I'm in my 60s and picking up bass for the first time. When I was 16 my circle of friends consisted of one drummer, one bassist and 3 guitarist. I played alto sax but there really wasn't a place for it in the band so I took up recording since my Dad & uncle had a small recording studio. When I was 18 I started disc/lacquer mastering for my Dad doing major label work. In my late 20s my partner and "Brother From Another Mother" Greg Morrow and I opened Crosstown Recorders in Memphis, TN, Neve Console, 24 trk, tons of outboard, etc .
Fast forward to present day the bass player and I parted ways due to personal issues on his part so I need a bassist that can play souls and R&B bass, he always admired Chris Squire, recently working on a project of his that everyone put a lot of effort in and he abandoned it so I'm done there. I've been blessed working with some good bassists through the years like Tommy Cathey, Mike Brignardello and even got to work with Duck Dunn once on a song for a TV pilot that never made it,. The session was Greg Morrow on drums, Duck on bass and Tony Joe White on guitar and vocals (him and Duck were fishing buddies), most fun I ever had in a session and heard some tales about the Blues Brothers that night.
Mike Brignardello paid me the best compliment I've ever had about the bass tones I got. He said my bass sound wasn't bad at all, it was actually quite good but whereas better sounds he's heard took hours to accomplish, mine only took 5 mins if that and we where ready to roll. Michael influenced me s bunch. I remember him showing up for a session without his P-Bass, he had this little gig bag with one of the first Steinberger basses, sounded great but I don't think it was one of his favorites because as soon as EMG came out with P-Bass pickups he added a set to his P-Bass and that was all she wrote.
I have a Frankenstein P-Bass now, 70s Japanese Fender neck, heavy ass 3rd party body and pretty much stock or 3rd party hardware, it was built by George Bradfute in Nashville as a favor for me building his DAW systems. I'm following Michael's lead and installing EMG P active pickups, then Badass II bridge and Graph Tech Ratio tuners. I'm running LaBella 0760M's so the stock tuners, especially on that .110 E will not stay in tune. The Ratios are being PITA to install but I've got a line on some 18x14mm acrylic bushings that might just be drop in. (If these truly work out I'll make them available to others for a reasonable price like $5 each. I'll also cut these to length specified and measured by a set of Mitutoyo calipers)
My amp rig is a Hartke HD75 for practice or small gigs and a big rig consisting of a Rupert Neve Designs RNDI active direct box, Golden Age Premier mic pre with Golden Age EQ-1081 4-band EQ inserted then both channels of a Rupert Neve Designs 5043 compressor with one channel in 2:1 compression/feedback mode then a 20:1 limit in feed forward mode, then into a Mackie Thump 215 powered 15" 2-way cabinet Bradfute turned me on to Headrush MX 5 I bought to go with an Epiphone 60 tribute sunburst LP, it works with bass too, has a SVT, B15 and Bassman cabinet sims. That's how I ended up with the Thump for an FRFR system. I also have a very nice Spector Legend 5 Classic which it's tough to leave in the bag.
Well thanks for having me and nice to meet you! I've already learned a lot here!
Fast forward to present day the bass player and I parted ways due to personal issues on his part so I need a bassist that can play souls and R&B bass, he always admired Chris Squire, recently working on a project of his that everyone put a lot of effort in and he abandoned it so I'm done there. I've been blessed working with some good bassists through the years like Tommy Cathey, Mike Brignardello and even got to work with Duck Dunn once on a song for a TV pilot that never made it,. The session was Greg Morrow on drums, Duck on bass and Tony Joe White on guitar and vocals (him and Duck were fishing buddies), most fun I ever had in a session and heard some tales about the Blues Brothers that night.
Mike Brignardello paid me the best compliment I've ever had about the bass tones I got. He said my bass sound wasn't bad at all, it was actually quite good but whereas better sounds he's heard took hours to accomplish, mine only took 5 mins if that and we where ready to roll. Michael influenced me s bunch. I remember him showing up for a session without his P-Bass, he had this little gig bag with one of the first Steinberger basses, sounded great but I don't think it was one of his favorites because as soon as EMG came out with P-Bass pickups he added a set to his P-Bass and that was all she wrote.
I have a Frankenstein P-Bass now, 70s Japanese Fender neck, heavy ass 3rd party body and pretty much stock or 3rd party hardware, it was built by George Bradfute in Nashville as a favor for me building his DAW systems. I'm following Michael's lead and installing EMG P active pickups, then Badass II bridge and Graph Tech Ratio tuners. I'm running LaBella 0760M's so the stock tuners, especially on that .110 E will not stay in tune. The Ratios are being PITA to install but I've got a line on some 18x14mm acrylic bushings that might just be drop in. (If these truly work out I'll make them available to others for a reasonable price like $5 each. I'll also cut these to length specified and measured by a set of Mitutoyo calipers)
My amp rig is a Hartke HD75 for practice or small gigs and a big rig consisting of a Rupert Neve Designs RNDI active direct box, Golden Age Premier mic pre with Golden Age EQ-1081 4-band EQ inserted then both channels of a Rupert Neve Designs 5043 compressor with one channel in 2:1 compression/feedback mode then a 20:1 limit in feed forward mode, then into a Mackie Thump 215 powered 15" 2-way cabinet Bradfute turned me on to Headrush MX 5 I bought to go with an Epiphone 60 tribute sunburst LP, it works with bass too, has a SVT, B15 and Bassman cabinet sims. That's how I ended up with the Thump for an FRFR system. I also have a very nice Spector Legend 5 Classic which it's tough to leave in the bag.
Well thanks for having me and nice to meet you! I've already learned a lot here!
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