Bass Rig Breakdown
JC Alza
Bass "Red Ball Express, ESPN House Band"
Interview by Roger Zee (04/11/19)
Cover photo by Jeanne Cashman
Roger Zee: How did you start with the bass?
JC Alza:
First off, thanks very much for featuring my rig and sharing my vision of bass gear. As a toddler, I would listen to my brother play his 1971 Fender Jazz bass. I loved to hear him jam with his band on tunes from Grand Funk, Santana, to Disco. His bass sound / tone got stuck in my head. When he moved away, I took over the Jazz bass and learned to play it. After joining a band in the Eighties, I just loved the sound of a bass that always cuts through the music like a chain saw through a wedding cake, LOL!
Roger Zee: Tell me about your job at Sam Ash in White Plains, NY.
JC Alza:
I started working at Sam Ash in the early Nineties. Great times with musical instruments there. The company offered so many cool incentive programs where you collected points to get free gear. From all the sales I made, I earned a few Fender Jazz basses! I got to play some really cool custom and vintage basses from clients and artists like Victor Bailey who replaced Jaco Pastorious in Weather report. We used to go in the back of the bass department and jam. I remember asking Bailey many questions and he was very cool. I got a chance to visit Fodera guitars in Brooklyn, at they time a very small shop, and fell in love with their Imperial bass. I put one on layaway and was paying it off until one of my clients offered to sell me his brand new MTD 535, "Michael Tobias Design." He was very cool, like take it home for the weekend, and I did! I played a gig and loved that bass. It became my number one! I still use it and yes, I did cancel the layaway on the Imperial!
Roger Zee: What other basses do you use?
JC Alza:
I've owned so many Basses, including a few beautiful ones that I had to let go because they just didn't speak to me, meaning they're like an extension of your body that you should NOT have to fight to express yourself. I Currently endorse MTD Basses, I'm a Fodera Artist, and I still play my old Fender Jazz bass. I love to spend time at MTD Custom shop when Michael works on my basses because I can talk and learn about all different types of wood. It just fascinates me. I also recommend M basses by Jon Maghini -- great instruments and he's super knowledgeable.
Roger Zee: Talk to me about your amps and cabinets.
JC Alza:
On gigs, I currently use either a TEC Amp Puma 1000 or a Walter Woods Electroacustic 1200 Blue Light bass amp. When practicing in hotel rooms or at night, I play through a very small Phil Jones Double Four combo or a Phil Jones Big Head headphone bass amp. I work with these awesome tools every day! For cabinets, I chose Schroeder's
2x8 PL (800 watt) 34LB, 12x10PL(800watt) 38LB, 1212PL (800watt) 43LB. I find them reliable and they deliver some serious punch.
What about effects?
JC Alza:
My effects include a Mutron Micro-Tron III, my Funky Sauce; EBS Bass IQ, envelope filter; TC Electronics HOF, reverb; MXR, analog chorus; Baby Tuner; Ditto Looper; and Pigtronics, envelope phaser.
©2019 Roger Zee