Mark's Bass Gear, Dude Ranch Era

[zonedout72]

what amps, heads and other items does mark use, around the era of dude ranch, i once remember reading something where they talk about it, and how 20 dollars could buy you a long walk on the beach with mark, and i am wondering where this letter or info is, thanks in advance ?

[Sun God]

26 minutes ago, charliekowen said:

what amps, heads and other items does mark use, around the era of dude ranch, i once remember reading something where they talk about it, and how 20 dollars could buy you a long walk on the beach with mark, and i am wondering where this letter or info is, thanks in advance ?

He used a BC warlock bass, crate amp and heads, and fender strings 

[Speedo]

7 minutes ago, Diddy Faplord said:

He used a BC warlock bass, crate amp and heads, and fender strings 

I miss Metal Mark.

[daveyjones]

mark had a single ernie ball music man (black with white pickguard) through cheshire cat and into the DR era. i took this on stage at SOMA on nov 1, 1996:

the first time i saw him play with a fender bass was warped tour 97. i believe this was before he was sponsored by them. he played that fender ( a single light blue P) throughout the summer with his black MM as backup:

by the spring of 98 he had gained a sponsorship with ernie ball and had several MMs in various colors. from my own pictures i count at least four: two pale blue, one pink, and one green:

mark still used an ampeg cab and head up to and through the recording of DR. here is the oct 8 96 show at the whiskey opening for the descendents which i was at. photo by kerry key:

he took the ampeg gear out on the road on warped 97. here is a pic i took at the san diego date and the ampeg tall cab is clearly visible:

 

[Q182]

On 6/1/2020 at 7:54 PM, daveyjones said:

he took the ampeg gear out on the road on warped 97

In summer 97, he traded the Ampeg head for a Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+. He used it until summer 1999. 

 

[daveyjones]

3 minutes ago, Q182 said:

he traded the Ampeg head for a Mesa/Boogie Bass 400+. He used it until summer 1999. 

i love their slogan for that head. "No band sounds better than its bass player."

[mil182]

In the Dude Ranch thank you section, the band thanks the Fender Custom Shop. 

I found this interesting, because Tom had purchased his White strat with the cargo advance To track CC and seemingly, Mark didn’t start using the Daphne Blue P Bass (seen in the Dammit video) until after the record was tracked. 
 

Could it be that Tom’s backup white strat was gifted to him via Fender and they subsequently sent Mark the blue P bass? Or maybe they just thanked them since Tom was playing Fender at the time anyways (seems odd). I’ve been curious about this. 

[daveyjones]

9 hours ago, mil182 said:

In the Dude Ranch thank you section, the band thanks the Fender Custom Shop...seemingly, Mark didn’t start using the Daphne Blue P Bass (seen in the Dammit video) until after the record was tracked.

the thank yous would have been written after the album was recorded but before the art was finalized and produced. since we've got evidence that mark had a formal relationship with fender before DR's release, but not tom, i'd bet the thank you is related to mark.

[Q182]

On 7/26/2020 at 1:31 PM, mil182 said:

Mark didn’t start using the Daphne Blue P Bass (seen in the Dammit video) until after the record was tracked. 
 

Or maybe they just thanked them since Tom was playing Fender at the time anyways (seems odd). I’ve been curious about this. 

That's right, DR is 100% stingray. He first brought out the blue P-bass on Warped '97 as his main and the stingray was relegated as a backup. Fender probably wasn't aware that Tom's strat was made by them due to the stickers and the pickup swaps (I surely didn't know that at first glance). The thanks to Fender is from Mark.

On 7/26/2020 at 1:31 PM, mil182 said:

Tom’s backup white strat 

I gave up looking for this one years ago. All I know is it had a black-non angled humbucker and had a giant alien head sticker on the back. @daveyjones do you recall anything about this instrument? 

[daveyjones]

1 hour ago, Q182 said:

 @daveyjones do you recall anything about this instrument? 

i only ever saw him play with the "hero" sticker strat.

[mil182]

4 hours ago, Q182 said:

I gave up looking for this one years ago; the other white whale. All I know is it had a black-non angled humbucker and had a giant alien head sticker on the back. @daveyjones do you recall anything about this instrument? 

