NUD: Rebel Double Creme mango concert

Cluze

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Full disclosure, this NUD post is slightly late. The instrument in question actually arrived six days ago. I needed some time to take some good pictures and to gather my thoughts about it.

In a recent thread, I learned from Mim that Rebel finally put out some actual concert scale instruments. This was news to me (even now, you can only find soprano, long-neck concerts, and tenor instruments listed...) although I have been interested in The Rebel for some time. (Technically they do have a "the" in their name, but I am likely to ignore that for the rest of this post.) So I bought one from Mim, and it arrived last Wednesday, perfectly setup and perfectly packaged. (Thanks, Mim!)

For those who don't know, Rebel are the Thailand based team of luthiers who make the Opio line of instruments for KoAloha. The body shape and size is, in fact, identical to the acaia Opio concert I own which is, itself, identical to the Hawaiian built koa KoAloha I have. There are some differences, including the neck, the bridge, and the internal bracing. I may write up a more in-depth review of this Rebel Double Creme, but for now, some pics and my initial impressions.

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The mango used here is beautiful. It has many interesting lines and subtle color differences. It is certainly visually interesting, and I love the looks!

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The instrument "feels" very similar to a KoAloha, as the size and shape are the pretty much exactly the same, and the neck profile is very close. Sound wise, it is different. I suspect it is a combination of the mango wood and internal bracing that is more traditional (rather than the uni-brace design of KoAloha) that give it a much more laid back sound. It is kind of hard to describe, and I have been having some difficulty trying to put it into words. It is more relaxed. Not muddy or unbalanced, quite the opposite; the sound is quite balanced, but I would describe it as more rounded? It is kind of the difference between listening to a classical violinist and a fiddle player. Same instrument, same notes, but one is more folksy? It is really hard to describe, but I really like it.

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The tone is warm and rounded, laid back like it has nothing to prove and no one to impress. It knows it sounds good, it doesn't need to prove itself to anyone. It isn't as loud as a uni-braced KoAloha, but it certainly has plenty of volume.

It looks good, feels good, and sounds good. The more time I spend with it, the more I like it.
 
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Congrats on your new Rebel!
 
Thanks! It is quickly becoming a favorite. I am really digging the mango sound. :)
 
Yummy, it looks luscious. Now I'm wondering why I don't have a mango uke....
 
Very nice. That's one of the more figured mango on a Rebel uke I've seen. Often they have a very straight grain but this one seems to have some curl and flaming to it as well. Aside from that, they always look fantastic in any case.

I've been umming and erring over a Double Creme Soprano for quite some time now but I haven't been able to justify getting one because of the similarities to KoAloha ukes of which I own one already. I know the playability is almost identical but I'm concerned the tone would be too similar. If you can comment on the tone of the Rebel compared to your KoAlohas I'd be a happy bunny.
 
Nice! I was tempted to pick one up, too. I actually contacted The Rebel (haha) to ask if they were ever going to make regular sized concerts, and they said they had. Thinking they misunderstood me, I tried to clarify, and they told me to contact their dealers. So I did, and Mim told me she had a half dozen mango ones that she hadn't listed. I almost jumped on it, but I was looking for one of their spruce models.

Thanks for the write-up. Looks like you're gonna hafta change your signature again. And then you should grab a mango KoAloha concert to round out your collection!
 
If you can comment on the tone of the Rebel compared to your KoAlohas I'd be a happy bunny.

Let me see if I can record a sound sample comparing them tomorrow. I was meaning to do so anyway, since I had three very similar instruments. It won't quite be an exact comparison, as they do have different strings, but it should help.
 
Looks like you're gonna hafta change your signature again. And then you should grab a mango KoAloha concert to round out your collection!

I was seriously debating a mango KoAloha until I found out that Rebel made a true concert, to tell the truth. I think it scratches that itch quite well, and at a fraction of the cost!
 
Ok, so I did record some brief sound samples. I was kind of in a rush, so please excuse the quality of the playing. I assure you that the fault is with the player, not the instruments.

I also couldn't find a good way to make the sounds embedded into the post here in the forum, so these are direct links to the wav files on a website I own. (Yes I know I could upload them to Soundcloud, but I don't have an account and don't wish to create one this morning. Yes, I also know I could have converted them to a YouTube video with a static image, but YouTube compresses audio, and I had no interest in that either.) I will see if I can come up with a better solution, or just embed them on my own page and link to that.

