Basses:

I began playing electric bass when I was fifteen. Two years later I played my first fretless bass and was immediately captivated by the freedom of expression that it allowed. In 1971 I purchased my first fretless bass. Shortly after that fateful purchase I began studying classical cello to improve my left hand technique and expand my musical vocabulary. As a result of this, I have primarily played fretless bass since that time. Wanting to bridge the melodic gap between bass and cello I started playing instruments of my own design which were five string basses with a high C string. During those years I worked with two different builders until 1988 when I met Michael Tobias. In1989 I began playing his amazing instruments, then known as Tobias Guitars (later to be bought by Gibson). Michael and his crew built me two “Tobias” six string basses, one fretless and one fretted. Needless to say, they were both great instruments. After Gibson bought out Tobias Guitars, it was hard for me to imagine Michael building even better instruments than his now legendary pre-Gibson, Tobias line. However, he proved me and the rest of the music community wrong with the introduction of his new line of instruments. By 1998 had I sold off my “Tobias” basses and by January of ’99 I was the proud owner of my first MTD (Michael Tobias Design). I am now the fortunate owner of two MTD 535-24 fretless basses which Michael and his small crew build in Kingston, New York. You can hear and feel the passion he has for his craft in each of his instruments! MTD basses are the most flexible and amazingly live electric instruments I’ve ever played. THANK YOU MICHAEL TOBIAS!!!! The choice of woods used in the construction of my MTD 535-24 fretless basses are (in order of age, not necessarily of preference); Fretless #1: Natural finish, mahogany body, a flame redwood top and matching head stock laminate. It also has a maple neck with a “rose of the mountain” fingerboard. I’ve found that a “rose of the mountain” fingerboard gives nice definition to the note as well as warmth, sounding somewhere between ebony and rosewood. Another benefit of a rose of the mountain fingerboard, especially with a fretless, is that it’s a very dense wood which holds up well against, what can be at times, my rather aggressive style of playing combined with my use of round wound strings. Fretless #2: Has an amber burst finish, ash neck, and ebony fingerboard with an ash body. It also has a flamed burl maple top and matching headstock laminate that are spectacular. This instrument has an amazing amount of clarity and punch! Between these two MTD fretless basses I can cover an amazing amount of sonic ground.

I also own two fretted MTD import basses; one of which is an active Kingston Heir 5 String with a maple neck and fingerboard, the body wood is ash with a sunburst finish. This bass has been tricked out with Bartolini pickups and pre-amp, as well as Hipshot tuners. My most recent acquisition is a MTD Z5 bass with active electronics, maple neck with a rosewood fingerboard, mahogany body wood with a maple burl top and cherry finish. Both these basses are made to Michael’s specifications in Korea and are very impressive instruments.

In early 2006 I was able to add an acoustic bass to my collection. It’s a custom Tacoma Thunderchief Fretless Five String with ebony fingerboard, tobacco sunburst finish and L.R.Baggs electronics. Though it’s not a classic upright bass (a.k.a. double bass or bass violin), it really does have a very big, “woody” acoustic sound. For maximum tone control with my acoustic I use a L.R.Baggs Para D.I.

Amplification:

Knowing that I was no longer happy with the sound or dependability of the product line I had been endorsing since 1987, a good friend of mine introduced me to the crew at Euphonic Audio at the Winter NAMM Show in ‘98. I can still remember what a shock it was for me to hear the fullness and clarity of EA’s gear, I had never heard my bass sound like this before (outside of the playback room in the recording studio). The fact is, I wouldn’t REALLY know how great my basses sound without my Euphonic Audio gear. I now use Euphonic Audio’s line of amplifiers and cabinets exclusively on stage and in the studio. Because of the flexibility and accuracy of my EA gear I’m able to dial in my sound for any size stage, studio or sanctuary where I’m called to play. Not only is my EA gear the most natural sounding bass rig I’ve ever heard, it’s amazingly light weight and works beautifully with any acoustic stringed instrument or electric keyboard. In my EA “quiver” I have (2) iAMP800 amplifiers, (1) iAMP500 amplifier, (2) NL- 210 cabinets, (2) CxL-112 cabinets, (2) “Wizzy” WZ-112 cabs and an EA Rumble Seat. Regardless of what tone I’m going for from rock to jazz fusion, acoustic or anything in between, the amazing flexibility of my Euphonic Audio gear allows me to dial it in! I’ve even used my EA gear for vocals on occasion.

Tone Processing, Pedal Board & Cables:

Whenever possible I run my bass rig stereo with my effects on one side and clean signal on the other. For live work my pedal board is a Pedaltrain 2 which is loaded with Goodrich’s LDR Volume pedal (the cleanest volume pedal on the planet), Radial Engineering’s Bass Bone (for switching between basses, gain boost and isolated effects loop for my Octabass), Visual Audio’s Route 66 Overdrive and Compressor, Radial Engineering’s Stomp Box for bypassing or blending my Route 66 pedal and my clean tone, a EBS UniChorus and Octabass, a DigiTec X-Series Digital Reverb and a Korg DT-7 tuner. My pedal board is wired up with George L wires. I also have a Radial Engineering J48 Direct Box.

A few different microphone / mixing techniques are used for my bass depending on the venue. This ranges from simply using the direct out on one EA iAMP or a wet / dry mix with two of my iAMPs to a combination of miking my cabinets individually and using my Radial D.I. for the clean sound. This last option can end up with a three channel mix on the bass. Bottom line, it all really depends on the engineer and the venue.

I’m a blessed man to have this selection of gear to express the heart of my music. Regardless of the sound requirements, I have the tools I need.

I hope this information is helpful to you.

Paul

P.S. I use a Sennheiser E945 microphone for my vocals.