FWIW, Tom’s main sticker strat must’ve been and real beast and held up great. From all the live videos I’ve been able to watch, it didn’t seem to go out of tune much and he wasn’t someone who broke too many strings. He didn’t really seem to ever need to go to a backup often, especially since everything in that era was in standard E. 

[Q182]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:47 AM, mil182 said:

FWIW, Tom’s main sticker strat must’ve been a real beast and held up great. From all the live videos I’ve been able to watch, it didn’t seem to go out of tune much and he wasn’t someone who broke too many strings. He didn’t really seem to ever need to go to a backup often. 

My thoughts exactly, especially when the graph tech saddles were added in ‘96. I had only seen him use the backup at two shows: Orange Pavilion (September ‘97), and the Nile Theater (June ‘97). 

[daveyjones]

4 hours ago, Q182 said:

Orange Pavilion (September ‘97), and the Nile Theater (June ‘97, used the backup for the whole show). 

do you have those vid clip links handy?

[Q182]

3 minutes ago, daveyjones said:

do you have those vid clip links handy?

Skip to Josie and Touchdown Boy for the backup guitar

 

 

[daveyjones]

11 hours ago, mil182 said:

and he wasn’t someone who broke too many strings.

i've got a great personal camcorder clip where he busts a high string and just fakes his way through the ben wah balls solo like it didn't happen.

[daveyjones]

1 hour ago, Q182 said:

Skip to Josie and Touchdown Boy for the backup guitar.

EDITED

hero strat on dick lips:

backup on josie. that looks like a SD hum (non-angled):

backup on touchdown boy. wildly different stickers:

lastly, i'm chatting with mark for a second at the very end of the video, after the set when he hops down to high five people:

i'm the the first or second guy he talks to:

final note: i think it's hilarious that this "chesh bootleg" person watermarks all this shit like he shot it himself. i've had first generation VHS dubs of both of these shows since the 90s.

[Q182]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:53 PM, daveyjones said:

dope thanks! and there it is, you can see a tech put it out for him during "josie" :

i was at the orange pavilion show. so i DID see him play with it then. i just didn't notice; i was on the barricade in front of mark, near to where the camcorder was shot from. he actually tried to sticker it similar to his hero strat, which i find totally odd. why would he do this? most players just have multiple guitars and if they do sticker them, each one is unique

when the stage lights come up, you can see that there are no painted / sharpie lines on the horn of the backup

final note: i think it's hilarious that this "chesh bootleg" person watermarks all this shit like he shot it himself. i've had first generation VHS dubs of both of these shows since the 90s.

Ah yes, chesh...who will infamously go down in history. lol

I should clarify that during Josie and Touchdown Boy is when he uses the backup. After Dick Lips, the roadie guy takes the OG strat and Tom picks up the backup guitar for those two songs, then picks up the OG and uses it for the rest of the show. That first screenshot is Tom playing the backup strat (with the OG sitting on the guitar stand). The last three screengrabs is of the OG; the marker stripes have 99% faded and he took the gaff tape off of the arnette sticker. 

The backup was stickered differently than the OG; it had a different humbucker too, non-angled to boot.

[daveyjones]

14 minutes ago, Q182 said:

I should clarify that during Josie and Touchdown Boy is when he uses the backup. After Dick Lips, the roadie guy takes the hero strat and Tom picks up the backup guitar for those two songs, then picks up the hero and uses it for the rest of the show. That first screenshot is Tom playing the backup strat (with the hero sitting on the guitar stand). The last three screengrabs is of the hero; the marker stripes have 99% faded and he took the gaff tape off of the arnette sticker.

no shit. let me go back to my VHS rip and make new caps.

[Q182]

On 7/27/2020 at 3:53 PM, daveyjones said:

looks like a SD hum (non-angled)

wildly different stickers

Appears the neck and middle single coils are stock as well. I think the hum is a Bill Lawrence, likely an L-500 (like Billie Joe's guitar in the early 90's). It appears smaller than a standard humbucker and is a rail pickup, which would be consistent with the OG strat.

I'm not going to bother to try to figure out the stickers. Info on the guitar alone would be a victory. 

[zonedout72]

never thought in my life davey would reply to one of my threads