Roscoe Club

[CrashClint]

I like the sound of the TI Flats. You get a really cool R&B tone out of them.

I just bought a set of DR Flats to try on my SX J bass. I am going to pull the Fender single coil pickups out of my SX and put the Aguilar pickups I took out of my Classic in the SX and add the Flats at the same time. My SX has 70's spacing pickups with an Ash body and Maple neck so I am curious to how it will sound.

 

[steelin4u]

I had TI jazz flats on my fretless Roscoe...I changed back to rounds after a few months. I've found flats in general have a very cool sound, but that comes with narrow application for what I am asked to do and what I like to play. I'll always have a fretted P bass with flats on, but the P bass was from a garage sale and I dropped a bunch of parts into it.

An interesting string that I happened across was the Fender stainless steel flatwound. It's bright as all get out, but with the correct right-hand muting, can be tamed to a thump. On a fretless, I find that they sound like a roundwound minus some mwah.

 

[fretno]

Peeps , try LaBella LTF , they have a much more "normal" high end , while still a flat they are not soooo different that you go into shock for me TI's were a big waste of money . I did not get along with that muted and rolled off sound . Loved the tension though which the LaBella also have .

 

[Drkwdsman]

Used Roscoe classic 4 string PJ Lake Placid blue at the ATL Guitar Center for 1500.

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[Drkwdsman]

Ladies and Gents, I had a trade for a US Lakland fall through, so the Roscoe 6 is still up for a Roscoe 5 or any 35” Basses. Peace!

 

[Drkwdsman]

My Roscoe LG5: Ash body, Burl/spalted Maple top, Maple/Wenge neck and Purpleheart board with the Standard Bartolini electronic is headed to Keith. She is getting:
-PLEK
-Aguilar PUs
-New Saddle

 

[JOME77]

Used Roscoe classic 4 string PJ Lake Placid blue at the ATL Guitar Center for 1500.

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Man! That's right down the road. That's the first used one that I've seen.

 

[Drkwdsman]

Man! That's right down the road. That's the first used one that I've seen.

There was one on TB earlier this year, but did not last long.

 

[JohnnyR]

Quick poll: Is it sacrilege to put flatwounds on a modern-sounding bass?

Background: I have an LG3000 with some 3-ish month old Dunlop Superbrights, and I'm thinking about changing out the strings. The problem is that I'm lazy and don't want to drive to the music store, and I'm impatient and don't want to wait to order off the internet. I've got a bass I'm not using much at the moment strung with TI flats, and I'm thinking about performing a transplant to the Roscoe.

However, there's a part of me that says that flats cut out frequencies, and while it can give you a nice vintage vibe, it might limit what I can get out of a custom bass with high-end pickups and preamp.

What do you guys think? Does anyone here use flats on their Roscoe?

I've got a couple sets of TI flats that I put on my fretted five. They are great. Definitely changes the personality and sound of the instrument. Old school to the max.

Lately I'm really liking EB Cobalt flats. The feel of flats with more of the sound of rounds.

 

[JOME77]

I'd like something brighter on the fretted and rounds on the fretless, but I'm working out a compromise with the blues band BL/MD - he hates mwah and I hate fretted basses...

Just read this entire post .....

Hates Mwah?
Has he been checked for a brain tumor? Seriously, I hear that a brain tumor can affect the way that you hear things.

 

[Chef]

I’ve yet to actually own a roscoe;
Or anything with “really fancy wood” beyond the normal alder or ash, tho I had one early G&L that was likely maple.

What would the impact of a spalted maple top on a spalted maple body be in a roscoe bass?

 

[JOME77]

I’ve ust to actually own a roscoe;
Or anything with “really fancy wood” beyond the normal alder or ash, tho I had one early G&L that was likely maple.

What would the impact of a spalted maple top on a spalted maple body be in a roscoe bass?

Hey Chef. Depends on just how spalted the maple is and the weight of the bass. I had a really nice Roscoe SKB-3005 built with a crazy spalted top and a Spanish Cedar body. The bass weighed just over 11 lbs but sounded really good. That top was so spalted that I doubt that it added anything to the sound other than weight (Gard said that the top was really heavy).
I also had 2 solid spalted maple bodied Roscoe's built. They actually sounded really good. One was around 8 lbs and the other around 9 lbs. The lighter one sounded much more polite than the heavier one. Neither was an over the top spalted maple but they both looked nice.

Here's a few pics of them:

Crazy spalted top

~9 lb solid spalted maple"

~8 lbs Solid Splated maple:

 

[Chef]

I don’t know what it weighs but I’ll find out...

 

[Jeff Moote]

I don’t know what it weighs but I’ll find out...

I don't know how familiar you are with the tone profile of a maple body or how much you can extrapolate on what you know, but I bet that it depends largely on the weight with the spalting having little effect of its own (though often but not always spalted maple is lighter). Heavy maple bodies tend to sound compressed with a bright treble. Mid-weight is on the brighter side of neutral to my ears, i.e. brighter alder. Light pieces sound like most light body woods... which is to say maybe lacking focus?

 

[Bassworship1]

View attachment 2899506 View attachment 2899507 I don’t know what it weighs but I’ll find out...

That is a nice one that they’ve had for a while. I tried buying but they wouldn’t budge. Might be able to do good on it now though. It’s a beauty for sure.

 

[ArtechnikA]

Hates Mwah?
Has he been checked for a brain tumor? Seriously, I hear that a brain tumor can affect the way that you hear things.

We are on thin ice with the Blues Police ;-)
None of us plays Fender (or Gibson) anything although I think Guitar Guy has a Blues Jr spare amp...
With me playing a 6-string and fretless besides, we're quite the blues rebels...
Anyway, he's a "P-Bass With Flats" monotheist on bass sounds. I'm making a little headway but it's slow going.

 

[chadds]

So Keith got back to me today via email to clarify that if I have Bartolini pickups (he didn't specify a model) that they can do the switching. They can't with Aguilar or on a 6 string with either Bartolini or Aguilar.

So, if that's the case, I may send it off and get the toggles installed and have it Plek'ed. Have to see about the time frame as this is my only bass and I'd have to borrow one from someone in town to get buy as I play almost weekly

You said get “buy.” Freudian slip? It’s okay with us if you buy another to get by.

 

[CrashClint]

I’ve ust to actually own a roscoe;
Or anything with “really fancy wood” beyond the normal alder or ash, tho I had one early G&L that was likely maple.

What would the impact of a spalted maple top on a spalted maple body be in a roscoe bass?

A local friend has a Century 5 and the body is made from a solid piece of maple. It is the only Roscoe I have ever heard where I like the Aguilar OBP3 preamp. It is in the 9 pound range but plays and sounds amazing.

 

[BassGuyFL]

Have a few questions for the group here. I picked up a slightly used Century Plus PJ 5 this week and so far I'm really digging it except for one thing. It has the Aguilar PJ set up with Aguilar OBP-1 BP preamp but in both passive and active modes the P pick up sounds like there's a blanket over it it's very dull sounding. I also have a Fender P5 with a Nordstrand pickup and it's plenty bright for comparison.

I love everything else about the bass but sound wise it's really not usable right now. I don't want to return it maybe there's something I'm not seeing. Any suggestions are welcome

 

[Bassworship1]

I owned a Roscoe PJ5 bass and is was amzing. Both pickups soloed was very useable and clear. Very open in tone.