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Roscoe Club

#4,641
Dave Siff said:
OK, we're officially off and running! Century Standard Plus 5 fretless, ash/koa/unlined black diamondwood, Bart MM pickup with three-way switch, Bart NTMB minus the blend knob, black hardware.
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Sounds like some great spec's Dave. The best Roscoe fretless that I ever heard had an ash body and man did it sing with mwah with the diamondwood board! My only concern would be the MM Bart P/U. I've only owned one Roscoe JM model and the MM soled sure was bright on that bass (Spanish Cedar). Not much of the fretless mids that I like from that pickup and the std. Bart pre.
I guess that it depends on what kind of fretless tone you're going for though. IMO though, it's sure hard to be the Roscoe Barts in the stock position on a fretlless. So many nice blends available with those pickups in the std. position. And the Roscoe Bart's compress the tone just right for fretless.
Of course I'm sure that you picked Gard's brain on the sound of the MM on a fretless so hopefully it'll get the sound that you have in your head. Looking forward to seeing it in person at the next GTG!
 
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#4,642
Cool photo from last weekend. we opened for Tab Benoit in Ft. Lauderdale. Great show and the Roscoe never let me down!

cr_102315_27.jpg
 
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#4,643
dedpool1052 said:
Thanks Rick!

If I can figure out how to upload pics and post from my phone, I will.
Unfortunately, my smart phone is a bit smarter than I am.
Click to expand...

Maybe you could put some clips together for us to hear too? I would love to hear that baby bark! From what I gather friday is today - so happy NDB! Hope she arrives safe and sound!
 
#4,644
JOME77 said:
Sounds like some great spec's Dave. The best Roscoe fretless that I ever heard had an ash body and man did it sing with mwah with the diamondwood board! My only concern would be the MM Bart P/U. I've only owned one Roscoe JM model and the MM soled sure was bright on that bass (Spanish Cedar). Not much of the fretless mids that I like from that pickup and the std. Bart pre.
I guess that it depends on what kind of fretless tone you're going for though. IMO though, it's sure hard to be the Roscoe Barts in the stock position on a fretlless. So many nice blends available with those pickups in the std. position. And the Roscoe Bart's compress the tone just right for fretless.
Of course I'm sure that you picked Gard's brain on the sound of the MM on a fretless so hopefully it'll get the sound that you have in your head. Looking forward to seeing it in person at the next GTG!
Click to expand...
Hmm, good to know, Joe. Thanks for the feedback. I figure with the two-band mids on the NTMB, and the three-way switch on the pickup, I can get enough mids and tonal variety. One pickup can be a bit limiting, though. I'll see what Gard has to say.
 
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#4,649
Dave Siff said:
No worries man, thanks for the thought! Gard is right, my rationale for MM on the fretless is to add variety to my collection, but that might not be the best reasoning if JB is gonna sound better..
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Fretless MM is one of the best sounds out there - hello? Pino Paladino? Stick with your gut!
 
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#4,654
I'd do a double MM pickup except I'd select the Nordstrand BigMan (two big singles under the hood). Put one in the bridge position and then the next one fairly close to it (if not touching then close). Then you can have 4 coils to select from. Combine them with their friends. A tone knob would be essential for single coils (IMHO).
 
#4,655
I've been on vacation or something but...
Clint, I'm interested in following what you do with the TPB LG in both electronics and appearance.
I'm another owner of a TPB LG (#6) which is one of the natural ones. It has the original pickups but a previous owner swapped out the preamp with a Demeter which I like quite well. I've thought about doing a little finish work on the body, probably a very subtle burst since it has some wild grain in the ash. I play in a band with a guy who is super skilled at such things.
Here's a shot of all 10. It looks like yours is the first one in the left rack, mine's the second in the right.
Bruce
Roscoe TPB11.jpg
 
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#4,656
Freddels said:
I'd do a double MM pickup except I'd select the Nordstrand BigMan (two big singles under the hood). Put one in the bridge position and then the next one fairly close to it (if not touching then close). Then you can have 4 coils to select from. Combine them with their friends. A tone knob would be essential for single coils (IMHO).
Click to expand...

I had this exact conversation with Gard on Monday. To simplify the controls and get true humbuckers when switching coils I also thought about using a five-way rotary switch instead of a blend knob.

Or, even weirder idea, stacked blends (one for each set of coils) and stacked volumes for each pickup. Turning the neck PU off and favoring one coil over the other in the bridge PU would probably give a pretty good approximation of a JB.
 
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#4,657
Not sure how the rotary switch would work. I was thinking 3-way toggle for each pickup. Not sure if the BigMan can be set for parallel/Series but if it can that would be another toggle for each pickup. I actually prefer vol/vol over a blend. I think a John East preamp would work well with this. Carey has a bass that has the BigMan and a P split coil right up to each other and it sounds incredible. Of course he's using a Nordstrand preamp with it.
 
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#4,659
This is how a five way selector would work: bridge PU only; both inner coils together; both PUs together; both outer coils together; neck pickup only. This is how the double humbucker Music Man is. When the pickups are split they never actually sound like single coils because they effectively become humbucking with the coil in the opposite pickup. I've been thinking of ways to do this on my dual Aggie MM Roscoe. Unfortunately, it would require a huge amount of surgery.
 
#4,660
My TPB is still at the Rowyco Kustoms for finish, Stike said it would take about 30 days with back log. I am having the body and headstock colored the same. Gard was awesome and sent over a new replacement logo for the headstock. I am going with a solid color with the hard gloss finish so any grain texture will be smoothed out.

For electronics, I went to my friends at Best Bass Gear. I ordered a set of the Aguilar DCB D4 pickups and for preamp the ACG EQ01 Filter. I wanted something that sounded totally different than my SKB with the Roscoe/Bart pickups and Bart preamp. I have heard good things about the ACG and have read up on how it works as it is a completely different animal compared to other preamps so there will be a learning curve.

bkirk said:
I've been on vacation or something but...
Clint, I'm interested in following what you do with the TPB LG in both electronics and appearance.
I'm another owner of a TPB LG (#6) which is one of the natural ones. It has the original pickups but a previous owner swapped out the preamp with a Demeter which I like quite well. I've thought about doing a little finish work on the body, probably a very subtle burst since it has some wild grain in the ash. I play in a band with a guy who is super skilled at such things.
Here's a shot of all 10. It looks like yours is the first one in the left rack, mine's the second in the right.
Bruce
View attachment 719100
Click to expand...
 
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