here's the machines I work to make the low flow
mid 60's 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
2003 purple plower bass
(w/ kira holding it in san pedro)
built by spokane, washington's darrin huff
on watt's specs: bartolini pickups and preamp
(w/bass-mid-treble eq and pickup balance controls)
based on my gibson eb-3 but w/a two-octave neck
and a fender tele headstock - note the inlays!
later 60's gibson eb-3 bass
(w/ tony platon holding it in my pad)
this had been much modified when I got it, including
the blue paint job. someone had tried to make it a
six-string - the neck was 'pert-near pulled right off
the body! I put the bartolini pickup up in the middle
and the zbs-440 one in the bridge position along w/an
aguilar obp-3 preamp aboard. believe it or not, the
headstock's never been snapped off! plays great.
1997 moon jj-4-240b (larry graham model)
replaced the single coil bartolini pickups w/four coil bartolinis
dig the painted neck! has the best intonation of any my machines
I use this for recording: no dead spots and is so smoov!
got this one in the mail from chicago, il
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
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!
2001 thelecaster bass
built by des moines, iowa's tim thelen
on watt's specs, lane poore pickups.
beautiful bass but the neck scale is
too long for watt to play live much.
great for recording though
2002 fender mustang bass
a japanese made re-issue, it plays and sounds great!
this bass was given to me by the kind fender folks
(much respect to diane gershuny and brian mcdonald)
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-100 pre-amp
eden wt-1550 power amp (2x600 watts rms)
two eden d410xlt bass speaker cabinets (4x10" speakers each)
loop back to mike watt's hoot page