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Roscoe Club

#12,301
I’m just trying to have my cake and eat it too. I don’t think I’d ever get rid of my Century 5...it’s just too nice.
I will admit though, that after years of being “anti Fender” just for spite really, and playing that Mustang with flats, I can see what the hype is about. Maybe it’s because it’s new/different, but my drummer, and also the guitar player, really likes the sound of passive flats. I feel like I loose a little “something” with it being a short scale and would be curious how I’d feel about a 34” P with flats. Actually, I did play a friend’s ‘59 P with flats and it’s the only P I’ve liked. He’ll never sell it though.
 
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#12,303
This will be my last post on the subject....
Ask any engineer or sound person at a high level place.....a passive 4 string P or J bass (any name you prefer) will always sit best in the mix. Always. As a player they feel different and sound different. There is something vibrational to it. There is something in it's simplicity. It just works. Beyond that, they most certainly don't take the place of a 5 string, or a fretless, or many other things...but for the majority of music they work. With that said, I prefer my custom 6 string bass for almost anything because of the music that I play.....but when I bring the P bass for something it's perfect, and the band (every band) feels it and understands it. That's why I like owning more than one bass. They are for very different things.

Play what makes you happy. Period. Nothing is more important.
 
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#12,304
I think it also applies to "Fender style" basses too (cough Devon cough)... I myself have a couple of Mike Lull 5 string jazzes and I love them- they do everything I need, are a perfect weight and balance wonderfully. Fortunately I'm in a spot where I can have more than 2 basses (until my wife finds out ;) ), but if I could only keep 2 of them, it'd be those two (and my birth year fender jazz, but that's more of an investment/something to hang on the wall, although it too sounds and plays great).

That being said, other style basses can inspire me to play differently than I normally do- my Roscoe especially. The thin neck and pickup placement helps me play out of my comfort zone, and the tone is different so it cuts through a lot more too.

Sadly, I doubt I'll ever find the "swiss army knife" bass for me, but there are lots of good options out there to try. Play what you like, and if not, hopefully you can sell it on here and not lose too much $$$.

emjazz said:
This will be my last post on the subject....
Ask any engineer or sound person at a high level place.....a passive 4 string P or J bass (any name you prefer) will always sit best in the mix. Always. As a player they feel different and sound different. There is something vibrational to it. There is something in it's simplicity. It just works. Beyond that, they most certainly don't take the place of a 5 string, or a fretless, or many other things...but for the majority of music they work. With that said, I prefer my custom 6 string bass for almost anything because of the music that I play.....but when I bring the P bass for something it's perfect, and the band (every band) feels it and understands it. That's why I like owning more than one bass. They are for very different things.

Play what makes you happy. Period. Nothing is more important.
Click to expand...
I remember reading Will Lee talking about this, and that's why Sadowsky makes Fender looking basses. A lot of engineers are used to the Fender sound, and they know how to make it work, and bass players who want to work a lot will usually have at least one "Fender-style" bass... I've noticed when i bring something "different" to a jam, the guitar players and drummer will notice and sometimes say something, when I bring my 5 string jazzes, only the other bass players will notice/care it's not a Fender. YMMV...
 
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#12,305
staccatogrowl said:
Funny you mention that. The only thing close to a Fender bass that I would consider is a Sadowsky Modern 5.

Irony 1 is that the Modern 5 does not have that tired Fender bass tone.

Irony 2 is that the only 5-string bass that Fender has come close to cracking the 5-string code for is also a Roscoe (Beck) with soapbars!
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It's halfway to being a Roscoe then? ;) those are supposed to be nice basses- I'm no fan of the Fender borg (they killed SWR!!!), but supposedly they got that one right. Was at a jam many years ago and a woman was playing one- the b string was KILLER! They're all at least 10lbs though...

Does a Sadowsky Modern do the Roscoe sound? Or a good approximation? Pickups look to be in a similar spot...
 
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#12,307
MattLplaysBass said:
It's halfway to being a Roscoe then? ;) those are supposed to be nice basses. . they got that one right. . Does a Sadowsky Modern do the Roscoe sound? Or a good approximation? Pickups look to be in a similar spot...
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Fender definitely got the Roscoe Beck model right, then stopped making it, arguably their best 5-string model ever. Go figure.

A Sadowsky Modern is in the ballpark of Roscoe sound. Yes, soapbar pickups in a familiar spot. Current pickup models are Duncans. Previous ones were EMGs. Both are cool. And, Sadowsky 2-band preamp with passive treble. Here's the commercial, less than 60 seconds as required for XYZ basses in the Roscoe Club thread.

 
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#12,310
Well after much deliberation, I have decided to put my SKB custom up for sale.

For Sale - Roscoe SKB 5 Custom

But you’re not getting rid of me THAT easily, I have a Century 5er en route.

