Bass is the Place (under construction)

I started out as a bassist in Los Angeles around 1974. One of my big early influences was Chris Squire from the progressive rock group "Yes" and their album "Close to the Edgge". I was taken aback by the tone and the use of the bass guitar in this context. Other influences were Jaco and Stanley and the usual bass heros' of the 70's and 80's. My favorite bassists today include Victor Wooten, John Patticci, Jeff Berlin, Alain Caron, Tony Levin, and Marcus Miller.

All of these electric basses are equiped with (once again) Jim Williams electronics of Audio Upgrades in Los Angeles.

This Mic Pre card Circut is a example of Jim's stunning work. Well, you actually have to hear it. For the techno geek in you : Gain is adjustable from 12 to 60 db.Super Duper capacitors. High Speed Video Amp is socketed for future upgrades. Response is 2 to 200k Hz. THD= .0005% typical. IMD= .00015% Slew Rate= 3000 volts per microsecond.

I believe Jim will become known as "the Father of High Speed Audio". These instruments sound incredible and have Jim's parametric peak and dip circut. They also have a piezo pickup which gives a acoustic sound out of an electric bass. This piezo is not a bridge pickup, but it is mounted in the wood of the bass. That signal goes to a pan pot to mix and blend it in with the sound of the magnetic pickups.

Rickenbacher 4001 Fretted: _______This was the first good instrument I acquired in 1976. It has a maple body with the old Ricky style "checkerboard binding" and a custom wooden pickguard and bridge plate from Bob Romaro. It has 3 custom wound low impedence Bartolini pickups - 2 triple coil and also a Bartolinii J - Bass stacked bridge pickup. I believe that there are about 104 pickup combinations available on this instrument. (This is without the acoustic piezo sound being blended in) The tones are staggering and this instrument is "Old Faithful" for me

Rickenbacher 4001 Fretless:__________My friend Mark Ludmer owned this stock instrument in Los Angeles and it is an incredible flame maple. I jumped at the chance to buy it from Mark and then proceeded to modify it heavily. I had my woodworker Bob Romaro remove the rosewood fingerboard and replace it with a fretless ebony fingerboard. He also installed a burlwood pickguard and refinished the instrument in a beauitiful tobacco sunburst. It has 2 DiMarzio pickups rewound to low impedence to match the Audio Upgrades circutry.

Schecter fretless Rosewood:_________ This instrument I got from my bass playing friend Doug Hodges and I proceeded to install the low inpedence pickups and Audio Upgrades peak and dip parametric electronics. A very woody sound with the piezo and very different from the fretless Rickenbacker.

Custom Made 8-String: __________ I bought this Koa bass body for $25 and let it sit for 3 years. I then purchased a PauFaro neck and had Bob Romaro (the magician) design an incredible 8 - string headstock for it. It sounds huge and unusual and it takes a little more strength to play than most electrics, but the sound is gigantic.

6 - String Explorer Arbor:________ I play this instrument the least as it was the last one I put together before getting more into the Stick. It was a stock 4 string and I always liked the Explorer body style. Bob Romaro once again did the headstock and the string spacing is quite tight, but after playing the Stick it is managable for me.

4 - String Super Short Arbor Micro Bass:_______ This little bass looks like a P Bass from a far butit is only the size of a Fender Stratocaster. I rebound the one pickup myself and matched the coils. It has the more simple Audio Upgrades boost and cut circut and was dubed the "Micro Bass" by Jim Williams. This bass fools everyone and sounds cleaner and snappier than most basses in the local music store.

1794 Bohemian Acoustic Upright:_____________ A 200+ year old flat back bass made in Bohemia, which is now part of Germany. I have had it worked on and it is a fine instrument. I don't use the bow much but it is an intriguing sound. I rented it to the bassist from "Manhattan Transfer" in 2000 and also got to see that great performance. No pickup is mounted on it as of yet.

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