the same level as the Lull on active. Pretty amazing.
I have used the Lull M4V as my main player since I got it 10 years ago. Its an easy move to flip it from passive to active. On the RB, I am going to have to work with it to get comfortable with on the fly changes like that.
So, that's about it right now. If any of you have any thoughts on these observations, or suggestions for me to consider as I work my way through this bass, I am all ears.
Those mini toggles should be forward for parallel, center for single, rearward for series. Series should be hottest, parallel would not be much hotter than single. If yours is hotter in the forward position, I think your switches are turned around. As for the saddle position and the A, that would likely be an issue with the string. Don't forget about the push/pull tone pot. It reduces the output of the neck pickup when pulled.
90% of the time I run my RBV's in single coil mode, both pickups on for what should be the straight up Jazz Bass tone. I've always thought it sounds like a thicker Jazz Bass which is right up my ally. I love Jazz Bass tone but don't care for the thinner side of the spectrum. From single coil mode I'll sometimes kick either the bridge or neck pickup into series mode if I need a little more kick. Also the way the pickups are designed you can get them a little closer to the strings if need be. I suggest to just keep it simple and just flip a switch here or there if you need a bump.
