Gear
Instruments and equipment Russ plays and records with.
There is no bass amp on Russ's stage. His rig is built entirely from pedals, and it is what shows up on professional gigs, in studio sessions, and on the lessons end of the Zoom rig.
Basses
Two Ken Smith Black Tigers, a 2008 and a 2021. Russ removed the active electronics from both and runs them fully passive, so the tone is shaped downstream in the signal chain rather than onboard.
His amp is a pedalboard
The board comes in two versions, and the gig decides which one comes out. The chain is the same on both. The only difference is the Trickfish Overdrive Preamp, which the rock and blues board carries and the jazz board leaves home.
Both basses run passive, so the whole tone is built here. The chain is the same on both boards, with one exception: the Overdrive Preamp is on the rock and blues board only. The last step changes with the gig.
- Bass
- SFX Micro-Thumpinator
- Trickfish VCA Compressor
- Trickfish Overdrive Preamp
- Trickfish Minnow
- Trickfish External Pre Amp
- Trickfish Signal Filter
- Live, out of the Minnow's DI to front of house, and
- out of the Signal Filter to his RCF powered speakers (his backline in a box) or his in-ears.
After the Minnow, the External Pre Amp (bass, mid, and treble) and the Signal Filter (a high-pass and low-pass filter) shape what reaches the speakers.
For recording, a DI box taps in right after the Micro-Thumpinator; Russ still monitors through the rest of the board to his speakers or in-ears.
When Russ wants effects, his Pedaltrain Nano board patches in right before the Minnow.
On the board
The four routes, in full
The Overdrive Preamp stage is the rock and blues board only.
Bass, Micro-Thumpinator, DI box(recording)Bass, Micro-Thumpinator, VCA Comp, Overdrive Preamp, Minnow's DI(front of house)Bass, Micro-Thumpinator, VCA Comp, Overdrive Preamp, Minnow, External Pre Amp, Signal Filter, RCF speaker or in-ears(monitor)Bass, Micro-Thumpinator, VCA Comp, Overdrive Preamp, effects board, Minnow's DI(with effects)
Speakers
Instead of an amp cab, Russ carries RCF powered speakers as his backline. A 12-inch ART 932-A and a 10-inch ART 910-A, and he brings more than one when a room calls for it.
In-ear monitoring
Russ runs on in-ears instead of stage volume, and mixes his own monitor. A wireless pack feeds his in-ear monitors, and he builds the mix himself from a small mixer at his feet, so he hears exactly what he needs without leaning on the house or a monitor engineer.
- Session Ace ESA-V3 in-ear monitors
- Sennheiser wireless rig for the bass
- Shure wireless rig for the in-ear monitors
- Mackie 402VLZ4 mixer with an iPad for his personal monitor mix
- A BackBeat G2, a wearable transducer that lets him feel the low end through his strap instead of stage volume
Effects
A small Pedaltrain Nano board holds the color. It carries a UAFX Heavenly plate reverb, a Walrus Polychrome flanger, an Emma Electronic DiscumBOBulator auto-wah, and an Electro-Harmonix Nano POG octave. The board patches in between the overdrive preamp and the Minnow. An MXR Bass Synth patches in when a tune calls for it, rather than living on the board.
The rig in the wild
A few nights out with the setup.
Accessories
- Mogami Gold instrument and stage XLR cables
- Essential Sound MusicCord-Pro power cables
- Pedaltrain pedal boards
- AirTurn BT-200 S-2 page turner
- Gruv Gear cart