Bootsy's rig, 1979

[The Lurker]

Bootsy’s 1979 rig

From:

Bass Heroes: Styles, Stories & Secrets of 30 Great Bass Players : from the Pages of Guitar Player Magazine
By Tom Mulhern
Edition: illustrated
Published by Backbeat Books, 1993
ISBN 0879302747, 9780879302740

Part of a longer interview, reproduced here under the ‘fair use’ provisions.


1979 interview by Tom Mulhern, page 171.

What kind of amps do you use in your setup?


“The entire system is divided into three different parts – high, mid, and low. But we’re not just talking about amplification, we’re talking about the effects in each part. On my highs I use a Big Muff fuzz, a Mu-tron III [envelope-following filter], an MXR digital delay, a Morley Fuzz/Wah, a Morley Power Wah, and an Eventide Harmonizer. The Harmonizer sits in a case that looks like R2D2 from Star Wars. It looks just like a little robot, so I call it R2FunkU. There’s a sign hanging on it that says, “Can I Play?” Inside of it, there’s also a keyboard for the Harmonizer that enables me to preset harmonized intervals to what I’m playing. That way I can play a note and have a fifth or a third coming out at the same time.

All of that equipment just for the highs?

Right. For the mids, I have a Big Muff fuzz, a Mu-tron III, and an MXR digital delay. On the lows, I use a Mu-tron Octave Divider, two Roland Space Echos, a Big Muff fuzz, and a Mu-tron III. I keep all my effects in one box called the Space Case. The highs and mids each have an Alembic preamp, two Crown DC-300A amps, and four Cerwin-Vega speaker cabinets.

What’s in each cabinet?

The cabinets used for the highs are called V-32s. They have two 12s, one midrange horn, and two tweeters. The midrange cabinets are basically the same, except there’s one 15” speaker instead of two 12s. Those are called V-34s. On the bottom end are three Acoustic 370 heads and six Cerwin-Vega cabinets. Two have one 18” speaker and one 12”, two more have an 18 and a 10, and two have one 18” and an 8.

Isn’t that a lot of equipment for onstage?

I don’t play it that loud. I’ve just got it there so that I don’t have to strain the equipment and everybody can hear. As a matter of fact, the whole stage is set up like that. The guitar player, the keyboard player—everybody is set up like that so there is no real strain.

[FreaqyFrequency]

Wowzers...that's impressive!

I shudder to think what he has now.

[Jared Lash]

He's a boogie woogie baby if you wanna see him boogie all you gotta do is wind him up.

Aw yeah baby bubba.

That is a crazy setup.

[Wasted Bassist]

Holy. ****ing. ****. That's a ridiculous amount of stuff to get his sound. Damn.

[bongomania]

Exactly- people always come on here asking what filter pedal will get them Bootsy's sound, and then some wiseguy will say "he uses a Mutron". Ha! It ain't that simple.

[Joe Gress]

I liked the R2funkU part the best.

[dmusic148]

Originally Posted by Wasted Bassist

Holy. ****ing. ****. That's a ridiculous amount of stuff to get his sound. Damn.

Yup. Just forget it.

[kesslari]

I liked the R2funkU part the best.

Yep. Bootsy always impresses me as a man who knows how to have fun!

[seanm]

Sounds just like the "beginner's funk bass package" they sell at Walmart!

That is a serious amount of gear. I wonder what frequencies he crossed over at for the lows/mids/highs?

[kevteop]

I like the way he goes to the trouble of splitting his signal three ways, then puts each part through a Muff and a Mu-Tron III.

He's crazy. Who names the flight case their gear travels in? Bootsy Collins does.

God bless him, and his vanilla suburbs.

[Bjazzman]

so 3 muffs and 3 mutrons?

[Jared Lash]

Slightly off-topic, but I was recently up in Fort Bragg (CA) with my guitar player from my college band (golfing, drinking beer, playing music) and he mentioned that he ran into Bootsy while settin up for a session. Apparently he's not always "on". He got the impression that it wasn't an act, but that he had to sort of "ramp up" to the Bootsy persona.

They hung out for a bit and noodled around before the rest of the musicians showed up. Apparently Bootsy liked his playing, saying something along the lines of, "man, there aren't enough brothers that can really play lead guitar". They talked about Eddie Hazel and then Bootsy told him they should do a project together.

This just blew my mind until he told me that the producer from the other studio confirmed what he already suspected. Apparently Bootsy tells everyone and their mother that they should do a project together.

[Bjazzman]

i had a friend run into him at a minnesota wild hockey game. my friend said "mr. collins, it's great to meet you" Bootsy said(no joke) "the name's bootsy baby!"

[FreaqyFrequency]

Originally Posted by bongomania

Exactly- people always come on here asking what filter pedal will get them Bootsy's sound, and then some wiseguy will say "he uses a Mutron". Ha! It ain't that simple.

I'm reminded, though on a much smaller scale, of when people ask how Wolstenholme gets his Hysteria tone, and people answer "He uses a Russian Big Muff," when in fact that is about a fourth of his tone. The overall sound of his bassline, in order of importance, can be attributed to:

1) His Clean sound
2) Matt's synthesizer
3) Animato Distortion + Marshall DBS Overdrive Circuit
4) Big Muff

Anyway, sorry for the derail.

[The Lurker]

You could probably get reasonably close with just one channel, though.......... muff, mu-tron, and delay....

[markjazzbassist]

simply amazing

[Higgie]

Originally Posted by Bjazzman

i had a friend run into him at a minnesota wild hockey game. my friend said "mr. collins, it's great to meet you" Bootsy said(no joke) "the name's bootsy baby!"

Sounds like Bootsy to me!

[katri]

Damn! i bet when he toured they had to take a trailer just for his gear!

[newbold]

lots of gear to not strain any of it?

So huge clean, with near infinite headroom.

[woffle]

Originally Posted by katri

Damn! i bet when he toured they had to take a trailer just for his gear!

plus another one for his EGO.
I like him anyway