LeftyBassist.com

Greg over at Rocket took this bass back in on trade... looks pretty killer!

On Facebook he said, $2499 OBO



http://www.rocketmusic.net/cgi-bin/comm ... n&key=5964

I have it's fraternal twin -it is killer Mine has a bird eye board; here's a pic:



That's a good price; they are over 3K new. It does sound great and the action and playability are off the charts.

I am totally un-edjumacated about Roscoe basses, tho I have done some youtube trolling and dig the sound of their fretless basses.

How would the 2 inch pickup placement differential affect the tone in general. would it be a drastic difference?

And ... would this bass be on the 'dark' side of the tonal palette given the body, top and fretbard wood choices? Or are roscoe's voiced so that wood choice (other than swamp ash bodies) don't make a heck of a lot of difference?

I don't have a Roscoe, but I'm pretty familiar with them, having spent the last year agonizing over specs to place a custom order, only to realize it was just out of my reach dollarwise.

The Roscoe pickup location makes a huge difference, in a good or bad way depending on your taste and need. It sounds like a P-bass with the neck pickup soloed, and it sound very modern, mid-forward with both pickups on, although clarity and articulation might not be the best with both pickups on because a lot of frequencies get cancelled. Bridge pickup solo would be super punchy and mid-rangy, with not a lot of bottom unless you crank the bass.

I'm very familiar with the setup because I have had three Sadowsky 5-24s, which sound similar to the typical Roscoe pickup location.

Regarding woods, well, sure, different woods will have slight effect on sound, but having an active preamp on board should let you dial what you are looking for. I usually like ash bodies and maple fretboard, and recently got an alder/rosewood bass, and actually the alder/rosewood sound a lot brighter because of the pickups installed. . . so in the grand scheme of things, I think that wood species are not the most transforming element on the sound.

Roscoe neck dimensions and description seem to be one of the most comfortable out there, which is in part why I wanted one, but I couldn't deal with their standard 35" scale, and getting a custom 34" scale meant spending at least $4000 . . .

Anyway, I still love Roscoe and now with their new pickup options (vintage style Aguilar) they really have all options covered, whether want a P or J sound, or an MM, or a Bartolini sound.

Some Roscoe videos to give you an idea of the sound:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gc0uxg40V70

This one is Colombian cumbia (an adquired taste) but gives you a good idea on how they sound on a mix)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PZgj9rZUAFM

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aMOzAvmOvDg

I've been drooling over that first video you posted for years now... that tone is frikkin' unreal. He must have some SERIOUS compression on there... it's godly.

Anyway, I owned one Roscoe... it was an SKB3006 and it was killer. But, the SKB body shape is probably much better suited to a 4-string, because the short upper horn made it pretty neck heavy. That in conjunction with the 10 lb weight and 19mm spacing made it a beast to play all night long.

With that said, it sounded KILLER... signature Roscoe sound for sure.

Here's a little ditty I whipped up with my Roscoe when I had it... I didn't have to do anything to the tone, really... just added a touch of compression and some reverb and it sounded great.

https://soundcloud.com/addison_bass/add ... itty-redux

Hey Brian,

I noticed that the pickups on yours are in the correct orientation and the one at Rocket Music is reversed. The ole backwards Bartolini.

Anybody else have any comments on this?

Thanks

And I just noticed the detail about the neck pickup being closer to the neck than the typical Roscoe location, and that was AzWhoFan question. . . duh. Sorry. I read the thread too fast.

I would say it should still sound really good, with more bass, less punch, and maybe almost like a modern Jazz bass - like an Ibanez SR or MTD location where the bridge pickup is slightly closer to the bridge.

Looks like the bass is sold already. . .

thanks for the info guys, very helpful indeed! And no, I did not buy it.

It wasn't sold... the listing incorrectly said unavailable and has been fixed.

So that means mine's gonna sound better right

I'd love to get one of these but never had the chance to find one close enough to try it.
One paper/screen I'm more into the LG shape though.