Show us the Rob Allen basses!

[spade2you]

Yes, it did sell fast didn't it?

That bass is now on its way to Japan. And I'd like to thank the taxpayers for the fine instrument I'll soon be playing!

ahhhhh, so it sounds like you'll be joining our club...even though it's not really a club. I have a feeling you'll be pretty happy. Vintage thump that's purdy and very light, pretty soon you'll be taking it to every gig.

 

[VroomVroom]

Jon, that is just freakin' awesome! I hope you get as much enjoyment out of it as I did! What a trip...two cats from high school who started out on different instruments end up playing the same bass.

 

[rodneyat]

My 'Mouses'! Thanks to Rodney, I just received this beautiful Koa/Alder/RW fretted to keep my fretless maple/alder/Goncalo Alves (or whatever that fretboard wood is called) company.

Beautiful instrument, and both made around the same time.

Rob really has a thing with these basses IMO!

Enjoy it Ken..It's a good one!

 

[tombowlus]

My 'Mouses'!

That would be "mice," Ken, and yes, they are awesome!

 

[KJung]

That would be "mice," Ken, and yes, they are awesome!

It just feels like 'Mouses' to me

 

[KJung]

For you Rob Allen owners, as most of you know, the piezo pickup system results in these basses having very different output than a regular EB (much hotter) and a very different tone profile (HUGE low end, and a bit 'piezo clicky' on the treble). The treble can be easily tailored by the trim screw treble attenuator, but I've always had to do some pretty significant EQing relatively to my other EB's to really get them to sing in the bass and mids (i.e., keep the bass big but not boomy, and dial up enough mid mids for note clarity in a mix).

Just FYI, my past favorite rig with the Rob Allens was an Acoustic Image head driving an Acme cab. The Acme would easily replicate the big low end without sounding boomy or flubby, and the natural organic top end and mids of both the Acme and AI really worked to 'wood up' that tone.

I've been using a TecAmp rig for the last 6 months or so, and it is just a thing of beauty with the Rob Allen basses. The new cab tuning of the 's' series cabs (I have the s212) is 'Acme deep', but with more present mids. The Puma500 head that I use is warm in the lows like the AI, but has much more powerful EQ. The cool thing is it has a revoicing control called 'taste' that, when turned counter clockwise, reduces deep bass, pumps up mid mids, and reduces upper treble (kind of the mirror image of the typical 'enhance' type control). Man, does this one knob make the Rob Allen sing... woody, big, but articulate. The input gain control of the TecAmp is one of those more 'audio taper' type designs that allows you to use the full range of that control. That's very nice for the hot output of the Allen, since the volume doesn't jump with slight movement of that control like some other amps. There is enough play in it to easly adjust the hot output of the Allen to the 'just under clip' optimum setting.

Just using that one knob results in a very usable standard EB voicing for my traditional EB's, and a tighter, warmer, more organic voicing for the Rob Allen.

If any of you guys get a chance to try a TecAmp rig with your Allen's, I think you might dig it.

FYI!

 

[Tony G]

Ugh...I want an MB-2 so bad. Somebody buy my MTD 635!

 

[KJung]

Per the above post, here is a picture of the rig. The Mouse is pretty much right next to the rig, so you can use that as a size context.

The amp weighs about 6 pounds, and the 212 cab weighs just a touch under 40 pounds.

Again, just FYI, since I find the Rob Allen's can benefit from a slightly different backline rig than the typical EB.

 

[VroomVroom]

Interesting that our experiences vary so much, Ken. I've played three MB-2's live, and have recorded with two, and haven't really done anything different for EQ/output than with any other active bass in the arsenal. I have only played the Mouse and Deep models in a music store test-drive setting, so that could certainly factor in.

 

[KJung]

Interesting that our experiences vary so much, Ken. I've played three MB-2's live, and have recorded with two, and haven't really done anything different for EQ/output than with any other active bass in the arsenal. I have only played the Mouse and Deep models in a music store test-drive setting, so that could certainly factor in.

I found the same thing with my MB-2. The Mouse and the MB-2 sound 80%+ the same to me. I've never had the pleasure of playing a Deep Five.

Given you have an MTD and like the deep, dark voice from that bass that I hear on your clips, and if you have the preamp gain cranked up a bit on the MTD, I can see where you wouldn't hear as much difference versus comparing it, for example, to a passive J bass (or an active instrument with a more transparent pre set at unity gain versus bypass). So, we probably just have very different tone goals, as we've discussed before. Nothing wrong with that, and that's what the IMO is for!

