Karl Hoyt built my custom 6-string fretless. It's simply amazing, with Lane Poor magnetic and K&K Sound piezo pickups. Totally to my specs; even the body shape! One of the most amazing features is the hand-carved ebony bridge with piezos built in. The mag pickup in the "hot spot" and the piezos make for very interesting and varied bass tones. This bass is truly a "mwah machine." Now if I only could improve my intonation! (grin.)
Here's a shot of me playing my six-string fretted - the workhorse. It's by a company called PBC. (These exact basses are now made by Bunker Guitars.) It's headless, with a high-mass brass assembly with separate bridges for each string and a resonance plate. It also has 18 volt EMG pickups (Click here for instructions to do this simple mod with your EMGs) with the BTC active preamp and a special neck design that puts all the pressure on steel rods that run inside the neck. Cool!
This is a composite shot of me "playing" my brand new 12 string, by Galveston. I recently picked up this axe as a replacement for my "Frankenbass," the somewhat crude (but effective) 8 string that I built -- and used, at least until this sweet 12 string came along. The concept of an 8 string bass is similar to a 12 string guitar, in that for each "regular" string there is a corresponding octave string that is fretted and struck simulaneously with the root string. The 12 expands on this concept by adding a third string in unison with the octave. A big, lush wall of sound ensues. Hopefully, I'll have a real picture of me playing it soon!
The Goliath Jr. is a surprisingly punchy cabinet. I "downgraded" to the 2x10" after owning a Goliath II (4x10") for several years, and hating the toll that a 90 lb. cabinet put on my back. Quite frankly, this cabinet is better (it's a better match for my bi-amped system.) I often take only this cabinet to smaller venues, and it performs nicely all the way down to B.(The picture is of a newer model; mine looks slightly different.)
The Big Ben is the "rumble" to the Junior's "Click." (The picture is of a newer model; mine looks slightly different.) This 18" by SWR pumps out some serious low end, and since I bi-amp with the Goliath 2x10", it can expend all its energy producing mind-altering sub-sonic boom. GOD I love playing bass!
The heart of my sound. The ADA MB-1 is a flexible, programmable, MIDI-controllable preamp that simply kicks. It's also not made anymore, as ADA went out of business. Well, I've got mine, anyway. Also favored by such bass luminaries as Vic Wooten and Les Claypool. This puppy has built in compression, chorus, distortion, and two programmable effects loops. It also has 12AX7's for killer tube tone. Can't believe these didn't sell better.
The Axon AIX-103 Midi pickup for bass is one of three parts that lets me play "Midi Bass" through my system. It connects via a 13-pin MIDI cable to my G-50. Cool deal!
The Yamaha G-50 does all the hard work, taking the input from the special pickup and turning it into MIDI signals, which are triggered on the Alesis sound module.
The Alesis NanoBass module is a sound module which is primarily bass-oriented sounds. I have cool filtered sounds, killer house patches and sweet keyboard bass pads. I picked this up recently, and the sounds are quite phat.
The Peavey Spectrum analog filter is a totally programmable and MIDI controllable filter, with the ability to create wah and sweep sounds, among many others. It's a neat toy, and I've only begun to scratch the surface of its usefulness.
My dbx Subharmonic Synthesizer takes the waveforms that I put through it, filters a certain band, and accurately reproduces the waveforms 1 octave below and mixes them with my signal. It's like an octaver, but much better -- there's no glitching, and it can do multiple notes. Often used in DJ racks to give the mix more "boom," I use it specifically for special effects when I need to rumble the room. (evil grin.)
The ADA B500B power amp is a power amp specifically designed for bass bi-amping applications; the power on the low end is higher than that of the top (something like 285w on top, 315w on bottom) which compensates well for the different ohm loads that my cabinets draw - I get a nice, even sound at low and high volumes. I also can safely run on just one channel, which I often do in smaller venues where I only bring the 2x10".
The Axess Electronics GRX4 loop switcher lets me choose (via MIDI) between my "real" and MIDI bass inputs. And this thing is bulletproof!
I tote my rig in an SKB 6-space rack case and a matching 2-space for the power amp. They've taken a beating and been pretty good to me. I also have a nifty contraption in the lid of the big case called a "RakTrap." It makes the back lid into a storage compartment. Highly recommended!
The heart of my system may be the ADA pre-amp, but the brains of the operation is my Digital Music Corp. Ground Control MIDI pedal. Highly configurable and easy to program, this is simply the best MIDI control pedal I've ever found. My guitarist has one, too.
Tony Levin uses these cool things (called "Funk Fingers") which he and a band-mate created. They're essentially the ends of drumsticks with attachments to affix them to your fingers. I purchased a few pairs from his website. Tony uses them (most notably) on the Peter Gabriel tune, "Steam." I use them on a couple of Second Story tunes. (I'm using them in the PBC picture at the top of the page.) What punch! They didn't take too long to get the hang of, either. They always get stares from the audience, too - I love that look of confusion, then discovery, then awe. :)
Also among my toys is a Heet Sound E-Bow. It electrically "stimulates" the strings into vibration, which allows me to create cool sweeping and humming sounds with the bass. It's a neat special effect, and I use it in a couple of Second Story songs. Also a favored accessory of bass guru Michael Manring.
I use Monster Cables for my input connections. I'll eventually replace the internal cables with Monsters as well, but only as my budget allows.