Could be. For the life of me, I have zero idea when that conversation took place. It may have been recent or many years ago.
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Show Us Your Rob Allen Basses Part III
- Thread starter Bryan R. Tyler
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Could be. For the life of me, I have zero idea when that conversation took place. It may have been recent or many years ago.
My "new to me" Rob Allen MB-2 came in last Thursday. This one might have made the rounds on the forum. It's dated 7/98. It's a fretted, five string with a Padauk top, Ash body and Cocobolo fretboard. It's my second Rob Allen; the first was a fretless, four string MB-2, bought and sold years ago.
The first thing was to restring it with a new set of 760's and a high C. I was concerned about intonation with changing the strings. It was actually better with the high C than the low B.
Next was to try and clean it up a bit. First I used Virtuoso cleaner (which got a lot of grime off), then Virtuoso polish (which didn't do much) and finally Mother's Carnuba Car Wax (which gave it a real nice glow and shine).
This is my first time playing a fretted Rob Allen. It has that traditional woody/thumpy tone but the frets make the attack immediate and the decay is smooth without any mwah. It was actually kind of odd because I expected mwah behind that tone but it never came. For me, the purpose of this bass is for solo and duo playing. The accuracy of the frets wins out of the beauty of the mwah in this case.
So following with tradition, here are the pics so there must be a bass.
Thirteen years of aging gives the wood a nice glow and turns the ash a warm shade of amber.
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A one piece ash body.
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A crazy birdseye / flamed / spalted neck.
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The first thing was to restring it with a new set of 760's and a high C. I was concerned about intonation with changing the strings. It was actually better with the high C than the low B.
Next was to try and clean it up a bit. First I used Virtuoso cleaner (which got a lot of grime off), then Virtuoso polish (which didn't do much) and finally Mother's Carnuba Car Wax (which gave it a real nice glow and shine).
This is my first time playing a fretted Rob Allen. It has that traditional woody/thumpy tone but the frets make the attack immediate and the decay is smooth without any mwah. It was actually kind of odd because I expected mwah behind that tone but it never came. For me, the purpose of this bass is for solo and duo playing. The accuracy of the frets wins out of the beauty of the mwah in this case.
So following with tradition, here are the pics so there must be a bass.
Thirteen years of aging gives the wood a nice glow and turns the ash a warm shade of amber.
Invalid Link Removed
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A one piece ash body.
Invalid Link Removed
Invalid Link Removed
A crazy birdseye / flamed / spalted neck.
Invalid Link Removed
You mean on the ones that appear to have no pickups ? There's a piezo pickup under the bridge, something like the pickup you get on an acoustic guitar.
Andy
ok, I'm getting all itchy. Who here has mag pups and frets? I can't see how it is possible to improve on my Deep 5 and MB-2 fretli, but I'm wondering about exploring some other RA sonic space. My fretted Mice were cool but I'm not a short scale guy and am thinking I might want something a bit more aggressive.
Me. Take a look at my profile pics, I have a fretted MB-2 and D4 both with Solid 4 pickups, no piezo. Rob custom wound the S4 pickups to match the bass.
I'm wondering about pup placement more towards the bridge. Also, how is wear with the round wounds on the mandolin frets. In a perfect world I'm also thinking active with some eq.
I prefer neck position pup. In my last conversation with Rob he said he now also favors neck position for a single mag config - describing it as the "sweet spot" - and is considering it as the default in the future.
No fret wear issues so far but my RAs aren't all that old.
I've owned my share of active basses but I get what I need from passives - just my personal preference.
I would say S4 if you really want something different, but it really is a different thing. If you're not into P-style basses at all, you won't like a S4. Mine is more aggressive than others mainly because of how the pickup is wound, but I may switch the pickup to a lower wind one. Having said that, it sounds great on two of the songs on my new album.
I'm curious to hear my new D4 when it shows up on Friday with a lower wind pickup.
As far as pickup placement, I'm more of a traditional P placement kind of guy. I wonder how Rob set up the D4.
In terms of rounds vs flats, it shouldn't be any better/worse I would think than a normal fretted bass. I've only really ever used flats (RS77 or RS88 depending on the bass, with various other flirtations over the years), but when I had the RS66 set on one bass for awhile I saw no difference in wear on the frets.
I bet before, because the S4 is only a few years old and Rob was very anti-sunburst and he may even be anti-butterscotch now. I think sunburst on something like a D4 is a waste given the wood, but a S4? No way.
I had an S4 (shouldn't have sold it) and it was very much like a sweet vintage P-Bass. I'm wondering about something a little different. I love the D5 - something like that with a bit more attack. The idea of roundwounds on the MB-2 or Deep is intriguing. I wonder what roundwounds are like with frets and piezo.
nostatic said:
I too wonder what rounds would sound like through the wood bridge, but would you use them on the small mandolin frets or would you get meaty ones like on a S4?
Anyone know of a tapewound alternative to the LaBellas in 6 string? They still sound phenominal in the piezo, but the D string probably needs a thicker core because it's noticable on the magnetic pickups. I don't use them as much as the piezo and I've somewhat adapted to hitting the D harder, but it's starting to slightly annoy me.
You can piece together a RS88 set by getting a 050 single
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and the right RS88 5-string set (65 - 135)
I've had the RS88 set on all of my fretless basses (including my piezo-only D4 and all of my mag-based ones over the years going back to the 90s).
Gotcha. Ever try the high C? Any impression of the Rotos compared to the LaBella? Just curious. If it weren't for the mag issue on the D string, I'd consider them perfect for my tastes.
Since I only play 4 string basses, no idea on the high C 50.
I had the LaBella 760N set on one fretless back in the 90s for about 2 weeks. Hated the sound. I believe at the time I was using a G&L L-2000. I then put back my RS88 set and all was right with the world. For me, it was a "hey, need to change my strings so why not try something else" experiment that failed.
Having said that, maybe the RS88s are not your cup of tea in the way the LaBellas are not for me. Only one way to find out.
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