Does anyone have or know of any sound clips of a Rob Allen fretted piezo bass? Mouse, MB-2, whatever.
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Show Us Your Rob Allen Basses Part IV
- Thread starter smperry
- Start date
I got interested in Rob Allens about a year ago, read some reviews and watched what I could find on the internet, including the clip JackBass82 posted above. Then I found an Mb-2 fretless for sale locally, tried it out and bought it about 2 months ago.
I am 110% satisfied with it! This is the 4th fretless I have owned over the years and it is easily the best sounding and also very fast. I am not nearly as technical as some bass players but I can play things on the Mb-2 that escaped me on other basses. I will swap other basses from time to time, but I do not see ever parting with this one!
This is why I sold my treasured Deep 5. Fortunately, I have a Deep 4.....
I think Rob has done some 34" scale 5 strings as a custom option.
All of my fretli have side dots at every single "fret". I did this because my first fretless was this config. The big benefit was that I could switch to different scale lengths easier. I used to jump from a 35" scale Conklin and Rob Allen to the 30" Mouse 30. My side dots made the transition much quicker.
Rob Allen and the LaBella strings also means intonation is much more forgiving. Brighter basses are usually much less forgiving.
All of my fretli have side dots at every single "fret". I did this because my first fretless was this config. The big benefit was that I could switch to different scale lengths easier. I used to jump from a 35" scale Conklin and Rob Allen to the 30" Mouse 30. My side dots made the transition much quicker.
Rob Allen and the LaBella strings also means intonation is much more forgiving. Brighter basses are usually much less forgiving.
LOL!! I guess you saw Cyclops!!Now I’ve seen that with my own two eyes!!
Evan, I'd love to hear the entirety of that Metheny tune with your D4 30. Any plans to record that?
I’m thinking about it! There’s so much great bass in that piece of music…I’d like to share that. A couple things that are holding me back are that it’s a really long song and also I want to do it justice by properly recording it through Logic instead of just the quick iPhone hack that I did…I’m not very skilled yet with using Logic… but I guess there’s no time like the present to figure it out! I appreciate you reaching out and will really consider putting that together. Hey… I looked at your YouTube channel David and heard some really good music… It seemed like you were playing some kind of bagpipe device but I don’t know what it is… Please, what is that instrument you’re playing?
That's actually my younger son - he's playing the Uilleann pipes (pronounced "ill-un") The Uilleann pipes, sometimes called Irish Bagpipes, are the characteristic national bagpipe of Ireland.
Yes, Minuano is a great piece of music - one of my favorite Metheny pieces.
I've not made a secret that my D4 was in consideration to be on the chopping block. I was really unhappy with it in the studio back in December and being honest, for some time. This has everything to do with sonics NOT fit/feel since mine is a cusom one. Love that freakin' neck.
In the interim, I had my Gillett defretted partially as a "just incase" if I got rid of the D4 but also because I found the frets a bit limiting for some stuff I wanted to do.
Long story short, I tweaked the internal trim pot for the piezo and my distortion problem seems to be sorted. Today I spent the day in the studio doing bass tracks and both the mag and the piezo of the D4 were used on different tunes (not on the same) along with the Gillett and both my Ps (fretted and fretless). It's the first time I've recorded with the mag on the D4 and it had a cool vibe on one tune.
Another observation: I think I'm squarely a 34" guy. The Gillett is a medium scale (32", actually 31.75"). It does make a few things more challenging. I think it's partially why in the end the Blast Cult and the fretted Mouse are gone - both shorter scale. We'll see.
TL;DR if you need to, pop open your RA and tweak the piezo's trim.
In the interim, I had my Gillett defretted partially as a "just incase" if I got rid of the D4 but also because I found the frets a bit limiting for some stuff I wanted to do.
Long story short, I tweaked the internal trim pot for the piezo and my distortion problem seems to be sorted. Today I spent the day in the studio doing bass tracks and both the mag and the piezo of the D4 were used on different tunes (not on the same) along with the Gillett and both my Ps (fretted and fretless). It's the first time I've recorded with the mag on the D4 and it had a cool vibe on one tune.
Another observation: I think I'm squarely a 34" guy. The Gillett is a medium scale (32", actually 31.75"). It does make a few things more challenging. I think it's partially why in the end the Blast Cult and the fretted Mouse are gone - both shorter scale. We'll see.
TL;DR if you need to, pop open your RA and tweak the piezo's trim.
TimothyGroovy
Commercial User
- Aug 3, 2000
- 2,375
- 2,102
- Disclosures
- Owner: Uni•Sound Endorsing Artist: Sadowsky Guitars, Olinto Bass, LaBella Strings
