Equipment of Choice

There is a LOT of great gear out there. This page details what I choose to use.

String Basses, Bows, stools

My real bass is a 1938 Kay S-51. It was originally a 5-string bass, which was converted to a 4-string before I purchased it from David Gage. I use the Remic D5400LB microphone, which sounds amazing. It's just the bass, but louder. In situations where there might be too much feedback or bleed, or there's no time to do a proper soundcheck, I also have a David Gage Realist on my bass. In some situations, I might send the mic to FOH and the pickup to my amp, but in most situations I'm sending the mic to both. I do this via a Radial StageBug SB-48UB, which gives the microphone its required phantom power, and has separate XLR and 1/4" outputs. My bow quiver was made by Mike Weatherly, one of the luthiers at David Gage's shop.

In some louder situations, in tight pits, and for certain types of music, I also have an Eminence electric-upright bass.

Both of these instruments are strung with the La Bella 7720S solo tuning set, tuned standard. These are the best sounding and feeling strings I have ever played. They make my bass sing.

I use a Liandro DiVacenza German bow that I bought at Kolstein’s a few years ago. It’s a wonderful pernambuco bow for a great price.

I exclusively play seated, so I use a Roc-N-Soc extended base throne with the backrest. It’s super comfortable and the height is perfect.

ELectric Basses

I have a lot of electric basses. The main two that you'll see me playing on a regular basis are my custom Fodera Monarch 6-string fretted bass (specs and photos here) and my Warwick Steve Bailey Signature 6-string fretless bass. These two are both strung with the La Bella RX-S6A set, which are stainless steel roundwounds. These are the best feeling and sounding roundwound strings I've ever played, and they stay remarkably well in tune. I've had many situations where I had to change strings either right before a show, or between shows on a two-show day, and they stay very nicely in tune as soon as I put them on my basses.

I also have a Lakland 55-01, Fender Precision and Jazz Basses, a Hofner 500/1C63 Violin Bass, and a Yamaha BB425X 5-string P/J, among others. These are strung with various other La Bella sets, mostly flatwounds. La Bella is known for their flats, and for good reason - they simply feel and sound the best.

Mas Hino does all of the work on my electric basses. He's simply the best.

Amplification, Effects, monitoring, etc.

I am really, really proud to use one of the absolute best bass rigs on the market, the Phil Jones Bass BP-800 head and Compact 8 cabinet. Phil's amps are completely transparent, with zero coloration. When I play string bass through his rigs, I can't even tell I'm using an amp. It's the bass, just louder.

In situations where I'm able to, I use Jerry Harvey Audio in-ear monitors. I use their JH16v2 model. They have 10 drivers in each side. My basses sound exactly the same through these as they do through my PJB rig, which speaks immensely for the transparency of the PJB rig.

I have a pedalboard that only comes out sometimes, more often on electric jobs than string bass jobs. On it are an Ernie Ball VPJR volume pedal, a Peterson Stomp Classic strobe tuner, an EBS OctaBass, a MXR Bass Chorus Deluxe, a MXR Bass Envelope Filter, and, for the sake of total tonal transparency, a Radial ProDI.

These days, I prefer to read music from my iPad Pro (12.9”) using ForScore, and annotate with my Apple Pencil. When doing so, I use the Coda Music Technologies STOMP Bluetooth page turn pedal. This is, simply put, the only page turner on the market that is worth buying. It works just like a standard effect pedal.
On my secondary pedalboard with my page turner is a Peterson StroboStomp HD tuner, mostly for the gigs where I only take that board with me.