MY STORY

THE EARLY YEARS

I started playing guitar when I was 12, took about 6 months of acoustic guitar lessons and then bought a really cheap hollow body electric from Two Guys. It sounded like crap, but it was a start. A year later, my Dad took me to Star Music in Morristown where I traded in my old guitar and then got a Les Paul copy (I forget the brand) which I kept for a long time.

I started on bass by accident when I was 14. My cousin had asked me to be in his band and I was playing some basic stuff. He asked me to come play at a house party in town and if I could emulate the bass on my guitar. I tried it and then realized that I could play in a band with older kids if I only take up the bass. Cool!

My first bass was a cheap red Kay that had a very thin Gibson SG type body with a single pickup. I believe my cousin found this in a dumpster. My next, more serious bass at 15 was a Jazz bass copy (sunburst and no name brand made in Japan) that my Dad bought me along with a big Peavey Musician amp. It had all sorts of knobs for effects and EQ, 2 channels, 200watts, a cabinet with 2 x 15" speakers. It was great cause I could use it with my guitar and with the bass. It was LOUD!

HIGH SCHOOL / COLLEGE YEARS

I played with my cousin's band 'AT&T' which evolved into 'Destiny' and de-volved into the 'no-name trio' band. 'Destiny' was one of the coolest bands because we had 3 guitarists, keys/synth, bass (me), drums, and three backround vocal girls. The highlight for 'Destiny' was landing the Senior Prom at Delbarton HS. 

I also played with some other high-school buddies after we graduated in a Southern Rock Band and played a few Rutger's frat parties.

I then traded in my Jazz copy for a Gibson EB4 bass which I bought from Robbie's Music for $175. I had no case for it so I just carried it around as is. It developed a lot of character that way.

MID 20's

After college, I bought a Kramer Forum IV with active Seymor Duncan pickups when Kramer was closing it's doors in good old Neptune, NJ (I also snagged a Kramer Showster Metallist III guitar). The Gibson went when I sold it to some sales dude at Sam Ash for $100 as I was buying a new Peavey amp (because the head on my old one was blown). The new amp was a Mark III with a single 15" cabinet. This was smaller and less of a pain to haul around than the big monster cabinet that I had.

In '96, a good friend of mine GAVE me a 1968 Fender Bassman Head and 2x12 matching cabinet that was sitting in his Mom's attic. A little bit of TLC brought it back to life.  A lucky find, indeed, and the head sounds sweet with guitar too! It's only 50 watts, but its all tube and has a nice sound.

MORE RECENTLY

Years went by, playing with my bandmates in Q Division / Pillowhead / Working Dogs, I got married, kids, and I hit 40 and realized that I'd like to upgrade my bass equipment and my skills. I bought a beautiful Carvin BB75 'Bunny Brunnel' model, a 5 string in Walnut and Maple. It is a neck-through that gives it amazing sustain. The guitar looks and plays beautifully. It inspires me to play and to improve my technique.

I also went ahead and landed some new amp equipment. An SWR ST-800 power amp provides plenty of power and a classic Trace-Elliot 12SMX Preamp has all the bells and whistles needed. A Hartke 2.5XL 2x10 cabinet sounds sweet when used for the right occasion, as does the help it gets from the Yamaha SV118 18" bottom I pair with it for some gigs.  While aquiring my equipment, I met a great bass player and now friend of mine named Dave Baron.  He is always involved in a lot of cool projects and has his personal bass site located here:

http://hometown.aol.com/redbutton/

My latest aquisition is a SWR Goliath Senior cabinet which has 6 x 10" speakers and it is LOUD. I got it in NYC off of a pro bass player named Lonnie Hilyer, who is an accomplished bass player that has played on Billy Joels River of Dreams album and with Lenny Kravitz in his early days. He is the son of famous Jazz trumpeteer Lonnie Hilyer Sr.

I parted ways with ALL of my Peavey equipment using EBAY, except for a cute little Microbass amp, which I enjoy. I was sad to finally see my monster 2x15 cabinet go, but the kid that bought it from me seemed eager to put it to good use so that was a consolation.

My latest addition is an Ibanez Soundgear SR505 5 string with Bartolini active electronics.  This has a really nice sound and plays very comfortably.  Very light too!  I may turn this into a nice sounding fretless soon. 

One of my last projects was playing with Nemesis Fred doing grunge type songs in electric & unplugged format. I still jam with some of the members of NemFred.

In '07, I was part of a reggae/rock/ska/funk project with Gravitas and currently (Fall '07) playing with some of my old buddies on a party music band project we are putting together.

Stay Tuned!!!