I can imagine that your little Genz rig does a great job keeping that low end in check without a lot of knob twisting. I assume the Epi rig would be a nightmare with your MB-2 though.

Edit: I liked the tone you are getting from your RA a lot, based on the clips you put up on your RA thread. I think that was with the Genz combo, and it sounded great... very articulate and still warm.

 

[rodneyat]

2X12 cabinets are a real good match for the Rob Allens...For electric bass, I am generally not a fan of 12s by themselves. I like them with some 10s in the mix. But, my 2x12 sounds great with the Rob Allen basses. Nice Mouse..btw. Where did you get it?

Per the above post, here is a picture of the rig. The Mouse is pretty much right next to the rig, so you can use that as a size context.

The amp weighs about 6 pounds, and the 212 cab weighs just a touch under 40 pounds.

Again, just FYI, since I find the Rob Allen's can benefit from a slightly different backline rig than the typical EB.

 

[KJung]

2X12 cabinets are a real good match for the Rob Allens...For electric bass, I am generally not a fan of 12s by themselves. I like them with some 10s in the mix. But, my 2x12 sounds great with the Rob Allen basses. Nice Mouse..btw. Where did you get it?

It really sounds good! I dig it a lot. Thanks again!

Yeah, I really like a rig tone profile of a big, deep low end with these, but LOT's going on in the mids also, and this particular 212 delivers, and has a bit of that brightness to it that keeps the bass from getting woofy. It also helps to be able to gently roll of the upper treble to my ears, but again, that can be done on the bass.

Again, just pure IMO on the rig and tone settings above, but once I used that 'taste' control to tighten up the low end a bit and bring out the mids (that control is listed in the manual as voiced for fretless basses and DB's), it really, really came alive... that unique combination of BIG down low, but still lots of articulation and 'woody mids'. Amazing... Rob really has it going on with these!

 

[Tony G]

Hey Ken (or anyone else for that matter), how does the Markbass F1 work with these basses?

 

[KJung]

Hey Ken (or anyone else for that matter), how does the Markbass F1 work with these basses?

Again, pure IMO. From my experience, the tight voicing and aggressive nature of the F1 takes the Rob Allens just a touch more toward 'fretless EB' than 'DB proxy'. However, I think a lot of that is in the cab you use. Again, IMO, a cab with that more Acme voicing (the ability to reproduce that deep fundamental of the open E string) and a head that has what I would call a more 'creamy' voicing than 'punchy' really brings the 'wood' out with these instruments.

It's impossible to make them sound bad. To me, it's more about how 'DBish' you are attempting to make them sound.

 

[spade2you]

I've always been pleased with the sound of my Rob Allens through my Ampeg SVT4Pro, which somehow allows all of my basses to speak in their own voice, but was underwhelmed by most smaller amps. I didn't have the luxury of trying out a whole lot of smaller amps, but snagged a Phil Jones Super Flightcase and really enjoy the tone from that little bugger.

 

[VroomVroom]

I can imagine that your little Genz rig does a great job keeping that low end in check without a lot of knob twisting. I assume the Epi rig would be a nightmare with your MB-2 though.
warm.

Actually, the bass sounds terrific through the Epi rig...just as my last MB-2 did. I had an indoor casual on Tuesday night, and I used it for the first set through the 502/310-2. The volume was fairly low, but there were no issues with controlling the sound. As you'd expect, it's certainly deeper than with the GB rig, which is very mid-happy, but overall it still sounded like a Rob Allen. To compensate - which is really too strong of a word in this case - I played a wee bit closer to the bridge. I'll be running through the same rig on an outdoor casual this evening. Assuming the ambient noise isn't overbearing, I'll share some sound clips to gauge everyone's thoughts.

What I love about my Epi rig (and I know this is a tangent...apologies, but I think it's worthwhile since Ken mentioned the tone he hears from my MTD clips) is that, while it certainly has its own characteristics, to my ears it very accurately represents the sound of each instrument. In other words, the MTD's sound different than the Roscoes, which are likewise unique from the Sadowsky, Lakland, and certainly the Rob Allen. I will EQ to the room - which can occasionally be a struggle - but there's very little, if anything, I have to do to capture the sound I'm after from each instrument.

