TBT, since we are showing some pics - some proof that I *used* to know what to do on an (XYZ) extended-range bass. Lol. Sax player toured with Buddy Guy, and is a beast of a player.
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Roscoe Club
- Thread starter JOME77
- Start date
I do. My wife bought it for me for Christmas a couple years ago. I take it for backup. It plays pretty nice and looks great, it just has a thin tone. I may try radical mods as the pickups are the weak link to my ear and they are an odd shape so I can’t just drop something else in. Or maybe it needs a preamp. Maybe route for some soap bars on front and a battery box on the back and drop in a preamp.
Man! I live in a boring town!
There's never anything like that to do around here! And it if was it would be 90 degrees with 100% humidity!
.... and the flying insects, and the huge mosquitoes that will fly up from Savannah for the festivities!
It's new bass day here and I haven't spent a bunch of time with it just yet, but so far this thing ROCKS! Based on my short audition, this one may have me rethink my stance on Barts and Spanish Cedar. This thing sounds big, thick, and mean. Just put Elixirs on it and am letting them settle in a bit (BTW, despite the warnings against tapered strings, I haven't experienced any problems with the tapered B of the Elixir extra long .130 B string on the Roscoes I've had). On top of sounding great, wow this is one heckuva nice looking bass! 
Thanks Scott (@armybass)!
Thanks Scott (@armybass)!
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I wonder who could that be?- Man, somebody is trying to buy all of my basses!!! What to do? What to do?
@Freddy-G., I won't reveal the potential buyer, but he frequents this thread a lot, and it's not Joe!!! 
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@Nightman, if it's not a Roscoe, the OBVIOUS thing to do would be to sell them!
6-string users - does Keith keep the 18.3mm spacing on the 6ers as well? I know 18.3 is the standard for 4s and 5s. Thanks!
He wants my Roscoe basses!!! My Roscoe Trilogy is in jeopardy! I think he wants me out of the Roscoe's Owner Club!!
Following up now that I've been able to spend about an hour going through some tunes with the Century Custom 5 JM - I'm really digging it. Very fat, aggressive sounding bass. The Bart MM reminds me a lot of earlier EBMM StingRay 5 basses I've played, though not quite the same, just in the ballpark. I'm very surprised with the Bart pre/pup combo in how bright it can get. Those highs being set at 10k can get out-of-control really quickly reminding me even more of older EBMM basses that could get just plain piercing. I was expecting the Bart pup/pre combo to be what I've had before - fairly dark and compressed sounding - but I find that this JM combo is more open that other Bart setups I've had experience with, with a slight, very pleasing compressed sound. This bass will outright snarl at you if you let it. The Elixirs have a bit more tension to them than the D'Addarios that were on it. With the D'Addarios it would easily get very funky and splatty (which can be attributed to low action, too), Elixirs just slightly less. But if you dig in, lots of growl, bite, splat, etc.
Playing earlier, I cycled through a variety of settings, but settled on leaving the bass and mid controls flat, while cutting highs a bit, and the selector switch for the M pup in parallel. This bass has a much hotter output (and I've adjusted the gain on the pre all the way down) than my Century 5 JJ. As it was set, it was overdriving my Ampeg SCR-DI. Even all the way down, it's still much hotter than the Aguilar OBP-1/HC J's in the other bass.
The 19mm string spacing at the bridge is interesting on a Roscoe - completely different feel from the Century 5JJ at 18mm, but still very comfortable and Roscoe-ish. I think the 19mm spacing makes the fretboard feel even flatter than 18mm spacing (what's the radius on Roscoes anyway - isn't it like 16"?). It's very comfortable though.
I was very hopeful that the Spanish Cedar body didn't give this thing a weak tone - it absolutely does not. I know even basses with the same specs, pups, pre, etc. can sound vastly different, but this one has some serious junk in the trunk. It's not anemic at all. And, it's a pretty light bass at 8.6 lbs. I don't know, but Spanish Cedar has been removed from the no-no list for me based on this bass (as have Bart preamps and pups).
All-in-all, I'm really liking this bass. It gets me close enough to the Music Man tone I've grown to love, but with all the refinements and playability of a Roscoe. It has a completely different tone than the Century 5JJ, which is a good thing for me. I wanted (and expected) it to be differently voiced so that it was another tool in the box - box checked. Unfortunately, I'm off from the regular gig cycle this week, but do get to put it through the church gig on Sunday. We'll see, but I'm thinking it's a keeper.
Edit: it’s a stupid thing to notice, but the pots on the JM have more physical resistance to them than the JJ. The JJ feels like you could just breathe on them and they’d move. Im constantly reaching down to make sure I haven’t accidentally bumped the controls on that bass.
Playing earlier, I cycled through a variety of settings, but settled on leaving the bass and mid controls flat, while cutting highs a bit, and the selector switch for the M pup in parallel. This bass has a much hotter output (and I've adjusted the gain on the pre all the way down) than my Century 5 JJ. As it was set, it was overdriving my Ampeg SCR-DI. Even all the way down, it's still much hotter than the Aguilar OBP-1/HC J's in the other bass.
The 19mm string spacing at the bridge is interesting on a Roscoe - completely different feel from the Century 5JJ at 18mm, but still very comfortable and Roscoe-ish. I think the 19mm spacing makes the fretboard feel even flatter than 18mm spacing (what's the radius on Roscoes anyway - isn't it like 16"?). It's very comfortable though.
I was very hopeful that the Spanish Cedar body didn't give this thing a weak tone - it absolutely does not. I know even basses with the same specs, pups, pre, etc. can sound vastly different, but this one has some serious junk in the trunk. It's not anemic at all. And, it's a pretty light bass at 8.6 lbs. I don't know, but Spanish Cedar has been removed from the no-no list for me based on this bass (as have Bart preamps and pups).
All-in-all, I'm really liking this bass. It gets me close enough to the Music Man tone I've grown to love, but with all the refinements and playability of a Roscoe. It has a completely different tone than the Century 5JJ, which is a good thing for me. I wanted (and expected) it to be differently voiced so that it was another tool in the box - box checked. Unfortunately, I'm off from the regular gig cycle this week, but do get to put it through the church gig on Sunday. We'll see, but I'm thinking it's a keeper.
Edit: it’s a stupid thing to notice, but the pots on the JM have more physical resistance to them than the JJ. The JJ feels like you could just breathe on them and they’d move. Im constantly reaching down to make sure I haven’t accidentally bumped the controls on that bass.
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That's what I remember about this bass. POW! It explodes in your face! HUGE lows, mids and highs. It earned for me new respect for Bartolini elecs. Man, you're going to love it. I'm so jealous.
I think Keith should put a few more MM/J Bartolini basses out there.
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Keith, were's my Root Beer burst?! All kidding aside, I placed this order about 4 or 5 months ago. And I am excited. Take your time, Keith. It's all good.
"I don't want FOP, I'm a Dapper Dan man"! "It takes two weeks to get here." Keith is my new best friend.
(that's a movie reference)
"I don't want FOP, I'm a Dapper Dan man"! "It takes two weeks to get here." Keith is my new best friend.
(that's a movie reference)
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Keith, were's my Root Beer burst?! All kidding aside, I placed this order about 4 or 5 weeks ago. And I am excited. Take your time, Keith. It's all good.
"I don't want FOP, I'm a Dapper Dan man"! "It takes two weeks to get here." Keith is my new best friend.
LOL
Brother Where are you?
or in your case Gary: "New Roscoe! Where are you?"
Keith! Is you is or is you ain't my constituent?
Great movie!
