Roscoe Club

[JoelFT]

Auderes are not an official option right now. Only Bart and Aggie. It's not a big thing to retro fit one although, I firmly believe the two stock pres sound way better.

The only pre that I would even consider in my Roscoes other than their stock Aggies is an ACG Filter. I have a double MM bass that might sound even more Wal-ish than it already does with that one.

 

[JLY]

I think you're right to be a little scared. I ordered my first Roscoe and went to the shop to pick it up. While there taking the tour I picked out a top for my next Roscoe. It sat for a few months but then the build was on. I sold the first one, but the 2nd one has become my main bass for the last few years.

My 3rd build (my 8th Roscoe) is an amazing fretless. I've had it about 5 months. Stunning. Not sure if I have as much use for a fretless as I thought, but I'm holding on to it for now.

Oh no!
I have your old fretless.... Amazing bass but I like the top of your new one more!

2 Roscoe's are enough... 2 Roscoe's are enough.......

 

[JohnnyR]

Oh no!
I have your old fretless.... Amazing bass but I like the top of your new one more!

2 Roscoe's are enough... 2 Roscoe's are enough.......

2 may be "enough", but 3 is just sooooo much better

 

[SteveC]

I keep telling myself 2 is enough, but 3 would be better.

I like the top on the new fretless very much, and I think the neck feels and plays better if that's possible and the sound...So nice.

 

[ArtechnikA]

I keep telling myself 2 is enough, but 3 would be better.

I do love them, but I wonder what could be different enough from the 2 I have that could tempt me into a 3rd...
Fretted - got it. Fretless - got it.
Surely they have enough strings...
Has Roscoe ever done a double-course 8? That could be interesting...
(Yes, I've seen the single-course 8 and 9...)

 

[SteveC]

I agree - kind of. I have a fretted 5 and a fretless 5. I think that other than a PJ I'm pretty set. I've actually been thinking about a Sadowsky RV4 or MV4 jazz bass. Of the jazz basses I've owned, Sadowsky was the best. I didn't care for their 5 string jazz. Roscoe jazz basses are really nice, but I think for that active jazz tone, I really liked the Sadowsky RV4 I had about 8 years ago.

 

[Dave Siff]

My 3rd build (my 8th Roscoe) is an amazing fretless. I've had it about 5 months. Stunning. Not sure if I have as much use for a fretless as I thought, but I'm holding on to it for now.

I'm thinking about a fretless for my next one. Definitely unsure I want to have that much money tied up in something that will essentially be a toy. But, we'll see. I'm 18 months away from placing an order.

 

[ArtechnikA]

Definitely unsure I want to have that much money tied up in something that will essentially be a toy.

Interesting - I felt that way about the fretted Roscoe ;-)

 

[SteveC]

You might be surprised how quickly a "toy" could work its way into a regular rotation.

 

[Dave Siff]

Heh.. you haven't heard my intonation..
It wouldn't work in my current band, but two years from now, who knows what I'll be doing. A fretless might be my excuse to finally start doing some writing/recording at home.

 

[scubaduba]

Plural...

Plural, yes.

 

[scubaduba]

Auderes are not an official option right now. Only Bart and Aggie. It's not a big thing to retro fit one although, I firmly believe the two stock pres sound way better.

The only pre that I would even consider in my Roscoes other than their stock Aggies is an ACG Filter. I have a double MM bass that might sound even more Wal-ish than it already does with that one.

What happened to Auderes being installed as an option? Tremendously versatile preamps...

 

[SteveC]

Plural, yes.

So what you gonna have?

 

[scubaduba]

An SKB and LG.

 

[blindrabbit]

Auderes are not an official option right now. Only Bart and Aggie. It's not a big thing to retro fit one although, I firmly believe the two stock pres sound way better.

The only pre that I would even consider in my Roscoes other than their stock Aggies is an ACG Filter. I have a double MM bass that might sound even more Wal-ish than it already does with that one.

I was actually going to buy that ACG EQ-02 that came up in the classifieds for mine, but it went incredibly fast and I couldn't get the $$$ together in time. I love the ACG preamp in my ACG bass (!), and I bet it would sound killer in a Roscoe as well.

 

[Gard]

What happened to Auderes being installed as an option? Tremendously versatile preamps...

Frankly, it was a business decision - we just did not get enough interest in them to maintain them in stock as an option. They're fine preamps, we just can't offer every possible preamp in the universe as a factory option, and seeing as interest was very low after a "hey, that's new!" bump of interest, we decided to just let it go. I had the first one we ever installed in my first fretless, it sounded great, but a bit too "polite" for my personal taste.

 

[JLY]

Makes sense to me

 

[mmbongo]

I put my Roscoe Century Standard 4 PJ up for sale in the classifieds, in case any of you were looking for one!

If it were J/MM or P/MM or dual soaps it would have been sold already

That thing is just beautiful. I gots to have my bridge humbucker though.

 

[JohnnyR]

I got to spend some time at Roscoe central in Greensboro last Friday. It was great. Keith, Gard and all the guys couldn't have been more friendly and hospitable.

Of course there were racks of beautiful woods, stacks of basses in various stages of completion all over the place, and great people. But being a woodworker myself (certainly not at their skill level) my biggest take away from the visit might be a little different than most.

After a couple of days to "digest" the visit, I think my biggest surprise was with the woodworking tools in the shop. It was all very good equipment but with only a couple of exceptions all the tooling I saw was just a heavier (more robust) version of what you could find in any wood-shop (yeah, even mine). There is no magical bass body machine, there is a pin router with some jigs and templates. There is no mystical computer controlled neck machine just a bandsaw, jointer, planer and gluing presses. If you buy a Roscoe you're getting a hand made bass, and it was made by some of the most talented guys I've met.

My take-away from the visit to Roscoeville........... Skill and craftsmanship are alive and well in Greensboro.

 

[CrashClint]

What can you tell me about Roscoes with Audere preamps? Is Roscoe putting them in anymore? What's the skinny on this?

I love their JB preamp but absolutely hated the Z-mode tone in my Roscoe. To me, it was very sterile and noisy and it was very hard to balance the output on the Z switch. It just never balanced well in my Roscoe, I could never quite dial in a good tone considering Roscoe is one of the easiest basses to dial in great tone.

I will always be a fan of Demeter preamps for modern tone and clarity but for the daily grind, I would probably just go with the bart or aggie 3 band unless you really want to play.

I would love to try the ACG Filter but I don't want to drop the $350 not having heard one live before.

Below is my sweetheart and I love the feel of the ebony fingerboard!