What you will hear is a short sample of each of four instruments. They were recorded on the same day, with the same mics, back to back, and edited together. In all four sound samples, the instruments are played in the same order. There will be a "click" before each instrument, so you know when I am switching. If you want to go in blind, just listen to the sound samples. I will post a follow up telling you which one was which afterwards.

All four instruments are concert scale, with virtually identical body size and shape. The woods and strings are different, and the bracing is different for one of them.

I also do suggest using headphones, if possible.

Open Strings Sound Sample (g C E A individually, then all together.)

Chords Sound Sample (Simple, first position chords. C, G, Am, Dm, G7, C if memory serves.)

Finger Picking Sound Sample (A short excerpt of a song from The Legend of Zelda I have been working on.)

Strumming Sound Sample (A bit of "Don't Think Twice It's Alright", by Bob Dylan.)

The differences are very subtle on the open strings and the individual chords. I think you can hear the differences best with the finger picking sample, but the strumming one is pretty illustrative as well.
 
And now the followup with the reveal of the instruments compared.

If you don't want to know yet, this is your last chance. I will leave some blank space, so you can turn back if you want.


















In all four cases, the instruments were played in this order:

KoAloha Opio acacia concert with Uke Logic soft tension high-g strings

KoAloha Opio spruce top concert with Uke Logic hard tension high-g strings

Rebel Double Cream mango concert with stock high-g strings

KoAloha Silver koa concert with stock high-g strings

All four instruments are all solid wood. The body size and shape is exactly the same. All but the Rebel have the KoAloha unibrace internal bracing. The Rebel uses a more traditional style of internal bracing.

All instruments were purchased from, and setup by Mim. Tuning was done with a Peterson StroboClip. The two Opios have friction pegs (quality ones that I rather like) so I could only do so much to get them exactly in tune. The Rebel has Gotoh 4:1 planetary geared tuners and the Sliver has guitar style geared tuners, so the tuning on those should be a bit better.

Mics were a pair of Audio Technica AT2020 XLR mics run through a Focusrite Scarlett 4i4 USB audio interface and recorded in my basement. (Recorded in stereo, but mixed down to mono for the output sample. You may hear a neighbors lawnmower and/or my A/C cycle on in one of the samples...)
 
That was fun; thanks for doing this.

I took the challenge and also ranked them according to preference. At first I thought the Rebel was either #2 or #3, but by the last sample, I had it picked out as the 3rd instrument. I'm not especially confident in my ear, but I think owning a mango Rebel helps.

Interestingly, I couldn't pick out a consistent winner for me. My preferences differed from sample to sample:

1st: Spruce Opio, Rebel, Acacia Opio, KoAloha
2nd: Spruce Opio, KoAloha, Rebel, Acacia Opio
3rd: KoAloha, Acacia Opio, Rebel, Spruce Opio
4th: Spruce Opio, Acacia Opio, Rebel, KoAloha

All over the place. The Rebel was somewhat consistent, placing 2nd once and then 3rd for most of them. The spruce was usually 1st though it fell last in one sample. I'm a little surprised the KoAloha didn't do better, and I wonder how much my preferences were affected by the strings.

I think I should have rated rather than ranked them for myself to get a better idea of my preferences. In the end, I was more confident about identifying the Rebel than sorting them. Thanks for putting this together; this kind of blind sampling is interesting, and you have ukes I like or find interesting.
 
Excellent sound comparison, thank you for that!

All four ukes sound really good which is hardly a surprise. I'm not going to rank them as they all have their place but I will mention a few things I noticed. The spruce top Opio sounded a bit tame when fingerpicked because of the lack of mid and low range (or possibly because of the prominence of higher range). However, it's excellent strummed as spruce top ukes tend to be. The Rebel mango was basically the opposite, beautiful when fingerpicked but slightly muddy when strummed compared to the others. And I do mean slightly because of course all four ukes were ultimately very close to each other in my opinion. It's not as if the mango Rebel sounds muddy in general, just compared to the others. However, they are so close to each other that I don't think I will be going for a mango Rebel at least for now since I already have a koa KoAloha. I am still intrigued by mango as a tonewood but it's probably going to be some completely different brand if I'm going to get a mango uke.
 
