CONTENT WARNING - this page contains a brief mention of suicide and offensive song titles
I've been playing music most of my life. My first instrument was alto saxophone, which I picked up in middle school. I'm pretty rusty with the sax now, but I do plan to try and pick it up again at some point. I picked up guitar a few years after first playing sax, and for awhile it was my primary instrument. I was a wannabe shredder kid for a hot minute, and tried to learn how to gogo fast.
That got boring around the time I turned 20 and I discovered Dinosaur Jr. Their frontman/guitarist J Mascis is an absolute beast of a guitar player and my favorite in the entire world. But he does it through simple, effective rhythms and endlessly catchy guitar melodies. Seriously, I've never heard another guitarist whose GUITAR SOLOS get stuck in my head like the chorus to a pop song. So I started focusing more on writing and playing simple guitar parts that hit harder by saying less.
About 2 years after I discovered Dinosaur Jr (and other 90's indie rock bands like Pavement and Superchunk), I was approached by a local musician to play bass in his band after he heard my guitar playing. I told him I had never played bass before, but he must have seen something I didn't, because he handed me a Peavey Millenium bass and told me to fuck around with it. Less than 5 minutes later I landed the spot. I never really cared for the music I played with that band, but I did make some good memories and had fun putting some innovative bass parts on top of his music that no one else would have thought of. Even better, I found that I REALLY loved playing bass.
A few years later I discovered doom metal and sludge metal. Sleep, Electric Wizard, Kyuss, Acid Bath, Eyehategod, Acid King, that sorta stuff. I fell in love with their crushing guitar and bass tones, their riffs, their rhythmically oriented songwriting, and (esp for the sludge guys), the unbridled hardcore aggression. I had always been a metalhead but this felt like an epiphany. Heavy did not need to be fast. Heavy did not need to be tight and polished. Heavy actually felt heavier when it slowed down and left some breathing room. Heavy felt heavier when it ditched the concept of sounding clean and polished. Leave it raw and brutally crushing, I'm here for that shit.
So now I'm primarily a bassist. And don't get me twisted, I love examples of all styles of music I've run across so far. I'll always hold a place in my heart for classic soul and motown, for example. But I built my bass rig around the idea of acheiving absolute, crushing heaviness.
My main bass, which I fell in love with immediately and have yet to lose any feelings for, is a 2018 Rickenbacker 4003W. I fell in love with the distinctive growl Rickenbacker basses get many years ago, but DAMN they're not cheap. When I finally got mine it turned out to be the best purchase I've ever made in my life so far. It has the best playability out of any instrument I've ever set my hands on, and it can acheive every sound I've ever wanted to get with stellar quality.
I've got 2 other basses that don't get as much play time, but I still love them. One is a Squier Classic Vibe 70's Jazz Bass (fantastic instrument for the price btw) and a MIM Fender P Bass I grabbed from a pawn shop for $200.
I run my basses through a Wampler Euphoria overdrive, a Team Awesome Fuzz Machine, and a Dunlop 105Q bass wah. I used to use a few other effects, but it's been awhile. My amp is a 1976 Ampeg V4B (still running the OG tubes, and idk how), and I run that into an Ampeg 810CL and an ancient, gargantuan 1970-something Ampeg V4B cabinet. Seriously, when I say it's gigantic I'm not kidding. It broke my bandmate's porch when it was delivered to his house for storage.
I run my basses through a Wampler Euphoria overdrive, a Team Awesome Fuzz Machine, and a Dunlop 105Q bass wah. I used to use a few other effects, but it's been awhile. My amp is a 1976 Ampeg V4B (still running the OG tubes, and idk how), and I run that into an Ampeg 810CL and an ancient, gargantuan 1970-something Ampeg V4B cabinet. Seriously, when I say it's gigantic I'm not kidding. It broke my bandmate's porch when it was delivered to his house for storage. And for guitars I've got a Gibson N-225, Gibson Les Paul 60's Tribute with P90's, and a nylon string guitar I was gifted by a former coworker.