Barry Bales, long-time bassist for Alison Krauss is interviewed in depth. Read by following this link:

http://www.bassplayer.com/story.asp?storyCode=7603

Enjoy!

Thanks Mike, that's a good article on a tasty player. :)

I find it odd that he uses a crappy BP-100, and then runs it thru high quality Demeter and Ashly Pre-amps. Whatever works, I guess.

I find it odd that he uses a crappy BP-100, and then runs it thru high quality Demeter and Ashly Pre-amps. Whatever works, I guess.

I've known Barry for years and he used to have the BP-100 clipped to the the inside of the bass f-hole, not the bridge. Again, the article is from April 2005.

In talking with another bass bud last weekend, who recently had the opportunity to pick Barry's brain for his current setup, he has changed.

Barry is now using a Fishman Full Circle AND a K & K Bass Max. I think he found out about the Bass Max several years ago when he bought his first American Standard. The pickup was installed when he bought the bass and we were comparing our basses as they were doing the Dan Tyminski Band summer tour.

Some may or may not like the Bass Max pickup (I do) but with the volumes that they have to generate at Alison Krauss shows for the size halls they are playing, it must be doing a pretty good job.

The Meisel bass that Barry plays has been maximized by Dustin Williams for sure, but it's not a really loud bass. I played it shortly after he started playing with Alison in 1990 or 1991. Just very even, which makes it easy to get a good live sound.

I've also heard he has bought a carved bass and has been using it on some of the current tour with Alison (which just ended). Don't know any details about it though.