- Feb 12, 2006
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- Disclosures
- Development Engineer-Mesa Boogie, Development Engineer-Genzler (pedals), Product Support-Genz Benz
There are some of you, no doubt, who have heard of Dix Bruce. He played just about every stringed instrument (including bass), and at a level most of us will never attain even for one. I returned from a short time out on the road to a message that he had passed away in his sleep. This is a sad day for those of us in acoustic music, we lost one of the most honest and nicest guys to be around. I looked forward to working every gig with Dix, no matter what the band, because I knew it was going to be great music played well.
Dix started out playing with a David Grisman project band, we crossed paths as that band was winding down and another two projects were starting. One was a "string, swing and jazz" band called Backup and Push, the other was a jazz slanted old school R&B-rock band called Onami. I was their sound guy for these projects, then Dix started a music publishing company that specialized in music education and lessons, mostly books and videos on guitar and mandolin. We later hooked up again when he started touring with the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, he is the guy who early in my career drilled into me that music arrangements needed to respect time and space... the playing couldn't happen all at once and it couldn't happen on top of itself. I'm sure I have mentioned this little bit here before.
I often get questions about my background, and this is just a little bit of my history that influences my amp/preamp designs. Dix played my earlier acoustic amps and also my pickups, these cumulative influences and experiences are connected to every product I have designed (including the Rosette acoustic amp). He also played my earlier bass amps and was instrumental in helping me appreciate that there was no one perfect tone but that there many tones for many player's tastes and understanding and accounting for different player's perspectives was essential to a successful amp.
Dix started out playing with a David Grisman project band, we crossed paths as that band was winding down and another two projects were starting. One was a "string, swing and jazz" band called Backup and Push, the other was a jazz slanted old school R&B-rock band called Onami. I was their sound guy for these projects, then Dix started a music publishing company that specialized in music education and lessons, mostly books and videos on guitar and mandolin. We later hooked up again when he started touring with the Royal Society Jazz Orchestra, he is the guy who early in my career drilled into me that music arrangements needed to respect time and space... the playing couldn't happen all at once and it couldn't happen on top of itself. I'm sure I have mentioned this little bit here before.
I often get questions about my background, and this is just a little bit of my history that influences my amp/preamp designs. Dix played my earlier acoustic amps and also my pickups, these cumulative influences and experiences are connected to every product I have designed (including the Rosette acoustic amp). He also played my earlier bass amps and was instrumental in helping me appreciate that there was no one perfect tone but that there many tones for many player's tastes and understanding and accounting for different player's perspectives was essential to a successful amp.
