BASS GUITARS
My endorsement is with Ernie Ball Musicman Guitars – five string Bongo basses and four and five string Stingray basses. Thanks to Sterling, Brian, Beth and Derek.
I also use some of my other guitars:
Spector Guitars – My trusty old workhorses; a combination of various NS-2A basses as well as fretless and five string models. Thanks to the inimitable Stuart Spector.
Fernandes Guitars – four, five, piccolo and eight string basses.
I also have an assortment of others including custom Roger Giffin, Wal fretted and fretless, Steinberger, Chapman Stick and Gibson EB0 models.
These days I have to give a shout out to my 6 string guitars, as I am play guitar on may projects including my solo work :-
Electrics – I mainly use my beautiful Gretsch 1959 6120 TLV – which is an orange 1959 Chet Atkins reissue (thanks to Tony Franklin at Fender) and a Telecaster with Samarium pickups, a Fender Custom Shop 1969 Stratocaster, a Music Man “Bone” guitar?? (go figure!) and a 1986 BC Rich ASM given to me by Bernie Rico Sr. (RIP).
Acoustics – I use a Gibson J200 and a Martin D42 (Frampton model). I also have a Tacoma D20 and a 1939 Dobro resonator guitar.
AMPLIFICATION
For bass I am endorsed by MarkBass Little Tube 800 amplification and 2×10 Traveler 400W cabinets.
I also use the Line-6 LowDown Studio 110 for low volume and studio work.
For Guitar I am endorsed by Rivera Amplification and I use the Venus 6 Combo.
Vintage Amplification – Ampeg SVT2 and SVT3 amp heads with a combination of Ampeg 8×10, 4×10 and 1510 cabs. In Europe I use Marshall 3000 series 3 Kwatt systems.
ROTOSOUND STRINGS
I am now officially a ROTOSOUND artist! Having used their strings from my first days of bass playing I have now ended up coming back home ! I am proud to be playing the greatest bass strings of all time. While fashions come and go, only LEGENDS remain!
(I had been with Dean Markley for many years. I have now parted company with them and look back on a successful relationship during which I was significantly responsible for the Blue Steel string line.)
Other Devices
I am endorsed by NADY Systems for my wireless systems, guitar amplifiers and their terrific Ribbon microphones – thanks to Mike Perez, always.
I am endorsed by T-REX Effect Pedals. I use the Bass Juice distortion pedal, the fantastic Octavius pedal and the Squeezer tube compressor pedal, thanks to Jes Selane.
I am endorsed by Line-6 and use their excellent M9 and M11 Stompbox modeler. I also use their LowDown Studio 110 amp for low powered bass gigs such as with the flamenco band I sometimes play with – Cale.
Sometimes I will use a Sobbat DB-Bass overdriver – totally unique, and Boss Bass Chorus pedal. Sometimes I use a Phaser. I also love the Blackstone Appliances overdrive for guitar. Generally I try to keep it simple and down to two effects:-VOLUME and ATTITUDE !!!
I am endorsed by Jim Dunlop for my accessories and custom made picks – I use the Delrin .96mm. Thanks to Julie and Scott Uchida.
Recording equipment
For recording I use mainly Digidesign Pro Tools. I have been using this since the late 90’s and I actually trained with the folks up at Digidesign’s headquarters. Of course in studios I will use whatever is available in mics, consoles and outboard but invariably I will end up going into my pro Tools rig where the project stays until it is mastered. My main rig consists of an HD3 accel core and 16 i/o. I use an abundance of plug ins from various different manufacturers.
I am also endorsed by and use the now defunct Tascam Gigastudio 3.0 system extensively for the ultimate in sampling requirements.