"I had a good friend in high school who played bass—he would play along to bands like Black Sabbath and Deep Purple in his bedroom. He ended up getting a new bass, and gave me his old one. I don’t remember what kind it was, but I started off learning Black Sabbath songs on that bass. I know my parents had to have been very concerned about me at that point—but to their credit they never said anything!
“The first bass I bought was a Dixon Rickenbacker 4001 copy around 1975, and I still have it. I used the Dixon for a long time, but I finally bought a real Rickenbacker 4003 five years ago. I’ve fiddled with any number of other basses, but haven’t spent any real time with anything else. Besides the Rick, I have a Boss GT-1B pedal and a TC Electronic head and cabinet, but when I record any bass I just go direct into the computer.