That being said, I am guessing the SKB is a 2008 by the serial # 5678 (easy to remember), does that sound right to you experts?
 
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#12,311
Just to jump in on the roscoe, fender, Ibanez, etc. convo...

I own all of the above and gig with all of the above. For me personally they all have different different qualities and I use them in different contexts.

I’ll NEVER sell my roscoe but I’ll also keep my fenders although I’m nowhere near as attached.

I keep the fenders because some bands that hire are picky, not open minded, etc. Or they might not require a “modern” sound.

True story- one band I played with I first used a 5 string roscoe. The next gig I used a 4 string fender p and the drummer said “finally a real bass. Why would anyone need an extra string...”‍ ‍

Another story- a gospel choir director didn’t like the fender, next week he didn’t like the ibanez, then the roscoe was finally delivered, I showed up with it and he said “ that’s the sound” after he heard it. He loved it.

My point is simply - different people want different things. So I try to keep different basses to fit different contexts “appropriately”.
 
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#12,312
staccatogrowl said:
Fender definitely got the Roscoe Beck model right, then stopped making it, arguably their best 5-string model ever. Go figure.
Click to expand...

I love my vintage Fenders (78 Precision and a 68 Jazz), but I had a Roscoe Beck for a while and could not get a sound I liked out of it. It just had no personality to it. I tried different strings, different amps, pedals, name it. I sold it and got my SKB and have never felt the need for another 5 string.
 
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#12,313
MattLplaysBass said:
Well after much deliberation, I have decided to put my SKB custom up for sale.

For Sale - Roscoe SKB 5 Custom

But you’re not getting rid of me THAT easily, I have a Century 5er en route.

That being said, I am guessing the SKB is a 2008 by the serial # 5678 (easy to remember), does that sound right to you experts?
Click to expand...

Fred. Give Rik or Keith a call at the shop they can look up then build sheet for you. Sometimes the serial number can be deceiving because bodies are often assigned SN's and then built out of order. You may be right though because my SN is 59XX (can't remember the rest but I can see it the first 2 digits in a pic) and it's a 2008. Unfortunately the SN's on Customs are random numbers and have no intelligence built into the numbering. Although the Standard models are prefixed with a letter indicating year (A=2009, B-2010, ....... I believe).
 
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#12,315
Matt Morgan said:
"Out for Delivery"....are there any three words that are more adored here on TB? I think not!
Click to expand...

Plano, Tx news flash!

ups-crash 2.jpg
 
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#12,320
I remember first reading about Roscoe basses on here and the "P bass on steroids" seemed to come up a lot back then. Reading that actually kept me from buying a Roscoe for awhile as I'm just not a P bass kind of guy. I love the idea of a P bass, dig the tone on a lot of recordings, but they're just not my thing.

After getting the first Roscoe, I could understand the comment more, but the typical Roscoe sound was nothing like a P bass to my ears. Sure, just like a lot of two-pickup basses, you can solo the neck pickup and get into a P bass like territory, but the Roscoe had a sound all its own.

Since the Sadowsky Modern was mentioned and I've had both, I thought I'd weigh in on that, too. Generally speaking, loaded with Roscoe Barts and Bart Pre, a Roscoe sounds nothing like the Sadowsky Modern to me. Sure, similar pickup placement closer to the bridge, but the electronics definitely place them in very different worlds with the Roscoe having an expected darker, more compressed tone and the Sadowsky Modern having a more open, brighter tone. In those two instances, I preferred the tone of the Sadowsky and that's probably why I really liked the Roscoe that I put Big Singles in with the Aguilar OBP-3 (though that still had the Roscoe flavoring and sounded different from the Sadowsky). Considering feel, playability, and looks, I think the Roscoe wins that race every time.

Like others, I like having my Lakland DJ5 should I need something that looks traditional. Certainly nothing wrong with a Fender either - I sold a Fender P5 earlier this year that I had converted to a PJ. It was a fantastic bass, but the Lakland was fantastic-er to me.

Fortunately, I haven't ran into too many picky engineers and artists, and I've been pretty free to play what I want. With that, my new and current Century 5JJ checks a lot of boxes in the whole mixup being a passive jazz bass at heart. I can solo that neck pickup for something rounder like a P bass, run both straight up the middle for a great, slightly scooped jazz bass tone, keep panning toward the bridge pickup to add some bite, or go full on bridge pickup for all out burp. Add in the Aguilar OBP-1 and passive tone control and just wow, the 5JJ is a monster when it comes to versatility and tone. It definitely does NOT sound like the typical Roscoe with Barts, which no doubt is what the majority in this thread are accustomed to and prefer. I certainly wouldn't mind adding a soapbar loaded, typical pickup location Roscoe back into the stable at some point in the future.
 
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