Roscoe Club

[JOME77]

I practiced with the Koa/ash Roscoe this evening. Thick throaty tone in my IEMs and in the house. I had forgotten what originally led me to purchase my first Roscoe, the sound of the Bart/Bart combo.
Wonderful lower midrange and with a slight EQ boost of the upper mids that upper midrange growl totally jumped out of the mix!
Very happy with the playability and sound of this one!

 

[SteveC]

I practiced with the Koa/ash Roscoe this evening. Thick throaty tone in my IEMs and in the house. I had forgotten what originally led me to purchase my first Roscoe, the sound of the Bart/Bart combo.
Wonderful lower midrange and with a slight EQ boost of the upper mids that upper midrange growl totally jumped out of the mix!
Very happy with the playability and sound of this one!

Yes! I run just a slight mid boost on mine as well. I know people love their other electronics but to me, Bart/Bart is the Roscoe sound.

 

[Ryan L.]

Yes! I run just a slight mid boost on mine as well. I know people love their other electronics but to me, Bart/Bart is the Roscoe sound.

I agree. I’ve had several different preamp/pickup combos in Roscoes over the years, but I don’t think anything really beats that “classic Roscoe” setup.

I really dug the Nordstrand combo in the Signature I had, but it was a totally different sound.

 

[SteveC]

So any storm issues for the Roscoe shop?
I know we have lots of Roscoe club people down there.

 

[Justin Keoni]

I agree. I’ve had several different preamp/pickup combos in Roscoes over the years, but I don’t think anything really beats that “classic Roscoe” setup.

I really dug the Nordstrand combo in the Signature I had, but it was a totally different sound.

I’d love to hear your comparison between the Nordy pre and the Roscoe pre! What tone differences were you able to identify? What were the differences in sound? Thanks!

 

[JOME77]

I’d love to hear your comparison between the Nordy pre and the Roscoe pre! What tone differences were you able to identify? What were the differences in sound? Thanks!

I’m not Ryan but I’ve had my share of Roscoes with bothe preamps.

Nordstrand - open sounding, very neutral sounding, great passive mode and great passive tone control

Bartolini - some what dark sounding, quite compressed, wonderful juicy mids (thick tone).

Both sound great with Roscoe Barts. Just different flavors of good!

 

[Justin Keoni]

I’m not Ryan but I’ve had my share of Roscoes with bothe preamps.

Nordstrand - open sounding, very neutral sounding, great passive mode and great passive tone control

Bartolini - some what dark sounding, quite compressed, wonderful juicy mids (thick tone).

Both sound great with Roscoe Barts. Just different flavors of good!

Thanks! Are typical Roscoe Bart quads wired in series?

 

[JOME77]

Thanks! Are typical Roscoe Bart quads wired in series?

Yes

 

[John D Harris]

Has anyone here ever put a John East preamp in their Roscoe (either ordered that way (don't know if that is even an option) or modded later)?

 

[JOME77]

Has anyone here ever put a John East preamp in their Roscoe (either ordered that way (don't know if that is even an option) or modded later)?

I installed an East preamp in one Roscoe. It sounded great. The only problem was that the installation required additional routing to the bottom of the control cavity in order to get the pots w/attached PCBs to fit.
Roscoe doesn’t always route the bottom of the control cavity all the sane depth. They route deeper around the pot shaft holes and the routed diameter Varies from bass to bass.
Definitely a good idea to examine how your Roscoe is routed prior to ordering an East (unless your skilled enough to route inside of your control cavity).

 

[mr2xbass]

Roscoe doesn’t always route the bottom of the control cavity all the sane depth

I ran into this same issue when installing the Pope Flexcore into my SKB this past weekend. I was able to get it to fit, and it does fit perfectly. But also it fits exactly, as to say there’s no extra clearance after putting the cavity cover back on, and there was really only one direction each pot/pcb was able to face because of the extra routing.

I need to go back into my Standard+ now and see if it’s the same. I changed that one to all passive and can’t recall if the cavity was flat across or had the extra depth at each pot hole.

 

[John D Harris]

I installed an East preamp in one Roscoe. It sounded great. The only problem was that the installation required additional routing to the bottom of the control cavity in order to get the pots w/attached PCBs to fit.
Roscoe doesn’t always route the bottom of the control cavity all the sane depth. They route deeper around the pot shaft holes and the routed diameter Varies from bass to bass.
Definitely a good idea to examine how your Roscoe is routed prior to ordering an East (unless your skilled enough to route inside of your control cavity).

Thanks!

 

[Thank You Leo]

I used to use Hi Beams. I went to D’Addario nickel as the are the stock string for Roscoe. They are also 1/2 the price of DR.

How did the tension compare between the two sets. I generally use Daddario XL's on Roscoe 5's partly because that's what Roscoe uses. I find them pretty balanced tonally though not very bright nor particularly flexible. My JJ Century is all Barts so it has a lot of rounded mids. I use DR's on most of my 4 string basses though because of the flexibility and the extra snap. May have to try them on the Roscoe.

 

[SteveC]

How did the tension compare between the two sets. I generally use Daddario XL's on Roscoe 5's partly because that's what Roscoe uses. I find them pretty balanced tonally though not very bright nor particularly flexible. My JJ Century is all Barts so it has a lot of rounded mids. I use DR's on most of my 4 string basses though because of the flexibility and the extra snap. May have to try them on the Roscoe.

It's been. a while since I used the Hi Beams so I don't recall. I went to the Nickel's as that's what Keith uses and they are fairly affordable. I recently put some NYXL's on a 4 string of mine and REALLY liked them. I may try them on my 5's when I change again.

 

[JOME77]

I installed DR Hi Beams on my Gecko 5 (which is 35” scale) and DR Pure Blues (same gauge 45-125) on my Roscoe 5 and tension wise they feel the same.
I installed the Hi Beams on the Gecko because it, like the Roscoe sounds huge and mid voiced. Great pairing in my opinion. The Hi Beams were a little bright and zingy (is that real a sound word?) but after a a week or so they broke in and sound great. A great combination of warm and crisp. Although I will say that the DR Pure Blues sound very similar on my Roscoe. IMO, the Pure Plues sound some where between the D’addario XL nickels and the SS Hi Beams, and feel a little better to my hands.

 

[JOME77]

Just saw this eye candy this morning!

 

[bgartist]

Just saw this eye candy this morning!

That one is old but they have begun to post new pics on Facebook . Things must be looking up!

 

[staccatogrowl]

Just saw this eye candy this morning!

One of my favorite things about this club thread is that not only is the person that started it still here, he's also its most prolific poster. Thanks, @JOME77 ! Kudos to @Nightman too, as more than 40% of his TalkBass posts are on the Roscoe thread. Definitely have to tip my hat to @JohnnyR with over 70% of his posts on this club thread.

 

[JOME77]

Here’s a fairly recent tour of the Roscoe shop.

 

[staccatogrowl]

Thanks, Joe. I can't imagine any luthier other than Keith Roscoe inviting customers in for personal tours of their turnkey production shop (wood inventory, machinery, basses in progress, etc), let alone allowing personal phone videos. When I recently asked KR if an in-person factory pickup of a completed build would be possible, his response was, "Not only possible, but welcome."