PHIL
MULFORD
BASS
Gear
​Basses.
I have a long and fruitful association with Overwater Basses and have been a user since 1989 when Chris made me a matching pair of Six String Basses. I even visited the factory during my honeymoon in 1990 (thanks Caroline!) for a most romantic interlude! Well the basses did need a service….
My more recent Overwaters are a matching pair of J-Series Basses, one fretted and one fretless. The fretted has a John East J-Retro circuit, the fretless is passive, both have Bartolini pickups and Hipshot hardware. I also have the original J-Series prototype bass which has an early East J-Retro 01 in and Bartolini in line hum cancelling pickups. It has a maple neck and swamp ash body and sounds cracking!
I also three early Squier basses, two Precision Basses and a Jazz Bass. Two are fitted with Bareknuckle pickups and the early ’82 Precision is stock and is a rare ‘Fender’ logo model. There is a 2005 Fender USA ’57 reissue, which is black with a maple neck and Bare Knuckle '58 pickups. It is a nice light weight and with Elites flatwounds sounds absolutely fat and funky in a very retro way!
For my Thunderthumbs Project I needed a Musicman Stingray and I sourced a 2001 teal blue, maple neck, 2 band EQ Musician Stingray Bass. It is used but new to me and in unbelievable condition with the original case. I can satisfy my Louis Johnson, Flea and Bernard Edwards fantasies with this one. I now have three Stingrays as I have added a Sunburst, Maple neck, 3 band 2005 bass and a Sterling Ray Sub4 that is now fretless thanks to my talented son Liam who defretted it for me.
​Amplification.
I have the TC Electronic BH800, and SWR 350 which is resident in my home Studio setup. Check the pictures section for some photographs.
The TC BH800 is an excellent new addition to my backline, being high powered, portable and versatile. I use it in conjunction with the Switch 3 pedal, which controls the 2 tone print locations and offers a cute function. You can travel with no pedals an import the effects for your Gig into the toneprint locations via the smartphone app. I have an amazing flanger and a chorus setting in there at the moment. The amp has a very true uncoloured tone and a fast response. I really like the way it ‘feels’ while I play as I use a lot of damping in my style and it translates this well into the TC K210 cabinet.
Speaker Cabinets.
I have a few different boxes to choose from, two TC K210s, Eden 115XL and an Ampeg 210 Classic.
The K210 cabinet is a budget revelation. It is a 2x10" cab with a horn, a high power rating at 400 watts and is rear ported. It has a nice fat and funky tone, is nicely extended in the high and low end but retains a nice mid range without being too scooped. In conjunction with the BH800 it is a great, portable and high powered set up.
Gigs
TBC
​Outboard/FX/Strings.
I have a few D.I.’s, a recent Tech 21 Sans Amp Bass Driver, B.S.S. AR 116 and a Fishman Platinum Pro pre amp.
My effects includes some great retro stuff. A Boss OC-2 Octaver, a vintage CE-2 chorus pedal, a Mutron III+, Bel Electrolabs ADT (I have two…), a vintage (1978) EH Bass Balls and several Morley Volume pedals.
For the more modern stuff I have two Emma electronics pedals, an Okto Nois octaver/synth noise pedal and the Discombobulator Envelope Filter. I also have a Providence Dual Bass Station EQ/Switcher and a Providence Anadime Analog Bass Chorus that is very close to a Boss CE-2 except it has a hi-pass filter. There's more, an Aguilar Octamizer, a TC Mini-HOF, HOF, TC Corona chorus, Two Carl Martin switchers, three Korg tuners, three TC Polytunes and two Polytune clip ons that are always in my bag. I almost forgot, I have a Peterson Strobe tuner plumbed in my studio setup.
Power comes from a Nardell power block a T-Rex Fuel Tank JR and a couple of Visual Sound One Spots.
I also have Pedaltrain JR and Nano pedalboards.
Cables.
I am really fussy about cables and have Vo-Vox, Van Damme, Klotz and Sommer cables with Neutrik and Switchcraft plugs. I have the new Sommer XXL cable which sounds (and looks) great. For my recording signal path I have gold plated connectors throughout. For speaker cables it is Klotz or QED (quality hi-fi cable) with Neutrik Speakons. For mains I have ISOkinetik cables, which are good value quality mains cables with an MK toughplug, beefy IEC and figure 8 connectors and rf-shielded mains cable.
Recording Set-Up.
I have had a Studio setup since around 1986 when I had the usual Atari 1040ST midi setup. I graduated to a Tascam MSR-16 multi tracks and a Studiomaster desk in the 90s and then to a Mac G3 and MOTU 1224 in 2000. These days I am running a Mac Pro with Logic X and Audient interfaces. I have an iD22 interface and their 8 mic preamps in a rack called the ASP-880. These units have upped my signal path quality hugely whilst being extremely good value. Check them out if you are in the market for something new.
For plugs in I use the native Logic X plug ins but also have a Universal Audio PCI-e card with a whole host of great plugs ins.
See my 'recording bass' page for more info on my setup.
Strings.
I am using Elixir Strings and am loving the smooth feel and long life of them. My 'go to' bass for most things, the Overwater J 5 has .045″-.130″ extra long scale strings on. Check out the recent You Tube Clips if you want to hear what they sound like.
I also have D'Addario steels on my Overwater J5 Fretless, 2001 Musicman Stingray, Fender '71 Jazz, Bass Centre Detroit flatwounds on my Fender '57 RI Precision, Ernie Ball cobalt flats on my 2005 Stingray, Overwater/Picato round wounds on my '82 Squier Jazz Bass and a'83 Squier P-Bass fitted with Dr .045'-.105' Sunbeams.
In 'The Drifters Girl' I used my Bass Mods K534 with Elixir .040-.125 nickels on and a Hofner 500/1 HCT with Hofner flats.
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