６月号のUS " Bass Player Magazine"で"Editors Award"をゲット！

Mouse 30 Sound room review received EditorsAward
Bass Player Magazine, June 2007
By Greg Olwell

The Rob Allen Mouse 30 looks like nothing else. That’s exactly what it sounds like too, although not in the way you’d expect; Its big voice is the opposite of its wee size. For a small semi-hollow short scale bass, it has an elephant-sized sound. Get your hands on one and you’ll find what I did: it’s addictive.

Like luthier Rob Allen’s other instruments, the Mouse 30 is a semi-hollow bass, with air chambers on either side of the integral center block. It has a little more volume than an unplugged solid-body. It’s acoustic tone is a lot like the plugged-in sound, quick response with abundant sustain. Our test Mouse was a beautiful instrument, especially with its optional highly figured koa top. Its about the size of a Fender Telecaster, but lighter, due in part to the chambered body, which is cut from a two-piece alder slab.

Allen says that the Mouse 30 was inspired by a customer who wanted his distinctive take on the short scale basses made popular in the 60’s. Allen reports that the Mouse 30 quickly found a following among players who were looking for a smaller instrument, but were unwilling to give up a big, clear sound. After playing the Mouse 30 at a couple of rock rehearsals, I began to see why. It’s not only very lightweight and easy to tote, it’s also far more flexible as an instrument than I anticipated. I was also surprised at the easy adjustment to playing in tune on a 30”scale fretless.

Now I’m not suggesting the Mouse is perfect for a gig that requires slapping or rock & roll pickstyle playing- it’s not: The Fishman piezo pickup just isn’t made for that kind of treatment. But when I played fingerstyle or gentle pickstyle, the Mouse dazzled me with its warm and authoritative tone.
Short scale basses are stereotypically known for an unfocused muddy sound, but this little rodent was capable of producing a nearly ideal fretless tone with copious sustain, tremendous note bloom, and a strong full-frequency response. It’s vocal like expressiveness and abundant dynamic response is so right there that is tempting to overdue it with the slides and vibrato. Fortunately, the Mouse has so many other readily available sounds, that is was easy to evade the trap of its fretless charms. By palm muting the La Bella tape wound strings, I could get a truly massive, thuddy sound that was as close to an amplified upright bass as I’ve encountered in a bass guitar.
It was also easy to cop a “normal” electric bass sound by using regular plucks and no-frills left hand technique. No doubt, this small wonder covers a lot of ground.

The volume knob is the only easily accessible electronics control, but I never missed having any onboard EQ. A trim pot in the control cavity, which can be adjusted through a hole in the cover with a small screwdriver, cuts off some of the signal’s high end to help set a balance between the trebly string sound and body’s fullness. Without the highs cut, I could hear more of the fingers-on-string sound, with some of the familiar piezo high- frequency clack. This setting helped the note cut through on a live recording with a cymbal-obsessed drummer. When I did trim the highs the effect was subtle-more felt than heard.

Rob Allen intentionally uses a thin nitrocellulose finish on his necks, like 50’s era Fenders, to avoid what he sees as the negative sonic effects of thicker finishes, like the more common polyurethane or acrylic lacquer.
While the thinner finish may allow the neck to resonate more freely, it is also a little less resistant to movement, as out tester demonstrated. Plus, our tester’s highly figured birdseye maple is inherently squirmy Allen usually use less figured neck woods. Still I had to make a few truss rod tweaks.
The Rob Allen Mouse is a special bass. If you’re looking for a smaller instrument, but don’t want to downsize your tone, the Rob Allen Mouse 30 deserves your attention.

For small quotes please use these:

“For a small semi-hollow short scale bass, it has an elephant-sized sound. Get your hands on one and you’ll find what I did: it’s addictive.”

“the Mouse dazzled me with its warm and authoritative tone.”