Rig Rundown
A full rundown of the '75 Jazz Bass, mods, setup specs, and pedalboard I use to cover the tonal range worship and CCM sets demand, from hushed ambient passages to full-band anthemic choruses.
A full rundown of the '75 Jazz Bass, mods, setup specs, and pedalboard I use to cover the tonal range worship and CCM sets demand, from hushed ambient passages to full-band anthemic choruses.
This is the full rundown of the rig I bring to worship and CCM sets (and the occasional secular gig)—covering the Bass Guitar itself, the Modifications that shape its voice, my Setup specs, and the Pedalboard that carries the signal to front-of-house. Bass Guitar covers my main '75 Jazz Bass and the Fender Custom Shop PJ I'm fundraising for. Modifications trades noise and inconsistency for quiet, hum-cancelling pickups, higher-fidelity wiring, a mass-loaded bridge for sustain, and a flatwound/roundwound string swap I use to shift between warmer and brighter voicings depending on the song. Setup dials in the neck relief, action, pickup heights, and intonation that keep that tone consistent and comfortable to play across a full set. Pedalboard rounds it out with compression and EQ shaping—plus a touch of overdrive—that takes the bass from clean and controlled in ambient moments to full and driven in anthemic choruses. Together, it's a rig built less around one fixed tone and more around a range: quiet enough to disappear into an in-ear mix during a hushed bridge, and present enough to cut through a full band at the height of a chorus.
The Xotic SP Compressor and Aguilar Tone Hammer Preamp V2 pedals do most of the tone-shaping work on the board. The compressor's dip switches (3 and 4 on) dial in a low-ratio voicing, and with Sustain/Compression set to Lo, it's smoothing peaks rather than squashing the signal—blended mostly wet (80%) and trimmed back slightly to 40% volume to keep some headroom in check before hitting the preamp. The Tone Hammer then leans toward a fuller, more present voicing rather than a scoop: Bass and Mid Level both pushed to 60%, with Mid Frequency set lower at 40% so that midrange lift covers a broader, warmer range instead of a narrow spike, while Treble is pulled back to 40% to keep that low-mid push from turning harsh. Gain and Volume stay around 50-60% for a clean, headroom-friendly signal before it hits the interface. Drive sits a touch higher now, around 20%, and I only kick it on situationally—for songs that call for a bit more grit rather than as part of the baseline tone.
1. TC Electronics Polytune Noir
2. Xotic SP Compressor
- Internal Dip Switches (Default): 1 (off), 2 (off), 3 (on), 4 (on)
- Sustain/Compression: Lo
- Dry/Effect Blend: 3 o'clock (20% dry/80% wet)
- Volume: 11 o'clock (40%)
3. Aguilar Tone Hammer Preamp V2
- Treble: 11 o'clock (40%)
- Bass: 1 o'clock (60%)
- Mid Level: 1 o'clock (60%)
- Mid Frequency: 11 o'clock (40%)
- Drive (on situationally): 9 o'clock (20%)
- Gain: 1 o'clock (60%)
- Volume: 12 o'clock (50%)
- Mix: n/a
4. Focusrite Scarlett 2i2 Gen1
- Line 1 Gain (Inst./bass signal): 11 o'clock (38.89%)
- Line 2 Gain (Line/iPhone): 2 o'clock (72.22%)
- 48V: On
- Direct Monitor: On