Throwback Thursday: Big Sir/Digital Gardens Bass Gear Breakdown

It is not often that I get to break down, track per track, what gear I used on an album. So I felt like doing a retrospective feature on Big Sir's Digital Gardens - so here we go! 

The first track on Digital Gardens is Infidels. As fans of Big Sir know, Infidels  is the third track (thank you Karl Boson!) on Before Gardens After Gardens but the DIGITAL GARDENS version is a way different in approach and gear used. Even the basses were not the same, as well as, one was performed with a pick, the other my fingers. 

On the original Infidels, I used by 1971 Fender Fretless Precision with the rear, bridge position, jazz pickup only. I then ran my finger plucked bass into my Boss CS-2 compressor then into my Boss VB-2 vibrato.  That bass was recorded directly into my computer via my Apogee Duet.

For DIGITAL GARDENS, I went for the harder sound with my Fender Custom Shop maple neck Precision “Raider” bass. I then grabbed a Dunlop thick-as-a-brick pick and hit as hard as I could.  

Photo Credit: BHPhotoVideo

I ran my bass through my Boss CS-2 that went into my trusty Russian made Sovtek fuzz. I mic’d my Ampeg SVT-VR and 8×10 cabinet (no di used!) with my Heil mic and that was pretty much it except for the chorus on the song. In the chorus of Infidels, I used my Jerry Jones Bass Six that Paul Gilbert gave me years ago. It is the country guitar sounding riff that loops before Lisa screams the chorus.  That bass guitar ran into my Lell Russian Distortion so I guess a lot of this track was made possible by Russian manufacturing.

As the album progressed, I got crazier with the pedal use and the distortions and other effects get pretty obscure.  If you liked what you read be sure to tweet me or hit me up about effects on songs you might be curious about. 

All of this gear, and more are available now at Reverb.com!

-Juan