Rogue & Europa; what's the diff?

[richbass939]

I can see very little difference between the two.  Except for the neck sandwich what's the difference.  The electronics seem to be the same.  I'm sure someone who is more observant than I can clue me in.
Thanks,
Rich

[tbrannon]

Rich,
From what I can tell, the Rogue typically has the cone peghead with a bar tailpeice, where the Europa has that Elan'ish Europa peghead and the bird tailpiece.  
 
The body shapes are slightly different as well.
 
Electronics wise, I'm pretty sure they're twins.
 
I'm sure someone who actually knows what they're talking about will be along shortly and they'll correct me. =)
 
toby

[bsee]

in addition to what you mentioned:
 
Europa also includes purpleheart in the neck, MOP board inlays, and brass back plates.
 
Rogue has no board inlays, 35 scale, the maple neck with walnut pinstripes, and plastic back plates.

[rami]

My Rogue 5 came with oval inlays (I'm not sure if they're MOP or plastic), and polished brass backplates.
 
I think the only significant  differences between the two are the body and headstock shape and standard wood laminates in the body and neck.  All features can be upgraded to whatever you want.

[lbpesq]

If you look at the products section for basses, it appears both the Rogue and the Europa come with Alembic oval inlays (actually, I believe ALL Alembics come with these unless you ask for something else).  There are other differences in the wood recipe (i.e. Rogue neck = maple/walnut; Europa = maple/purpleheart).  As for the bodies, to this guitar player's eyes, the upper horn on the Rogue is MUCH longer than that of the Europa.
 
Bill, tgo

[crgaston]

Bill, the specs on the Rogue have changed slightly in the past year; now they are standard with no inlays, as per the quote builder.  Also, the Essence lacks these as well.  Of course, they're not that much to add (200 for the MOP ovals).  It appears Alembic isn't doing the plastic ones anymore.  You're right about the upper horn.  It tucks the bass in quite nicely, making 1st position a bit easier to reach for us short people.

[lbpesq]

Charles:
 
The web site still shows both the Rogue and the Europa as coming with MOP ovals at no charge
 
Mother of pearl oval inlays              0
Abalone oval inlays                    200
Golden mother of pearl oval inlays     300
Black Tahitian mother of pearl ovals   300
2 initial oval, m.o.p. and silver      500
 
I'm just going on what I read.  Also, I've rarely seen any instruments at the factory being built without the ovals, unless they are being replaced by custom inlays.
 
Bill, tgo

[crgaston]

Looks like we're both right, Bill.  I am basing my info on the Custom Quote builder, but the spec page still shows the ovals as standard.  I think the quote builder has more recently been updated, but without asking Alembic directly, I don't know which page is currently accurate.
 
Charles

[rami]

One thing they both have in common for sure - they don't come cheap!

[bsee]

The Rogue shape is a slight tweak of the Europa body style.  When they first hit the market about ten years ago, it was when the craze for extra-long scale for a tight B was in full swing.  There were quite a few 35 five string Rogues to be found on the walls of the Alembic dealers of the time.  Whoever came up with the design must have realized that the longer neck would shift the balance a little and, that a longer upper horn would restore the equilibrium.
 
In functional terms, adding purpleheart to the neck of a Rogue should get you the same output signal as a Europa with the same body/top woods.  All the rest of the differences between the two appear to be cosmetic.

[richbass939]

Thanks for the input, everybody.  It appears that the electronics and pickups are the same in both basses.  I was just wondering about the $900 difference.  The headstock shape and body shape wouldn't account for any difference, I suppose.  Purpleheart in the neck sandwich would be a little different but not all that much.  I thought that there must be more to them that wasn't obvious to me.  Again, thanks for the input.
Rich

[xlrogue6]

Back when the Rogue was born, Alembic was still using the polyurethane finish on Epics (where it was first used, I believe), then later the Rogue, the Orion and the Excel as well.  The neck lams, finish, and body shape were the only differences between the Rogue and the Europa.  When the polyurethane finish was discontinued, the Rogue and Europa got a little closer to each other.
 
(Message edited by xlrogue6 on September 11, 2006)