Now for Something Completely Different

[Gareth Hughes]

The April 1998 issue of BassPlayer magazine features an article entitled: Cookin' Under Pressure - Playing Bass on a Nashville demo. The bass player is Jimmy Carter (not that one) and his main bass is a Ken Smith 5string. Doesn't state the model/woods but it looks liek the Chuck Rainey model.

Here's a few words from the article:

'Over the years Jimmy has stuck to a simple rig, a common approach for demo bassists. "Most people expect the bass player to plug in and sound right. They might have a little more time for the drummer to try a different head or the guitar player to try a different sound, but basically they want a nice, fat tone from you right away. After that, they really don't want to hear about it!I just bring the Smith and my old Music Man Stingray, which I've had forever. I like medium-gauge strings, Ernie Ball on the Smith and GHS Boomers on the Stingray. I run the bass and treble all the way up on the Smith and play on the front pickup most of the time for country stuff".'