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I play electric bass, both fretted and fretless, in many musical styles. I've been playing since 1970 — fretless since 1986. I'm a self-taught player with an excellent ear, though I've never learned to read music.
I've played rock, country, lots of acoustic-style folk, and jazz standards now and then. I'm basically a groove player, though on acoustic songs I prefer to add some lyrical flavor to a bass part. It depends: if there isn't much rhythm (as with a solo singer/songwriter), I'll use the fretless to add more of a texture than a groove. I never got into slapping or popping when they were popular styles. In the 70s, I used to be able to fake my way along on rhythm guitar and keyboard, but I haven't played either for a long time.
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The Highway One Gang is a country quartet featuring Danny Millsap on lead vocals and rhythm guitar, Bill McNamara on drums and vocals, Frank West on vocals and lead guitar, and myself on bass and vocals.
I've played with Guitar Wizard Billy Foppiano, his son Charlie, and percussionist Phil Hauser, as the Hula Playboys, a couple times a month at 8pm at the Cambria Pines Lodge.
I've got nine beautiful basses, so I'm able to choose the right one for the song.
For most gigs, I'll use a TC Electronic RH450 head. I have a TC RS210 and two RS112 cabinets, so I can mix and match the cabs to the gig. I've also built a Bill Fitzmaurice Omni 15 Tallboy cabinet. For out-of-town gigs I'll carry an Eden WTX-260 as a backup amp.
For small acoustic gigs, I use a custom-built mini combo made by Kirkwood Rough, who runs Upstairs Amps in San Francisco. This 23-pound brute can send 80 watts into an external cabinet, though I almost always use it with its four internal 5-inch drivers. During construction, we chose these drivers to voice the amp for the Maize fretless. The amp also has a built-in DI.
I also have a Hughes and Kettner/TubeWorks setup, if I want a thicker tube tone. This small rack uses the H & K "BATT" tube bass preamp/amp, feeding into a MosValve MV982 160w power amp. (The BATT and the MosValve amps are no longer in production, but MosValve amps can often be found on the used market.)