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Roscoe Club

#7,061
Gard said:
You don't play with Oxford.

Oxford plays with you.
19983931_1799111053712135_7812720265994126211_o.jpg
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Now that's one cool cat! ...... or would that be 2 cool cats?:D
 
#7,063
JLY said:
Brought this one to rehearsal Tuesday and it was awesomeView attachment 1195609
Then this morning decided to my my FL foe a slower song
.... once again I ended up playing the FL only for both services
All Roscoe's are wonderful instruments
But there is truly something special going on with this one

.
View attachment 1195614
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Very nice looking Roscoe basses you got there! Come to think of it I don't think I've ever seen a bad looking Roscoe. I wonder if there are some really bad looking Roscoe basses out there.
 
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#7,068
evilgus said:
Despite many visits to George's showroom and owning 2 different Roscoes, I still haven't heard a fretless! :( Would love to hear how they compare to my mid-80s Tobias Basic 6, which is absolutely glorious! (As favoured by Mr Haslip, on his earlier albums.)

EG
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You need to lean on Mr. Ganakas about stocking one! ;)

FYI, he's about to have three of the Classic/Classic Customs hit the door this week. :ninja:
 
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#7,069
Guys, it's been a loooooong time since I've chimed in on the Roscoe forum, but I wanted to share a revelation/evolution with my Roscoe.
I bought the Roscoe Century Standard 5 with the jazz pickups that was recently for sale here on these hallowed threads. I have always ALWAYS wanted a 24-fret jazz bass with a 35" scale, so when this came available, I thought why not. It came with an all-Bart package and that was okay....(but not really). Other than for fretless, I'm just not a Bartolini fan. To each his own, right?
I talked with Gard about swapping to all-Aguilar pickups and pre. He had some great advice, and I jumped on a set of Aguilar 70's wind pickups and kept the Bart preamp. Big mistake. I probably should have stuck with Gard's advice and just gotten the HC 60 pickups but I've always loved Marcus' tone, I thought a 70's wind would get me closer to that. The 70's Aggies and the Bart pre were just very harsh, and nothing sounded "old school" familiar about it.
Thanks to Talkbass I did some research on what all the J bass players are swooning over these days. Among the many brands, Duncan popped up over and over. Long story short, I picked up a used set of Seymour Duncan 67/70 J5 pickups, mating that with a 3-band Nordstrand preamp......WOW!!! Again I say, WOW!!!

There's been so much discussion here on TB about Roscoes getting that jazz bass vibe. And to Keith's credit, he's working to satisfy that niche with his Classic line. Well, I HAD to have a 35" scale 24 fret model -- and THIS is it! Amazing jazz bass tone, with good amount of growl, lots of tonal varieties, the ability to go passive, out-of-this-world slap tone, both old school and modern vibe. I'm a happy camper!

I know, I know - where's the sound files and pics? Will get them ASAP but I at least wanted to share my joy with my bass brethren. If you're in the same boat -- you LOVE your Roscoe JJ but would like MORE jazz bass vibe from it, the recipe is:
Seymour Duncan 67/70 J5
Nordstrand 3-band
 
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#7,070
evilgus said:
Despite many visits to George's showroom and owning 2 different Roscoes, I still haven't heard a fretless! :( Would love to hear how they compare to my mid-80s Tobias Basic 6, which is absolutely glorious! (As favoured by Mr Haslip, on his earlier albums.)

EG
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IMO the sound of a Tobias fretless (or any fretless with an ebony FB) is a bit different than the sound of a Roscoe fretless (with the Diamondwood FB). The engineered FB wood produces more Mwah and growl (with the right setup) while the ebony FB produces a more woody warm tone (with a bit less exaggerated Mwah). Add to that the fact that Tobias is neck thru and the Roscoe is bolt on, the Tobias would typically be a bit smoother sounding. Depending on your neck, body and top wood choices, a Roscoe fretless can sound more traditional, but the Diamondwood finger board really sets it apart from the fretless basses with ebony, pau Ferro, .... and other similar finger board woods. Greg (Rocket Music) owned the only Roscoe that I've actually played/heard with an Ebony fingerboard and it sounded really nice and woody but still had really nice Mwah too (but not as much as the Roscoe's with the Diamondwood).
All that being said, I've owned 6 different Roscoe fretless basses and all of them sounded a bit different. All good but all a bit different (at least for what I prefer in a fretless). For me, the 3 things that I would look for in a fretless are: 1) engineered wood finger board 2) bubinga top (thick preferred) and ... you'll have to check out my profile for the 3rd thing.:)
 
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#7,071
My Century 3006 FL has a Myrtle burl top, Spanish Cedar body, maple/purpleheart/maple neck and a diamondwood fingerboard. I can't imagine a bass sounding any better.....however....I do respect the opinions of others.

My SKB 3006 fretted bass has a thick Bubinga top and Bartolini J/J pickups and electronics. The pickups are mounted close to the bridge and the tone of this bass is fantastic. It has a swamp ash body, maple/purpleheart/maple neck with a wenge fingerboard. I think I may have bought it from JOME77.

My experience has been that fretted basses with wenge in the fingerboard or neck construction tend to sound better to me. My Century 3005 also has a wenge fingerboard.

In the end, we each have to decide what works best for us. Also you MUST take into consideration the amplification you are using as this has as much to do with the tone as the bass and bass electronics do. My electric bass rig is a pair of Aguilar GS 112's and either an Aguilar AG 700 or a Genz Benz Shuttle (or Shuttlemax) 9.2 head. I have yet to find a bass that sounds bad through that rig.
 
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#7,076
I agree, the Diamondwood sounds amazing on a fretless, you couple that with a Mahogany body and you get crazy mwah. Now on a fretted bass, give me an Ebony FB hands down. I will admit, I do like a Purpleheart FB and it is a close second to Ebony. Something about those tight grains sound and feel so good. I have had Wenge, Cocobolo, Brazilian Rosewood, Pau Ferro and Maple FBs and like certain characteristics of each wood but Ebony is my favorite.
 
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#7,077
Nightman said:
...nothing about the strings and how they factor into that 'sound'?
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Talking about strings, I tried the D'Addario NYXL strings on my Custom Classic 4. The sound and feel is really good, the only issue is, the strings lost their Brightness and Sparkle in less than a month. I plan on trying another set to see how the strings hold up, at $30 for a 4 string set, I want to make sure I am getting the low end bang for the buck otherwise I am back to Sunbeams.
 
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#7,080
I'm really liking the Dunlop Super Bright nickels on my SKB 5'er. I've mostly played upright for the past few years, but some of the jazz guys I play with wanted to do more of a fusion and funk thing, so I now have a chance to use the Roscoe on a regular basis, and I'm having loads of fun - what a great sounding bass!
 

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