The bottom line for me... my absolute favorite thing about the Rob Allen is that the sound is completely in your hands. Vary your hand position and touch, and the array of sonic options is amazing.

 

[Mr. Pickles]

Ken,

I bet you don't have pets (aside from the "mouses")judging from that tidy couch and carpet.

Question for you - do hear any tonal differences between the maple and koa instruments? Does the F Hole add anything tone wise? I've only scanned this thread; sorry if you've covered this before.

-Mr. P

My 'Mouses'! Thanks to Rodney, I just received this beautiful Koa/Alder/RW fretted to keep my fretless maple/alder/Goncalo Alves (or whatever that fretboard wood is called) company.

Beautiful instrument, and both made around the same time.

Rob really has a thing with these basses IMO!

 

[KJung]

Actually, the bass sounds terrific through the Epi rig...just as my last MB-2 did. I had an indoor casual on Tuesday night, and I used it for the first set through the 502/310-2. The volume was fairly low, but there were no issues with controlling the sound. As you'd expect, it's certainly deeper than with the GB rig, which is very mid-happy, but overall it still sounded like a Rob Allen. To compensate - which is really too strong of a word in this case - I played a wee bit closer to the bridge. I'll be running through the same rig on an outdoor casual this evening. Assuming the ambient noise isn't overbearing, I'll share some sound clips to gauge everyone's thoughts.

What I love about my Epi rig (and I know this is a tangent...apologies, but I think it's worthwhile since Ken mentioned the tone he hears from my MTD clips) is that, while it certainly has its own characteristics, to my ears it very accurately represents the sound of each instrument. In other words, the MTD's sound different than the Roscoes, which are likewise unique from the Sadowsky, Lakland, and certainly the Rob Allen. I will EQ to the room - which can occasionally be a struggle - but there's very little, if anything, I have to do to capture the sound I'm after from each instrument.

The bottom line for me... my absolute favorite thing about the Rob Allen is that the sound is completely in your hands. Vary your hand position and touch, and the array of sonic options is amazing.

Very cool! I liked the general sound of that Epi amp, but to my ear, transparent it was not I personally can't imagine a Rob Allen through that Epi rig on a gig with other than perfect acoustics and low volume, but again, that's what makes the world go round!

Again, if you like it big, dark and huge, that Epi rig is a good one. I just don't prefer that, and look for a bit more nuance in the mids and treble for my sound. That surely doesn't make it 'right or wrong'!

Regarding varying hand positions, I agree with you on that, but would not limit it to the Rob Allen at all. I find the same thing with every bass. I prefer playing my Rob Allens almost on the neck, since that's where, to my ear, they start to get into what I call the 'DB proxy' tone area.

 

[KJung]

Ken,

I bet you don't have pets (aside from the "mouses")judging from that tidy couch and carpet.

Question for you - do hear any tonal differences between the maple and koa instruments? Does the F Hole add anything tone wise? I've only scanned this thread; sorry if you've covered this before.

-Mr. P

Playing the open strings (which is as close to apples to apples I can get on a fretted versus unfretted instrument), the two basses sound literally identical to me. Rob also feels wood choice has very little impact in the tone of his instruments, from a number of discussions I've had with him.

And... pets... we have a well behaved cat and a VERY good house cleaner!

 

[KJung]

I've always been pleased with the sound of my Rob Allens through my Ampeg SVT4Pro, which somehow allows all of my basses to speak in their own voice, but was underwhelmed by most smaller amps. I didn't have the luxury of trying out a whole lot of smaller amps, but snagged a Phil Jones Super Flightcase and really enjoy the tone from that little bugger.

If you need something small that will deliver that 'DB like' low end, the AI Clarus with an Acme B110 is nothing short of stunning. It's prefect for a piano trio type gig, and results in huge low end, but plenty or mid articulation so that it's not a muddy mess. I dislike both the Acme's and the AI amps for traditional EB (a little too dark and polite, with too much extended low end), but for making a Rob Allen sound like a DB in a live situation with a rig you can carry in one hand... amazing!

I bet that Super Flightcase is cool also. I've been really unimpressed with most of the PJ stuff I've played (I spend a lot of time in St. Louis, so I've been able to check some of the stuff out). That Superflight case is the best spec I've seen from him regarding size, weight and cone area. I bet it sounds great. I'd like to check one of those out sometime.