FIRST BASS
TIM STARACE
YYNOT BAND
What was your way into bass?
I wanted to be Gene Simmons, like most kids back in 1976. At a yard sale on my block, a neighbor was selling an album called Learn To Play Bass Guitar With The Ventures, so I bought that for 25 cents, cut two strings off my brother’s acoustic guitar, and started teaching myself how to play. ‘La Bamba’ was the first song I taught myself from that album. My first bass was a Cameo that my mom bought from the mall in 1976. It was like a piece of plywood with strings on it. It was tobacco sunburst, and I was the proudest nine-year-old in town. My first real bass was a Fender Music Master, then a Rickenbacker 4001 and a Fender Jazz.
What bass gear do you currently use?
As far as basses go, 1977 and 1981 Rickenbacker 4001s, and a few Geddy Lee Signature Jazz Basses with custom-wound pickups by Tom Brantley. For amps, primarily Ampeg SVTs which I still consider the absolute pinnacle of tube amps for basses. Now onto the fun stuff... I never play live or record without a Tech 21 NYC SansAmp of some sort. It’s the most integral part of the equation I use to obtain what I like to call the ‘growly nougat’. Currently I am using the new DI-2112 which is amazing. For strings, D’Addario EXL 170 Nickels, they just seem to last forever. I love them to death. I also use Roland PK-5 MIDI pedals and an Oxygen 61 Keyboard controller.
What’s the best advice you can give us about playing bass?
Never give up, and have fun. I laid the bass down in 1996 and picked it up again in 2012 and only then realized how much I missed it.
Who is, or was, the greatest bass