Thanks for putting this together; this kind of blind sampling is interesting, and you have ukes I like or find interesting.

You are very welcome! I enjoyed doing it. I figured since I had several instruments that were very similar, it would be a shame not to record them all for comparison. I might try to do something similar with a couple of my other favorites, just to compare them to these.

I had some longer sound samples, but I found that by the time I had listened all the way through, I couldn't quite remember what it sounded like compared to the next one, so I shortened them all.
 
Excellent sound comparison, thank you for that!

All four ukes sound really good which is hardly a surprise. I'm not going to rank them as they all have their place but I will mention a few things I noticed. The spruce top Opio sounded a bit tame when fingerpicked because of the lack of mid and low range (or possibly because of the prominence of higher range). However, it's excellent strummed as spruce top ukes tend to be. The Rebel mango was basically the opposite, beautiful when fingerpicked but slightly muddy when strummed compared to the others. And I do mean slightly because of course all four ukes were ultimately very close to each other in my opinion. It's not as if the mango Rebel sounds muddy in general, just compared to the others. However, they are so close to each other that I don't think I will be going for a mango Rebel at least for now since I already have a koa KoAloha. I am still intrigued by mango as a tonewood but it's probably going to be some completely different brand if I'm going to get a mango uke.

That is totally fair. They are all quite similar. I do really really like the KoAloha sound, so I totally jumped at the Rebel. Truth be told, I think it is my overall favorite of the bunch. Maybe not the best at any one thing, but it is a strong performer overall. I just love it!
 
I'm a little surprised the KoAloha didn't do better, and I wonder how much my preferences were affected by the strings.

Oh, and I do think that the Silver, and possibly the Rebel as well, are held back a bit by the strings.
 
That is totally fair. They are all quite similar. I do really really like the KoAloha sound, so I totally jumped at the Rebel. Truth be told, I think it is my overall favorite of the bunch. Maybe not the best at any one thing, but it is a strong performer overall. I just love it!

I don't blame you at all, and as I said, I think the Rebel sounds wonderful and probably best fingerpicked out of the bunch. To be completely honest with you, I would personally go for the Double Creme as well rather than, say, the new KoAloha mangos because I think those are even more similar to koa KoAlohas. :)
 
The spruce top Opio sounded a bit tame when fingerpicked because of the lack of mid and low range (or possibly because of the prominence of higher range). However, it's excellent strummed as spruce top ukes tend to be. The Rebel mango was basically the opposite, beautiful when fingerpicked but slightly muddy when strummed compared to the others. And I do mean slightly because of course all four ukes were ultimately very close to each other in my opinion. It's not as if the mango Rebel sounds muddy in general, just compared to the others. However, they are so close to each other that I don't think I will be going for a mango Rebel at least for now since I already have a koa KoAloha. I am still intrigued by mango as a tonewood but it's probably going to be some completely different brand if I'm going to get a mango uke.

This description of the spruce and mango sounds makes sense, but despite that, I tend to favor spruce even though I fingerpick more than I strum.

For some reason, I was hoping you'd give in and get a Rebel. Or even though I'm not partial to Kanile'a, maybe you should look at their mango Manako ukes. Although you might run into the same issue with similarity if you have a Kanile'a uke.


You are very welcome! I enjoyed doing it. I figured since I had several instruments that were very similar, it would be a shame not to record them all for comparison. I might try to do something similar with a couple of my other favorites, just to compare them to these.

I had some longer sound samples, but I found that by the time I had listened all the way through, I couldn't quite remember what it sounded like compared to the next one, so I shortened them all.

Other instruments would be fun. I didn't know what was included this time, so I kept thinking one of them would be your Moonbird. I wonder how the blind sampling would have been affected for me if I knew what ukes were involved. I think I listened less closely to the Rebel once I'd identified it.

I wish a spruce/mahogany Rebel concert (not the longneck) and a mango KoAloha concert could have been included in your comparison. Or even this rarity: https://reverb.com/item/22586322-kiwayaxko-aloha-hapa-concert-made-in-hawaii.

I completely agree about the longer sound samples. Even with ones as short as these, I was wishing I could bookmark the different starting points to make direct comparisons out of order easier to do.
 
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