I’ll be in a similar situation when my new fretless six Century arrives. I’ll have one with soap bars and one with candy bars. Glad to hear you feel they have a distinct difference.
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Roscoe Club
- Thread starter JOME77
- Start date
I’ll be in a similar situation when my new fretless six Century arrives. I’ll have one with soap bars and one with candy bars. Glad to hear you feel they have a distinct difference.
That’s a beautiful pair. Someone has great taste spec’ ing (and modding) fretless basses.
Roscoes....wow....what an amazing tone! this bass just keeps growing on me.... I am by no means a professional musician or top class bass player but i do enjoy playing it.....here is a cover/rendition to my favorite bass player of all time, Mr. Abraham Laboriel
Great tune and excellent playing too!
I too am greatly influenced by Abe! He has mastered more RH techniques than any player that I know of. At one church I believe that we did the entire live album "Lift Him Up"
My person favorites are "Those that Wait upon the Lord and Ancient of Days!
Thanks for sharing!
Thank you brother. And to think that album came out 30 years ago
Relocated from the trailer …..
To the penthouse!
Just couldn’t make it live in a gig bag when it’s off duty.
To the penthouse!
Just couldn’t make it live in a gig bag when it’s off duty.
Great tune and album. Watched that video a kagillion times. Great playing and tone man.
Really nice playing and it brought back great memories. Your tone is killer.
Yep, Joe was playing those songs on one side of town and I was playing them on the other.
Great stuff....this reminds me why I loved the Roscoe basses that I had many years ago. This sound. I got more compliments on my sound back then...all the time. What I do is very different these days, but I do miss having a Roscoe around.
Both LG’s are back in O.R. status! 
The Buckeye Burl has the Nordy preamp and the Koa has its original Bart preamp and is getting prepared for the change. 
The Buckeye Burl has the Nordy preamp and the Koa has its original Bart preamp and is getting prepared for the change. 
Hey Roscoe Enthusiasts, so over this side of the pond there is a used Roscoe 6er for sale (rather rare in Europe) that has Bartolini Js in the „Roscoe Location“... moved closer to the bridge instead of the 60s position (and i think also different to the Roscoe „JB-Position“ that many Fretless Roscoes have).
It seems to be a rather rare pick up configuration/spacing for Roscoes..unfortunately I cant test drive this bass as its too far away from where I live.
I could only find one little clip of a Roscoe with this configuration that doesnt really do it for me sonically (but could also be the touch of the player, recording etc.)
So my question is whether anyone here owns or has played a Roscoe like this and can chime in. I love Roscoes big, juicy tone (Haslip) and I am afraid that a bass with this configuration could be a little too gnarly/mid heavy for my taste and less versatile.
Attached is a picture of the bass mentioned and the clip I found on YouTube.
It seems to be a rather rare pick up configuration/spacing for Roscoes..unfortunately I cant test drive this bass as its too far away from where I live.
I could only find one little clip of a Roscoe with this configuration that doesnt really do it for me sonically (but could also be the touch of the player, recording etc.)
So my question is whether anyone here owns or has played a Roscoe like this and can chime in. I love Roscoes big, juicy tone (Haslip) and I am afraid that a bass with this configuration could be a little too gnarly/mid heavy for my taste and less versatile.
Attached is a picture of the bass mentioned and the clip I found on YouTube.
Attachments
I owned a similar Roscoe 6 with Bart X6 pickups. Great sounding bass but much thinner and focused sounding than the traditional sounding Roscoe soap bars.
If the warm big sound of a Roscoe is what you’re looking for I’d keep looking.
I’m currently waiting on a new Roscoe six with those very pickups and position but mine is a fretless. I got those pickups specifically for the fretless. I was sold on them because of a wonderful YouTube video by Dan Veal demoing a fretless Roscoe. Never had them in a fretted bass… yet.
Thanks for the answers.
I think for a fretless this pick up placement works great, giving it the mids and definition for a singing voice.
Maybe by cutting the highs and boosting some bass it could also give a fatter, less gnarly (for lack of a better word) tone on a fretted bass... Zon Sonus Special, some Warwicks have a spacing like this...I always felt these basses lacked just a bit of booty. Of course thats just my preference and for some applications this tone really works well.
The bass mentioned is a beautiful Roscoe...now if it only had the standard Roscoe Barts..
I think for a fretless this pick up placement works great, giving it the mids and definition for a singing voice.
Maybe by cutting the highs and boosting some bass it could also give a fatter, less gnarly (for lack of a better word) tone on a fretted bass... Zon Sonus Special, some Warwicks have a spacing like this...I always felt these basses lacked just a bit of booty. Of course thats just my preference and for some applications this tone really works well.
The bass mentioned is a beautiful Roscoe...now if it only had the standard Roscoe Barts..
I know of a fretted SKB Custom 5 with Bart 57Js in JB position, Swamp Ash body, Maple top, Wenge center neck lamination surrounded by Maple, and Wenge fretboard. It has plenty of low end, and the highs don't need cutting. In fact, sometimes the bass EQ is cut, a smidge of low mids added, along with a bit of extra treble. This bass sounds gorgeous in a band mix, and still has plenty of Roscoe character and tone. It is a Roscoe, after all, with the Roscoe neck that many attest to providing the bulk of signature tone.
Don't confuse Zon Sonus and Warwick whatevers with Roscoe. They don't have a Roscoe neck, or the design, artistry, and mojo of a hand-built Keith Roscoe bass. I also know those other XYZ basses, and while I like them, they are not the same.
If I saw this bass for sale in the US for it's relatively low asking price, I'd consider it in a heartbeat.
Is this the bass you refer to? IMO, the bridge pickup isn't overly close to the bridge. It's likely a bass that I would EQ just with the pan control, setting blend to slightly favor the neck pickup, with the bridge pickup adding beautiful extra dimension. If it needed futher EQ, I'd touch the preamp with subtractive EQ before additive. That's what the preamp is for, so never be afraid to use it. Stunning bass!
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That is a beautiful bass! Looks like some deep carving on that top too. Really nice.
And Fritz is correct in saying that you can certainly EQ it to get closer to what you're maybe looking for. But, having owned one (a Roscoe 6 with the X6 p/u's) and many of the Roscoe's with the Roscoe Barts, you'll never get it to sound like traditional Roscoe. Of course it's just my opinion .....
@Fred312b can probably chime in too. He recently picked up a fairly similar configured Roscoe 3006 (and he owns a more traditional sounding Roscoe with the Roscoe Bart SB's). How about it Matt? How do you weigh in on the subject.
man I’d love to score that bass or one like it.
Well to be fair, the "Red Devil" has its pickups in the 60's jazz positions, and it sounds like a modern jazz, which imho is awesome, and what I wanted.That is a beautiful bass! Looks like some deep carving on that top too. Really nice.
And Fritz is correct in saying that you can certainly EQ it to get closer to what you're maybe looking for. But, having owned one (a Roscoe 6 with the X6 p/u's) and many of the Roscoe's with the Roscoe Barts, you'll never get it to sound like traditional Roscoe. Of course it's just my opinion .....
@Fred312b can probably chime in too. He recently picked up a fairly similar configured Roscoe 3006 (and he owns a more traditional sounding Roscoe with the Roscoe Bart SB's). How about it Matt? How do you weigh in on the subject.
But it doesn't sound like a "traditional" Roscoe with the Bart soapbars.
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