here's the machines I work to make the low flow
2010 michael "anchor bass"
james williamson had brian michael custom
make this bass for me based on an early 60s
gibson eb-0 but w/maple neck-through
design w/ash "wings" attached, hipshot
bridge + tuners plus custom jason lollar
p-bass-style pickup
1969 gibson eb-3 "the andy bass"
w/aguilar opb-3 eq and pickup balance controls
schaller bridge and custom pick guard
middle bartolini mm42cbjd pickup
bridge lace bassbar pickup
(original pickups removed)
1965 gibson eb-0 "the dan bass"
passive pickup balance and volume controls
one rio grande pit bull pickup
(original pickup removed)
schaller bassbridge 2000
custom pick guard
1997 moon jj-4-240b (larry graham model)
replaced the single coil bartolini pickups
w/four coil bartolinis (9w4j) and replaced the
preamp w/an aguilar obp-3 one though it's got
a bypass switch (pull-pot) I got engaged
mostly! the chicken-head knob is the pickup
blend control cuz the new preamp has three
bands, not two. dig the painted fretboard! for
gigs I use my gibson eb basses w/their short
scale (I'm less younger now!). this is the main
bass I use for recording: no dead spots,
righteous tone and is so smoov! got
this in the mail from chicago, il - yeah, the
fucking mail... never it played it 'till I got
it! well worth the dice roll though.
1963 gibson eb-3 bass
(w/ elizabeth holding it in nyc)
"the little bass" - my main one for live gigs
modified w/a dimarzio neck pickup and a badass bridge
plus a bartolini pre-amp (w/midrange) and pickup blend control
was stole along w/my minutemen/fIREHOSE tele bass
but then somehow mysteriously reappeared
got this one from dirk's old store,
guitar safari (r.i.p.) in san pedro, ca
late 60's non-reversed gibson thunderbird II bass
"bluey" - my main bass from 1995 - 1999
put in a bartolini pre-amp and grover tuners
snapped it's headstock off and grafted it back
got this one in new york city
CUZ OF HIM GETTING HIS BASS STOLEN,
I GAVE THIS ONE TO COMRADE DEVIN HOFF
2004 garz bananaplower II bass
righteous man frank wilson had mark garza build
me this short-scale custom job that's based sort of
on my old minutemen fender telecaster bass.
it's got pickups and a preamp from bartolini.
great player - jams!
1956 fender precision bass
thunderbird pickup replaced stock one, another added at the bridge
has a 'v' neck and "thunderbroom" carved into the back of the body
opened up a beasties tour using this w/fIREHOSE
got it in hermosa beach, ca
mid 70's gibson les paul signature bass
got les paul to sign it behind the bridge, joke is on me though -
it says "keep on pickin', mike" (I lost being able to play w/a pick)
got this one in smyrna, ga
late 60's gibson les paul professional bass
put in an esp strat pre-amp to help them low impedance pickups out
snapped it's headstock off and grafted it back. thinnest neck here
got this one in athens, ga
early 80's alembic econo model (spoiler?) bass
pickup failed when I got it so I glued two duncan early active j ones together,
sawed half the headstock off and had bubba paint it that "krylon" green
has a james worthy signature I got after he got his third ring
plays and sounds pretty shitty though
got this one in pedro
early 90's englehardt m1 upright bass
traded this for a used mac I got in the recycler
(thanks jeff)
late 80's guild ashbory mini-bass
has silicon "giant rubber band" strings
must be played w/baby powder on strings and fingers
neck is mandolin scale and fretless, it's a bitch but fun
used on the "bootstrappers" lp w/elliot sharp and george hurley
got this one in boston, ma
watt's regular gig bass rig:
fuhrman pl-plus power distributor
korg dtr-2000 chromatic tuner
eden wp-100b pre-amp
eden wt-1250 power amp (2x450 watts rms)
two eden d410xlt bass speaker cabinets (4x10" speakers each)
one bullet cable
loop back to mike watt's hoot page