- Date of Birth:
- July 4th, 1969
- Age:
- 43
- Sex:
- Male
- Location:
- Houston, TX
- Current Setup:
- Basses:
Main player is a sunburst '95 USA Fender P with a rosewood board. I bought it used around 2001. It came with a white pickguard that someone painted black. I discovered it was painted because I went through the paint pretty quickly. I didn't really like black or white so I got a gold anodized one because I loved the look of the Custom Shop 59. The bass now wears a set of GHS Black Nylon tapewounds and a tortoise shell guard.
I have a Japanese Fender parts P that I put together over time with parts from the Stratosphere guy on Ebay. It's a super-light (basswood I think), Lake Placid Blue body with the original pickups, electronics and hardware. Months later I bought a 70's style neck to put on it. It fit perfectly though the body is much lighter than the neck. I put some heavy LaBella flats on it and it sounds great.
I also have a black '03 MIM Jazz Bass with a P-bass neck. It was a stock fretless I bought new. Fretless was cool for around the house but after taking it on a few gigs, I realized it wasn't that practical. I bought a killer MIM, 50th anniversary P neck for it. It bolted right on like they were made for each other. It's my boppin' around the house bass. I've had the same set of GHS Boomers on it since I swapped necks.
I also have a no-name, P.O.S., Chinese (I assume) plywood and the cheesey French bow that came with it. I've done gigs with much better borrowed uprights, carved-tops and ply's alike. This is the P.O.S. I own though. I would never take it to a gig.
Amps:
Big rig is a Fender Bassman 1200 Pro through a Bergantino NV425. I love it.
I have an Ampeg Rocket Bass B100R for smaller stuff.
Also have a 70’s Fender PA100 tube head, an 80's Peavey Mark III, a GK 400RB and a Hughes & Kettner BATT tube pre that's the bee's knees.
Other cabinets include a Fender 115 Pro Ext, Bag End S-15D and 90’s Hartke 210XL. - Previously owned gear:
- Fender Bassman 300 Pro (aka Sunn 300T). On the last note of the last song of our last set, I reached for my E tuner to drop it to D. In the process, I elbowed the beer on my amp and it spilled inside the amp, destroying it. Lesson learned.
My first rig, when I was fourteen, was a Peavey Basic 50 and a c. 1983 Squier Precision. Years later, in a drunken stupor, I left the bass at a club one night and never went to get it. The amp was stolen out of my van.
My rock rig in the 1990s was a Peavey Unity DynaBass through a Peavey Mega Bass head and Sunn 12x18 cab. The bass was stolen from my house, the cab was borrowed and never returned and the head sits in my closet. - Gigs, Bands, & Ensembles:
- Amber Digby and Midnight Flyer
- Influences and Teachers:
- Lefty Frizzell, Merle Haggard, George Jones, Wynn Stewart, Zappa, Miles, Coltrane, Mingus, Duck Dunn, Aston "Family Man" Barrett, Bob Moore, Roy Huskey, Jr, Emory Gordy, Jr., Rocco, Johnny Gayden, Ray Brown, Paul Chambers, Louis Johnson, JPJ, Ron Carter and so on.
- Favorite Genres:
- Country (the real stuff), Jazz (again the real stuff), blues, funk, Zappa, rock, disco, reggae, punk, classical (baroque, classical, romantic, modern), any kind of music from people that mean it.
- Other Hobbies & Interests:
- Collecting records, reading, building databases, researching music and instruments
| benc is not a member of any public groups |
